South Where The Heart Is; The Desert

Another season is slowly ending. It has been a long and wonderful summer, very hot too! A summer with time to reflect about the present and to evaluate our plans for the future. More than that there was time to connect with the past, to embrace old friends and take long walks down memory lane. Time to spend with the people that have known me for many years and with whom I share memories that reunite me with my younger self.   

A summer with time to travel to one of my favourite places in Morocco, the desert. A place far beyond Marrakech and across the High Atlas Mountains. A journey on the road along the many lush palm groves of the Draa Valley and stunning old Berber villages. A place where it all started, where I fell incurably in love with Morocco and where my life slowly began to change.

This summer I seized the opportunity to travel to this special place with Zohra. To share with her the magnificent sand dunes, to ride a camel into the desert and listen to the silence. To sleep in a Kasbah and to experience the heartfelt hospitality of the beautiful South. 

Black Veils Of The South

Far beyond Marrakech, across the High Atlas Mountains lies the beautiful south. It is where I fell in love with Morocco and it remains by far my favourite part of the country. I didn’t get to live there (yet) for various practical reasons and I don’t visit as much as I would like, but I have lots of pretty little reminders all around the house.

The green-glazed ceramic pottery of Tamegroute in my kitchen and the huge Zagora pots in the garden. And something very, very pretty, something that makes me smile each time I see them. Something I buy every time I travel south. The beautiful black veils of the southern Berber women.