A-Four wrote: Sun Dec 14, 2025 5:15 pm
HEPZIBAH wrote: Egypt does have a wealth of accessible antiquities, if you are only really interested in Egyptian antiquities.
I have always thought of Egypt as being in sepia, and Morocco living technicolour.
In my mid teens, I first visited Morocco the place to be then in those early days was a place called Tangiers, with its tangerine sun as advertised in touristic shops at that time. It had two main hotel The Riff and The Cosmopolitan, there is even a palace for the then king, with views across to the Spanish coast and also Gibraltar, with beaches in Tangiers to die for.
What I discovered then was that many Spanish people had moved there after the Brits had bought (at a high price) there once villas along the Costas, thus taking over a once true paradise place. The only resident tourist in Marrakesh were European hippies of limited wealth, where the affluent ones settled in the old Portuguese district in Goa part of India.
A few years ago I returned to Tangier and was appalled at the state of that once wonderful place, its beaches in ruin, the kasbar and medina only meeting to the needs of its resident population, I even witnessed a boy throwing a stone at tourist bus out side the once famous Riff hotel.
How things can become no go areas where the 'technicolour' can change so swiftly and effectively, though I must admit never could I imagine how this change would happen in the U.S.A., being Miami, LA and even San Francisco, dont go, you need to be more street wise than you ever have to be in London.
I have travelled quite widely in Tunisia and Turkey, but most extensively throughout Morocco.
I spent a few days exploring Tangiers - about 10 years ago with 'Stan's friend' Sue. It's former glory still showing in parts, but alas much was also very sad to see, in particular in many of the young people there. Tangiers was, for many years, the congregating (and hiding) place of many on the fringes of European society: those whose sexuality was not acceptable; the dreamers, the artists and writers, whose work didn't fit into the accepted mould of the time. I suppose you would call them the 'bohemians'. Then came the hippies, fitting in to the way of laid back life. Essaouria, on the Atlantic coast, still has that hint of 'laid back and hippy' about it.
My visits to Morocco however, go way back before I ever visited Tangiers! As a fresh faced young woman I was part of an expedition team that drove in an old (slightly converted) army truck from the UK, down to Niger, and back. That journey took us through a large part of the country, stopping at strategic places to get paperwork completed or permits stamped, over the Atlas mountains, and down through the Sahara. It took me many years before I could return again, but eventually it was possible and, as well as spending a fair bit of time in and around Marrakech, I've managed to spend even more time in non-tourist towns, and staying with Moroccan people.
As for the USA, it has never been on my travel radar. Friends have invited me to join them travelling to various destinations there in 2026. I have declined. Whilst there are still so many other places in the world that I would rather visit, the USA still doesn't make it on to my list. I did brave London last week though!
Experience is not what happens to you;
