July 2, 2007

Weekend photos

Filed under: Photography — taamarbuuta @ 3:12 pm

Hamza and I have been lucky this past week when it comes to travel - Last weekend I went to Casa for the 2007 DABA/NDI training while he went to the beach, then he had to go back to Casa to pick up his visa; this weekend we went to Fez for an aforementioned conference, and on Sunday to Skhirate to lounge on the beach (and in my case, get insanely sunburnt).   A few photos:

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Isn’t McDonald’s here just so much prettier?

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My favorite Fassi fountain at sunset

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This little fellow posed for me!

June 27, 2007

More Casa signage

Filed under: Photography — taamarbuuta @ 4:42 pm

This time, the photos are by Mike Lilley.

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Meknes Street Views

Filed under: Photography — taamarbuuta @ 3:51 pm

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Photo by Hamza Daoui

June 26, 2007

The Moroccan Streets

Filed under: Culture, Photography — taamarbuuta @ 2:06 pm

Rainbow streets

Beautiful, huh? This was taken on the road that goes down to the medina/McDonald’s in Meknes. But those aren’t for keeps - they just tape up the streets with multicolored papers so they can paint the red and white stripes that I hate so much (I think it’s a French thing).

And in other Moroccan street news, apparently Casa has finally caught up with the world and now has bicycle lanes! I don’t know how new these are, as I rarely venture into the richy rich neighborhoods, but this picture was taken on Blvd. d’Anfa, Casablanca:

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June 25, 2007

A room with a view

Filed under: Photography — taamarbuuta @ 1:13 am

This is the view from my hotel room this morning:

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More tomorrow on why I was there (2007 DABA/NDI conference)

(For those of you unaware, that’s the Hassan II Mosque, reputed to be the third largest mosque in the world, after those in Mecca and Medinah.  Unfortunately, it also has a bad reputation, for two reasons - the first being the fact that Moroccans were required to help pay for it, regardless of income, making many angry; the second being that it’s poised to sink into the ocean if any natural disaster befalls Casablanca.  Insha’allah, one won’t).

June 19, 2007

Casablanca

Filed under: Travel, Photography, Guides — taamarbuuta @ 5:18 pm

While not my favorite city, there’s just something about Casablanca that charms me every time. Perhaps it’s the art deco or the fact that nearly all the signs look 30 years old, but it’s always a great place to stroll around.

An example of Casa’s fine colonial architecture

The famous Cinema Rialto and not-as-famous Cafe Billiard (Hamza says that’s a real pool table)

Arabic readers, please read the Arabic on the “The Man” sign.

Funky old tourism office. Guess Casa doesn’t see many tourists nowadays.

I truly wish I knew what to tell you about this sculpture.

The sad tale of the Hotel Lincoln, a local landmark burned quite awhile back with no current plan.

The fat cats of Casa.

Rather majestic, no?

Surprisingly, you don’t see these Coca-Cola signs in Arabic all that often

Gatsby?

Buffet in Morocco?  That’s something you don’t see too often!

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And if you get the chance, take a taxi to Snack Yamine, which has only five things on its menu - a fried fish plate for either one, two, three, four or five people.

June 9, 2007

This is where I live.

Filed under: Photography — taamarbuuta @ 2:03 pm

All of these photos were taken within 100 km from my home.

All photos were taken by Jillian York (or with Jillian York’s camera by Janine Flood in the case of the minaret of Moulay Idriss Zerhoun)

June 4, 2007

Another Riad Zany night of music

Filed under: Photography — taamarbuuta @ 3:39 pm

Although internet is apparently down in their part of the medina, I was fortunate enough to visit Riad Zany for yet another musical event (though I’m told it’s the last for awhile). As they haven’t had a chance to post yet due to their lack of internet, I’ll let my photos speak for themselves:

June 1, 2007

Benefit for Bayti

Filed under: Culture, Photography — taamarbuuta @ 12:05 pm

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Bayti is a local organization which works with street children, as well as other disadvantaged kids, in a variety of capacities.  Last night, the Institut Francais in Meknes hosted a benefit concert to which the children were also invited.  It was a great deal of fun and my friend and coworker Ftour (Breakfast) played with one of the bands.

 

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Ftour rocks the keyboards.

 

All in all, the benefit was a great success and fun for all, but it was the kids who truly benefited.

 

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May 29, 2007

Who rocks the party? Gnaouis rock the party!

Filed under: Photography — taamarbuuta @ 10:34 pm

Last night, Hamza and I (as well as some friends) were fortunate enough to attend the Gnaoua Dance Party hosted by the folks from The View From Fez.  Although we were quite late, it was wonderful - I had never seen Gnaoua outside of the Essaouira Festival, so I felt extra lucky.  We missed the food, but judging by how many people were full of energy and dancing, it seems that it was a success!

Hamza (my husband) has already topped whatever I could post with his gorgeous photos over at El Hafa, but here are a few of my own.

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Who rocks the party?  Gnaouis rock the party!

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Seriously, they do.

The rest of the album can be found here

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