Morocco bound

Morroco, especially Marrakech, was for many years a must stop on the old hippie trail. Although the magic that brought the tuned-in and dropped-out crowds in the 1960s and 1970s is still here, things have changed, not least that instead of spending several days in a crowded minibus travelling overland, you can now fly direct from the UK not only to Casablanca but to Fez, Agadir and Marrakech itself. It’s also very good value for money, though it would sound strange to describe it as a budget holiday destination.

Despite decades under Spanish and French colonial rule – which produced the new town quarters to mirror the old Medina districts in the major cities - this is still obviously very much a traditional Islamic culture with the vibrant indigenous Berber way of life in no sense under threat. My own first introduction to Morocco was as a 19-year old student when I spent the whole of a summer wandering around the country. It was a marvellous experience, one that I’ll never forget (especially as it was my first introduction to the art of haggling: see below for some hardwon advice!). You could easily spend six months travelling around the country and only scratch the surface – on that first visit I spent most of my time in Marrakech and the High Atlas mountains and while I didn’t regret a minute of it, the brief time I then spent in Tangier, Casablanca (which feels more French than Moroccan in many ways) and Fez gave me an appetite to return.

World Heritage Site

Fez – a former capital of Morocco - may not have the international fame of Marrakech and is rather more traditionally conservative, but it is more than a match for it architecturally and is arguably the country’s intellectual centre, home to probably the world’s oldest university and nearly 800 mosques: the Al Qarawiyin Mosque, Morocco’s oldest, retains its original minaret, built in 956. The city has over 8km of fortified walls but it’s the medina, the whole of which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which is absolutely unforgettable, not least because it’s so narrow and mazelike that first-time visitors are almost guaranteed to get lost within it.

It’s also a bustling and very much working area where transport is by bike or donkey, never car, and you can happily stumble around for others, enjoying the specialities of each district, whether they be dyers, potters, woodcarvers or weavers. As in the of Morocco, if you get the chance of quick peek beyond these labyrinthine walls into the patios behind, make the most of it – that Tardis feeling of hidden depth and light is truly astounding. As well as being famous for the high standard of its handicrafts, Fez is also home to one of the world’s most important music festivals, the annual week long Fez Festival of World Sacred Music which attracts internationally famous musicians such as Ravi Shankar and Youssou N’Dour. A great blog about Fez is The View From Fez at http://riadzany.blogspot.com.rest.

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