The Vagabond Library
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Articles Guaranteed to Stretch Your Mind
Sit by the fireplace, have a drink and a good read
with curious people like you.
Volubilis — Ancient Rome Speaks
Dispatch XXXI
It’s not every day that you can wander a land where centurions, artists, builders and kings, Roman craftsmen, merchants and bureaucrats once trod two thousand years in the past. At the height of the empire 20,000 “Volubilitani” walked these cobble-stoned streets. I imagined the horse and mule carts clattering through the city, the bustling markets, probably much like those in the Medinas of Fez, without the air conditioning. It all provided a sobering perspective on the human race and I was humbled. Here we were at the southwestern rim of an empire that once stretched from the valleys of Morocco to the ancient city of Babylon. It reminded me that we are all simple blips in the human drama we call history.
Féz - the Exotic Seat of Moroccan Islam
Dispatch XXX
Looking for a great trip to Morocco? The storied city of Fez is a must. Its ancient Medinas are among Morocco’s nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites, brimming with stunning craftsmanship, architecture, some of the world’s finest food, most beautiful leather goods, and ceramics. It’s exotic locations and 1200 year history will make any Indiana Jones wannabe’s mouth water.
Exploring Morocco’s Exotic Cities: Tangier, Tétouan and Chefchaouen
Dispatch XXIX
Back in the 1930s, the expatriate writer and composer Paul Bowles thought he was coming to Tangier on a lark. He never left. “I relish the idea that in the [Tangier] night,” he once said, “all around me in my sleep, sorcery is burrowing its invisible tunnels in every direction, from thousands of senders to thousands of innocent recipients. Spells are being cast…” There was something to that. To me Tangier fell in with that small group of international cities that were once entirely independent, a city-state, unencumbered by the nation’s that surrounded it: Trieste, Monte Carlo, Ephesus, Alexandria. Cities like this take on a flavor and confidence that is more cosmopolitan than most. Bowles called it the navel of the world.
The Mysteries of Morocco
Dispatch XVIII
I had been looking forward to this day for years and the idea of finally making it across the Straits of Gibraltar (the Pillars of Hercules to the ancients) had me giddy with excitement. The modern Kingdom of Morocco was created in August 1956, but its roots go far deeper. To me it was one of those fabled countries, a place of mystery and enchantment where men in their djeelabas and and women in their hijabs walked the clamoring markets; where descendants of Neanderthals had migrated from Africa into Europe and Hannibal had massed his armies for an assault on the Roman Empire; where the Moors and Celts, Phoenicians, Portuguese and Spanish had changed and exchanged the fortunes of millions again and again whether it was the caliphates of Islam pouring into Andalusian Spain or Franco raising his fascist army before cutting that nation in two and auguring the slaughter of World War II.