Morocco : The Kingdom of the Mediterranean

Morocco is a country situated on the upper north of Africa. It lies underneath Spain (separated by a narrow body of water), next to Algeria, above Mauritania. Morocco is a large nation populated by approximately 34 million people.

The people of the country speak both (and a mixture) Arabic and French. In some regions : they speak a native dialect of Berber and in other regions : they speak Spanish. Morocco is a beautiful coastal country sitting comfortably next to the Atlantic Ocean and right under the Mediterranean sea.

In past history, Morocco was colonised by the Spanish and French. That is why Morocco is sometimes deemed as the "France of Africa”. A lot of the people living in Morocco practice French customs, serve French food and speak the language. Therefore, it is not uncommon to be able to communicate with Moroccans fluently in French. Morocco has many cities scattered around the land.

The capital city of Rabat is a bustling Parisian-inspired town that holds a lot of business. Casablanca, one of the most popular cities in the world because of the movie, is a must-go for tourists. It sits right next to the Atlantic therefore providing scenic views and great entertainment.

It also holds the location of one of the largest mosques in the world : The Hassan II Mosque. [*It is truly breathtaking.] Marrakesh is known for their busy and vivid souk. (A souk is a marketplace where businesses sell their goods. Basically anything from lanterns to fabrics to candles to food to spices).

Chefchaouen is the blue city of the North, literally. The city is literally blue (inspired by original settlers who loved to paint their houses blue).

Also one of the most amazing instagram-worthy places : just remember to be respectful of the people. Fez is the oldest city of the country. It also has one of the oldest, but still existing, universities : University of al-Qarawiyyin. The universities’s library holds a whole bunch of old scripture of the Quran, Arabian poets and French research.

All the cities of Morocco sound great but that is not all, far from it. Most of the Western part of Morocco holds its cities and towns. But the Eastern part of Morocco holds its great big mountains. The Atlas Mountains span across of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. However, the highest peak of the Atlas Mountains lies in Morocco : Jebel Toubkal.

The mountains make up a good portion of the resources and tourism attraction of Morocco. Their mountains scale up to some on the most beautiful in the world. They are also quite unique in comparison to others. It is not merely just mountains on mountains. It is trails of scenic views and images of small villages and routes of farming and so on. It is a total experience.

And once you get high up into the mountains, the temperature drops and you get a outstanding and stunning view of the snow. Fun fact : It does snow in Africa! It snows on the higher terrains of Morroco. This includes the Atlas mountains and Ifrane (a university city off the coast of Rabat). Ifrane is an alpine-styled city as it is one of the only towns that experiences snowfall. Therefore a bunch of ski slopes, forests and ski resorts are located there.

All in all, Morocco is a great place to visit for anyone who has wanderlust. It is a co-existing nation of Muslims, Jews and Christians with people stemming from Arabic descent, French descent, Spanish descent or Berber descent (Berber is the name for the the aboriginal, original settlers, of Morocco and Algeria). Definitely keep this country on that travel list.

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Article is written by: 

Fatin Najwa binti Daud, is a medical student studying at IMU Malaysia. She is a freelance writer of this blog at Zaahara. Interests include music, art, sports and travel.

-Photos are taken from google images

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