Archive for November 2019
Ma’a s-salamah Morocco
We are in the Royal Air Maroc lounge at the Casablanca airport awaiting our Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul in a few hours. Our driver, Tofik, delivered us here from Marrakech this morning. From Istanbul, we will travel to Dubai sometime between now and tomorrow. Traveling is the part we don’t like about traveling. It’s…
Read More »Fun with Food
We spent yesterday morning playing with our food. The day was perfect: warm and sunny. The air was fresh and clear. “The guys,” Abdul and Tofik, picked us up around 9:30 and we drove about forty minutes out of Marrakech to a little cooking school called the Atelier de Cuisine. Chef Tarik was our host…
Read More »A Billion Stars All Around
I think it’s becoming fairly obvious that deserts give me earworms. I am serious; they are real. It first happened in the Sahara in Egypt when “Midnight at the Oasis” played in my head on a continuous loop for days. (See “Earworms and Bedouins,” May 2018.) At least this time, it’s a much nicer song…
Read More »Photographing the Medina of Fes
We spent two hours this afternoon with a professional photographer named Omar Chennafi. We read that Omar is the official photographer of the Fes Festival on World Sacred Music; that’s great, but more importantly, we learned firsthand that he is a very special artistic soul. I loved our time with this gentle young man. I…
Read More »Serendipity, Sefrou, and Sisterhood
”When money flows into the hands of women, everything changes.” — Melinda Gates Less than two weeks ago, I was standing in Jayne’s kitchen trying to decide on a coffee mug. Since Jayne and I co-grandmother (I made up that term), we have similar, if not identical mugs. I call them the “mug mugs;”…
Read More »The Comedians of Morocco
Morocco is full of wonders and we are fortunate to have Abdul showing us his magnificent country. Sometimes when we make a stop at a historical site or workshop of craftsmen, a local guide steps in to explain the minute details so that we leave with a better understanding of the archeological site or of…
Read More »Casablanca’s Most Famous Gin Joint
“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in the world, she walks into mine.” —- Rick Blaine, Casablanca Quick first impressions on Morocco in general and specifically of Casablanca: It’s not nearly as chaotic driving around as it is in so many other cities with a large population; six million people call…
Read More »The Brooklyn Bridge, Jumbo, and DUMBO
We never let a little rain keep us from a tour, especially when we’ve already paid. Yesterday was no exception, although it was coming down pretty hard at times. And the wind was blowing, which made the morning walk across the bridge even more “delightful.” We were scheduled for a walking tour of the Brooklyn…
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