Mesmerising Morocco
Crossing the Straits of Gibraltar :: John S // Pistil // No flash
On the thirteenth of June last year I fulfilled a life-long ambition: I sailed across the Straits of Gibraltar, from Algeciras in Spain to Tangier, Morocco.
Where did this ambition come from? It was founded on nothing other than romance. As a child I must have read of those narrow Straits – separating two vastly different continents – and dreamed of one day travelling to that exotic part of the world. Or perhaps I first watched Casablanca at an extremely impressionable age.
I love to travel to countries so extremely different from my own homeland – there are so many fascinating details to take in: strange sights, enticing scents and cacophonies of sounds, and languages foreign to my ears. Even the quality of light is so different to living under the unforgiving Australian sun. Everywhere I look there is something that offers an intriguing glimpse into another world.
Everywhere I look there is something that offers an intriguing glimpse into another world.
Out of a thousand memorable moments, one in particular makes me smile fondly. I speak only a little French (which is a pity since I speak even less Arabic), and one night in a Marrakeshi restaurant I accidentally ordered avocado ice cream – because I didn’t know the French word for avocado. I was inwardly horrified when I realised, but of course pretended that I had all along meant to order this revolting dessert (only the figs saved it from being completely wasted). Worse than green tea ice cream in my estimation.
The Detestable Dessert :: Bettie XL // Big Up // No flashI chuckled at the time though, because I knew it would make that evening far more memorable than if I had ordered chocolate ice cream. There were other memorable moments from that night: getting lost in the souq, the boy who showed me the way to the hidden French restaurant and demanded an inquitious sum of money, the walk back to the Djemaa el-Fna through very dark and dubious back allies … but the avocado ice cream was unique.