Box to Nomad Family

Hey fellow travelers!
I mailed the box today to Liz Williams from Authentic Morocco which will go to our adopted Nomad family.  In it are 15 assorted shirts/sweatshirts, socks for the whole family, soap, hand lotion, scarves, gloves, wash cloths, some kids jeans, a soccer ball, books from Caroline, and a couple fleece jackets.  I tried to spread out the sizes but erred on bigger rather than smaller given that one kid did not get shoes that fit.  I also sent pictures of all the children - they were so intrigued by our cameras and they likely do not have any pictures of themselves.  Cost for all the items was $148.  Shipping was $107.  So if all eight of us wants to contribute, it would be about $32 per person.

If you mail a check to my current address within the next two weeks, I should still get it.  Otherwise, I am on the 6 month nomadic lifestyle myself and will have to relay on mail to catch up with me.  Hope everyone is well and that you got the pictures that I sent.
Anita

Missing you all!

Marge and I reminisced about our wonderful trip, over Anita's fine photos and my attempt to recreate a Moroccan  eggplant salad. Picture us having drinks with olives, almonds and eggplant salad in pretty little bowls from Sale potteries. You all were with us!
Anyone ready to share photos of the rug purchases?

Testing the blog

with a picture of Karen taking a picture - at Majorelle Garden

Tangier photos

We arrived in Tangier on a clear day and could see Spain from our hotel. Our many walks took us from Mediterranean beach around the rocky coast to the Atlantic. Marge's encounter with the dog was at the end of our picnic and she was sharing our left-overs.

The incredibly photogenic city of Chefchouen

This city with its varied shades of blue and its happy spirit charmed us all! (And I don't know why the last picture is bigger, scroll to see their feet etc.)

Notre Dame de Lourdes in Casablanca

For those who did not have much time in Casablanca, the catholic church there - Notre Dame de Lourdes, was quite a surprise. The stained glass was floor to ceiling and had motifs backed by designs in Berber rugs. Not only colorful, but so materfully done. It was worth the visit that day. Anita

Fez Bone Carver

I loved this guy. I think I was the only one who bought something form him - a little fish comb for 50 Dirham. I asked if I had time to go back and take a picture of him. I remember that he was so excited that I had returned. He had to straighten his jalaba and put on his shoes even though I had not planned to take a picture of his feet. He was so proud. It was a nice memory for me. Anita

Was this the bone carver we saw in Fes?

This New York Times article about Fes profiles an elderly carver of bone combs - could it be the same one we saw on our tour?

Morocco photos from NYTimes

Marge's daughter Jen called our attention to this short photo essay .

Getting home

One more story about the adventure of driving in Morocco.

Besides  getting lost various times and me getting a speeding ticket we had one more challenge: a flat tire on the way to the airport!

It happened on the Autoroute. Elizabeth skillfully got the car to the right shoulder and Susan warned the oncoming traffic while we tried to find the jack, spare tire, directions etc. No phone to reach any help...no jack in sight( who knew it was under the hood?)...all the luggage by the side of the road and time ticking down to airplane check-in.  A truck stopped with 3 guys at the same time a highway assistance truck appeared and another Moroccan miracle took place. We were back on the road in record time, waving goodbye to another 4 "brothers". Made it to Casablanca in time. Needless to say our adrenalin was in overdrive.

In NJ but on Morocco time...

Looking back at the blog I think we have a treasure in the YouTube video made in Chouen, here

If you can watch it to the end you see all of the town as we experienced it; the blue walled streets and alleys, the main square, the shops, the beginning of the walk up the mountain. Even the public wash boards at the waterfall are in the video. Don't miss the cute straw hats, which are a take off on the typical hats Rif women wear and seem to be the main souvenir item for Moroccan tourists.

Seeing these happy youth who made the video reminds me that our cultures are pretty similar around the world.

Hi from Susan.....last time...
We just finished a great dinner...bags are packed and we go to Casa to come home tomorrow.  It has been a FABULOUS trip!  Who knew Morocco was so incredible.

I look forward to coming home but the memories will linger forever!!!

Counting down

We are in a beautiful Riad in Sale and it is a great contrast to Larache.  The place is spotless, and every detail artistically presented.  The staff are attentive and pleasant.  We even have a cute cat companion.  The medina here is clean and quiet....so we should stay a few more days. BUT tomorrow we head home.

Rabat is a modern sort of city where we can catch a tram that runs across the river that separates Sale from Rabat.  It's quick and efficient and very civilized. We've explored the famous sites, along with all the Sunday crowds, then today had a morning in the Chellah, a items of old ruins and extensive grounds with nice gardens.  There are around 75 nesting pairs of storks, and I feel like I've photographed them all.

Now we are recovering from a scrumptious dinner, and getting packed.  More to come, with photos!

Larache

Larache is not a tourist town; I call it La Raunchy due to its impressive garbage piles, one of which greeted us each morning as we left our Riad. And the Riad gave us much fodder between its grime and our very weird host Hassan......however, we had two great days in the region! The first day we, with some difficulty, found the roman ruins of Lixus, which is not given its due in the guidebooks. We were lucky enough to have a young man guide us through for over two hours. His father and grandfather had also been caretakers of the site, but the ministry of culture no longer supports the guards, so he gave us this fascinating and detailed tour at no charge, due to his passion for the site. The next day we met the Hassan mentioned in all the guidebooks as the expert birder at mousy bousselham- and expert he was indeed! He took us out on his boat and I will let the birders tell all we saw; the pink flamingos were the most unusual to this non- birder. Then he showed us the fishermen who had returned with a big haul, picked out a variety of fish and crabs for us, and shared an amazing lunch in the restaurant nearby who cooked them up for us!

Take me to your kasbah

I'm slowly updating my blog. Here's a post about our first kasbah in Telouet and another one about the amazing rock formations we saw everywhere. And yet another post, this one about the gorgeous Majorelle Garden.

Tacky tourist snow globe

My little tacky tourist snow globe of Morocco was the only thing that broke in my luggage.  It was the smallest one you can buy - about 1 1/2 inches around. It was a camel inside and said Morocco around the base.  Can someone bring me another one before you leave?  Karen and I started collecting them years ago.  I can't be without one now!  Let me know.  I have Dirham, Euros, Dollars,  or I can probably scare up some Lithuanian currency too.
Anita

When we were 8

When we numbered eight on this trip - a MADE everyone have a group shot at least one a day. Sometimes it was like herding crickets, but most of the time I could get everyone to smile at the right time. Enjoy! Anita

Morocco Faces in the Crowd

I'm still going though pictures and reliving some great memories of Morocco! We often take so may pictures of arches, mosiacs and mountains - we often forget the faces that stole our hearts for a few seconds in our busy sight-seeing days. So I'm going to share a few aaawwww moments from our first days in Morocco. Anita

Tangier time

We've whiled away another breakfast hour looking over the bay and beyond to Spain, and of course settling the problems of the world.  Weather here has been glorious, sunny, low humidity, sea breeze.  Yesterday morning we spent  at the American Legation museum and talking with the director, Jerry Loftus, who is full of great ideas and stories.  Then long walk up to the high point of the kasbah, viewpoint over the straits and wandering back thru the medina.  Tangier is quite advanced with posted maps and walking tours, but the little alleys don't seem to bear much relationship with the map. So we wander and ask directions...

Now Marge and Elizabeth are going out to rent a car, while Ed, Susan and I shop for picnic supplies.

.....she might be in Tangier....

Actually there are still 4 she's and one he. It has been great fun to hear Phyllis and Marge reminisce about how different this city was when they lived here, right after the war. It was an International Zone, and way smaller. We walked along the beach their dad took them to before breakfast when they lived in the Rif Hotel, which we also passed. Some stuck their toes in the Mediterranean. I have to add another video from Chefchouaen. We became very fond of our host Ben at our Riad Dar Gabriel. He showed us this publicity ad for the town, and two of his daughters whom we met are featured: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq8dB0pUYNw

Susan says hello

Today we leave for Tangier.  It seems incredible that we have seen so much.  The contrasts are amazing.  Montezuma got me a few days ago but I recovered and all is well.  Enjoy Anita's pictures.....if you look at the "camel train" I am the end of the train!  Time for breakfast.  Hi to Marietta and all of you who are reading.
Susan

Leaving Chefchouen

What have we been doing?  Lots of walking, up and down hill. Sitting on our sunny terrace, stargazing, exploring endless alleys in shades of blue. Ed took a long hike, while others climbed the steep hill behind town to a modern hotel perched on a ledge.  I had suggested there might be wine to be had, so had an enthusiastic following.

A weekend in Chefchouen has been an interesting look at how this Muslim society is changing. Young folks out enjoying life as couples, or mixed groups.  Females wearing headscarves but not fully veiled.  Young families out together. We had nice interactions with Moroccan tourists visiting this city, taking their pictures with their cameras and discussing museum oddities. There were kids all over, buying candied apples and Rif straw hats, posing for group pictures...just like American tourists.

Post Morocco Day 2

I'm home for almost two days now and I already miss seeing the High Atlas Mountains, the small nomadic herds of sheep on the rocky hillsides and listening to the banter in the medina. I concentrated on pictures from our visit to the Nomad family high in the Atlas Mountains that day and remember the faces of the children we met who were so happy to get the shoes we had bought them - if only we had remembered that socks might be needed too. So today I went on shopping trip one for our little adopted family. We now have socks for children and adults, hand lotion, walsh cloths, bar soap, and a nifty red soccer ball. Later this week I will focus on clothing - t-shirts, gloves, perhaps some long sleedved shirts, and hats. These are some of the faces we met. Anita

I made it home today after what seemed like such a long flight. After bouncing down the runway on our landing at JFK, I can say that we were finally home. I took a bit of time to download some of my photos and relive such a memorable adventure. It seems that even though you have been to a place before, you look at it through different eyes each time. I shall try to post a couple pics of the day as I go through the journey again - this time on my computer. Washington was 62 degrees today and the cherry blossoms are brilliant pink! Anita

Chefchaoun

Here in this very picturesque town on the mountainside we 5 have the 3 rooms on the terrace. The view over the town and mountains is fantastic.  It's also very cold and we slept under heavy piles of blankets. Remembering that we got warm in the sun yesterday, I have on all the clothes I brought, and will postpone a shower til afternoon.

We walked through the town to the "source" , clear mountain stream that feeds a public laundry area and continues down the edge of town. A path across the stream leads around the mountainside and up to a small mosque with great views. On our way back Elizabeth recorded the late afternoon call to prayer.  I've never heard it like you do here, echoing from the many mosques in this town, which is in a bowl sort if shape.

From Fez to Chefchaouen

It was about a 4 hour drive through the Ri Mountains, which are markedly different from the Atlas: smaller, greener, with farms all along the route- many olive groves, but also grapes, figs, oranges, almonds. Observations on driving in morocco: People here walk. We see people walking along roads in the middle of nowhere. People also sit by the roadside in small groups, especially men. There are not infrequent 'haltes' for the gendarmerie. One sits at a table with a radar camera while another flags down cars. Our driver today said they are looking for those carrying kif (marijuana) which is all over Chefchaiuen, but we have seen them everywhere we have driven. There are lots of mules being led along the road, or tied to something while the owner works the fields. And: there are NO route numbers or street names posted. If you ask for a route number noted on the map, people think you are nuts.

More Fez

We woke to more rain and said a sad goodbye to Anita, Karen, and Caroline who got on the train to Casablanca. Now we are 5! We decided, despite the rain, to take two petite taxis to the Mellah, or Jewish quarter, right by the royal palace. We stumbled around til we found the old synagogue, and a nice woman let us in for 20 dirham each. The highlight for me was the mikvah in the basement, still filled with eater. Hope we can follow with photos. A very persistent young man wanted to lead us to the cemetary, but we were pretty sure it was the wrong direction and had difficulty shaking him. Finally ed dodged into a bijouterie where he got a new strap for his watch. The man lingered outside by the corner, but we finally lost him as we emerged from the neighborhood into pouring rain, where we hailed taxis to return us to the Blue Gate so we could get back to the Riad to dry out. We had a picnic lunch of leftover snacks in the sitting room, then decided to try for the museum of woodcarving despite the rain. This was a worthwhile stop. We had some mint tea in the salon on the roof to wait out the rain before retuning home. Poor Susan was hit with sickness, but the rest of us went to a restaurant in a Riad that Marge had been to on a previous trip. I haven't mentioned that the medina is so convoluted and confusing that one actually needs to hire a guide to get from the hotel to whatever your destination is. On this night a man from the restaurant met us at our Riad and led us all over creation, through narrow alleys, to the restaurant. It was nice but didn't compare with Fatima's cooking in our Riad the night before!

Exploring Fez

We woke to rain, so delayed our guide til afternoon. We walked to Cafe Clock for a light lunch of camel burgers (quite good!) where Hakim, our guide, met us. Another good idea to have a guide here in the craziness of Fez. Among the sights we saw: an old medersa with a still active mosque, just before the call to prayer, a pre-school with five 4 and 5 yr olds who sang for us, including Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, metalworkers tapping with hammers, weavers using Moroccan silk from the aloe cactus, cotton, and wool, craftsmen painting designs on pottery freehand, mosaicists tapping out pieces of ceramic while another placed them upside down by memory prior to the addition of plaster (hard to explain), and the tanneries that have been there for centuries. We had dinner at the Riad, prepared by Fatima, served by Ben, and we agreed it was the best meal yet! Carrot, avocado and apple salad, favs beans, lentil soup, potato puffs with tuna, eggplant with chermouil sauce, followed by amazing chicken tagine fez style, with caramel used onions on top and scrumptious pumpkin purée. Ended with fruit tarts.

On to Fez

Here is Ed saying goodbye to the camel driver, Mohammed, after the desert adventure

We were sad to say goodbye to Moustafa, Moustafa and Hassan, who took such good care of us for the last six days.  We spent our last night with them in Midelt, arriving quite late and just wanting to go to bed, but then were served one of the best tagines so far- one chicken with lemon and the other beef with prunes.

In the morning our beloved guides droves us through a Lake District, where we stopped at a lake and Phyllis saw her bustard (life bird), then to the cedar forest to see the monkeys, then a quick stop in
Ifrane for a coffee, pastry, and clean bathroom.  Ifrane has a European look, kinda like Switzerland.

We drove into Fez where the men with carts were waiting to take our bags into the narrow cobblestone streets of the medina to find our new riad, Dar El Hana, down a tiny alley with the usual nondescript door leading into it.

Angela is the young Aussie managing the riad, and we sat on the rooftop terrace looking out over the medina for our usual mint tea while she oriented us to this most fascinating and convoluted city.  Did we hear that there are 9000 streets in the medina? We ventured out through the markets (souks), pleased not to have the motorbikes we saw in Marrakesh beeping at us in the narrow alleyways.  Had a lovely dinner at the Ruined Garden, run by a Brit who came to do the garden project and never left.

Susan says hi!

This has been a marvelous experience thus far.  The country is beautiful, the people are lovely and the geology and geography are beyond description.  Our desert visit was great fun.  My camel and I got on quite well.  Today is rainy so we have a little down time.  So far I have acquired two rugs and a few small items.  Fez is a leather place and pottery is yet to come.  Have eaten much tagine and drunk good Moroccan wine....more sweets than I eat in a year.  Three of our group leave tomorrow and our remaining five head for Chechaouen (sp) on Thursday - then to Tangier.  Hope spring is in sight at home.

Our desert adventure

From the high Atlas, by way of a chilly night at a barely heated hotel, we descended through the Todra gorge.  Photos later...  Very narrow gorge with sheer rock walls, amazing rocky cliffs.

We had a late lunch at our desert hotel right at the edge of the Sahara, and mounted the camels around 5pm.  The hour and a half trek to the desert camp was magical to me. Bakkar and Mohamed each led a string of 4 camels, single file, across the sand. We soon lost sight of civilization and looked out on endless dunes, like the waves of the sea.  Little tufts of grass, lizard, beetle and fox tracks were all that marked the sand besides our own camel footprints. Our camel man walked regally, steadily in front of his charges, barefoot, with his blue robe blowing in the breeze.  Most of our group had learned how to wrap up in a scarf covering all but the eyes. (Photos later of our helpers who delighted in doing the typical turban wrapping.)

Our desert camp was at an oasis sheltered by a huge dune, Erg Chebbi. We climbed the dune for sunset, none of us reaching the summit. Our camp was made up of Berber style tents enclosing a central courtyard of sand with mats and rugs, where we had tea.  It got dark and cold quickly, so we let Marge and Karen try to read a star map and find constellations.  We slept on thin mats with heavy blankets and I was very comfortable.  What an experience to get up in the middle of the night to absolute silence and only star light.  It was absolute magic and I was glad I couldn't find the flashlight.  Our camel guides got us up early enough for sunrise.  I watched them get the camels up and moving.  They fussed and complained but the guys were gentle with them.

Now we are in Fez, in an ancient guest house with lovely rooftop terrace. And for the first time on the trip it's raining!

Snow on the pass, and tea with the Berbers.

Nomads

  Day 3 of our tour was the highlight for me.  We started off from our beloved Chez Pierre,
 where Ed got the recipe for fakkas from the fille' in the kitchen with the help of our guide Moustafa who translated.

 We made a quick stop at the grocery store for our picnic lunch, and took off through the Dades Gorge, with hairpin turns and breathtaking

We were so lucky to hit the village of Msemir on market day, where we bought some plastic shoes for the nomad children we planned to visit later that day.  Then we went off road, supposedly onto a dirt road -but how our drivers Moustafa and Hassan were able to tell where to head the Land Cruisers was beyond us! it was several hours of bouncing and gasps at their driving skill, when we stopped for a picnic in the cold cold wind  ( Did I mention it was still snowing in the morning?)
views.  




Back in the cars, through rocky terrain and desolation, til we came upon the nomads.

Can't even describe this experience.   As soon as we stopped the car, several nomad children, including an 8 year old girl, came running down from their tents to greet us and grab the bag of shoes we brought.  We walked up the rocky path to their settlement of two tents and were invited into one where we met two women and assorted kids from the 8 Yr old girl to a baby on the younger woman's back.  The tent was made of poles with black woven blanket for the roof and sides.  The floor was dirt with piles of blankets and rugs which we perched on and against. It was about 4 feet high at most, so we crouched to get in. The young woman served us the usual mint tea with sugar (we had also brought tea and sugar as gifts); she had a small fire in the center of the tent to which she added scrub to burn, and heated water in a black iron tea kettle, and made the tea in a teapot and served it to us in the usual small glasses.  She noticed that Anita did not get tea and was sure to get her a glass.

We were so grateful to our Berber drivers, Moustafa and Hassan, who don't have much English or French but were able to engage the family and the assorted 7 or so small children.  The shoes were passed around and tried on by some of the kids.  then the girl went to get her drum / tambourine like instrument, and the music started. She per cussed amazingly well, and her mother started to sing with our drivers singing along with them, then the girl also started singing back and forth with her mother. Lots of smiling and laughing all around.

As we left the older woman (by older I mean maybe 28?) showed us her tent with the loom where she was weaving a blanket.

Ait Benhaddou to Dades Gorge

We started at the World Heritage site Kasbah Ait Benhaddou, which is where many famous films were made, including Game of Thrones most recently.  We continued on the route of the trans Saharan caravans, driving through Ouarzazate, which has become the site of several film studios, and on to Skoura where we took a walk from a hotel with a panoramic view to the little village.  Then on to the valley of the roses, Kelaa Mgouna, where we were able to take a walk on some private land where some Berber women were harvesting alfalfa (we didn't take photos). It was so surprising to walk along a little stream used for irrigation and see all the green in the midst of the dusty dry mountains.

We drove through the Dades, end on end of red rock mountains with some new and some crumbling buildings built into the sides of the rock. In the valley below were oases of bright green plots of crops and tall poplar and fig trees.

Arrived at Chez Pierre, our Berber inn, to an amazing gourmet meal of quail, followed by brown sugar tart.  And it started to snow!!

Authentic Morocco

We were  all very happy to be picked up by our tour drivers at the riad who got us out of Marrakech much more efficiently than we got ourselves in! We divided into two cars as Marge thoughtfully arranged, so we would each have a window.

Our car held Moustafa the driver who speaks no language in common with any of us but loves to sing and drives exquisitely, and Moustafa the guide who studied linguistics at the university and has excellent English.

We left Marrakech and drove towards the central High Atlas Mountains,

with frequent stops for views.  The Tizi-n-Tichka is a winding narrow hairpin-turning road and if you can ignore the testosterone and advertising, this video gives a great picture of why I was handing on for dear life: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8Sh_6jpjPA8 We drove through the pass to the village of Telouet, where we had a lunch of omelette and our first salad (chopped tomatoes and peppers!) in a Berber home. Our host then showed us some of his Berber artifacts and then to a room (yet another,) full of beautiful rugs.

We visited the Kasbah of el Glaoui, former war lord and pasha who died in the 50s and left a crumbling palace with a beautiful vista of the village.  We drove through the Ounila valley, dusty red rock mountains with a green valley below. On  to a salt mine and then arrived at our hotel in Tamdaght, the Kasbah  of the stork, where the Moustafas, Hassan the other driver, and the host of the kasbah picked up a banjo (!) and drums and entertained us with Berber and Arab music as we drank our welcoming mint tea.

Marrakech day two and three

One morning we walked to the Palais el-Badi.  We loved the storks nesting on the roofs and soaring over our heads.  Then to the Saadian tombs.  And the Ali ben Youssef medersa, with the tiny cells for students.

Some of us found the mellah, or Jewish quarter, and asked for the synagogue.  We were taken into a huge rug shop where they tried to convince us it had been a synagogue in the past, and wanted to show us rugs.  Finally they relented and had a fellow lead us to the actual synagogue which was not so interesting to look at but had some interesting historical displays on the walls.

We had a nice dinner at a very old restaurant Dar el Salaam which was as beautiful as any of the monuments we had seen! Nice meal followed by a dancer balancing a tray of candles on her head, and then a voluptuous belly dancer.

Marrakech day one

After a lovely breakfast of crepes, yogurt, and Moroccan bread, we left the medina to find  two grands taxis to go to the Majorelle gardens. Our driver took us past the courts where he showed us all the illegally parked cars, which the gendarmes ignored because they belonged to the lawyers. The gardens were magnificent and will add photos later.  Wandered the souks in the afternoon. Candy bought a rug after much deliberating and drinking of mint tea with the seller.  In the evening we went to the Djemaa el-Fna (ancient square with snake charmers, trained monkeys, and lots of other performers and vendors) to find dinner.

Riding on the Marrakech Express

We had a lovely drive from Essouaria to the outskirts of Marrakech, followed by an exciting and sometimes terrifying ride into the city (taxis trying to edge Elizabeth out from following Anita who had Marge the navigator at her side) to find the car park where we could drop the bags and most of the passengers.  Those who delivered the cars back to the rental agency have their own tale to tell (suffice to say that Anita spent over an hour standing on the center of a busy street hoping against home that her lost companions would have to come back that way eventually, which they did,)

The rest of us found a tiny man to pull all the luggage in a cart through the souks of the medina to the lovely riad Bougainevillier, where we were served the usual lovely mint tea as we checked in.

Essaouria updates

A few more posts from Essaouira: the Jewish quarter, how to shut up shop, and a birding expedition with lots of flowers. And one more: the trip from Essaouira to Marrakesh -Caroline

Drinks on the patio of Les Matins Bleu in Essaouria

Leaving Essaouira

It is our last morning in this windy seaside town.  Yesterday some of the group traveled to Tamanar,  the capital of the argan oil region, and actually got to see the goats in the trees. Hope to add some photos of this! Elizabeth, Caroline, and Ed walked the ramparts, bought a peanut brittle like confection from the seller who was handing out samples, viewed the thuya wood artisan shops, and got a wonderful view of the city and ocean from the terrace of the Minmouna Riad. Early this morning Ed got a tour from a boat carpenter at the port, while Phyllis, Susan, Caroline and Marge went bird watching just outside town and added three 'life birds' to their list.

Off to Marrakech!

Elizabeth

More updates from Caroline - Essaouira to Marrakesh

Here and here and here. In reverse order!

First day in Morocco and a partial post here: enjoy! http://wp.me/p1y7S5-lX More pix to come.

I'm about as ready as I can be!

This is Anita - packed and ready to see Marge and Phyl tomorrow. Last thing to do tonight is get my NCAA brackets sent in...not to win the billion apparently, but to perhaps beat my two brothers. Some numbers everyone should have for the trip: US Consulate in Casablanca: (212)(537)20-80-97 US Embassy in Rabat: (212)(537)76-22-65 See ya'll soon!

We're off to Morocco

You are in the right place to follow our trip to Morocco, leaving this Thursday. We are a group of 8 and we don't all know each other, but we soon will.
When we land Friday morning we'll head south from the Casablanca to Essaouira, which has been described as " the most enchanting town on the Atlantic, and perhaps on all the coasts of Morocco." Temperatures there have been 68-72, so we intend to finally shed the winter of 2014.

Our last stop in Morocco

We will be staying in the medina of Salé, across the river from Rabat. Looks nice.

Goat kids for kids

Liz Williams of  Authentic Morocco has been very helpful and attentive to our needs and questions while planning for the desert adventure. We hope to meet her in Marrakesh. Marge and I have been impressed with her reports of efforts to improve life for the people of the area, especially the children. This description and video tells the story of children of the Sahara:http://www.saharachildren.org/

Marge and I are going to donate goats. Join us if you can.

Where we are sleeping the last week

Tangier: The Hotel Rembrandt

Larache:  La Maison Haute

These websites are in French. You can also check them out on Trip Advisor.

Tangier Arts

An interesting evening of music at the American Legation, from the Director's blog:
TALIM

Visit the singer's website for her music.

Moroccan Inclusiveness

My experience of Morocco has been one of acceptance; Christians, Jews and Muslims living together in peace. The documentary film "They Were Promised the Sea" deals with the recent experience of Moroccan Jews moved to Israel. Someday I hope we can see the film. There is a sample here and info from the film maker."They Were Promised the Sea"

Where are we sleeping?

Essaouira: http://www.les-matins-bleus.com/

Marrakech: http://www.riadlesbougainvilliers.com/

Fez:   www.darelhana.com

Chaouen:  www.dargabriel.com

All of these websites have good photos of their buildings, rooms and surroundings.

Two months from tonight, let's watch the sun set in the Atlantic from the old Portuguese ramparts of Essaouira!

Great online resource

Check out " The View from Fez":

Beautiful photos, lots of up to date info, recipes, recommendations...
I am reading  A House in Fez about the authors' experience of buying a house in the medina and restoring it; now Riad Zany.  A very good read with lots of history and insight into Moroccan culture.  The author and her husband are journalists and created the blog of the same name.

Here are instructions for posting a photo to the blog. I hope this is helpful and I'll look forward to seeing what is posted! Laura

Post a picture

You can upload photos to your blog(s) by clicking the image icon in the Post Editor's toolbar.

When you click this icon, you'll get a window that allows you to select an image or multiple images from your computer. Click the Choose files button to locate the ones you want. Alternatively, you can add an image you've previously used on your blog, an image from your Picasa Web Albums, or enter the URL of an image that's already online and insert it into your post. You can upload images in JPG, GIF, PNG, TIF or BMP format.

Once the image is in your Post Editor, you can click on the image to format it in your post.

The left, center and right options determine how the text of your post flows around the pictures. The size options let you scale the pictures to different sizes within the posting area. Note that the picture will still be uploaded in its full size; this option just determines how it's scaled within the content of your post. You also have the option to add a caption to your image.

Alternatively, you can post images to your blog using Mail-to-Blogger. This feature allows you to email posts with image attachments directly to your blog. For more information about Mail-to-Blogger, please see this article.

Limits on photos

When you upload an image through Blogger, it gets stored on Picasa Web Albums, and is therefore subject to the quota limit on your account there. You can sign in there with your Google Account to access all your images. The Picasa Web Albums Help Center has more information about free storage limits and limits on image size. If you have recently upgraded your quota limit, you may have to sign in to your PWA account in order for the new storage quota to be reflected on Blogger.

Sending blog Posts to your e-mail

If you want the blog posts to come to your e-mail, go to the Blogger Dashboard, or click on that little orange B icon.
Choose "settings" then "mobile and e-mail", add your self to the boxes by clicking on your preferred e-mail in your contacts. So make sure your address is in your Gmail contacts before you start.  8-)