Morocco is in many ways a country apart. It nestles on the northwestern tip of Africa, separated from the rest of the continent by the towering Atlas Mountains and by the Sahara itself.
In the north, its fine beaches, lush highland valleys, and evocative old cities reinforce this impression. Yet, as one moves south and east, into and over the starkly beautiful ranges of the Atlases, Morocco's Mediterranean character melts away like a mirage. The Sahara stretches out to the horizon, and forbidding kasbahs stare.

The city of Marrakech was founded a thousand years ago under the Almoravid dynasty but was destroyed and rebuilt in the 12th century by the Almohads, who built the Koutoubia Mosque and landmark minaret.
Marrakech was once the capital of an empire that stretched from Spain to Senegal. In days of old, Marrakech's location on the crossroads of ancient caravan routes from Timbuktu made it a key destination for trade and reprieve for weary sub-Saharan traders carrying gold, salt and slaves bound for Europe. Today, Marrakech is a reverberating collision of Africa and Europe, west and east, Bohemia and high culture, Arab cities and Berber villages. Framed by the snow-capped Atlas mountains, thousand-year-old palm groves, and wrapped in faded red, Ochre walls, Marrakech casts a magic spell. One’s senses are stimulated by the brilliantly colored spices, entrancing music, rich folds of carpets, delectable cuisine, whirling dervishes, intertwining tile geometries, perfumed gardens shimmering in still waters of reflecting pools.