1001 Nights Journey

It's been over a month since I traveled to Morocco, but still I haven't told you anything yet about it. To be honest, I've always wanting to write my travel stories as soon as I come back from a trip. But things have been a bit hectic lately so I didn't allow myself to spend hours writing for my blog. And after doing some hard work, I think it would be fine to spend my day to make this blog a bit more interesting than these past few weeks.

Bringing back memories of Morocco wasn't that hard as I still have a vivid image of it to this day. Stunning mosques, decorative arts, colorful Moroccan entrance door, photogenic streets and alleyways; the hustle and bustle in the Medina; goats, donkeys and camels spilling across the road; local markets with their noisy and busy maze. That's my basic description of Morocco. They all do sound like much of a formula for prettiness, don't they? Well, I don't know if this place really has magic to spread the happiness, but all I know with absolute certainty is that it is the second place after England that has stolen my heart.

I stayed in Marrakech and also took a visit to the surrounding regions. At first I thought I could go to Zagora Desert, the open gate to Sahara Desert. But then I was informed that it's impossible to have one night trip to the desert, so I picked Ourika Valley and Essaouira to spend the first two days. You might not have heard of them before, but prepare yourself to fall in love with these two other Morocco towns. This warning especially applies to people who love nature and relaxing. So instead of regretting my cancellation desert trip, I found it was difficult to contain myself with excitement that these places were amazing and fascinating.

If you pay a bit more attention to my photos, it's really easy to identify each of the places. They have their own unique characteristics, which not only come from their colors and surroundings, but also from their atmosphere. Ourika was great with its beautiful green landscape, cool mountain air, authentic atmosphere in the riverfront cafes and its eye candy village houses along the way to the valley. In Essaouira I found myself fall in love too quickly with this dazzling coastal town. I could feel a friendly atmosphere in its busy port while on the other side of the town, somewhere between the bright blue alleyways and whitewashed houses, there is a relaxing atmosphere. I also could taste a bit of Santorini here, that's the reason why people called this place as "Greece in Morocco". But apart from their prettiness, it is Marrakech, the one that I will never be able to erase from my memory of its hustle and bustle of daily life, and at night there was the magical Jamaa El Fna which I feel like I was being transported back in time to one of those 1001 Arabian nights stories.

I think a place like this is every photographers dream. Because even for an amateur "photographer" like me, I was surprised when I realized that in my last day, there was no free space left on my 8 gigabyte memory card. It contained 1127 photos. I know, it's such a large amount of pictures! I could hardly put my camera on my bag and almost always take it on my hand. I walked every few steps away and I stopped to capture every activity, street, sight that I found. At the surface you would find many tourists (which I don't really like to be there), but on the back streets, there is a real world where you can feel like you are in total different place and time. Started from alchemists selling tons of different colorful "potions", terrifying dentist stalls, the laundry hanging on the windows and many other things that will always surprise you. You will get lost but I think that is part of the charm of this place. I enjoyed walking without map and only follow my heart. Needless to say, Morocco comes highly recommended by me. I only spent 3 days here but I could stayed for so much longer. I promise to myself, one day I will be back here to have days and nights Sahara desert journey, try the hammam in Marrakech, explore more alleyways and places.