Ready for Your Next Great Travel Adventure?
This is your Briefing Page for MOROCCO. To help get you started, and to set the scene, below are descriptions from my books of some of the world’s most amazing destinations. These outtakes are to help you learn about the location, prep for your travels and drive up your excitement about a specific place.
After the quotes, you’ll find a brief overview of the destination with my comments and guidance for globally-thinking entrepreneurs. These destination pages are being continuously updated so check back before each trip.
MOROCCO
Casablanca
The sea sweep of the Atlantic Ocean dressed the sunny city in a feathery breeze as the desert sun pounded down upon the inhabitants. The boardwalk was overflowing with busy patrons. Morocco’s largest city was a magnet for tourists and locals alike. The beach scene centered at La Corniche, along the westernmost edge of the continent, was the raunchiest in North Africa. Teenagers panted in shorts and t-shirts, and chased each other in and out of the water, daring not to touch, as they turned back from the surf to see the looming minarets of nearby mosques. This was the essence of free-wheeling southern California captured in a nominally Muslim African country, challenged by no other location in the region for its comforting paradise appeal of relaxed tolerance and surveilled daring.
– Describing Casablanca in The Unbroken Line by Case Lane
Marrakesh
We glided over the Atlas Mountains and descended into Marrakesh, Morocco. The Arabs called the country, al-Maghreb al-Aqsa, the farthest land of the settling sun. We were at the western edge of the Mediterranean, the northern tip of Africa at the direct opposite end of where we had begun. In the northern African countries, the facade of the cities merged into the creeping edge of the desert. The buildings were sand-painted to light brown, blended over mud and swept with wind…
Fabled Marrakesh, which was the one and only sight of Africa that many tourists would ever see, was no exception. Despite a proclamation that its color was red, the city reflected back the seeped under transition to a fading peach. We began our stroll in the ville nouvelle walking in the direction of Djemaa el-Fna, the city’s main square where color, music and movement encircled street performers holding the gazes of passers-by. In any direction from the square, sprawled the maze of the medina, the medieval center of an Arabic city and within it the souq, the market offering an entrancing welcome. Flanked at all times by the spiraling tips of the High Atlas mountains and the minarets of mosques like the beautiful Koutoubia, we glanced with admiration at the artistry of the Berber carpet makers and with rapid distaste at the foreign made trinkets of tourist schlock.
“You know by myself I would not even try to spend time here,” I remarked about the medina as we wandered into its embrace with gunning motorcyclists coming at us from every directions at high speeds threatening without fear to mow down covered women, unsuspecting children and terrified tourists alike. “If you get lost you may never get out…we descended yet deeper into the compressed walkways and buildings of the tighter city neighborhoods where one could reach out a hand from one building over an alleyway and touch the one across from it…
At the ultimate western and northern edge of Africa, Moroccans had an airier sensibility than their distant cousins to the east. A touch of Europe sprinkled the atmosphere, and a decades-long stream of tourists had prompted an accommodation that provoked an outline of friendliness in the hustle to make a sale or act as a guide. The dress for women was conservative but one knows that it did not have to be and that sanctioned moderate behavior. The souq sold spices, leather shoes, wooden boxes, seat cushions, carpets, clothes, bags, hats, t-shirts and the reach of goods beyond that could be made in the area or imported at tourist cost. Around us was one of the world’s most spectacular markets for its combination of onsite workshops surrounded by endless displays, variety and time-honored trading traditions…
– Describing Marrakesh in Walking with J by Karsten Quarters
Tangier
Pungent Tangier mixed the scent of Moroccan spices with sea spray, pressing crowds and a faint touch of the tropics seeking to approach from the south…
– A glimpse of Tangier in The Probable Cause: A Future Tech Cyber Thriller by Case Lane
The coastal drive to Morocco’s sleepy capital city Rabat had taken Rafer’s friends less than two hours to traverse when the car rolled into one of the city’s western suburbs bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Low rise and orderly compared to the country’s other significant metropolitan centers, the national capital region avoided both the stomping tourist kitsch of Marrakesh, and the hustling cosmopolitan beat of nearby Casablanca.
– Describing Morocco’s cities in The Probable Cause: A Future Tech Cyber Thriller by Case Lane
BRIEF OVERVIEW
Place: Al Mamlakah al-Maghribiyah, Kingdom of Morocco, at the top of northwest Africa, only nine miles from Europe across the Strait of Gibraltar
Visited: Twice
Most Recent Visit: 2012
Original sites: Manageable
Familiarity: Medium: Only in the cities, lower in the rural areas
English usage: Rare: but try French especially with older locals
Surprise: The gentle calm that has kept the peace here for so long (2018)
For Rising Entrepreneurs Expanding to Global Markets: The proximity to Europe, colonial influences and endless tourists have left a modernizing and reachable imprint on a young population.
Country Details: U.N. Country Data Stats for Morocco
Reading Recommendations (click the book cover to learn more)
Want more details about visiting Morocco: contactcase(at)readyentrepreneur(dot)com
Disclosure: Book links are affiliate links to the Amazon.com bookstore meaning as an Amazon Associate Case Lane or Ready Entrepreneur may earn compensation from qualifying purchases. Advertising may support the maintenance of this website and the information you are receiving.
