If you can hack the heat, it might be time to book yourself a summer holiday to one of Morocco’s most beautiful cities.

IF you’re after sunshine and culture then look no further.

Morocco’s Fez has got it all…

Explore the medina

The old city is nicknamed the “Athens of Africa” and its 9th-century medina is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Take a guided tour of some of the 9,700 pedestrianised streets to see the incredible mosaics of Bou Inania Medersa and El Glaoui Palace, and peer through the engraved wooden doors of Al Quaraouiyine, the world’s first university dating from 859 AD. Half-day tours cost from £40.

Then sip mint tea at the cafe of the 18th century Nejjarine Museum of Wood Arts and Crafts, entry £1.60.

Later get a hilltop selfie on the top of Al-Qolla while visiting the remains of the Merenid Tombs.

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I wrote recently about innovation lessons from the Roman Empire (SPQR Innovation) and in the course of my travels and research, I have uncovered additional Roman examples that are worth investigating.  I also would like to share an insight that occurred to me concerning a characteristic of tourism and how it relates to the challenges faced by innovation practitioners.

Roman Maritime Concrete

The first Roman example appeared in a local paper and has ties to a local university where I live, so I assume that this information has not reached a broader audience.  As I mentioned in my previous article, the Roman Empire spanned hundreds of years and left a lasting imprint on the planet.

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Game of Thrones is back with seven new set locations in Spain – here’s how to visit them all, plus the old favourites in Ireland, Iceland and Croatia.

WINTER is coming early this year, as Game of Thrones returns to our screens at 2am next Monday.

Season seven of the wildly popular show is just seven episodes long but promises to be overflowing with just as much gore, sex and intrigue as ever.

As well as new plot lines, the HBO series will feature seven dramatic new locations in Spain in addition to old favourites in Ireland, Iceland and Croatia.

At the end of the last season, winter finally arrived in the fictional world of Westeros, so the TV studios needed a slightly colder climate for many of their scenes.

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Essaouira is as boho as Marrakech but without the hassle. Liz Hoggard checks in for some sweet sanctuary.

Last week I slept in a botanical garden. Each morning at Essaouira’s Le Jardin des Douars, a hotel set in 7.5 acres of tropical planting, we awoke to the heady scent of thyme, Moroccan rose and lantana, then snuck out of our villa to swim in the heated jade pool, as frogs scuttled past giant cacti and succulents, and red dragonflies turned arabesques in the breeze. The hotel has three resident peacocks, and our gardener confided that he’d nicknamed the female tortoise Marine Le Pen “because she can be a bit mean.” Paradise with a sense of humour — what more could you want?

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Morocco is such a feast for the traveller’s senses. It’s a country of variety; with mountains, deserts, coastlines, Kasbah valleys and intriguing nature. From place to place, you’ll constantly witness new cultures, languages, foods and variations of the minty, Moroccan tea. But Morocco also has a range of exciting, vibrant and historic cities. Atlantic cities like Casablanca, blue painted hillside towns like Chefchaouen, or the Spanish influenced Tangier. Each of Morocco’s cities is intriguing and each has its own personality.

Four of the country’s most famous cities are commonly referred to as the Imperial Cities. All have, at one point in time, been the capital of the country, each one has ancient medinas and royal palaces.

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The city of Rabat, capital of Morocco, is a Unesco World Heritage site, and the Jardins d’Essai Botaniques, literally meaning Gardens of Botanical Trials, was classified a national heritage site in 1992.

These gardens were created between 1914 and 1919, under a joint initiative of the sultan  Moulay Hafid and the French Protectorate. They were designed by one of my favorite garden architects, Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier, best known for the Rose Garden and the Iris Garden of Bagatelle outside Paris, but who created gardens in Spain and Morocco in addition to his city planning work as a French public servant, laying out the plans for the modern cities of Morocco.

The gardens were reopened by the current King in 2013, following extensive renovations after years of neglect.

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Desert Morocco Adventure received the TripAdvisor certificate of excellent 2017, for that we would like to thank very much our guests for the great time we spent together and for the feedback. In future we will still do our best in order to achieve the best results.

We also would like to thank very much  Tripadvisor.

Free Guided City Tour Marrakech

Marrakech is a town in Morocco and lies in the foothills of the High Atlas Mountains. This red town was founded in 1062 by Yusuf Ibn Tashfin as the capital of the Almoravids.

Desert Morocco Adventure offers you a free of cost city walk tour to discover all what has this beautiful city to offer.

The Marrakech guided city walk tour starts at 9:00 am in Koutoubia Mosque square, Marrakech.  The tour includes a certificated city guide.

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From Moulay Idriss, we all took taxis to the nearby Roman ruins at Volubilis. Set in a fertile plain, Volubilis is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is considered to be a well preservered example of a Roman colonial town on the fringes of the Roman Empire. Abdul orgainzed for us to have a guided tour of the ruins. However, I usually tune out guides on guided tours and this tour was no exception. I was content with just walking around and checking things out at my own leisure and making up my own stories in my mind of what the various ruins were. My favorite part of the ruins were of course the brothel but also the many beautifully designed mosaics weathered from exposure to the elements for almost 2,000 years.

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Last year I took my first journey to an exotic land as I led my first Morocco photography tour. We did it all again just recently and because of my ankle (the Colombian incident), I brought along a co-leader, Daniel Korzeniewski. You’ll be hearing a lot more about him as he will be leading the tour for us in 2018 as well as one to India that we’re working on.

So I wanted to share some of my images from the recent tour with you. I had limited mobility but still managed to take almost 2000 images. We had a great bunch of people, an amazing guide, and we all had a lot of fun.

If this magical place is on your bucket list – this is also the official launch for registrations which are now opened for the 2018 Morocco photo tour.

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