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By Lisa Arcella
North Africa offers once in a lifetime experiences.
Morocco is full of unexpected surprises, starting with the (relatively) short seven-hour direct flight from New York's JFK to Casablanca. And no matter what they might be actually be saying to each other in Arabic or French about you, locals seem genuinely happy to be hosting American visitors. The food's good, the weather is wonderful and the history is fascinating. In a nutshell, a memorable travel destination.
Most tourists start in Marrakech, visiting its great souq (marketplace), surrounded by ancient ramparts. Also on many itineraries is Fez, the country's cultural capital, with a labyrinthine old town and amazing shopping. Hiring a local guide is always a good idea, to keep from getting lost in its elaborate maze.
No matter where you decide to travel within the country, the experience will certainly be enhanced if you can include one of the country's many moussems (festivals) that occur year round. Travel experts say the best time to explore is in the spring, from March through May. A lot of people find the summer months  oppressively hot, but Fez holds a huge international food festival in June and in August there is the International Art's Festival in Asliah, an art lover and shopper's paradise.
In May you can find the Rose Festival, which celebrates the harvest of exquisite Persian roses. The Moussem of Ben Aissa is one of the countries largest moussems and takes place in Meknes. It's a festival held to honor local saints and is full of pageantry straight out of medieval times. Every month various celebrations will offer an interesting insight to the culture and people.
My trip took me to the Berber festival, Mousssem de Tan-Tan in December, which felt a bit like stepping onto a Hollywood back-lot. And, right on cue, there was even a Saharan sandstorm that left me wondering if Lawrence of Arabia might come flying over a dune at any moment.
Set in the desert of Hmada, in the southern part of the country, the moussem is the largest gathering of nomadic tribes in Northern Africa. A makeshift city of tents as far as they eye can see suddenly pops up in the barren landscape. Two huge camel cutouts overlook the temporary town. And aside from the nearly 1,000 tents where families live while on site, there are also cultural displays about nomadic Saharan life, the teachings of the Koran and craft demonstrations, all of which have earned it a places as one of UNESCO's world heritage sites.
In a huge center arena, groups of ten or twelve horseman, dressed in flowing blue robes on ornately adorned horses come thundering forward, guns raised high in the air. They will come to a sudden halt and fire in unison. It's a heart-stopping display of pageantry and competition, followed by hundreds riding on the backs of camels and even more young nomads displaying impressive skills on  even more horses. Women in traditional costumes are singing, camels are traded, and potential marriages are brokered between families, just as it was done one hundred years ago. The crowd roars with delight when Prince Moulay Rachid, brother of Morocco's King Mohammed VI, arrives to give the royal seal of approval to the festivities.
Forget Ringling Brothers, this is clearly the best show on earth. But instead of being an overly commercialized circus with Tan-Tan T-shirts for sale, the festival is an authentic representation of long standing traditions, designed to serve the  nomads who have traveled here from the countryside to be with each other, not for camera snapping tourists like yours truly.
Food is served communally. Everyone, whether sitting at a VIP table or on a blanket with new friends, takes their portion from one center bowl. Diners take their share of pigeon pastilla (yes, it's pigeon pie, but also surprisingly delicious) or a stew of chicken and vegetables steamed in an earthenware tangine.
The previous evening I spent a comfortable night in my own tent about a half an hour's drive away. In the midst of the sand dunes, a great wool blanket tourist tent city of comfortable beds and crisp linens was set up complete with walkways of colorful Berber carpets. Not exactly the Four Seasons, but hardly roughing it either. Somehow, there was even running water and flushing toilets, in the desert. Dinner was served on a huge dune overlooking the Atlantic, while musicians with giant drums pounded out traditional music. I was even dragged out to dance with folk dancers. I'm sure it must have been a horrifying or hysterical sight for them, but they smiled politely and welcomed me with open arms.
As I retired to my tent for the night, a light wind filled the night air with the intense aroma of spices and I can hardly believe my good fortune.
For more travel information on Morocco go to:
www.visitmorocco.org
www.unesco.org
© May 2008 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.
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