Just over the Portuguese border from Spain is a little village with a big castle called Castro Marim. Tourist season was over, so we missed the shows that they apparently put on, which include dramatizations of medieval life and fighting knights. Unlike other castles we have visited, this one does well to show what life might…
Most people, me included, don’t seem to understand the extent of Phoenician, Greek, and Roman influence along the North African coast, but especially Tunisia. A Euro-centric bias makes us forget that the Mediterranean basin, symbolically “center of the Earth”, has a southern area that was, and remains, nearly as important and advanced as its northern…
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There is something about less visited countries that draws me toward them. I want to see a jewel in the rough, to give attention to the underdog. I want to see something rare, something fewer people have seen, something worth talking about, something that challenges me in unexpected ways. Due to a very low population,…
Reason 612 Why I Love (Rural) Morocco: To quote more than a few shop owners, who more often than not just hang a sheet or lean a broom across the front of their shop when they go home for lunch, “There are no thieves here.”
Within Rabat, the capital of Morocco, are the remains of an ancient city called Chellah. Originally Phoenician and Carthaginian, then Roman, then Muslim, the ruins are fairly well-preserved. Eventually, the site became a cemetery, or necropolis, as the Muslims favored nearby Salé. The site also contains a lovely botanical garden and has become a favored…
On the fringe of town, lies the twice-weekly open marketplace, called a souk. (Currently, also the location of the somewhat creepy carnival — photo on right). When it is not in operation, it is simply an open area which, at least in the south, is a vast expanse of sand and dust. The souk being…
Gibraltar is an odd place. It’s tiny and most of the space is taken up by a massive rock in the middle of the peninsula, namely the Rock of Gibraltar. “The name Gibraltar is the Spanish derivation of the Arabic name Jabal Ṭāriq (جبل طارق), meaning “Mountain of Tariq” (Wikipedia). It’s a British Overseas Territory,…
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Being the first day out of site in three months, especially in much cooler weather, it was a busy day. After visiting Chellah, Emilio and I took a trip to the Rabat Zoo, better known locally as Jardin Zoologique de Rabat. Despite some reservations I have about zoos in general, it was surprisingly nice. According to…
