The Museum of Quai Branly is a hybrid museum mixing post-colonial and postmodern. The museum is an attempt to merge art and ethnography. It is neither the Louvre nor the Musée de l’Homme. Quai Branly plays a role in transmission not only of knowledge, but also of testimony and emotion, offering visitors a choice of possibilities for taking part in a dialogue of cultures.

The museum boasts with an unusual profile from Jean Nouvel’s sienna-toned cubes piercing the postured exterior to the anti-gravitational plant wall by Patrick Blanc,. Entering through a Jurassic garden, the visitor commences on a winding tour through Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas.

Shows, music salons, master classes… the museum of Quai Branly is ready to transport you to all four corners of the world, from Morocco to Brazil, from India to Mexico, to discover other cultures and unique artists. As well as a school for documentary filmmaking in the tradition of the direct cinema of Jean Rouch, Richard Leacock and Fred Wiseman, Varan proposes an evening of screenings every three months at the museum.

The gallery installation (one critic dubbed the spotlit cases “monster lighting”) can be disorienting, swiftly shifting between tribes and continents with hidden text panels and interactive stations. That said, the 3,500 objects (out of a total 30,000) on permanent display are incredible. With a little perseverance, you might actually learn about them.

Getting there: The location of the museum Rue 37 Quai Branl 75007 Paris and there is easy access to the museum, by car/metro/bus. Entry to the museum is via rue de l’Université or via Quai Branly.

This guest post has been written by Nick Ball, editor of Lanzarote Guidebook, the free tourist guide to Lanzarote.

Lanzarote is the most easterly of the Canary Islands.  The seven specks of Spain which are located off the coast of Morocco in the Atlantic Ocean.  The archipelago has long had something of a reputation as a package tourist destination.  Not unjustifiably so –  as this is the second most visited region in Spain after Catalonia.

Yet the Canaries are not all birds of a feather.  As whilst the bigger islands such as Tenerife have long since been buried beneath a sea of hotels and apartment complexes little Lanzarote has managed to remain relatively unspoiled.

High rise buildings were banned during the 1970´s – along with advertising hoardings.  Whilst the three main tourist resorts of Playa Blanca, Puerto del Carmen and Costa Teguise are all well contained.  Leaving the bulk of the island much as nature intended.

This is just as well – as Lanzarote boasts some of the most surreal scenery in the world.  The island was rocked by a series of huge volcanic eruptions during the 1730´s and again in 1824.  Which remodelled the south of Lanzarote, wiping out villages, destroying farmland and carpeting hundreds of kilometres of land in lava.  Creating a twisted new terrain in its wake that is often likened to the surface of the moon – and which is now Lanzarote´s most popular tourist attraction.

Elsewhere on the island these arid, volcanic vistas give way to more verdant scenery.  Especially in the north of the island in and around the aptly named Valley of 1000 Palms.  Here locals used to follow a tradition of planting a Canarian palm tree for every new born child.  Creating a breathtaking sight reminiscent of an African oasis – as the crowns of countless giant palms sway gently in the breeze.

At 600 m high above sea level, the Kasbah du Toubkal Hotel looks out over surrounding villages and majestic mountains. It is located in the High Atlas Mountains, only 1.5 hours drive of Marrakech, Morocco. Originally built in the 1940’s it was totally rebuilt in the 1990’s. The hotel is combination of hostel and hotel which provides a comfortable mountain refuge in the stunning setting of the beautiful Toubkal National Park.

Definitely it is a place for those that love nature adventure and mountain hiking. The Kasbah du Toubkal isn’t accessible by car. You must park your car in the village of Ismlil and walk through the town past a long strip of stalls and onto a dirt trail that leads up the hillside to the Kasbah. Your luggage is carried up by donkeys.
 

The hotel is a product of a Berber and European partnership. The pleasant en-suite rooms – newly built in the gardens – are decorated with lots of rugs and Berber crafts, giving them a traditional ambiance. The food served is traditional, with many tagine and coucous dishes.

With exceptional views, The Kasbah du Toubkal is not a hotel in the traditional sense. The Berbers making it less a hotel, and more an extension of the hospitality they would offer in their own homes.

These camping tours are for the people who are looking for adventure. The oasis at the edge of Merzouga’s sand dunes, Morocco, gives you an opportunity for one remarkable desert holidays. The Berber tents (or the Bedouins tents) are located right on the dunes so you could take long walks and see sunset in the desert easily. It’s your own place on the dunes.

After a good Tajine dinner, the perfect thing for you to enjoy cold Sahara nights is watching the stars – the nights are so beautiful…. Facilities are excellent – hot showers, clean toilets and a (cold) swimming pool. The multi- language staff organizes different camel trips and trekking tours. Also you can rent 4×4… The prices are starting at $20 per night.

An exellent situated fascinating hotel in Marrakech, Morocco, with princely rooms and plenty of luster and flaunt. The hotel’s inner court is a scenic oasis from the hectic Medina with hanging gardens and full grown palms. The colonnaded patio has a pool and is surrounded by Moorish arches, while the hammam has an impressive range of therapeutic treatments. La Sultana’s large roof terrace space offers stunning expansive views over the Medina out to the Atlas Mountains.

The four-hand massage in the spa is strongly recommended.

 

There are 21 luxurious guestrooms and suites which are animal-themed. The Crocodile Room features carved antique wood panels, while the Camel Room is caramel-coloured, with bronze camel statues and a bathroom hidden behind immense golden doors.

Asilah is a town on the northwest coast of Morocco, where sounds of waves drift over the town’s brilliant white architecture and down its freshly swept alleyways.

Asilah had once been rundown, but an annual arts festival, the International Cultural Moussem, renewed and cleaned up the town, turning it into a fashionable place.

Today Asilah is emerged as the cleanest cities in Morocco.

A view from a three-bedroom house that faces the sea, with housekeeper and chef, for 600 to 900 euros a week.

A henna tattoo.

 

The Rock of Gibraltar is a monolithic limestone cape, which will hold you in its grip on your tour in Gibraltar. Gibraltar is a British Colony at the southern end of Europe. This huge rock is 6.5km long, 800 m wide and 426 m high, which towering above the people and traffic around it.  It’s one of the world’s most famous landmarks and with its strategic location and history has made it an international symbol of solidity and strength.

The rock is one of the ancient Pillars of Hercules; the other pillar is a mountain across the strait in Morocco. In myth, Hercules straddled the strait, one foot on each continent. 

At 17 km from Kavarna and 30 km north of Varna, is situated the Balchik city. One of the most beautiful cities on the Bulgarian Black sea coast. Balchik is a small seaside town in Northern Bulgaria which combines the romance of its steep streets with the beauty of the sea. It is one of the oldest European towns. It was founded more than 2600 years ago by Ionian colonists on the ruins of quite earlier settlement known under the name of Krouni. The old town is situated stands in tiers on the slopes of an ancient fault. For a long time it has been known as the White Town. The old houses and cobblestone lanes are the “trade mark” , the brand of the White Town. The remarkable location of Balchik-on terraces – above the picturesque bay, the bright white heights, sculptured by weather and wind, which surrounded it from all sides, the romantic, buried in greenery an dashed meandering at the seashore – all this fairy site – scene of stone, sun, meerschaum and flowers create the magic atmosphere of this oasis of piece. The area that features most tourists is the
Queen’s Palace with the botanical garden, and this is the biggest botanical garden in the Balkans and the second in the world. The garden features seldom plants.

The town is famous for the largest and richest botanical garden on the Balkans and the palace to Queen Maria of Romania (1924). The palace complex consists of a central palace with a high tower, many buildings in a style typical for that time, a park with terraces, lanes and paths, stone alcoves with marvellous columns and sea view.
It was constructed between 1926 and 1937, during the Romanian rule of the region to serve as summer residence to Queen Maria of Romania. The authors of the construction design are Italian architects. The palace complex consists of a number of residential villas originally meant to host Romanian aristocrats, a smoking hall, a wine cellar, a power station, a monastery, a holy spring, a chapel, which still keeps the heart of the queen after her will, a beautiful stone throne under an old tree where Queen Maria loved to watch the sunset, and many other buildings, as well as most notably a park that is today a state-run botanical garden.

Apart from the palace, the palace complex and the botanical garden – the biggest and most diverse in the Balkans. The park itself is an imitation of the Famous Cretan labyrinth, with each stone of the church being brought from the very island of Crete. Most people claim that the Garden of Allah is the prettiest, though no doubt, the Silver Well, the alleys paved with millstones and the huge earthen jars, brought from Morocco, are also breathtaking. The Balchik Botanical Garden was established at the place of the palace’s park in 1955, after the return of Southern Dobrudzha to Bulgaria with the Treaty of Craiova. It has an area of 65,000 m and accommodates 2000 plant species belonging to 85 families and 200 genera. One of the garden’s main attractions is the collection of large-sized cactus species arranged outdoors on 1000 m, the second of its kind in Europe after the one in Monaco.

More than 3,000 rare and exotic plants, including more than 200 tree species, fabulous flowers and a unique collection of about 250 cactus species (the latter representing Europe’s second most important collection) grow currently in the Bulgarian botanic garden. Thus, it is not surprising that the park was included as a part of the teaching facilities of the Sofia University in 1955. Besides students, the complex welcomes more than half a million tourists per summer season.

In the garden you can see some exotic plants such as: candy tree, paper tree, ancient Ginkgo biloba, the resurrected Metasequoia glyptostroboides, sand lily, olives and many others. You will enter a world of bright colors, blooms, trees and bushes. Collections of plant species from all over the worlds are grown on an area of about 16 acres. One of the biggest attractions is the collection of large sized cacti species grown in an open area. The complex welcomes not only students but also more than half a million tourists per summer season.

The centre of Casablanca is fairly impressive. It’s brand modern, with big, lively boulevards, high, white, well-kept buildings. And it’s clean and efficient. People visiting Casablanca as their first city, could easily end up hating this place. There are few things here confirming the newcomers conception on the Orient. But for people having visited other parts of Morocco first, Casablanca is good! The city is modern in a Moroccan way, and an excellent example of Moroccans capacity of taking charge of the future of their country.

No other city in Morocco equals Casablanca when it comes to nightlife. The Boulevard de la Corniche, along the Atlantic Ocean, is home to several upmarket exclusive clubs. And of course, there’s Ricks Cafe. From the service to the food…

Casablanca isn’t really the place to go searching from shop to shop. The city has a laid back feeling to shopping, especially if you step out from the market zone of the Medina. The commercial areas reminds you principally of Europe’s. But money isn’t a problem — and as far as you could determine, the handicraft shops here are not cheap — Casablanca is one of the better places in all of Morocco to buy pick up something nice and different.
Regardless of the size of your budget, you can find a superb place to enjoy a meal in Casa. Generally accepted as the best place to eat when in Morocco, Casablanca has a large variety of traditional, seafood and take-away eateries. Try make a turn by “Stella”. This ice-cream parlor will have 30 different flavors.

Morocco is the most exotic country within easy reach of the United Kingdom, yet it remains enigmatic, uncrowded and full of the mysteries of the “east”. Rabat is the capital of Morocco with an ever-growing population of nearly one million people!

Hassan Tower or Tour Hassan (Arabic) is the minaret of an incomplete mosque in Rabat, Morocco. Begun in 1195, the tower was intended to be the largest minaret in the world along with the mosque, also intended to be the world’s largest. Begun in 1195, the minaret was intended to be the largest in the Muslim world, soaring some 86m (260ft) into the sky. Construction was abandoned, however, upon the death of the sultan, Yacoub al-Mansour, in 1199 and the tower instead rises to just 44m. Tour Hassan is located along the banks of Bou Regreg River.
The mosque should have been the largest of the Islamic world : 312 columns and 42 marble pillars. It would have been larger than the Giralda of Seville and the Koutoubia of Marrakesh. When Sultan Yacoun El Mansour died in 1199, the half finished mosque was abandoned. The rest of the mosque was also left incomplete, with only the beginnings of several walls and 200 columns being constructed.

The Mausoleum, a beautiful white marble building designed by the Vietnamese architect Vo Toan and built in the 1960’s, houses the tomb of King Mohamed V and some of his family, namely his son, King Hassan II. Mohamed V figure is much respected in Morocco because he his considered the main responsible for the independence from the French, who effectively ruled the country since the late 19th century until 1956. The tower, along with the remains of the mosque and the modern Mausoleum of Mohamed-5, forms the most important historical and tourist complex in Rabat.

The Dakar Rally, often characterized as the most arduous and dangerous motor race in the world, consists of 15 stages over the span of 16 days, with some 5,000 miles of competition to Senegal via Portugal, Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, and Guinea. The 28th Dakar is now in its final stretch, with three days of competition remaining before the competitors arrive on the shores of Lake Rose in Dakar, Senegal
Life on the Dakar is best described as like being part of a huge military exercise, where adverse conditions, lack of sleep, poor food and constant threat of injury or death are the norm. As the race moves into the toughest desert stages, entrants find it ever more difficult to stay on schedule – one minor mechanical failure can easily necessitate a night in the dunes waiting for an assistance vehicle to arrive. This will put the racer in the agonizing position of having to leave the next “bivouac” (Dakar’s military-style name for rest-stop) almost as soon as they have arrived in order to get back on track.
The course usually follows a similar format: two easy days in southern Europe, a ferry crossing to Morocco, some rocky stages in the Atlas mountains, then the meat of the race in the sand-dunes of Mauritania and Mali. The final few days are through more verdant parts of sub-Saharan Africa before the weary competitors view the mirage-like image of Dakar’s Lac Rose (Pink Lake), which is the site of the finish.

Kingdom of Morocco

Geography
Area: 446,550 sq. km. (172,413 sq. mi.) slightly larger than California. (The disputed territory of Western Sahara comprises another 267,028 sq. km or 102,703 sq. mi.)
Major cities: Rabat (Capital), Casablanca, Marrakech, Fes, Meknes, Tangier.
Terrain: Coastal plains, mountains, desert.
Climate: Mediterranean to more extreme in the interior and south.

People
Nationality: Noun and adjective–Moroccan(s).
Population (2004): 31,478,000
Annual growth rate (2004): 1.4%.
Ethnic groups: Arab-Berber 99%.
Religions: Muslim 99.99%, Jewish population estimated at 4,000 people, Christian population estimated at less than 1,000.
Languages: Arabic (official), several Berber dialects; French functions as the language of business, government, and diplomacy.
Education: Years compulsory–9. Literacy–52.6%.
Health: Infant mortality rate–49.72/1,000. Life expectancy–66.92 yrs. male, 71.44 yrs. female.
Work force (10.7 million, 2003): Agriculture–50%; services–35%; industry–15%

Environment

Physical Description: Morocco boasts the highest mountains in northern Africa. The Rif mountain chain runs along the northern Mediterranean coast with its peak at Mount Tidirhine at just over 8,000 ft. The Atlas mountains dominate the center of the country with an average elevation of 11,000 ft. At 13,665 ft., Mount Toubkai is the highest peak. Rocky plateaus make up half of Morocco’s land area. The alluvial lowlands, where agriculture is concentrated, around 20 percent. The Saharan plateau dominates the south. Morocco is dominated by Algeria to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the disputed Western Sahara to the south.

Climate: Mediterranean with extreme heat in the interior

Irrigated Land: 4,857 sq miles (1993 est.)

Land Use:
Arable Land: 21%
Permanent Crops: 1%
Permanent Pastures: 47%
Forests and Woodland: 20%
Other: 11% (1993 est.)

Natural Resources: Phosphates, iron ore, manganese, lead, zinc

Natural Hazards: Northern mountains geologically unstable and subject to earthquakes; periodic droughts

Eco-alerts: Morocco suffers from the standard regional environmental problems of land degradation from farming exhausted lands, overgrazing and destruction of vegetation. Water supplies are frequently contaminated by raw sewage. Oil pollution plagues coastal waters.