Morocco

Marrakesh, at the Jemaa el Fna square,

my imagination stood still! The Medina (the old city center,)

grabbed me, stunning my senses, opening pores I didn't know I had,

flooding me as I stood awestruck!

A splash of water leads you down an alley,

To a place where women paint your hands with henna,

and to hammams (Turkish baths,) in marble,

where soft strong hands caress your body and soul.

The aroma of mint tea pours through ancient doors

beckoning you to knock and enter,

and when you do you enter into the center of Riads,

Inner courtyards where columns of colorful zellige, (hand cut tiles,)

create an ambiance that make you feel like are living in a kaleidoscope.

High mountains of spices burst flavor like exotic kisses.

and snake charmers really do charm.

Photos: My cousin Julie and I went to Marrakesh, we stayed at the Mamounia, the entire trip was an unbelievable magical dream.

My Amazon: A cookbook that offers the flavors of the spice of these photos!

Comments

[MoRocco]

great pictures! marrakech is my favorite place!

[Sharp Lily]

Your photos are gorgeous!

[Mary Anne Davis]

I love this picture of mounded spices! Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving... xo- mad

[Chantal]

Thank you for such a colourful and sensual virtual tour. I, more than ever, want to visit Marrakesh!

[mary ann]

is it safe to say that you & your cousin "rocked" the casbah?

xo, mary ann

[Shannon]

Ooh, when I saw the mounds of spices, I had the overwhelming urge to dip my hands in a grab hold of the beautiful colors....I can just imagine how it all must've smelled.

[shaz]

beautiful photos!

[[a}ma]

no way, you went to morocco????? that's my dream country!! my friends think it's weird, but i have travel magazines for morocco piled up in my shelf! omg. you are so lucky. gorgeous pics. love your descriptions "exotic kisses" "kaleidoscope." gosh, you should see the mosque in makkah, it's mindblowingly beautiful.

[gracie]

I remember the first 24 hours I spent in Rome... I felt like I could have written an entire book! Amazing how visiting new places and cultures opens you up to previously unimagined expansiveness!!
I LOVE these photos you have... being there with the child-in-you would have been a wonderful experience for your friend. (yes, I'm a little envious) hehe

[sophie]

Oh my goodness!!

These photos are visual
poetry - like your entire
blog:)

[Tara Larsen Chang]

What a wonderful, pictorial post - it pulls you right in to the sensuousness and exoticness of 'other' places. The spices. (gasp- how do they keep them in those perfect cones of loose powder?) The tiles. The snakes! It looks like being in a wondertale, or particularly colorful dreamscape.

I am amazed at the rich experiences and places that people get to experience 'out there'... (can you tell I am feeling a bit isolated at present? :-)

[gracia]

Ahh, yes... where "the aroma of mint tea pours through ancient doors"... just where I needed to be today. Beautiful!
take care, grache

[carolyn]

What can I say? Fabulous, wonderful, evocative photos.

[pnardnmz]

I have doors for you.. on my blog..

[pnardnmz]

one day I hope.. you will write about doors.. and their symbolic meanings.. from your point of view..
I love them too.. old new..painted.. open ajar.. closed and even sometimes locked..
I wish I could share this with you.. walls and doors..
well I can see you enjoyed your trip.. isn't this soo
magical..even for me =))

[deborah]

Oh Yes! Thank you for the memories! Will you come with me, next time, just to take wonderful pictures?

[JanePoe (aka Deborah)]

I wanted to fall into your pictures and words and let myself luxuriate there indefinately! Absolutely brilliant! Thank you C.
...much peace, JP

[Cathy]

You brought back wonderful memories. I was in Morocco several years ago; where time stands still. Wonderful images.

[Teresa Sheeley]

All I can say is "WOW" how cool must that have been?? thank you so much for sharing all those photos. I love, love those hand cut tiles and the spices!

[Franca Bollo]

Was it "truely" a deserving adventure to be paid hommage? (Is the "h" in "hommage" silent? I never can remember.) So deserving that it deserved an "e" in truly? I would have preferred "trooly". Maybe even "troooooly".

Trooooooooly yours, Franca

[Juliana]

Corey,
Thank heaven I bumped into you. I will share your blog with all my friends in Gnostic circles - they will find this work beautiful and important. It's quite lovely all around. Et maintenant vous parlez bien Francais ou...?

En tout cas, le blog c'est magnifique. Je reviendrais souvent. A la prochaine...
Juliana
San Francisco

[Sheba]

Yay! Hommage paid to a truely deserving adventure. Thanks for indulging me in the ultra posh Mamounia. I remember feeling as though I was "in dreams awake" at first stepping onto Jemaa Al whatever Square. Here's to making new memories in TWO WEEKS!!!

[Linda Harre]

You are so lucky to be able to travel as much as you do! I hope that someday I have that opportunity as well. I do enjoy your trips vicariously through your blog....thank you for that:)

[Cat]

Thank you for taking us with you thru your pictures and words. Wonderful journey.

[Jenny]

Corey and Colette kidnapped my soul to Morocco! I will be fine....

[annie lockhart]

i love~love~love to see what your eyes behold...and read the words that are in your heart...thanks for sharing these snapshots of the world in your neck of the woods...xoxo...annie

[Jenny]

I am GONE....

[wilsonian]

These photos are absolutely amazing!

[cityfarmer]

Aaahhhh crusty old doors, one of my favorite sites.

[herhimnbryn]

Senses reeling. Spice and mosaics ( the latter so much a part of me now).

I want to be there C. I want to drink it all in.

[la vie en rose]

this series of phots is just fabulous! wow!

[Paris Parfait]

Beautiful pictures - you certainly do Morocco's myriad charms justice with this selection!

[Colette]

For you:

"Zoë looked at the sheet of paper on which the poem was written in Lilah's flowery handwriting. The faint scent of Tabu rose lazily from between the sheets of paper. At the top of the first page Lilah had written: "The Oriental Bath, by Daniel Varoujan." She glanced through it once standing by the kitchen table, then (...) settled into a rocking chair by the window and read it slowly this time, lingering over every beautiful word, every sensual image.
"The steam wraps their bodies with damp veils, and the bodies seem to swell with the heat," Zoë read. "They are houris, houris, bathing, dangling, dipping legs into water from the marble slabs. Some lie dreaming, half asleep in the water."
She stopped to savor the words: houris, houris. A seductive word, houri. It provoked images of eyes rimmed in kohl, shimmering silks, ripe pomegranates... She read on.
"Their thighs spread on the benches, relishing the rushing water. Near them golden mugs, rinsing bowls, chink and ring on the wet stone..."
Zoë paused and gazed out of the window, not seeing a thing. She thought of Marco, and then Antonio's words in Lilah's postscript, "the demonology of your youth." Whatever that meant. She had no inclination to find out, recognizing that somehow she already knew, and the whole thing felt quite pleasurable. A little shiver danced down spine, and she continued reading.
"Chests are anointed with the foam and become like foam, cooled with it. Hair is parted and coated with its slippery pulp and silkened. Bellies are polished like smooth stones polished by rivers...
"I want to kiss your fingers which you dip deep into the wooden henna bowl now as if into a red bloody heart...
"Let me kiss too the navel where you keep the hashish of Arabia and the musk of Africa..."

(c) colette copeland

[expatraveler]

wow - talk about amazing pics and looks like an amazing trip.

[Sheila]

This settles it! Thank you so much for this timely post Corey.We are visiting Portugal in February next year, and usually make a side trip to Spain. I have wanted to go to Morrocco for a while, and after seeing these pictures and reading your words, it is definately on the itinerary

[mikaelah]

gorgeous

[cruststation]

You are so lucky, Morocco is on my 'to visit' places because just looking at the colourful tiles and ceramics themselves bring you to a magical place ~your photos are a feast for the eyes!

[annieelf]

Shades of Tunisia! This reminds me so much of my daughter's trip there last year.

[Star]

So exotic. I love the door pull...why am I always drawn to doors?

[MB]

Those mountains of spices are incredible, and the beckoning alleyways... oh, what a treasure trove here today!

[Darla]

Stunning! What a riot of rich colors.

[cathy]

You have some incredible pics

[cathy]

you have some incredible pics

[susanna]

What a magical place to visit, Corey! What a memorable experience that must have been for you and your cousin. Tell me, did you feel safe there as an American woman?

[Acey]

tweaking these memories: because when I was there I was a bit too young to fully understand how powerful a memory could and would be. And in love with the wrong person ;)

[lisa]

Perfection.

[patpaulk]

Thank you for taking us on this magical trip with you, even if we are a bit behind. Fantastic in word and photography Corey!!

[swampgrrl]

these photos are gorgeous, corey. i love cyber-traveling with you.

[Penny]

Corey - You took us on a flying carpet ride this morning, to a magical land. Thank you.

[Katia]

Oh my. I love the door, the corners of those walls, and the piles of spice - it's almost as if I can smell it!