Do you know anything about Morocco?

by asilentone 39 Replies latest social relationships

  • Married to the Mob
    Married to the Mob

    asilentone

    Morocco is a great country. Wife and I spent our honeymoon there in Marrakech.

    It was a orginally a french colony and as such the drivers are fairly wild! Common to see cars with a ding or 2 or 3 or 4. Loads of scooters too. Although the shops are priced, in the markets and souks everything is about haggling and 50% to 75% off the price they offer you is a good point to start. Will will get a little heated and wild but all good fun!

    The people are very proud and passionate. Being English most of them wanted to talk football (soccer) with me so was fairly entertaining. Most people speak a dialect of arabic and french.

    The berber tribe who are based more in south of the country are seen more of the underclass of the country. Wasn't completely sure why but they were easy to spot by their berber coats. Personally I thought the coats were cool and wanted to get one.

    I loved the djemaa el fna which is the main square in the medina of marrakech. This is one crazy place with fresh orange juice sellers, food stalls, snake charmers, you name it! And by nighttime it is a mad house!

    The food is great and lots of chicken and lamb with herbs and spices and lemon. Tangine is a regular but all the food we tried was good. a favorite of ours were the pastry made of filo, nuts and honey. Can't remember what it called but they were good.

    Whilst there is a old system there, there is also a modern trendy side and some of the bars and restaurants are superb and stylish. Talking about style, Yves Saint Laurent has a house there which is uber cool and chilled. Especially considering its location and the crazyness on the streets outside!

    We also went to Cassablance and visited the world's 3rd largest mosque and the one of the few non muslims are allowed into. We also went to rick's cafe!

    I would definitely go back to morroco. For a muslim country its fairly progressive, the culture and history are fascinating.

    MTTM

  • BizzyBee
    BizzyBee

    We will be visiting Morrocco briefly in November so I am buying books about it (and Spain and Portugal.)

  • ziddina
    ziddina

    Hmm. Your lady sounds like a well-educated "town" Moroccan... Not a "Berber", at all...

    I'm more familiar with the Berber viewpoint - and that should actually be "Imazighen" or "Tamazight", tho that last term also refers to the main language group spoken amongst the Berber tribes...

    I'm also more familiar with their historical aspect than their current situations... 'Cause my SCA persona is "Berber" - Imazighen...

    If you look up their areas on Google Earth, some of the photographs of the desert areas - and the Anti-Atlas mountains - GORGEOUS!!! One of the few areas in the world [that I've spotted so far...] that have that "red rock" beauty like we have out here in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona...

    Zid

  • llbh
    llbh

    The Capital is Rabat, though Casablanca is more widely known, as is Fez and Tangier It is also just South of Spain, and is one of those countries where the Occident meets the orient , though not in the same sense as Turkey.

    David

  • eyeslice
    eyeslice

    I have visited Marrakesh and the Atlas mountains. Marrakesh is fabulous mixture of the exotic, chaos and centuries old traditions - I loved the place. The deserts and mountains are beautiful.

    As stated by other posters, the second language (after Arabic) is French so I would suggest that you brush up on that. Good luck!

  • beksbks
    beksbks

    The only thing I know and have never forgotten, was a line from a Rick Steves travel book.

    As a tourist, you'll fit in like a clown at a funeral.
  • teela(2)
    teela(2)

    Stay away from anything that looks like a home made chocolate bar.

  • Scully
    Scully

    Why don't you ask her, instead of embarrassing yourself by pretending to know what you do not know?

    If you ask her about customs, the local weather, traditional costumes and practices, her favorite foods from Morocco, what "normal" family life is like there (for instance, do children live with their parents until they are married, or is independence from parents encouraged?), and so on, you can probably enjoy many hours of pleasant conversation and learn a lot about her and her background. She will appreciate that you asked her, rather than just assume that everything you read on Wikipedia applies to her.

  • Razziel
    Razziel

    Love is a universal language. Just be yourself. If she decides she really likes you, she'll ignore or overlook any initial cultural slip-ups you make.

  • asilentone
    asilentone

    teela, why should I stay away from homemade chocolate bars?

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