A street in Chefchaouen, Morocco
Image Source: https://galloparoundtheglobe.com
You may not be familiar with the name Chefchaouen but get a glimpse of the town's blue beauty and you won't quickly forget it. Nestled against the Rif Mountains, the Moroccan city is well known for the medieval walls washed in hues that mimic the sky.Chefchaouen is built across the foothills of the Rif mountains, and is an easy drive from Tangier, Morocco's busy seaside hub. Many European visitors (especially from nearby Spain) arrive here to wander through the slinking streets of the medina among the blue-washed walls that distinguish the town. Theories differ on why the blue tint predominates, but we imagine just looking at the color on a hot day lowers the temperature by a few degrees.
Tinghir, an oasis city in Morocco
Cutting through red North African soil, the Todgha River forms a ribbon of green curving through the city of Tinghir. This oasis, sitting between the High Atlas and Anti-Atlas mountain ranges in Morocco, supports flourishing date palm groves. The palms were first planted thousands of years ago, and they helped to establish Tinghir and make it a crossroads of ancient caravan routes. And while the cityscape is striking, one of the area's attractions is purely nature-made: Less than 4 miles from the center of Tinghir is the stupendous Todgha Gorge. The river-carved limestone canyon ranges for about 25 miles, and walls can rise more than 1,900 feet. In one section, sheer cliffs soar above a canyon passage only 33 feet wide.
Ouzoud Falls in Azilal province, Morocco
Morocco's red sands and the stark Atlas Mountains that rise from them may not readily inspire thoughts of drenching cascades. But roughly 100 miles from Marrakesh is a multistep waterfall that appears all the more fantastic for its high desert surroundings. Ouzoud Falls drops a total of 330 feet in a triple tier of torrents down a jagged canyon, where its waters join the El-Abid River. And while we see elegant tendrils falling in our image, come spring the waterfall really gets roaring, with the strongest runoffs of the year plunging down the cliffs..
Essaouira, on the west coast of Morocco
Essaouira's origins stretch back to prehistoric times, and this spot on Morocco's Atlantic coast has been a center of culture and commerce ever since. For centuries, the harbor town was an important trading post as both a seaport and as the northwestern terminus of a caravan route stretching across the desert to Timbuktu in Africa’s interior. Our image shows some of the fortified walls that were raised to protect Essaouira.
Not far from these ramparts are the winding, narrow streets and alleyways of the city's ancient core—the medina. Layers of history are built up around this core, including 18th-century French colonial architecture, and bustling seafood markets that sell the day's catch reeled in from just beyond Essaouira's stone walls.
The ancient city of Aït Benhaddou in Morocco
At the eastern edge of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, Aït Benhaddou stands suspended in time. The ancient mud-brick city is no longer teeming with the crowds of people who once lived here. But there are small markets within the fortified city and a few families cater to visitors who come to walk its historic streets. Many movies and television shows have used Aït Benhaddou as a filming location, not surprising given its spectacular appearance. Most often it's used as a stand-in for Biblical cities, but 'Game of Thrones' fans may recognize the city as Yunkai, a slave-trade hub in the show’s fictional world.
Cape Spartel and its lighthouse in Morocco
This promontory, rising over the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, holds intrigues both historical and geographical. Regarding the latter—Cape Spartel has mistakenly been called the northernmost point of the African continent. And while that title officially goes to Tunisia's Ras ben Sakka, there is a slot in the record books for this Moroccan cape as Africa's most northwestern point.
As for history? There's plenty of it: Cape Spartel saw battles during the War of the Spanish Succession, the Spanish Civil War, and even the American Revolutionary War. Caves below the cape have likely been occupied since the Neolithic era. And a sunken island just offshore may have given rise to the legend of the lost city of Atlantis. Topping it all off is the lighthouse in our image, standing tall since 1864.
Post a Comment