Retirement is such hard work and so stressful that my wife and I decided to take a holiday :)
We went to Morocco for 10 days. It was surprisingly nice. The country, even being so poor, is so clean and tidy - completely unlike what one would expect from a third world country!
Morocco is a Muslim country, but they are very clear in distinguishing themselves from an Islamic State. The country is a monarchy with a functioning democracy fashioned after France's constitution; and it is that law that applies and not Islamic law. A very progressive country where it is forbidden to teach radicalism in mosques etc. A very progressive King who still wields authority over the parliament, but actually works WITH the parliament instead of being a dictator.
The King is a qualified lawyer and has married a commoner who is an IT professional. And he has only one wife.
Polygamy is not illegal, but is discouraged, and as of a few years ago, a husband would require a witnessed and written permission from his first wife to marry another one.
They have clean, good roads and motorways, modern infrastructure, and I never saw a fat cop - male or female.
Very friendly people, they speak French and Arabic, with most touristy places populated by people who speak also Spanish, Italian, English, German, Portuguese, Dutch etc., all very fluently.
My wife and I were always immediately identified as Indian and people started to sing Bollywood songs at us and spout Bollywood dialogues and talk about Bollywood stars. Seems they all are avid watchers of Bollywood movies though they do not speak the language!
Morocco is allegedly famous for spices. I say "allegedly" because I saw zero evidence of any of it it any of the food we ate. The food was totally bland and completely tasteless. And I shall be glad to never ever see another Tagine in my life.
On our onward journey we had a very tight connection in Abu Dhabi and therefore our luggage did not make it to Casablanca. Considering we only had one night in Casablanca, the airline offered to deliver our luggage onward to our next destination, Fes; and then all was well again.
There was snow in the mountains. The one thing my mind could not relate to was "Winter Wonderland" and "Muslim Country" and "The Sahara" in the same sentence!
We went in a 4x4 into the sand dunes to watch the sunset, and I saw the most incongruous thing - two Touareg men in the middle of The Sahara on mopeds. Yes, the small piddly two-wheelers with a piddly motor and pedals.
The only negative in the whole trip was a that we had a scotswoman who was coughing all through the trip (poor woman was sick) and on the last day, my wife and I, another friend, and a couple from South-Africa were all infected and had a bad trip home. My wife and I are still sick with a bad cold, cough, fever and body-ache. And no, it's not Ebola :)
And yes, we spent the last day of the trip back in Casablanca, and we did go to Rick's Cafe (one of the ten replica Rick's Cafes in Casablanca) and had dinner. It is an exact replica of the one in the movie Casablanca. Quite expensive, but the food was not bad.
And of course, we saw a few belly-dances :)
Sorry, I did not shoot any "documentary" pictures of all the touristy things - I never do that.
Cheers
We went to Morocco for 10 days. It was surprisingly nice. The country, even being so poor, is so clean and tidy - completely unlike what one would expect from a third world country!
Morocco is a Muslim country, but they are very clear in distinguishing themselves from an Islamic State. The country is a monarchy with a functioning democracy fashioned after France's constitution; and it is that law that applies and not Islamic law. A very progressive country where it is forbidden to teach radicalism in mosques etc. A very progressive King who still wields authority over the parliament, but actually works WITH the parliament instead of being a dictator.
The King is a qualified lawyer and has married a commoner who is an IT professional. And he has only one wife.
Polygamy is not illegal, but is discouraged, and as of a few years ago, a husband would require a witnessed and written permission from his first wife to marry another one.
They have clean, good roads and motorways, modern infrastructure, and I never saw a fat cop - male or female.
Very friendly people, they speak French and Arabic, with most touristy places populated by people who speak also Spanish, Italian, English, German, Portuguese, Dutch etc., all very fluently.
My wife and I were always immediately identified as Indian and people started to sing Bollywood songs at us and spout Bollywood dialogues and talk about Bollywood stars. Seems they all are avid watchers of Bollywood movies though they do not speak the language!
Morocco is allegedly famous for spices. I say "allegedly" because I saw zero evidence of any of it it any of the food we ate. The food was totally bland and completely tasteless. And I shall be glad to never ever see another Tagine in my life.
On our onward journey we had a very tight connection in Abu Dhabi and therefore our luggage did not make it to Casablanca. Considering we only had one night in Casablanca, the airline offered to deliver our luggage onward to our next destination, Fes; and then all was well again.
There was snow in the mountains. The one thing my mind could not relate to was "Winter Wonderland" and "Muslim Country" and "The Sahara" in the same sentence!
We went in a 4x4 into the sand dunes to watch the sunset, and I saw the most incongruous thing - two Touareg men in the middle of The Sahara on mopeds. Yes, the small piddly two-wheelers with a piddly motor and pedals.
The only negative in the whole trip was a that we had a scotswoman who was coughing all through the trip (poor woman was sick) and on the last day, my wife and I, another friend, and a couple from South-Africa were all infected and had a bad trip home. My wife and I are still sick with a bad cold, cough, fever and body-ache. And no, it's not Ebola :)
And yes, we spent the last day of the trip back in Casablanca, and we did go to Rick's Cafe (one of the ten replica Rick's Cafes in Casablanca) and had dinner. It is an exact replica of the one in the movie Casablanca. Quite expensive, but the food was not bad.
And of course, we saw a few belly-dances :)
Sorry, I did not shoot any "documentary" pictures of all the touristy things - I never do that.
Cheers
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