According to the most extensive study on personal space boundaries ever completed, people need less personal space in regions with hot weather. Interestingly the study also found that people from these areas stand even closer to strangers than they do to people they know. So, it might not be too surprising to see that all the destinations consistently up-voted by extroverts boast temperate to hot climates. If you are an extrovert, these are the destinations you should add to your travel to-do list before the weather turns cold: Victoria Falls, Zambia or Zimbabwe The falls themselves are one of the most
It wasn’t clear exactly where he had gone – my mother had only found the beginning of his essay – but he mentioned the delta and several towns along the way to the source in the Middle Atlas mountains. I decided to follow the river, from the ocean to the source.
Foodie hotel Palais Amani in Fez offers a masterclass with chef Zakia Mounadil
She shows guests where to buy top ingredients from the medina’s food market
Then back at the hotel she shows them how to whip up a three-course lunch
Palais Amani is a restored art deco riad located next to one of the medina’s gates
Wandering the streets of Fez’s ancient walled medina is like a magical mystery tour.
There are filigreed metal lamps and intricate wooden carvings, richly dyed carpets and traditional djellaba (hooded kaftans). Carts and donkeys piled high with goods jostle with shoppers.
Nothing prepares you for the riot of flavour and colour that is the medina. A Unesco world heritage site, it is the world’s largest car-free urban area.
We are here at the labyrinthine food market to choose ingredients to cook an authentic Moroccan feast. Our female chef Zakia Mounadil, from top foodie hotel Palais Amani, is showing us the best places to buy spices, fresh coriander and mint, and extra virgin olive oil.
Morocco – Rabat, Modern Capital and Historic City: a Shared Heritage
The tour begins from the north of Morocco, eg. from Tangier to Fez and with a visit to the imperial cities and the Sahara. On the first day, we will travel through the Rif mountains with its spectacular landscape. Visiting the blue city of Morocco is planned. Next day, we visit the capital of Morocco and discover all of it’s most seeing attractions.
On day three, we travel from Rabat to Casablanca. In Casablanca, a freelance certificated city guide will wait for you to show all things that the city has to offer. Afterward, we drive to Marrakech and spend the night in the medina.
Day 4 is the day of a cultural tour of the medina. Here, in Marrakech, a city guide will accompany you and show most of the things to see in the town.
Next day, we travel from Marrakech to Dades valley, on the way we will visit the famous Kasbah of Ait Ben Hadou and visit a cinema studio. Later on, we drive through the valley of roses.
If you want to know what life was like in Morocco hundreds of years ago, you could read a history book, go to a museum — or better yet, visit Fez. One of the most popular tourist spots in Morocco, life has stayed the same for centuries in this medieval city. For example, its tanneries still produce leather the way they did 1000 years ago, and it has the second-oldest university in the world. Here are 10 things you probably didn’t know about Fez, Morocco.
There are no cars
Most of the Fez medina, which contains close to 10,000 streets, is completely car-free, though you might see the occasional motorbike zooming through a crowd of people. The entire medina is a UNESCO World Heritage Site — rightly so.
It has one of the oldest water clocks in the world
What’s a water clock, you ask? It’s an intricate clock where water flows from one end to the other and calculates time. Along with sun dials, water clocks are the oldest form of time keeping in the world. Fez just happens to have one, the Dar al-Magana, which was built in 1357.
Traversing the old caravan route between Marrakech and Timbuktu, what appears to be a massive sand castle suddenly comes in to view as though it were a mirage appearing on the horizon. But this is no mirage – it’s the ancient ksar Aït Benhaddou. A collection of half a dozen mud brick kasbahs that blend in with the surrounding red-orange sand and High Atlas Mountains, it’s one of the most striking and best preserved ksars in Morocco. It’s also a UNESCO world heritage site and well-worth making the day trip to Aït-Ben-Haddou from Marrakech.
Visiting Aït-Ben-Haddou
It’s present day Morocco, though it feels like we’ve stepped back in time. Or maybe even in to the set of movies like The Mummy.
Traders carrying gold, spices and slaves between Marrakech and Timbuktu passed right by Aït-Ben-Haddou. Aït-Ben-Haddou and kasbahs like it were strategic stops for the traders traveling along the old caravan route. There were so many kasbahs that the traders could stop at along their treacherous journey, the route became known as the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs. Though many of the kasbahs lay in ruins today.
Experience Africa’s diverse wildlife, vibrant cultures and thrilling adventure activities.
Teeming with diverse wildlife and vibrant cultures, the continent of Africa has a little bit of everything –modern cities, tropical rainforests, vast deserts, incredible wildlife reserves, cloud-piercing mountains, a myriad of unique ethnic tribes and some of the most hospitable human beings you’ll ever meet.
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Fes el Bali – Morocco’s ancient capital is not for the faint of heart. Those whose notion of luxury travel is to soak in a sense of tranquillity may want to look at other destinations in the country. This, after all, is a medieval era walled city that still deploys donkeys as a mode of transport, where stray cats roam the narrow cobbled streets in moonlight and sellers call out to you in souks already heaving with crowds.
Yet it is precisely this magical medieval maelstrom that draws the traveller. It’s an entire world away from our ordinary lives with cultural, gastronomical, architectural and historical experiences that even other Moroccan cities like Marrakesh can’t offer.
That’s because Fes el Bali and the city of Fez at large has always been Morocco’s cultural centre. Its first buildings in the medina were built in the 8th century and was the capital from which Moroccan dynasties spread its influence across North Africa and parts of modern-day Spain and Portugal.
March is distinguished as Women’s History Month in the U.S., and March 8 marks the global celebration of International Women’s Day. In celebration and support of the many great achievements of women around the world, we’d like to highlight the entrepreneurship, leadership, and talents of five international tourist operations run by women. Each unique experience provides cultural understanding and local knowledge while supporting women and their families. Covering four continents and a range of activities, these immersive experiences also cater to all types of travelers. Though all five operations are run by women, men are encouraged to participate and support these causes when it’s in a culturally appropriate setting.
1. Take a wildlife photo tour in Lapland, Sweden.
Scandinavian Photoadventures, operated by Anette Niia and Ylva Sarri, offers immersive photography tours in Sweden’s stunning Lapland region. Niia says that their tours stand out because they zero in on “how to get the photos you want instead of discussing the technical terms and material, which is often the focus of photography courses.” This provides a less intimidating approach for beginner photographers.
It may well be that settings for people-watching can get no better than an art fair in a grand Moroccan hotel. The milling in and out of La Mamounia Palace in Marrakech was a sight to see last weekend in the midst of the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair: locals and travelers alike taking up their stations amid bountiful orange trees and swaying palms, with a lot of dashing fashion on display. Sounds and scents stirred the senses more, from clacking traffic noise drifting over top the hotel’s gated walls to a dizzying mix of floral aromas whirled together with notes of citrus and gasoline.
Inside, art from 17 galleries filled booths at the first edition of 1-54 in Africa, after previous incarnations of the fair dating back to 2013 in London and New York. “We wanted to do 1-54 since the beginning on the African continent—that was always our plan and ambition,” said Touria El Glaoui, the fair’s founding director.
According to the most extensive study on personal space boundaries ever completed, people need less personal space in regions with hot weather. Interestingly the study also found that people from these areas stand even closer to strangers than they do to people they know. So, it might not be too surprising to see that all the destinations consistently up-voted by extroverts boast temperate to hot climates. If you are an extrovert, these are the destinations you should add to your travel to-do list before the weather turns cold: Victoria Falls, Zambia or Zimbabwe The falls themselves are one of the most
