For
Westerners,
Morocco
holds an
immediate
and
enduring
fascination.
Though
just an
hour's
ride on
the
ferry
from
Spain,
it seems
at once
very far
from
Europe,
with a
culture
-
Islamic
and
deeply
traditional
- that
is
almost
wholly
unfamiliar.
Throughout
the
country,
despite
the
years of
French
and
Spanish
colonial
rule and
the
presence
of
modern
and
cosmopolitan
cities
like
Rabat
and
Casablanca,
a more
distant
past
constantly
makes
its
presence
felt.
Fes
,
perhaps
the most
beautiful
of all
Arab
cities,
maintains
a life
still
rooted
in
medieval
times,
when a
Moroccan
empire
stretched
from
Senegal
to
northern
Spain,
while in
the
mountains
of the
Atlas
and the
Rif
, it's
still
possible
to draw
up
tribal
maps of
the
Berber
population.
As a
backdrop
to all
this,
the
country's
physical
make-up
is also
extraordinary:
from a
Mediterranean
coast,
through
four
maintain
ranges,
to the
empty
sand and
scrub of
the
Sahara.
All
of which
makes
travel
here an
intense
and
rewarding
experience.
It's not
always
easy-going
- there
can be
problems
in
coming
to terms
with
your
privileged
position
as a
tourist,
and in
dealing
with
self-appointed
guides
eager to
offer
their
services.
However,
in
recent
years
the
worst of
the
hustlers
have
been
cleared
off the
streets
(anyone
who
visited
in the
early
1990s
will be
amazed
at the
change)
and the
unofficial
guides
you
encounter
are
fewer
and more
discreet.
If you
find
things
too much
of a
struggle,
you can
take
refuge
in low-key
resorts
like
Essaouira
or
Asilah,
or in
the more
cosmopolitan
holiday
destination
of
Agadir,
built
very
much in
the
image of
its
Spanish
counterparts.
Or you
could
make
things
easy on
yourself
with a
small-group
tour,
travelling
by
Landrover
or going
on an
organized
trek.
But
Morocco
is
really
an ideal
place
for
independent
travel.
A week's
hiking
in the
Atlas, a
journey
through
the
southern
oases or
into the
pre-Sahara,
or
leisured
strolls
around
Tangier,
Fes or
Marrakesh
- once
you
adapt to
a
different
way of
life,
all your
time
will be
well
spent.
It's
also a
safe and
politically
stable
country
to visit:
the
death in
1999 of
King
Hassan
II, the
Arab
world's
longest
serving
leader,
was
followed
by an
easy
transition
to his
son,
Mohammed
VI. And
it's
difficult
for any
traveller
to go
for long
without
running
into
Morocco's
equally
powerful
tradition
of
hospitality,
generosity
and
openness.
This is
a
country
people
return
to again
and
again
