At 4,167 meters (13,671 feet), Mt. Toubkal is the highest peak in Morocco, in North Africa, and in the entire Arab world. And we hiked it last week. It was the hardest hike I’ve ever done. Adam planned this trip right when we first arrived to Morocco back in September. Perhaps he thought climbing a […]
Rabat is often skipped over on the tourist agenda when traveling to Morocco. And it’s a shame, because Morocco’s capital city has a lot to offer visitors (and even more to offer those of us lucky enough to live here). It’s bright and clean, has just the right amount of shopping at much lower prices […]
I’ve been watching the Showtime show The Affair. Anyone who has watched will know that it is a deeply psychological study of marriage, an affair, and the individuals involved and it really makes you think. It’s probably not the show you want to watch with red wine as your only company while your husband sleeps […]
Sadly, our time in relaxing and pretty Rabat is winding down. We depart in early July for our next post, Algiers. We were only in our spacious, suburban apartment for less than 10 months, but that short amount of time didn’t stop me from enjoying the heck out of setting up a space that feels […]
When I first moved to Rabat, I heard whisperings that there was a “pottery village” across the river in Salé and I was intrigued. When I finally checked out Oulja Pottery Village, or as I call it Oulja Artisan Village (because it’s more than pottery), I was gobsmacked. There exists a peaceful complex filled with […]
I’ve been reading Mark Twain’s Innocents Abroad, which is a travelogue that recounts a grand voyage by sea and land that Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain embarked upon with some super rich Americans in 1868. The writing is wonderful and Mark Twain is an absolute hoot. I’ve laughed out loud on almost every page. And, as you might […]
Readers, I’m sorry posts have been sparse this past month. The thing with living in a place as cool as Morocco for just nine months is everyone wants to visit! So we’ve had a revolving door of family and friends and it’s been fun (repeat trips to Chefchaouen, Marrakech, Fez) but hasn’t left me much […]
Rabat/Salé is one of those city duos separated by a river, like Minneapolis/St. Paul, or Budapest. The Bou Regreg river divides Rabat and Salé and empties into the Atlantic at the edge of both cities. Here is how novelist Edith Wharton described the two cities in her 1920 guidebook “In Morocco:” Salé the white and […]
I recently read this article about the most common scams on travelers in Morocco and how to avoid them and it got me thinking about how much I hate, loathe, despise and abominate being at the receiving end of an attempted scam. There’s something uniquely sucky when someone tries to scam you when you’re in the open-hearted […]
I can be hard on myself about certain ways in which I handle living abroad. Awkward language-barrier encounters, not being assertive enough, not having local friends. But one thing I’ll say outright that I deserve kudos for: Driving a car in foreign countries. To know why this is especially commendable in my particular case, we’d have […]
