Monthly Archives: March 2012
The Colors of Morocco
As our plane left Paris en route to Casablanca, I closed my eyes and started to imagine what my next 2 weeks would be like in Morocco. Having never visited the country before, I let my imagination take flight. I pictured being surrounded by varying shades of desert orange. Sand in my toes, my hair, and probably my mouth. Men and women adorned in scarves that kept the wind and blowing sand at bay. So you might be amused at my surprise when as we were about to land and I asked my sister, who had the window seat, “What does Morocco look like?” She responded… “Like California…”
California? Yah, I guess we have a desert, but that is not the first visual association most people have with the state. So, in disbelief I leaned over my sister to get my own first look of Morocco. She was right. It looked liked we were flying over Central California. There were bright green agricultural plots of land, rolling hills, and snowy mountains. All I could think was, did we get on the right plane?
Over the next 2 weeks I was amazed and in awe each day as Morocco surprised me with a new landscape, a new set of colors, a new destination image to add to my travel memories of this magnificent land. Here is a taste of the kaleidoscopic backdrops of Morocco.
Ruins of Volubilis which are surrounded by olive fields
Evening walk in Midelt, a town known for it's apple production
The Sahara Desert
Palm grove oasis in Todra Gorge
Snow in the High Atlas Mountains
Sunset in Essaouira
Tourism Ads That Make Me Happy
I love a good tourism ad, don’t you? Sometimes they make me want to travel to a destination, and other times they just make me happy and remind me why I love tourism people so much. Here are some of my favorite tourism gems.
1) Visit California – I love Jason Mraz and Betty White. Therefore awesome commercial.
2) Switzerland Tourism – This makes me writhe in agony… but I can’t stop watching. I love old men, and this one is particularly adorable.
3) Enjoy England – The goal of this advert is to encourage Brits to travel domestically in 2012. Little do they know, it makes Anglophiles, like myself, go weak in the knees with all the delicious britishness.
4) Las Vegas – Know the code. Need I say more?
5) Switzerland Tourism… again. This one is my all time favorite. Only tourism advert that literally had me going to kayak.com to look at flight prices after watching it. They clearly understand their target market. Hubba hubba. Switzerland for the the win!
The Taste of Travel: camel pizza and other strange eats
On my own home turf, I would not necessarily call myself an adventurous eater. But that all changes when I travel. Nothing is off of limits for me. Well, almost nothing. Eating out of my comfort zone adds an exciting new element to my travel experience that I look forward to every time I travel.
Food is an integral component of culture: from the way it is prepared, to the ingredients used. Understanding the local cuisine of a destination helps you understand the people and history of the place. Therefore, what better way to show your interest and appreciation for a destination than eating like the locals!
Yummy food - Morocco
Following this philosophy, it isn’t surprising that many of my ‘food firsts’ have happened while I have been traveling around the world. From fried alligator tail in Louisiana, reindeer stew (sorry Rudolph) in Finland, to durian fruit in Bali. I love the taste of travel.
Other travel ‘food firsts’ for me have included:
First Green Tea Waffle - Kyoto, Japan
First Lobster - Barcelona, Spain
First fish with eyeballs attached- Marathon, Greece
I racked up a lot of travel food firsts on my trip to Morocco in January with Intrepid. Some more strange the others. Moroccan tea, gazelle horns, harrira, and camel meat. Yes, camel meat. And it was AMAZING.
As soon as I found out a lunch stop for camel burgers was on our itinerary, I squealed with delight! I did not know what to expect, but knew, good or bad, eating camel was going to be a good story to tell when I got home. The whole group, minus the vegetarian, was excited for “Camel Burger Day.” Little did I know, I was actually going to be eating camel the night prior to the designated special day.
We got into Meknes pretty late in the evening and struggled to find restaurants open near our hotel. A couple of us finally decide on a pizza place that looked legit, and I had remembered seeing it in our Lonely Planet book. We ordered a couple of pizzas to share: a sausage and pepper one and one called pizza du maison (house pizza). The menu was in french, and my high school french failed me in deciphering what what was on this house pizza. But, I thought “when in Morocco, eat what the Moroccan’s eat.” If it was a house special, it must be good. What came out was some sort of mystery meat and cheese pizza. Lamb maybe? Goat? We didn’t know, but we didn’t care… it was delicious! Especially when doused in sriracha sauce .
Fast forward 12 hours and it was lunchtime on “Camel Burger Day”. We headed into the souk in Meknes and landed at a camel burger whole in the wall. 12 westerners in a very non-western spot was apparently a sight to be seen. People starred, but most were pleasantly surprised by our adventurous meal choice. After a cup of Moroccan tea and a 10 minute wait, our camel burgers arrived. As soon as I bit into my mouthwateringly delicious burger I started cracking up. I looked at my sister and said, “Katie, we totally ate camel pizza last night.”
Camel burger - Meknes, Morocco
It was good times and good eats. The only sad part was that a week later we rode camels in the Sahara desert. My camel, who I was sadly told had no name, seemed rather disinterested in me.
Riding camels in the Sahara
I am pretty sure he knew I ate his cousin the week prior. It made me feel pretty guilty, but not guilty enough to never eat camel again.
Do you have any good food stories from your travels?
Here are some other travel food posts to get your taste buds watering…
An Indulgent French Afternoon Picnic
Experience Ukraine as a local: comfort foods, bread, grandmas and bazaars
Travel with Lizzie 