Peter & Joanne McLeod's Travels 2018

From Casablanca we travelled north to Rabat, Meknes, Volibulis, Chefchaouen and then back to Fes. The main towns had centuries of history - Rabat was a trading port used by the Pheonicians in the 300's BC, Mouyard Issidra was started in 860's, Meknes has parts of the town dating from 1100's, 1400's and 1700's and Vulubilis was built by the Romans in 200's AD. The countryside was impressive. Reasonably dry near the coast but  large areas of rolling fertile land growing wheat, barley, sunflower, olives, oranges with areas of forestry on the ranges. No wonder the Romans used it as a grain growing area to feed Rome. Trader in the Medina selling nuts, lentils, beans and dried fruit. Add caption The old part of Meknes - built in 11th century. the satellite dishes tell the story of the old and the new. In the old Medina in Fes, their are 9000 alleys. (The joke the guides tell is they lost someone last year and they are still searchin...

Morocco A country of 42 million people, Morocco is a very progressive Sunni Moslem country ruled by a constitutional monarch. The King is hereditary but some of the government is elected. The King appoints the ministers in charge of the key ministries. While the Moslem style of dress is very evident, a wide variety of dress is quite acceptable although woman should generally keep their shoulders, midriff and knees covered and men wear long trousers.  Women are free to work, mix with men etc, although old habits change slowly in the countryside and small villages. 60% of the population is under 20, so population growth will be an issue for some years yet! There are large areas of fertile and very productive land that receives good and reliable winter and spring rain. Crops like barley, wheat, chick peas, oranges and olives are widely grown. Some areas even grow grapes and produce wine – strange in a Moslem country. The climate is quite temperate along the Atlant...

Without humans in the picture, I cannot imagine a more desolate place than Lanzarote. The Canaries are located 125 km off the Moroccan coast in the Atlantic Ocean. The islands are governed by Spain and fed by tourism. Tourists come in their millions because of the wonderful climate, particularly in winter. Lanzarote has a population of 140,000 and is the fourth biggest island in the Canary group. The island is about 70 km long and 30 km wide. It is comprised of lava fields, volcano rock and sand!  The rainfall is minimal - 110 mm/yr on average. It's water all comes from desalinating sea water. (The Canary Islands have 2% of the worlds desalination capability) It's electricity from diesel and solar but it has huge thermal potential. And it gets 3 million tourists each year from all over the world but particularly the UK. The last major eruption was in from 1730 to 1736. The lava flows from that eruption covers about 65% of the island. It is just black and raw s...