Places you need to take in with all your senses, see the warm colours, feel the heat and

pulse of the market and smell the spaices, the fishmarket in Essaoira... I don´t know how you would take it in but I was facinated by it all! I tried to capture the old people resting at the streetcorner the workers at the tannery, the cat sleeping in the sun on the fishingboat the true colors of Marocko...

Marrakech and Essaouira,

MARRAKECH

FUN FACTS

The probable origin of its name is from the Amazigh (Berber) words mur (n) akush, which means "Land of God". (The root "mur" is used now in the Berber languages mostly in the feminine form "tamurt"). The same word "mur" appears in the country Mauritania, but this interpretation is still unproven to this day.

Until a few decades ago, Morocco was known as Kingdom of Marrakech by Arabs, Persians and Europeans. The European names of Morocco, Marruecos, Maroc, Marokko are directly derived from the Berber word Murakush. The city is spelled "Marrakech" in French, "Marrakech" or "Marrakesh" in English, "Marrakesch" in German and "Marakeş" in Turkish.

Essaouira Background:

In 788, about a century after the Arab conquest of North Africa, successive Moorish dynasties began to rule in Morocco. In the 16th century, the Sa'adi monarchy, particularly under Ahmad AL-MANSUR (1578-1603), repelled foreign invaders and inaugurated a golden age. In 1860, Spain occupied northern Morocco and ushered in a half century of trade rivalry among European powers that saw Morocco's sovereignty steadily eroded; in 1912, the French imposed a protectorate over the country. A protracted independence struggle with France ended successfully in 1956. The internationalized city of Tangier and most Spanish possessions were turned over to the new country that same year.