Chefchauen – the blue town in Morocco

I have never been there yet, but I have heard from many people that this town is the most beautiful and magical place on the Earth. I can agree with them in houndred procent just looking at the photos of Chefchauen. I can understand that photos never give you such a great substancial feeling like spending time there and seeing everything by your own eyes. Unfortunately, for now it is all what I have.

It is sure that to get to know more about each city, we have to find out a little bit about the history of the place. In this way, we can understand better the rules and customs which control the society and also Chefchauen as a town. For sure one of the first questions which appear in our mind is: Why the whole city is blue? Well, it is quite interesting and I am going to explain it to you. According a legend, once Chefchauen was ruled by a lord who disliked so much insects of all kinds that he ordered to paint the whole city blue. After, when the city had been painted, all insects disappeared very fast and the lord could enjoy your time walking down the Chefchauen streets in peace, admiring beautiful views of his city. Unfortunately, it is only a legend, there is no evidence, confirmation in the literature or other historical books that the story took place in reality.

Now more about facts. The city was funded in the XV century and was inhabited by Muslim and Jewish forced to come there from the territory of Al- Andalus. For that reason, the major part of the town is very similar to the Andalusian ones. In the central part of Chefchauen is located Plaza Uta al-Hammam where we can also find an alcazaba which is a Moorish fortification typical in Spain and a mosque.

Knowing that the town is inhabited in major part by people who had come there  from Spain, we can suggest that the most spoken language in this area together with Arabic is also Spanish, but it is not the only one reason. Fothermore, a significant impact on the fact has had a localization of the town, because Chefchetuan is situated extremely close to the Spanish territory like Ceuta or Melilla.

In this extotic town we can discover many places where the past is visible all the time, all houses, streets and professions which are occupied by inhabitants are a reflections of the old times. 

Fez – the oldest city in Morocco

Today I would like to present one of the oldest city in Morocco and probably in the whole world – Fez. It is extremely beautiful city which offers a lot of  attractions and also is a perfect place to try the Moroccan cousin.

Now, to find out something more about this city, I will present the basic information about Fez. The city Fez is the third biggest city in Morocco after Casablanca and Rabat. It is located in region known as a Mauritania Tingitana which in the past was one of the Roma province. What is more, Fez is also known as a capital of Islam,  is considered to be the religion and cultural center in Morocco. As a curiosity, it is worth to mention that Fez  is the fourth city called imperial next to cities like Marrakech, Meknes and Rabat, that is why, we can find the maze of streets where you can get lost easily and many old building which remind the old times. 

The information which seems to be important for all people who once have thought  to study in this exotic country is that Fez offers a lot of courses at the most popular universities in Morocco. This city is very famous for the Arabic study, thanks to it, it converts Fez in a university city with the biggest number of students.

This walled town with many amazing and big gates was founded by Idris I who at the same time was the founder of the first Moroccan dynasty called by his name. My aim is not to bore you, so if it is about history that is all. Now, I would like to pass to more admirable things like places worth to visit being in Fez. For sure, you have to see the medina, it is the main part of the city, that is where you will be able to feel the true Moroccan atmosphere. 

 Another recommened places are:

Royal Palace 

University of Al Qarawiyyin

And many others unique places worth to see by your own eyes.

Dan Brown – the best writer of mystery-thriller novels

For most of you,  Dan Brown can be known as a writer of conspiracy stories like mason, illuminati, or fiction which never could come true. Maybe that is why no one of you realize that extremely  often in his books are hidden the burning questions about all humanity on which is not so simply to answer. What is more, usually the answer is very controversial and may cause many misunderstandings, conflicts and lead simply to hate. Probably it happens, because people don’t understand the Brown’s way of thinking, the questions which he asks are too deeply and  unreliable or it also can be that  people don’t want to think about such things, or even worst, people are alive to believe him but they afraid to do it, to not be criticized like he is.

Now, we’re passing to his new book which has been published recently. The title of the book is ‘Origin’ which is another surprising and absorbing adventure of the professor Robert Langdon, the main character of all series, following Angles & Demons, The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol ending with Inferno. Like the author claim, the research for any book is the hardest process of writing, it takes a really long time.  Working on the Origin it has been the biggest challenge of all of his writing career. It took him two long years of researching. The situation with The Da Vinci Code looked a little bit different, because Brown had already known a lot of about history, art and Christianity what obviously was the book about. Despite of his incredible knowledge about history and others disciplines, Dan Brown had to deal with big themes of science, artificial intelligence, modern art and additionally a Spanish family and Spain as a country.  We can guess he needed to put an enormous effort creating the story. Like I said before, he has spent two years of reading and learning about all of this, before starting to write the first words. He has not just been reading other books but also he has been traveling to talk with many people who are specialists in science, religions, etc.

So now we can ask, what important questions appeared in this book. There are three main questions, at the beginning I’m going to put just two, which are: Where are we come from? Where are we going? At first sight, they seem to be simple and very typical ones, but when we enter more deeply into them, suddenly  they are getting more complicated to understand and to figure out the answer, the truth.

In spite of these two questions, the real one is: Will God survive the science? The question is kind of a clash of the science and religion. Brown claim that the science and religion are two different languages trying to tell us the same story but in the different way. In his opinion and according the history of the whole humanity, God can have problems to survive the science, more probably is that God will not manage to do it at all. I have to admit, it is a very interesting and brave statement. The argument which he uses to defend the theory is that people in the past used to believe in many gods who ruled over the whole world, having superpowers which helped them. In a result,  we know very well Thor, a god of lightings  or Zeus, thunder god of the ancient Greece. Therefore, what happened that people stopped to believe in them? The answer is obvious, the science came bringing a progress, explaining everything what was attributed to bigger or smaller gods.

I could talk more and more about it, but I guess if you take a book in your own hands and read it, you will discover what the author wants to say exactly, and I’m sure he will make you to think about many things you have not taken in consideration for a long time or maybe never yet.

Boom boom – a new hit of Daddy Yankee

Two weeks ago appeared a new song of Daddy Yankee. He recorded it together with RedOne, French Montana and Dinah Jane. The number of views on YouTube shows that the song Boom boom is going to be another hit. Barely 5 days has the song got more than 40 milions of views what is a great result especially in such a short time. It can lead that the song will be the second biggest hit in Daddy Yankee’s  music career directly after the song Despacito which has been recorded together with Luis Fonsi who is another great Latin singer.

The song has a really nice Latin rhythm, typical for Daddy Yankee, but in this case, Yankee creating music with some Moroccan artists has added specific  Moroccan elements which make the whole song so couching. What is more, the song clip is made in Morocco, showing beautiful unique places like for example a blue city Chefchaouen. At the same time, we can see a little bit different view of Morocco and people living there. It is a great opportunity to spread the Moroccan culture but also to show the party side of Moroccans, who can have parties like no ones else.

I really recommend you guys to listen to it, you will not regreted it. If you don’t like the music, for sure you will like the clip or vice versa.

Talking about Daddy Yankee, it is worth to mention something more about this talented artist who keep making music from 1991 until the present. So, like we can guess, he has managed to create a lot of songs which are still popular, especially among youth. Thanks to it, the singer has received a lot of music awards like for example Latin American Music Awards or MTV Video Music Awards. His first song which achieved the international fame is Gasolina. Im sure, that most of you remember it form the childhood. To get to know more information about Yankee, you can always check Wikipedia, because it would take too much time to tell everything about this artist.

I hope he will keep doing his best, creating amazing music which will enjoy people from all over the world.

Here, im putting the video to encourage you to listen to it. Enjoy it! :D

Berbers – nation of North Africa

1. The Berber ethnic flag

Being in Morocco, for sure you will hear about Berbers, or Amazighs as they prefer to call themselves. It is very curious and in some way mysterious nation what makes them more interesting.

Very often people  make relations between Moroccan and Berbers as one nation but it is not completely true. I will try to make it clear, at least a little bit. The fact is that not all of Moroccans are Berbers and not all of Berbers are Moroccan. The Moroccan culture can be relationed in some measure with Berbers culture and vice versa but it does not mean that they are equival. To make it more clear, especially for Poles, I am going to show this on the base of Slavs. To Slavs belong not only Poles or Slovacs, but also Chechs, Russian, Ukrainians, Croats, Bosnians, Serbs and many many more. The point is, that belonging to  the same group and sharing the same past and some tradition it is not everything, because each of the nation has own history and own customs , in one world has one individual culture. The same situation is with Berbers. I hope it is clear enough now.

Moving on, we will take the meaning of Amazigh into consideration. What does that mean? Has it a meaning at all? The answer is : yes of course it has! The word amazig means ‘free man’, except of this meaning we can find also some information which takes other possibilities into consideration  like ‘strong’ or ‘brave’ man. It does not matter which meaning is true anyway, both are better than the word ‘berber’, that is why usually Amazigh don’t like being called in this way. Someone could ask why. The answer is simple. It is very easy to find out.  From the etymological point of view the word ‘berber’ was taken from the old greek ‘barbaros’ what had a pejorative meaning, even now in a lot of European languages the word was accepted with negative meaning expressed a wild, primitive man. So I am not surprised at all why they don’t like this name.

Another interesting thing connected with Amazigh people is that they have also their own language called Tamazight. This language for a really long time had been only a spoken language. In the 20^th century was created a Tamazight writing system and now it is officially used by most of Amazigh.
What is more, this language usually is written in the Tifiangh alphabet but also can be written in the Arabic or even in the Latin alphabet. 

I have put the photo to show you the Tifinagh alphabet which seems to be a little bit weird, like from the ancient times, but on the other hand, it makes Tamazight so beautiful.

The colors of Morocco

It is a continuation of my last post about Morocco, I hope you are going to like it. I would like to share with you my fascination of this extraordinary country. This time we take a small but for sure unforgettable trip to the Moroccan colorful bazaars where life has own rhythm and where we can see a normal day of Moroccans.

The Moroccan bazaar is a good destination if you want to buy souvenirs for your family and friends, you are going to find there unfinished amount of beautiful and usually handmade things like all kinds of ceramics dishes, typical clothes, shoes, and many other interesting things which reflect Moroccan and Amazigh style.  

1. Photos by Mohsin Zagaouch

I have put these photos to let you see by your own eyes these beautiful masterpieces.

One thing we have to know about the Moroccan bazaars is, if we want to buy something there, we are obligated to go through a ‘buying process’, in other words, we have to be ready to bargain with a seller about each thing. Without it, we will overpay or we will not buy what we want or in the worst situation we will offend the seller what it can end up badly, having an unpleasant experience for us . So, we have to be smart enough to buy on the Moroccan bazaars.

For a person who appreciates good food, such a bazaar is a perfect place to taste typical Moroccan cuisine. The most famous dishes are Tajine and Couscous which are so good that you will never have enough of it. Being in Morocco you have to try it to not regret it later! One more thing, please,  don’t be surprised seeing people who are eating with their own hand without using forks. It is completely normal there. The Moroccan way of eating can be a little bit wired for some of you, but I can assure that it makes people closer and creates a pleasant atmosphere between them what I like very much.  You can try it on your own, only what you need is a good Taijne and one part of bread which you will use to put douse of food on it to then put it inside of mouth. 

Of course, we cannot forget about a green tea which is the most important drink of every Moroccan.

Without the tea, there would not be any family meeting, it is a main point of every conversation, celebration, etc.

Believe me, you will be lucky if you have possibility of trying the green mint tea made by Moroccan in the traditional way.

I hope you have enjoyed my post :D 

Morocco - place where the sun sets

1. Photo by Mohsin Zagaouch

Morocco is one of the most exotic country in the whole world which has a lot of things to offer for everyone who wants to discover and experience something new and feel a real spirit of true adventure. There is no other country in Europe that is so unique like Morocco is.  With my posts on the blog, I would like to tell you a few words about this beautiful, and in many cases so surprising country.

The  moroccan unique culture and tradition  can take us to another reality, to a reality full of unusual nature, interesting people and their customs which are still alive in this place, and also beautiful monuments which combine the Arabic architecture with typical Moroccan elements.

This all makes Morocco so interesting, every single day more and more people decide to visit Morocco. Traveling to this place is a great opportunity for travelers who like spending time on the fresh air in an active way looking for new adventures which give a lot of adrenalin. What’s more, many countries have spectacular landscapes but there is no many places where we can find ‘everything’ like Morocco do.  By everything I want to say that tourists can enjoy views from the desert, through the sea, finishing on forests and mountains what let them practice any king of sport. My aim is to show you all of the colors of Morocco, to do it, we have to get to know a little bit about culture, geographic, history, and especially about customs.

Firstly, we will go into geographic information. Probably most of you know that Morocco is located in North Africa. In one side is surrounded by Atlantic Ocean and in the another side by Mediterranean Sea.  It’s worth to mention that moroccan coasts are a perfect place to admire the sunset what explains the meaning of the name of the country. Morocco, like every exotic country is covered in large part by olive groves, date palms and citrus trees what create a wonderful view against a background of the urbanization blended with Arab and Berber (Amazigh) style. Those ones who are interested in history and architecture, Morocco offers the oldest exquisite monuments like for example old tombs, or something a little bit different like desert villages where you can find out how native people live there, very often without using typical things which make life easier in today’s world.

 I hope your knowledge about this country has increased and you’re ready for more. 

Have a nice day and see you soon! :D