December Holiday Destinations – Morocco
Morocco
The country of Morocco has long been a tourist destination that fires up one’s imagination due to its colorful history, natural beauty and interesting people and culture.
Most Westerners might associate Morocco with the movie Casablanca, and in fact modern-day Casablanca is the starting point for visitors who fly into the country; other better-known cities in the country are Rabat, its capital, Fez and Marakech or Marrakesh as it’s pronounced.
Rabat is a two and a half millennia old settlement, and while its hay day was sometime during the 12th century, it still retains the signs of those times through the magnificent structures that were built then, such as the Oudaia Gate, the Chellag gate, the ar-Rouah gate and the Tour Hassan.
The walled medina is the old quarter of the city and is a great place to look for various local crafts, including the famous Maroccan carpets; the remains of the old Roman settlement are part of the city now and you can stroll around them. Considering the rich history of this country’s capital, it should come as no surprise that the Archaeology Museum in Rabat is the best in Morocco, so make sure not to miss it.
While most people have their own vision of Casablanca, as portrayed in the 1940s movie with the same title, the actual city is the largest in the country and is its industrial center to boot. Despite this however, thanks to the French influence the city features wide boulevards, public parks and fountains as well as rather impressive buildings built in the Mauresque style of architecture. The city is more liberal than others in the country, and its cosmopolitan atmosphere can be best experienced by attending one of its wonderful open-air cafes and just strolling around its streets.
There is a custom in the country of offering mint tea as a sign of hospitality, so if you’re offered mint tea by either your host or a shopkeeper, accept and enjoy the drink, do not rebuff it.
Morocco is a great place to visit for those who love nature, especially in its more rough incarnations, the country has four distinct mountain ranges, vast gorges and a part of the Sahara Desert, and between them you can find large fertile plains and plateaus that give life to the entire place.
It is a great place for those who enjoy horse riding or who want to try their hands at camel riding, and of course considering the abundance of mountains in the country, hiking options are aplenty.
Morroco also has a rather long coastline, part of it on the Mediterranean and the rest of it on the Atlantic so this means that the coastline resorts are great places for any and all water-related activities such as sailing, swimming, windsurfing and pretty much anything else that you may think of.
These have of course, only been a small taste of what the country has to offer, there are many more things to see and do in Morocco so rest assured that your trip there won’t be a boring one.
