Africa

May 14, 2024

Volubilis

We kicked off the day with a visit to a Roman outpost dating to the early first century. At its height, it housed 20-30,000 Roman citizens, not including their many slaves. I’ve seen a lot of Roman ruins and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this one more than I expected.

You know I love me some ruins

The large building in the back started as a judicial office and converted into a church when the Roman religion became Christianity.

The city was an oil production center, all of the olive presses were imported from Gibraltar.

Original mill
Reproduction

Volubilis means “morning glory” which was found along side many other wild flowers for the season, it felt like the perfect time to see the ruins with them all in bloom.

Probably the biggest surprise for me was the well preserved mosaics.

And here’s just some fun other shots for you!

And here’s a view of another village in a quite picturesque setting just for the fun of it!

Moulay Idris
May 14, 2024

A little shake up in Morocco

Well I finally made it to Africa! I’m spending a week on a tour visiting some of the major hot spots of the country. I lucked out and there are only six people on the tour, three Aussies, two Kiwis, and myself. Our first stop was the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca. It’s the largest mosque I have been to and boasts the tallest minaret in the world. Fun fact: the word minaret in Arabic means light house, originally they had lights on them to help people navigate from town to town!

The mosque was completed in 1993 so is one of the most modern I’ve been to. The floors are heated in the winter and the ceiling opens to provide air flow when the mosque is busy and hot. The doors are made of titanium to avoid oxidation as the mosque is right next to the Atlantic Ocean.

The rest of the day was a lot of short stops in various places on our way to and through Rabat, the capital of Morocco. Unfortunately, I learned along the way that my job was cut as part of layoffs at my company. But here are some tidbits of what we saw before that news took my headspace away. After I figure out all my severance paperwork I’m determined to go back into full vacation mode.

Here is a view of a the new telecommunications building in Rabat. I love the wetlands below it…hope they don’t build over those…

This is the remains of a mosque that was destroyed in an earthquake in the 1700’s. I love that they turned it into this gathering space, they also added a shrine to Mohamed V who was a King of Morocco.

That’s it for day one, I think today and tomorrow will be particularly interesting. Stay tuned!

February 25, 2017

The Newest Dream – Africa!

Almost exactly one year ago, I was leaving to head to Iran for the trip of a lifetime. But with luck, I’ve got a whole lifetime still ahead of me, so it’s time to start dreaming about the newest journey. Of course I have my bucket list of places still to go, Croatia, Romania, etc., but once again, I am dreaming of a more exotic locale for my next trip.

africa

That’s right. Queue Toto. Africa!

I started thinking about Africa because a friend of mine is in the Peace Corps in Namibia, a country in Southern Africa, just to the NW of South Africa. Of course, I could go to South Africa, but as you know, I’m always up for something a bit different. So, I’ve decided to focus my goal on Tanzania, on the East Coast of the continent, just south of Kenya.

How did I choose Tanzania?

  1. It was recommended by a friend who has been there and knows me well enough to understand that I’m looking for more than just a pretty place and a relaxing vacation.
  2. The country is a fascinating mix of different cultures including over 120 indigenous groups, Pakistani, Indian, Arab, and European. Should be enough history and culture to keep my brain buzzing.
  3.  Zanzibar (islands off the coast of Tanzania) and beaches. For some reason, ever since my trip to Iran, I’ve been craving turquoise water and palm trees
  4. Multiple National Parks and Preserves make seeing African wildlife easy and more environmentally friendly.

Now that I’ve chosen my country, I need to start narrowing down some other logistics through research and further dreaming.

  • Begin by planning some sort of itinerary. I usually look at guided tours to start, review the most popular destinations, decide what is most interesting to me, and then start looking at things off the beaten path after that.
  • Save the money. This is going to be the hard part for me. Due to rising rent increases in Portland (mine went up over 50% last year), I ended up buying a house. The American Dream, right? Not mine! But here I am, and now I need to balance savings for home emergencies with a travel fund.
  • Save my time off. I’d love to take 3 weeks for a trip like this, so I either need to save all of my time off for the year, or I need to be prepared to not get paid for a few days. Worst case, I only go for 2, but I’m going to set my goal at 3.
  • Stay motivated! Read lots of books set in Tanzania, both travel books, but also histories and historical fictions. Find blogs by other people who have traveled there recently.

Be prepared for more blogs on my planning process, hopefully they’ll be of some help and inspiration for you to explore new places. Don’t know where to start? Let me know, I’d love to help!