Morocco: The tales of deserts, mountains and the sea

I fell in love with you watching Casablanca

Back row of the drive-in show in the flickering light

Popcorn and cokes beneath the stars

Became champagne and caviar

Making love on a long hot summer's night

I am from the generation who grew up listening to the song Casablanca by Bertie Higgins. We had the song memorized word by word and sang along while it was played on the radio or tape recorder. Most of us watched the movie Casablanca after listening to the song. So, I took the opportunity to travel there as soon as I got one. We travelled by Saudi Airlines from Dhaka to Riyadh to Casablanca, the first city to see in Morocco. It is a country with a sea coast in the west, the Atlas mountain in the middle and Sahara Desert on the south. A beautiful country which is home to indigenous people known as the Berbers, the Moors from the north Africa and the Arabs. The stark difference of the three cultures can be seen in the architecture, life style and food habits.Our next destination was Fes, the next day, we went to see the Grand Hasan II mosque that was built on a promontory that faces the Atlantic Ocean. Morocco is an African country to have both Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea coasts on two sides. The mosque has a grandiose look with a very tall minaret, it is the 14th tallest minaret in the world. 25000 people can offer their prayer inside the mosque and about

80000 people can pray in the courtyard. The Moroccan traditional mosaics were used in the making of the mosque. We also visited the ceramic factory and souk in old Fes, it has got some 9000 alleys inside it. They say, if you are lost inside it then you are lost!

 We visited the Kashba, is an ancient fortress that was made in the 12th century, it has now been turned into a domestic area. There is an Andalusian garden with many different flowers in it. The Moroccans are very much fond of mint tea and olives, these were abundant where ever we went. We also had tazin the traditional Moroccon dish that is served in hot clay pot that had a unique cover protruding like a chimney.

 We visited Chefchaouen is some 200 hundred miles away from Fes, it only took us 4 hours to reach there. This small town is portrayed on postcards synonymous these days, to Instagram is the signature of Morocco. A blue town designed by a Moroccan architect with only14000 people living in it. The town survives only by tourism. All cities in Morocco are adorned in different colors. Casablanca is white while Fes adorns itself in blue, Chefchaouen is beautiful blue, while Marakesh is red. The towns each have their taxis in the respective colours.

There are four high mountain ranges in Morocco. We were able to see the Atlas Mountain ranges in red. The other is Rif mountains, which cradles the blue town of Chefchaouen, also called the 'blue pearl. 'The French came to Morocco in 1912 and lived till 1956. Spanish had lived here for a long time. The influence of different nations remains in the cultural and social lives.

It is here in Morocco the first university in the world was made, though it is thought to be in Bolonga or London. Surprisingly a woman named Fatima Al-Fihri founded a mosque in 857-859 and subsequently it became one of the leading spiritual and educational centers of the Islamic golden age and it is called The University of Al-Qarawiyyin. It is still functioning today in the Moroccan city of Fes; it was a place bursting with knowledge and multiculturalism even as early as the 9th century. It has a library containing the rarest wooden manuscripts, one of which is of Ibn Batuta, the famous traveller. Fatima built the university with her inheritance money. We couldn't see its full structure as it is intertwined with the souk with hundreds of alleys. So, we saw different gates and entrances of the huge building.

We visited the Atlas studio in Quarzazate where Lawrence of Arabia, Jesus of Nazareth, Gladiator and many more movies were made. All the travellers took part in making a three-minute movie clip for keeps sake. Our guide Hasan was the choreographer. This place is listed on UNESCO as a site of World Heritage.

The Sahara is bordered in the west by the Atlantic Ocean, in the north by the Atlas Mountains and Mediterranean Sea, in the east by the Red Sea, and in the south by the Sahel -- a semiarid region.

We saw some in 400 billion years old fossils in the town of Erfoud. They make furniture out of the fossils and it is absolutely mind blowing to see some ancient being fossilized in a piece of marble or granite. And then they are cut into different shapes to make table top or other furnitures. Morocco contains some of the world's richest fossil sites and has seen international interest from fossil collectors since the early 20th century. As interest in collecting fossils grew in the late 20th century, the Moroccan fossil trade grew into a lucrative industry of its own.

We stayed in Erfound overnight in the middle of the Ziz Oasis, near the famous Erg Chebbi Desert.

I had the opportunity to see the sunrise in the Sahara Desert. We went through Merzouga, a small Moroccan town in the Sahara Desert, near the Algerian border. It's known as a gateway to Erg Chebbi, a huge expanse of sand dunes. An unreal experience of spending a night, experiencing a spectacular waning gibbous moon will remain forever with me. We enjoyed some Berber music with a campfire in the middle.

Real camel ride in a real desert was also a first-time experience for me. As the fleet of our camels slowly passed through the desert and there was only sand shining in the after-noon sun as far as eyes could see, I felt as though I was travelling through the earth in ancient times. Though the camel moves at a very slow pace, my body was sore the next morning as I sat on the sand to watch the sunrise. A spectacular view was witnessed by the group in the middle of the desert as the orange sun rose from the vast sandy horizon in the east. We headed towards Marakesh, the real tourist town that attracts millions of people every year.