just returned

from Morocco- so soon lots of photos and stories about what we saw and did- but social plans this week will make the process a bit slow, so bear with me-

just to give you a tiny bit of background- I went to Morocco the first time because the year before I had been in Andalusia for three weeks and just absolutely fell in love with the Moorish and Mudejar architecture.

from Wikipedia:  Mudéjar is the name given to Muslims who remained in Iberia after the Christian Reconquest but were not converted to Christianity.  It also denotes a style of Iberian architecture and decoration, particularly of Aragon and Castile, of the 12th to 16th centuries, strongly influenced by Moorish taste and workmanship.

so I will start with a photo of detail of the craftsmanship - still in place today - that typifies this fabulous style of decoration - this is from the Hassan II mosque in Casablanca- our arrival point and first stop...

The Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, Morocco is the largest mosque in the country and the 7th largest in the world. Its minaret is the world's tallest at 689 feet.  Completed in 1993 the mosque stands on a promontory looking out to the Atlantic Ocean, the sea bed being visible through the glass floor of the building's hall. The walls are of hand-crafted marble and the roof is retractable. A maximum of 105,000 worshipers can gather for prayer: 25,000 inside the mosque hall and another 80,000 on the mosque's outside grounds. (also from wikipedia)

here is a shot that gives some sense of the size of the place- I put people in it for just that reason-

there will be plenty more details later but for now here are a couple of sneak preview photos to get you coming back for more-

"Everybody goes to Rick's" (Captain Renaud in the film Casablanca) and so we did too--- many more photos from there as well - but later- in order...

and we went to the central market where the oysters were looking wonderful- along with much more (of course) to come---

so off we go on our adventure but I will post two more photos because these were so good I put them up on FB while we were still away....

Georgia on a camel and Georgia preparing for a desert trek (or perhaps shopping for an additional husband?)

so more later but for now- I have things to do to catch up for being away from home for nearly two weeks...