Why I Fell in LOVE with Morocco

I went on holiday to Morocco and traveled to Marrakesh, Fez, Casablanca and the Atlas Mountains.  The Moroccan people are very friendly, the food is delicious, the shopping is fantastic, the scenery is gorgeous and the Riads are magnificent.  I highly recommend you stay at a Riad instead of a hotel. 

Most of the photographs are mine that I took while traveling around by train, private car and airplane.  Except for the beautiful, Moroccan women at the end of my post and # 10 from the top of the post. 

Morocco is one of my top 10 favorite travel destinations and I can't wait to go again.  We had a fabulous time!

The local market ~ Fez

Moroccan Stork in Marrakesh

Nesting Storks you can see all over Morocco

Famous Marrakesh Market with snake charmers

Gorgeous Moroccan doors and enchanting lanterns ~ taken outside our Riad

Our Riad in Fez

Fabric dyeing ~ Moroccan Style

Moroccan beauty ~  a view of the Alps. (Google Image)

Moroccan Food is simply delicious

Moroccan Tea ~ Get your sweet mint on

Moroccan ceramic factory

Moroccan Cave Living

Moroccan Goat Herders ~ such sweethearts.  They let me play with the baby goats.

The local thief's ~ He tried to sneak in my car and steal my backpack

One disappointed Monkey after he wasn't successful  because I rolled up my window.

Moroccan Boy on his donkey

The lovely fountain at our Riad

Riad in Fez

Fountain inside our Riad in Fez

Moroccan Beauties in traditional Caftan's. (Google Images)

Henna ~ Moroccan Style. (Google Images)

Traditional Moroccan Weddings. (Google Images)

One thing I noticed while traveling around Morocco was that many of the women have a hard life. Most of the women I saw were hardworking and did not age well.  They looked rugged and harsh from the environment. They were very friendly and kind to us. We did meet a lovely Moroccan lady on the train that was on her way back from University. She took the time to tell us all about her city and what we shouldn't miss while vacationing in her country.

Before studying in Europe, I briefly lived in London on a summer university exchange program. My classmate (another American girl) and I lived in a building in the center of London. We shared a tiny room because we chose to live in the most expensive area. The building was full of Moroccan ladies that didn't seem to work and they slept most of the day. I had never met anyone from Morocco and they were very curious about us. One by one they would come to our door and introduce themselves. We thought they were so glamorous and exotic. We didn't have a clue about the "real world" and they sort of adopted us. These ladies were so kind to us and would cook for us almost daily. The hot, home cooked meals were simply delicious. They taught us how to eat with our hands using the freshly baked Moroccan bread. This is starting to go off subject so I will save this true story for another post.

The seedy side I witnessed while on holiday in Morocco: It made me sad to see so much open prostitution in a Muslim country. I was told by our Moroccan guide that the Moroccan prostitutes did it to feed their families. That Morocco was very poor and jobs were hard to come by. He said that some families actually encouraged their daughters who were pretty to work abroad or sell themselves here so they could survive. How many of these women look for foreign boyfriends on holiday so they can seduce them into sending them money every month when they return back home. They only need to send a little money because these women have duped tons of tourists into sending them money so it all adds up. They make a killing off of these idiots! He said they pretend they are poor students when in reality they are skilled prostitutes. When I told our guide I lived in the Middle East he said that Gulf Arabs kept the sex tourism going. He was laughing and said that these men believed in magic and thought that Moroccan women put a spell on them. That in reality they just conned them into thinking they loved them and would stay faithful until their return to Morocco. They would do everything sexual to ensure these men would send them money every month. Our Moroccan guide said that some of these men were even conned into marrying local prostitutes. That it was more common than not. He said that he hated to see the women of his country selling their bodies for a price of a meal. But he didn’t look down on them because he knew what it was like to go hungry.

I was surprised at how honest our guide was about his country. He was also very protective of us. He drove us everywhere and escorted us when we went out at night. He jokingly said he would get a lot of camels if he sold some Blondie's. While staying at a beach resort there was an incident of a Saudi who was beaten within inches of his life. He was walking down the street with a Moroccan prostitute when a gang of Moroccan men jumped him. Apparently the Moroccan men do not like to see their women with Gulf Arabs. I was shocked to see and experience this side of Morocco.

Of course the USA isn't any different when it comes to prostitution. Except for the fact that you don't really see that many pretty, middleclass women selling themselves because they can’t find work and feed their families. It's mostly drug addicts on the streets. Hell, thanks to the sexual revolution, most American girls give it up for free. Loool. It's not just in Morocco, any poor country where you see large numbers of prostitution you will see many young, attractive women selling themselves. For example: Thailand. It’s very sad when you realize this is the only way they might be able to provide food for their families. I do not blame these women for doing what they must to survive. I blame the sleazy men that travel there to exploit the poor because they can’t get lucky in their own country.