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Lifesize – An Exhibition in Fes You Won’t Want to Miss

admin — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:15:30 +0000

Jess Stevens of Culture Vultures Fes is having an exhibition of the unusual and fresh work of…Jess Stephens! The show includes sculpture, art jewelery, painting and other 2D, 3D and electronic marks.

Please note that LIFE SIZE opens on Wednesday 15th of September and runs until the 25th and since we’ve already seen some of Jess’s work, we can tell you that you don’t want to miss this.

As long as we’ve known Jess she has dedicated herself to getting the word out about Moroccan artists, musicians, poets, performers, and crafters. If there was an award for Welsh women who have contributed to the growth and appreciation of the Moroccan art scene, we are sure that His Majesty, the King would bestow it upon her.

Now is a chance to see some of what Jess has been doing with her diverse talents, diverse background, and diverse self! Go, go, go!

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Morocco: Things Not To Miss In Marrakesh

admin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 09:47:45 +0000

Morocco Blogs is proud to be working in concert with Rough Guides to bring you the best Moroccan travel and tourist advice available anywhere. Look forward to more great Morocco travel information in the future from Rough Guides and Morocco Blogs!

Morocco: things not to miss in Marrakesh

For Westerners, Morocco’s perceived foreignness gives it an immediate and enduring
fascination – even though it’s just an hour’s ride on the ferry from Spain. And visiting Marrakesh, or Morocco City as early travellers called it, is a good way of getting a taste of the country. This pleasure city, a marketplace where the southern tribesmen and Berber villagers bring in their goods, spend their money and find entertainment, is packed with things to do. So we’re taking the hassle out of trip planning and bringing you the places not to miss in Marrakesh – taken from The Rough Guide to Morocco and The Rough Guide Marrakesh.

The Majorelle Garden

The Majorelle Garden, or Jardin Bou Saf, is a meticulously planned twelve-acre botanical
garden, created in the 1920s and 1930s by French painter Jacques Majorelle, and now
owned by fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent. The feeling of tranquillity in the garden is
enhanced by verdant groves of bamboo, dwarf palm and agave, the cactus garden and
the various lily-covered pools. Don’t miss the pavilion – Majorelle’s former studio is now a
museum of Islamic arts exhibiting Saint Laurent’s fine personal collection of North African
carpets, pottery, furniture and doors.

The Koutoubia Mosque

The symbol of Marrakesh, the Koutoubia’s twelfth-century minaret is a dramatic
landmark in the otherwise architecturally sparse Djemaa el Fna square. At nearly seventy
metres high, the minaret is visible for miles on a clear morning and is the oldest and most
complete of the three great Almohad towers. Work on the minaret probably began shortly
after the Almohad conquest of the city, around 1150 – you’ll see in it many of the features
that were to become widespread in Moroccan architecture.

The Bahia

By far the most ambitious and costly of the mansions north of the Mellah was the Bahia
Palace, originally built in 1866–7 for Si Moussa, a former slave who had risen to become
grand vizier. Visitors enter the palace from the west, through an arcaded courtyard which
leads to a small riad (enclosed garden), part of Bou Ahmed’s extension. The riad is decorated
with beautiful carved stucco and cedarwood, with salons leading off it on three sides. The
eastern salon leads through to the council room and then through a vestibule – where it’s
worth pausing to look up at the lovely painted ceiling – to the great courtyard of Si Moussa’s
original palace.

The Djemaa el Fna

There’s nowhere in Morocco like the Djemaa el Fna – no place that so effortlessly
involves you and keeps you coming back for more. You’ll be fascinated by the remedies
of the herb doctors, with their bizarre concoctions spread out before them. Or for a more
traditional entertainment there are performers, too – the square’s acrobats have for years
supplied the European circuses, though they are perhaps never as spectacular as here,
thrust forward into multiple somersaults and contortions in the late afternoon heat.

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Morocco’s Odd Daylight Savings Time

admin — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 16:36:32 +0000

Just in case you didn’t get the memo, last weekend was the end of daylight savings time in Morocco. It only lasts until Ramadan and so each year it is shorter.

Morocco’s DST Schedule Ends Before Ramadan

Morocco’s daylight saving time (DST) schedule ended at midnight (00:00) local time between Saturday, August 7, and Sunday, August 8, in 2010. The nation’s clocks moved back from being one hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) to UTC+0. This move occurred before the start of Ramadan on August 11.

This information was confirmed by various news and information sources that state that the end of DST in Morocco will occur before the start of Ramadan, so that organizations and people will have time to prepare themselves for the holy month.

Morocco began observing DST in order to save energy and to have their time zone correspond with their main trade partners in the European Union (EU). During daylight saving time, Morocco observes Western European Summer Time (WEST), which is UTC+1. The time will revert one hour back to (UTC+0) Western European Time (WET) on August 8.

Parts of the Western Sahara that are controlled by Morocco will also change their clocks with the rest of the nation when DST ends on August 8.

History of DST in Morocco

Daylight saving time was observed in Morocco during the 1970s but it was discontinued after 1978 due to its unpopularity and many felt that daylight saving time did not create any major benefits for the country and its people at the time.

The Moroccan government trialed DST for about four months in 2008 and found the trial period to be a success. DST continued to be observed in Morocco which helped the nation achieve significant savings for the past two years.

DST aims to reduce the need for lighting in households and in different public and industrial areas by starting earlier in the day and finishing earlier. Additionally, Morocco is able to improve their communications and work in synchronization with major trading partners in other countries, particularly in the EU.

Since the adoption of DST in Morocco in 2008, the DST schedule has accommodated for the holy month of Ramadan. There is a chance that Morocco will adopt the same DST schedule in the upcoming years as Ramadan moves earlier each year.

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Ramadan For All Faiths 2010 – Free Ebook

admin — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 10:22:49 +0000

To download Ramadan for All Faiths 2010, just fill in your email on the right sidebar at Vagobond.com

I’ve updated and added illustrations to my e-book, Ramadan for All Faiths, for the year 2010. (formerly Feeding the Spirit). To download it for free, just fill in your email on the right sidebar at Vagobond.com.

As a Muslim, a free thinker, an admirer of Buddhist Philosophy, a fan of Christ, Krishna, and many more of the enlightened prophets we’ve been blessed with on this planet, I think Ramadan is the perfect event to celebrate God, Existence, and this Reality we have before us.

I’ve compiled this book from my own studies and the many religious and philosphical ideas that I’ve been exposed to in this lifetime. Certainly, not everyone will agree with me. Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and just about everyone else can probably find something they don’t like in this book.

Have a look. I think it’s a wonderful way to share our humanity and joy. It’s free…and so are you!

To get the Ramadan for All Faiths just fill in your email in the left sidebar of Vagobond.com and I will send you a free copy. It’s as easy as that. Ramadan starts on the 11th of August this year. Since I will be in Morocco (and Turkey) during this holy month, you can be sure that I will be taking part. Won’t you join me?

Please help me spread the word about this e-book since the ideas inside will be valuable for everyone in our world. Thank you! Ramadan Mubharak!

~Vago

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Ten things you must do in Morocco

admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:15:13 +0000

Whether you are a visitor or a resident, the following is a list of the ten things you must do while you are in Morocco.

1) Visit the Sahara. Whether you go to Merzouga or another spot, the essential thing to do in Morocco is to visit the world’s largest desert of sand. You can ride a camel or take a 4×4 but you must see the Sahara.

2) Stroll through Chefchauen. The funky town of Chefchauen is painted blue because it has always been a refuge for those who move to the beat of a different drum. In this case Jewish refugees from Europe. It’s like being in a different world.

3) Ait Benhaddhu in the Draa Valley is a desert fortress that will make you think of Hollywood films, mainly because it has been in so many of them and yet this set is the real thing. There’s a reason Hollywood loves it so much.

4) Eat couscous with a Moroccan family. Sure, you can get couscous in a restaurant but it’s not until you are sitting around the table on a Friday watching the old folks make couscous balls that the experience truly has any meaning.

5) Get lost in the Fes Medina. Sure, everyone does it, but that doesn’t change the fact that almost getting run over by a donkey in a three foot wide stone alleyway that was built in 700 AD is an experience you’ll never forget.

6) Listen to the Call to Prayer at Sunset from a mountaintop looking over a fair sized city. One call to prayer is magical, but when you hear fifty all coming at slightly different times, it is otherworldly.

7) Wander around Tangier and imagine what it was like when the likes of William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and others were drugged out of their minds there back in the days when the ‘interzone’ drew desperados, drug addicts, homosexuals, and pedophiles.

8) Haggle good naturedly. Too many visitors don’t get the point that haggling can be fun. Pick a price you will be happy with and then see if you can get it for less. If you can’t, just don’t go over your target price. One thing is certain, keep smiling and never let them see you sweat.

9) Sit on the street somewhere eating chicken and fries and watch the locals wander past. We know, you would rather have a tajine and pay 100 dirhams for it, but give it a try. A chicken meal with fries and a drink can usually be had for between 15 and 40 dirhams and you will get to see what real life is like in Morocco. Plus, the roast chicken is almost always better than street tajines.

10) Have dessert for breakfast. This one is especially aimed at North Americans. Did you know that it’s fairly normal to have a piece of cake for breakfast? Step into a Moroccan boulangerie and order yourself a big piece of chocolate cake and an avocado milkshake for breakfast. While the average American might be surprised at using avocados in a milkshake, the average Moroccan would be just as surprised to see avocado in a sandwich with cheese…we’re not saying who is the odder of the two.

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Morocco Travel Tips from Fez ALC students #10

admin — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 15:29:20 +0000

My class at the American Language Center in Fes was terribly excited to have the opportunity to present travel advice to potential visitors of their city. Once again, I gave them the choice of me posting their work to MoroccoBlogs.com or Vagobond.com and they overwhelmingly chose Morocco Blogs. It seems that the students and many of their families already know and like this site and so this is where they want their work to be seen.