Sunday 20 December 2015

Morocco First Country to Recognize American

Ibn Mohammed Ben Abdellah of Morocco

The Kingdom of Morocco became the first country in the world to recognize America as an independent nation on December 20th, 1777. A year and a half after the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1786, United States Minister Thomas Barclay and Sidi Muhammad Ibn Abdullah, the Sultan of Morocco, penned a treaty of friendship. This treaty of friendship between American and Morocco is now lauded as the key longstanding agreement of peace that remains unbroken between the United States and another country. Morocco then became the first Arab, African and Muslim state to sign a treaty with the USA. 

Morocco, America Treat of Friendship

The first piece of American real estate in Morocco and abroad was the Tangier American Legation Museum. Gifted to the USA by Sultan Moulay Sulliman in 1821, The Tangier American Legation Museum is the oldest diplomatic property in the world. This five-story mansion is registered as a national treasure of historic places and has an impressive collection of paintings along with a bookshop dedicated to Paul Bowles

Tangier Legation Museum

In 1912, Morocco became a French protectorate. Certain portions of Morocco also came under Spanish control, including the province of Tangier. However, the United States did not recognize the French and Spanish protectorates until October 20, 1917, when Secretary of State Robert Lansing sent a letter formally acknowledging the protectorate to Jean Jules Jusserand, French Ambassador to the United States.   

American Legation Museum, Black & White

The United States recognized Moroccan independence from French sovereignty on March 7, 1956, in a statement of congratulations regarding the Franco-Moroccan declaration of March 2, wherein France had recognized Moroccan independence. As 2015 comes to an end we celebrate a historic time frame of 238 years of friendly relations between Morocco and the USA. 



Discover The Best of Morocco - Travel Exploration
Travel Exploration specializes in Morocco Travel. We offer Private Tours and travel opportunities to Morocco for the independent traveler and tailor-made tours for families and groups with a distinctly unique flavor. From Morocco’s Seven Imperial Cities, to the Magical Sahara Travel Exploration offers a captivating experience that will inspire you. At Travel Exploration we guarantee that you will discover the best of Morocco! Call Travel Exploration at 1 (800) 787-8806 or + 1 (212) 618882681 and let’s book a tour to Morocco for you today.

Monday 7 December 2015

Marrakech Guided Tour, Private Site Seeing Tour with Licensed Guide

Marrakech,Snowcapped Atlas Mountains

Marrakech, a Berber city, located just outside the snow capped Atlas Mountains, has become one of the leading destinations for Morocco travelers during the past decade. Travelers from the USA, Europe, Russia and Brazil continue to place Marrakech on their bucket list. Marrakech is leading a style revolution for Moroccan travelers with it's fabulous mix of of old world souks, monuments, mosques, Jewish Heritage Sites, Art Deco architecture, evening Food tours and upmarket Moroccan cuisine. The best way to discover Marrakech's hidden jewels is to take a private Marrakech Guided Tour.

Marrakech Guided Day Tour will give you the opportunity to discover the main sites of Marrakech along with off the beat places. On a Guided Marrakech Site seeing Tour travelers will discover the interiors of the souks that are filled with bustling and delightful food markets, the local bread oven, artisan workshops, majestic gardens along with the glorious Ben Youssef Medersa. All sites are well appointed within Marrakech medina with the famous Majorelle Gardens just footsteps outside. A Guided Site seeing Tour of Marrakech also includes an in depth visit to Marrakech's historical Jewish quarters which consists of the Jewish Mellah, the Jewish Cemetery and the Marrakech Lazema Synagogue. On special request dinner with the Rabbi or Shabbat catered dinner can be arranged.

Djemaa El Fna at night

Guided Marrakech Day Tours all end with a visit to Djemma el Fnsquare just before sunset. Djemaa el Fna Square is best described as an L-shaped square that is a labyrinth of mazes. There are souks sprawling off the sides of crowed alleys that sell carpets, spices, metal and wood works and tourist trinkets. Locals also frequent the square where the evenings deliver storytellers, Gnaoua musicians and drummers, snake charmers, jugglers, acrobats and the evening food market. A typical Moroccan experience includes a visit to the evening food stalls grilling meat on braziers, smoking fish, and selling exotic Moroccan foods. If you want a quick treat you can try Morocco’s popular stewed snails. Grab a tooth pick and dig in. Feeling especially brave? Try some stuffed spleen or a sheep’s head showing the eyes. Wash it down with Khendenjal, a spicy nut-based aphrodisiac. With its wild and colorful characters, Djemaa el Fna will stop at nothing short of bedazzling and astounding you. At night, the air fills with aromatic smoke fumes lingering off the delicious delicacies sold in the streets and the sounds of Moroccan music.

Marrakech Guided Tour, Ben Youssef Medersa

Marrakech Guided Tour City Highlights: Site seeing with a Marrakech Guide 
The Yves Saint Laurent, Majorelle Gardens & Berber Museum Koutoubia Mosque and Gardens El Bahia Palace Saadian Tombs Ben Youssef Medersa El Badi Palace Museum of Photographie Marrakech Museum Djemaa el Fna Square Marrakech Souks - Bread Oven, Local Hammam, Neighborhoods, Artisan Workshops, Spice Souks, Olive Market, Local Bucher and Fruit and Vegetable Sellers, Date Market, Main Kisseria Jewish Mellah, Jewish Synagogue and Jewish Cemetery


Discover The Best of Morocco - Travel Exploration
Travel Exploration specializes in Morocco Travel. We offer Private Tours and travel opportunities to Morocco for the independent traveler and tailor-made tours for families and groups with a distinctly unique flavor. From Morocco’s Seven Imperial Cities, to the Magical Sahara Travel Exploration offers a captivating experience that will inspire you. At Travel Exploration we guarantee that you will discover the best of Morocco! Call Travel Exploration at 1 (800) 787-8806 or + 1 (212) 618882681 and let’s book a tour to Morocco for you today.

Friday 4 December 2015

Moroccan Food Tour, A Culinary Vacation to Morocco

Moroccan Tajine

From the populated ancient medinas in the Imperial Cities to the dusty Desert region to the great Southern rural villages, seaside towns and farm communities, a Travel Exploration Moroccan Food Tour delivers the perfect opportunities to discover the culture of food and art. The cooks in the royal kitchens of Fes, Meknes, Marrakech, Rabat and Tetouan refined Moroccan cuisine over the centuries and created the basis for what is known as Moroccan cuisine today. 

Moroccan cooking is enhanced with fruits, dried and fresh -- apricots, dates, figs, and raisins, to name a few. Lemons preserved in a salt-lemon juice mixture bring a unique face to many Moroccan chicken and pigeon dishes. Nuts are prominent; pine nuts, almonds, and pistachios show up in all sorts of unexpected places. Moroccan sweets are rich and dense confections of cinnamon, almond, and fruit perfumes that are rolled in filo dough, soaked in honey, and stirred into puddings. Spices are used extensively in Moroccan food. Journey across Morocco on a 10 Day Cooking Vacation to Morocco. Discover spectacular Trade Routes & Spice Markets, the world of Moroccan Street Food, Bake Bread with the Berbers and Make Your own Tajine at a Moroccan cookery class. A Taste of Morocco is a Culinary Food Tour Adventure for All Ages and Perfect for the Entire Family!

Moroccan Spices

Book a Tour or call (800) 787-8806). Let us be your Culinary Guide to Discovering Moroccan Cuisine.

Fresh Grill at Casablanca's Marche Centrale 
Fes Food Tour - Souks Tasting Trails Pastilla Making with a Daada Chef 
Cooking Class in Marrakech Breadbaking with the Berbers Tasting 
Marrakech Food Tour in Djemaa El Fna Square

Fes Food Tour

A TASTE OF MOROCCO - 10 DAY ITINERARY:
DAY 1: CASABLANCA – FRESH GRILL AT THE PORT - FES Pick up from Casablanca airport. Start your visit at the Hassan II Mosque, one of the largest mosques in the world that stands besides the sea and boasts stunning views along with breathtaking arches and zellij tiled walls, floors and fountains. Lunch at Casablanca's Marche Centrale.. A taste of Casablanca while you purchase fresh fish from the Market, then hand it over to the locals to cook up.Discover the Art Deco Architecture in Casablanca. Welcome Cocktail and Dinner at your Riad in Fes. Overnight at a Boutique Riad or Hotel in Fes.

DAY 2: FES – DISOCVER THE WORLD OF MOROCCAN STREET FOOD Breakfast and early Rise. Begin your day by d iscovering the world of Moroccan streetfood in Fes. You will visit three different food souks allowing the chance to try traditional Moroccan street food including dried meats, milawi, harsha, briwats, spicy sardines, spicy potato cakes, soups, olives and more. At the honey souk we’re you’ll be able to taste an array of delicious wild honeys, discuss their flavors and health-giving properties and find out why honey is so important in Moroccan cooking and Islamic culture. Investigate traditional cooking methods by visiting a furnatchi where the water for the communal bath house ‘hammam’ is also heated, and a 400 year old ‘furan’ or communal oven and bakery. Discover the world of spices and their uses and the secrets of the male-oriented domain of the tea den under the guidance of a culinary leader and story-teller. Or learn to bake bread in the 400 year old community oven with the baker overseeing your hands-on efforts. Take your hot bread to the honey souk to try it with 8 artisanal wild honeys, aged butter or khlia, spicy dried beef.The Moroccan Culinary Experience The hands-on cooking classes take place right in the heart of a family house – the kitchen. This is a very intimate experience, staying in a villa with the family and being immersed into family life in Morocco. You’ll learn the intricacies of Moroccan cuisine and then of course savour your creations. Enjoy Moroccos’ Dar Batha Garden and Museum in the afternoon. Afternoon Tea at Les Jardin De Bierhn with views of this Andalusian Garden. Overnight at a Boutique Riad or Hotel in Fes.

Moroccan Bastillla


DAY 3: FES – PASTILLA OR PASTRY MAKING IN FES Following breakfast, you will be taken you to the souk to shop for your first cooking class.During your first class you will see how ouarka (the dough used in b'steeya) is made and perhaps have time to buy a few spices to take home. Lunch to follow. Depart for a guided tour of Fes el Bali (Old Fes) to learn some of Fes's history, tour the souks, see the mosques and medersas and visit the famous leather tanneries.

Within the old medina, we will the following historical sites: Medersa Bou Inania: An (Islamic school) founded by Abu Inan Faris that is highly decorated fromfloor to ceiling. The medersa is one of the few religious places in Morocco that is accessible to non- Islamic tourists. Kairaouine Mosque: Morocco’s second largest mosque. The Kairaouine Mosque became the home of the West's first university and the world's foremost center of learning at the beginning of the second millennium. Berber Carpet Demonstration: The Famous Exhibition of Antique and Modern Carpets is one of the places in Fès el Bali where you can see a Berber carpet demonstration. You will be offered mint tea and follow your guide up a coil of stairs to a small area to watch carpets being made by young girls who come from the mountains to show tourists how Berber carpets are made Shopping in the Medina: We will visit the baboosh souk where they sell beautiful hand made shoes, cafdans, pottery, local Fassis crafts and fabric Evening at Leisure. Overnight at a Boutique Riad or Hotel in Fes.

DAY 4: FES - IFRANE – AZRO – ERFOUD - MERZOUGA Breakfast at your Riad. Take the road to Morocco’s Sahra Desert. En route stop in Ifrane for Pastries. Continue the road to Erfoud Camel Trek into the Moroccan Sahara Desert. Overnight at a Luxury Desert Camp in the Erg Chebbi Dunes of Merzouga.

DAY 5: MERZOUGA – RISSANI – AIT OUZZINE - NKOB Breakfast in the Sahara Desert. Morning exploration. Take the road to the town of Rissani. Visit the local souk and then experience a lesson on making Madfouna. Madfouna is the local stuffed pizza indigenous of the Sahara region. Continue the road via Alnif to Ait Ouzzine. Overnight in a Boutique Kasbah Hotel in Nkob.
Marrakech Cooking Class

DAY 6: NKOB – BREAD BAKING OF TRADITIONAL MADFOUNA IN THE MOUNTAINS WITH THE BERBERS – OUARZAZATE. Breakfast in Nkob. Visit Ait Ouzzine, a traditional Ait Atta Village nestiled in the Jebel Saghro and Atlas Mountains. Morning tea and greet the family. Then take the road into the mountains. Participate and learn how to make Bourafain, a traditional bread of the Berbers made in the mountains with volcanic rock. Bourafin consists of dough, secret spices, herbs and animal fat that is stuffed and combined into a bread that raises high and wide. Aït Ouzzine is a Berber village inhabited by over 300 families who live in beautifully painted crenulated kasbahs, with their own henna fields, water wells, livestock and gardens. This peaceful village is tucked away along an impressive desert route connecting the Draa Valley (Tansikht) and Rissani. Meet a local Berber family, partake in a cooking lesson of how to make traditional bread and a tajine. Explore and tour the village by foot. Walk in the green fields and see how the traditional Berbers live with their gardens of herbs, live stock, and henna plants.Explore the village. Henna Party with the Berbers. Take the road to Ouarzazate.Overnight in Boutique Riad or Hotel in Ouarzazate with Atlas Mountain Views.

DAY 7: OUARZAZATE – AIT BENHADDOU KASBAH – OLD ROAD OF CARAVANS – TELOUET – MARRAKECH. Breakfast in Ouarzazate at your Riad. Visit the Oasis of Fint, then take the road to visit Ait Benhaddou Kasbah, Kasbah Telouet. Continue the road to Marrakech. En route stop at an Argan Cooperative. Tasting of Argan oil and Amlou. Lesson on how Amlous is made. Lunch in a local restaurant with cuisine made with Argan oil. Overnight at a Boutique Riad or Hotel in Marrakech.

DAY 8: MARRAKECH Breakfast at your Riad. Start the day with a visit of the Majorelle Gardens, then explore Marrakech’s most important sites – the Bahia Palaces, Ben Youssef Medersa, Saadian Tombs. Mid-day discovery at the Koutoubia Mosque and its gardens. Lunch in the medina at Riad Monceau, a Riad with a leafy garden that specializes in haute Moroccan cuisine. Shop the souks of Marrkaehc. Explore Souk Semmarine and enjoy the Djemaa El Fna Square at dusk. Before heading back to your Riad, discover our Tasting Marrakech Food Tour which is a Medina food crawl across Djemaa El Fna SquareExotic eats of snail soup, sheep’s heads and more. Taste or watch. It’s all a food experience. Overnight at a Boutique Riad or Hotel in Marrakech in Marrakech.

DAY 9: MARRAKECH – COOKING CLASS – AFTERNOON AT LEISURE – INDULGE IN A MOROCCAN HAMMAM 10:00am - 14:30 (2:30opm) – Cooking Workshop The workshops are conducted by a dada (traditional Moroccan cook) or a chef from our Moroccan restaurant, and are held at the hotel. Small groups of maximum 10 participants work alongside a translator (Arabic/English/French), using easy-to-use modern equipment found in everyday kitchens. At the end of each workshop, participants dine on the meal they have prepared. At a typical half-day workshop, one learns to prepare an appetizer and a main dish, or a main dish and dessert. Cooking Class Marrakech Overview: Greeting and overview of Moroccan cuisine by an English speaking interpreter Demonstration of how Moroccan bread is made Visit a communal bread oven and hotel spice market Work and cook at your own workstation alongside the Dades to prepare a delicious Moroccan meal Moroccan Meal Description: Two Moroccan cooked salads, Chicken & Lemon Tajine with Preserved Lemons & Olives. Pastilla with Milk for Desert. Participate in a Moroccan Tea Ceremony Dine on the mouth-watering lunch that you have prepared Option to add Moroccan wine pairings Zaalook- Eggplant salad- (Starter) First Course: Tagine beef and prunes Second Course: Fish with chermoula (a marinade) Dessert: Carrot orange dish Mint tea Menu 2 Seafood Bastilla – Pastry with seafood (Starter) First Course: Chicken lemon Second Course: Vegetarian couscous Dessert: Gazelle horn and mint tea And many more menus are available. Spend the remainder of the evening at leisure (this is an opportunity to return to the souk to shop or perhaps to visit the local hammam). Overnight at a Boutique Riad or Hotel in Marrakech.

DAY 10: MARRAKECH – CASABLANCA DEPARTURE Departure from Marrakech or Casablanca For more information about A Private Cooking Vacation to Morocco

Discover The Best of Morocco - Travel Exploration
Travel Exploration specializes in Morocco Travel. We offer Private Tours and travel opportunities to Morocco for the independent traveler and tailor-made tours for families and groups with a distinctly unique flavor. From Morocco’s Seven Imperial Cities, to the Magical Sahara Travel Exploration offers a captivating experience that will inspire you. At Travel Exploration we guarantee that you will discover the best of Morocco! Call Travel Exploration at 1 (800) 787-8806 or + 1 (212) 618882681 and let’s book a tour to Morocco for you today.

Wednesday 2 December 2015

Fatima Mernissi, Moroccan Feminist & Author Dies at 75 in Rabat

Fatima Mernissi, Feminist Moroccan Author

Fatima Mernessi, Muslim Feminist Author and native of Morocco passed away in Rabat on November 30th, 2015. Mernissi was born in Fes, Morocco in 1940 and became known as one of the Arab world's leading literary authors who challenged the Islamic establishment by focusing on feminist issues along with human rights and democracy. A graduate of the Sorbonne University in Paris, her education was grounded in political science. Later she obtained her doctorate at Brandeis University.

Mernissi was a pioneer of her time. She researched and analyzed Islamic thought and the relation of succession to the Prophet Mohammed. As an Islamic feminist her goal was to facilitate ideas and an open discussion about women challenging their traditional roles along with its relation to the West. Mernissi returned to her native country of Morocco after receiving her doctorate and taught at the Faculté des Lettres on the subjects of sociology and psycosociology. She also worked on sociological research for UNESCO and the ILO. Deep comparisons between the East and West was the topic
Fatima Mernissi focused on most. Various interpretations of Islam, the Koran and the deconstruction of Islamic ideology on women permeated her written works. By questioning Islamic thought she attracted a following of young Muslim women and also Westerners.

In 2003 she was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award which was established by Felipe Prince of Asturias to encourage and promote scientific, cultural and humanistic values that form part of mankind's universal heritage. Mernissi's best known works are Beyond the Veil, The Veil and the Male Elite, A Feminist Interpretation of Islam and Dreams of Tresspass. "Feminists, women and men alike: we stand on the shoulders of giants like Fatema Mernissi." - Laila Lalami, Moroccan American Author

Recommended Reading - Books by Fatima Mernissi:
Beyond the Veil The Veil and the Male Elite Dreams of Tresspass Tales of a Harem Girlhood Women & Islam Democracy & IslamSheherazade Goes West The Forgotten Queens of Islam Women's Rebellion & Islamic Memory  


Discover The Best of Morocco - Travel Exploration
Travel Exploration specializes in Morocco Travel. We offer Private Tours and travel opportunities to Morocco for the independent traveler and tailor-made tours for families and groups with a distinctly unique flavor. From Morocco’s Seven Imperial Cities, to the Magical Sahara Travel Exploration offers a captivating experience that will inspire you. At Travel Exploration we guarantee that you will discover the best of Morocco! Call Travel Exploration at 1 (800) 787-8806 or + 1 (212) 618882681 and let’s book a tour to Morocco for you today.