About Us Morocco travel advisory

   Morocco is the ideal starting point for the traveler in Africa. An easy hop from Europe, it can be a friendly, surprising, and stimulating place. Open-air markets are piled throughout the country with carpets, wood carvings, and jewelry. The country’s premier product is leather, said to be the finest in the world.

   Morocco has developed a mosaic of artistic traditions. The thread that unites them all is music, from the classical style that developed in Muslim Spain and the storytelling musical traditions of the indigenous Berber through the contemporary fusion of African and French styles. Although identified more with Algeria, the rai (opinion) is the musical style with more force in the cities of Morocco. Despite its Arab-African rhythms (it owes much to Bedouin music), they combine electric instruments to create a hypnotic effect.

   Craftsmanship is important in Morocco. Its leather goods have been commercially appreciated since the 16th century. An equally rich heritage is kept alive in the production of carpets, pottery, jewelry, and wood carvings. Painted and carved panels for interior decoration along with tiles are still widely employed in interior ornamentation in religious buildings and wealthy homes. The mashrabiyya, screens that allow Muslim women to observe what is going on in the street without being seen.

   Morocco has inspired all kinds of artists. The French neo-baroque artist Eugene Delacroix devoted his painting to Moroccan imagery after a visit in 1830. Market scenes, harem life, and lion hunting dominated his canvases. A century later Hollywood also entered a kind of Morocco-mania. First with Marlene Dietrich in Morocco. This was followed by Casablanca and later Peter O’Toole as Lawrence of Arabia, the country had become a fantasy land.

   Moroccan-spoken Arabic (Darija) is considerably different from the Arabic spoken in the East. Several Berber dialects are spoken mainly in the countryside and in the mountains. Morocco tends to march to its Islamic feel in terms of lifestyle, although here too men remain firmly dominant. The strict segregation of the sexes in public life may seem strange to the visitor.

   Moroccan food is good and tasty. The national dish is couscous, semolina accompanied by vegetables and lamb. Tea is the Moroccan drink par excellence. There is no general prohibition on alcohol.