Thanks to Wikipedia for the information about Morocco, which I have quoted and edited here.
The Kingdom of Morocco is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to the east, and the disputed territory of Western Sahara to the south. Morocco also claims the Spanish exclaves of Ceuta, Melilla and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, and several small Spanish-controlled islands off its coast. It has a population of approximately 37 million. Islam is both the official and predominant religion, while Arabic and Berber are the official languages. Additionally, French and the Moroccan dialect of Arabic are widely spoken. The culture of Morocco is a mix of Arab, Berber, African and European cultures. Its capital is Rabat.
RABAT
Rabat was founded in the 12th century by the Almohads, a North African Berber Muslim empire. After a period of growth, the city fell into a long period of decline. In the 17th century, Rabat became a haven for Barbary pirates. When the French established a protectorate over Morocco in 1912, Rabat became its administrative center. When Morocco achieved independence in 1955, Rabat became its capital.
The Moroccan Flag
Bab Rouah Gate
Bab Rouah Gate was built by the Almohad caliph Ya'qub al-Mansur in the late 12th century, as part of the monumental capital he started building here. The gate and its adjoining ramparts were finished by 1197. The Arabic name Bab ar-Ruwah, meaning "Gate of the Winds", likely derives from the strong Atlantic winds which batter the city.
Bab Rouah Gate
Mohammed VI is King of Morocco. A member of the Alawi dynasty, he acceded to the throne on 23 July 1999, upon the death of his father, King Hassan II.
Royal Palace
Royal Palace Entrance
Bread Maker. WE had some fabulous bread in Morocco.
Seller of Beef
Oudaya National Museum of Ornaments
The Grand Theatre of Rabat
'The Grand Theatre of Rabat' is a large performing arts center in Rabat. The building was designed by Zaha Hadid and her architectural firm Zaha Hadid Architects. The building is among the last projects designed by Zaha Hadid before her death in 2016.
The construction of the theatre is part of a wider national initiative by King Mohammed VI to promote the arts and cultural development. The Grand Theatre is planned to be one of the centerpieces of a new 110-hectare mixed-use district on the shores of the Bou Regreg River, including malls, residential areas, a national archive, a new archaeological museum, and a business district with skyscrapers on the Salé side of the river.
The curving design of the structure was inspired by both the nearby river's winding course and the aesthetics of Arabic calligraphy. Other elements take their cues from Islamic architecture. The building includes an 1800-seat interior theatre and a 7000-seat open-air amphitheatre.
The Mohammed VI Tower is a 55-storey, 250-metre (820 ft) skyscraper in the city of Salé, bordering Rabat, the capital of Morocco. It is the tallest building in Morocco and the third tallest in Africa.
Hassan Tower
Hassan Tower is the minaret of an incomplete mosque in Rabat. It was commissioned by Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur, the third caliph of the Almohad Caliphate, near the end of the 12th century. The tower was intended to be the largest minaret in the world, and the mosque, if completed, would have been the largest in the western Muslim world. When al-Mansur died in 1199, construction on the mosque stopped. The minaret was left standing at a height of 44 meters.
The Mausoleum of Mohammed V
The Mausoleum contains the tombs of the Moroccan king Mohammed V and his two sons, late King Hassan II and Prince Abdallah. Mohammed V died in 1961. Construction of his mausoleum was commissioned by Hassan II. The complex was designed by Vietnamese architect Cong Vo Toan using traditional forms with modern materials.
Construction was completed in 1971 and Mohammed V's body was transferred here that same year. His son Abdallah was buried here in 1983. Hassan II was also buried here upon his death in 1999.
Volubilis
Volubilis is a partly excavated Berber-Roman city near the city of Meknes.
Built in a fertile agricultural area, it developed from the 3rd century BC onward as a Berber, then proto-Carthaginian, settlement before being the capital of the kingdom of Mauretania. It grew rapidly under Roman rule from the 1st century AD onward and expanded to cover about 42 hectares (100 acres) with a 2.6 km (1.6 mi) circuit of walls. The city gained a number of major public buildings in the 2nd century, including a basilica, temple and triumphal arch. Its prosperity, which was derived principally from olive growing, prompted the construction of many fine town-houses with large mosaic floors.
Fes
Fes is a city in northern inland Morocco and the capital of the Fez-Meknes administrative region. It is one of the largest cities in Morocco, with a population of 1.256 million, according to the 2024 census.
Fes was my favorite location in Morocco.
Bab Boujloud Gate
There were amazing doorways throughout Morocco.
SEller of Camel Meat
Rug Merchant
University of Al-Karaouine
University of Al-Karaouine is considered the oldest continuously operating university in the world. Founded in 859, it's located in the heart of Fes's old city and is a significant cultural and educational landmark.
Riad Salam Fes Hotel, where we stayed in Fes
Chouara Tannery
Chouara Tannery is the largest tannery in the city and one of the oldest. Since the inception of the city, the tanning industry has been continually operating in the same fashion as it did in the early centuries.
Local tradition generally holds that the Chouara Tannery dates from the city's foundation by Idris II (beginning of the 9th century).
The most notable feature of Chouara and the other local tanneries is the numerous stone vats filled with different colored dyes and white liquids. Hides of cows, sheep, goats, and camels are processed by first soaking in a series of the white liquids – made from various mixtures of cow urine, pigeon feces, quicklime, salt, and water – in order to clean and soften the tough skins. This process takes two to three days and prepares the hides to readily absorb the dyes. They are then soaked in the dyeing solutions, which use natural colorants such as poppy for red, indigo for blue, and henna for orange. After the dyeing, the hides are dried under the sun. The resulting leather is then sold to other craftsmen, who use it to produce Morocco's famed leather goods, such as bags, coats, shoes, and slippers, prized for their high quality. The entire leather production process comprises manual labor only and involves no modern machinery, and has retained methods unchanged since medieval times.
Stacks of Berber slippers
Erfoud is an oasis town in the Sahara Desert of eastern Morocco.
Rissani is a town in Errachidia Province in eastern Morocco, located near Erfoud. It is the closest town of significant size to the Erg Chebbi, the largest sand desert in Morocco.
Morocco is a major exporter of medjool dates.
Sahara
The Sahara is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of 9,200,000 square kilometres (3,600,000 sq mi), it is the largest hot desert in the world and the third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Arctic.
The desert covers much of North Africa, excluding the fertile region on the Mediterranean Sea coast, the Atlas Mountains of the Maghreb, and the Nile Valley in Egypt and the Sudan.
We enjoyed a day and night in the desert
We were in a sand storm.
There are many fossils of ancient sea life in the desert from when the desert was covered by sea water
Nomadic People of the DEsert
Our camp in the desert. Each tent had electricity and a bathroom.
Oasis near Todra Gorge
Aït Benhaddou
Aït Benhaddou is a historic village along the former caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakesh in Morocco.
Marrakech
Marrakesh or Marrakech is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakesh–Safi region. The city lies west of the foothills of the Atlas Mountains.
Cell towers were camouflaged to look like palm trees
Snake charmers in the town square.
Saadian Tombs
The Saadian Tombs are a historic royal necropolis in Marrakesh. They date to the time of the Saadian dynasty and in particular to the reign of Ahmad al-Mansur (1578–1603), though members of Morocco's monarchy continued to be buried here for a time afterwards.
Bahia Palace
The Bahia Palace is a mid to late 19th-century palace in Marrakesh, Morocco. The palace was first begun by Si Musa, grand vizier under the Alawi sultan Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman, in the 1860s. It was expanded by his son Si Ba Ahmed ibn Musa, grand vizier of Sultan Moulay Abdelaziz, between 1894 and 1900.
The Bahia Palace is a mid to late 19th-century palace in Marrakesh, Morocco. The palace was first begun by Si Musa, grand vizier under the Alawi sultan Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman, in the 1860s. It was expanded by his son Si Ba Ahmed ibn Musa, grand vizier of Sultan Moulay Abdelaziz, between 1894 and 1900.
I only show two images of the ceiling.
I took a balloon ride near Marrakech
Argan oil
Argan oil is a plant oil produced from the kernels of the argan tree (Argania spinosa L.), which is indigenous to Morocco and southwestern Algeria. argan oil is used to dip bread at breakfast or to drizzle on couscous or pasta. It is also used for cosmetic purposes.
Argan oil is a plant oil produced from the kernels of the argan tree (Argania spinosa L.), which is indigenous to Morocco and southwestern Algeria. argan oil is used to dip bread at breakfast or to drizzle on couscous or pasta. It is also used for cosmetic purposes.
Argan trees
Photo by Yao
The argan nut contains one to three oil-rich argan kernels. Extraction yields from 30% to 50% of the oil in the kernels, depending on the method. It takes about 40 kilograms (88 lb) of dried argan fruit to produce only one litre of oil.
Goats climb argan trees for the soft skin of the argan nuts.
Photo by Yao
Essaouira
Essaouira is a port city in the western Moroccan region of Marrakesh-Safi, on the Atlantic coast. It has 77,966 inhabitants as of 2014.
The foundation of the city of Essaouira was the work of the Moroccan 'Alawid sultan Mohammed bin Abdallah, who made an original experiment by entrusting it to several architects in 1760, in particular Théodore Cornut and Ahmed al-Inglizi, who designed the city using French captives from the failed French expedition to Larache in 1765, and with the mission of building a city adapted to the needs of foreign merchants. Once built, it continued to grow and experienced a golden age and exceptional development, becoming the country's most important commercial port but also its diplomatic capital between the end of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century.
Medina of Essaouira was designated by the UNESCO a World Heritage Site in 2001.
New kittens living in a cannon
Photo by Yao
Casablanca
Church of Notre Dame of Lourdes
Notre-Dame de Lourdes Church is a Roman Catholic church in modernist style in Casablanca. It was built in 1954 by architect Achille Dangleterre and engineer Gaston Zimmer. The church is known for its stained glass windows.
Hassan II Mosque
The Hassan II Mosque is a mosque in Casablanca. It is the second largest functioning mosque in Africa and the 14th largest in the world. Its minaret is the world's second tallest at 210 metres (689 ft). Completed in 1993, it was designed by Michel Pinseau under the guidance of King Hassan II and built by Moroccan artisans from all over the kingdom. The minaret is 60 stories high topped by a laser, the light from which is directed towards Mecca. The walls are of hand-crafted marble and the roof is retractable. A maximum of 105,000 worshippers can gather together for prayer: 25,000 inside the mosque hall and another 80,000 on the mosque's outside ground.
Work commenced on July 12, 1986, and was conducted over a seven-year period. Construction was scheduled to be completed in 1989 ready for Hassan II's 60th birthday. During the most intense period of construction, 1400 men worked during the day and another 1100 during the night. 10,000 artists and craftsmen participated in building and beautifying the mosque. However, the building was not completed on schedule which delayed inauguration. The formal inauguration was subsequently chosen to be the 11th Rabi' al-Awwal of the year 1414 of the Hijra, corresponding to 30 August 1993, which also marked the eve of the anniversary of Prophet Muhammad’s birth. It was dedicated to the Sovereign of Morocco.
