Morocco. As Nelson dubbed it, the beautiful chaos! In our first trip to the African continent we traveled to Casablanca, Fez, into the Saharan desert, and rounded out the trip in Marrakesh. Each place was so unique. The people were very friendly to us. As one can imagine, Morocco in July is hot but we were lucky enough to have some unusually extra hot winds coming from deep in the Sahara in Algeria our entire trip. So 100+ everyday with hot breezes. Other than the heat, the country had so much to offer with natural beauty, an ancient history, and a unique culture that we truly enjoyed exploring.
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| 3rd largest mosque in the world in Casablanca and one of a handful of mosques non-Muslims can visit in Morocco. |
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| View from the outside |
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| Very large inside. |
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| These colors on the ceiling are made with spices like cumin, saffron, paprika, etc. |
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| The hammam |
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| Synagogue from the 17th century in Fes. |
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| Nelson will be your Rabbi for the day. |
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| With the torah printed on antelope skin. |
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| Us with the palace doors in Fes. |
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| With the view of the chaotic Fes medina. |
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| Wheeling the pottery by foot. |
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| Assembling a mosaic table, piece by piece, with the colored side down. |
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| Final result. |
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| Hand painting the tiles. |
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| Produce in the market. |
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| Many of the stalls were closed because it was Friday, their holy day. |
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| Donkey coming! "Belek! Belek!" ... which means move out the way! |
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| Fes taxi. |
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| Detail inside a mosque. |
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| One of the narrow streets of the medina. |
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| The leather tanneries, where they use natural dyes to dye the hides. They also use bird droppings in the process. It was quite smelly to say the least! |
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| Drying the hides. |
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| The smell is so bad they give you mint leaves to keep close to your nose, and yes we needed them! |
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| Our guide through the medina. |
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| Satellite dishes everywhere! |
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| Moroccan salad as a first course. |
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| Nelson in his Berber wear in Fes. |
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| Woman leaving the mosque. |
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| Us with our private guide in Fes at the 'Blue Gate' into the Medina of chaos. |
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| Allie the leo. |
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| Nelson monkeying around. |
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| Into the Sahara we go. |
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| Allie leading the way. |
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| Nelson and his camel. Two hour ride into he Sahara. |
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| The scenery was unreal, like another planet. |
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| Nelson with the dunes. |
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Allie with Nelson on top of the dune.
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| Nelson and his fellowship. (aka our guides into the desert) |
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| Nelson with his eye on Allie |
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| Us with our camel. |
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| Yes, Nelson joined a Berber drum band. |
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An exhausted Nelson at 6am on the dunes for the sunrise.
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| Exhausted from little sleep in a hot tent, but so worth it. |
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| Allie on top of the dunes. |
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Nelson and his ride.
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| Cloudy with a sandstorm. |
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| Yes, this is how hot it was. LOL |
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| Locals enjoying the river in a gorge. |
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| Nelson and the gorge. |
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| The arid mountains and the green valley was quite the contrast. |
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| Us with our private guide Mohammed who drove us around Morocco for three days. |
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| Stop? |
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| This was in the brochure in our hotel in Marrakech. |
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| The Marrakech Medina. |
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| When in Marrakech... hookah or chicha. |
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| Playing cards on the rooftop of our hotel in Marrakech. |
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| At the botanical gardens in Marrakech. |
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