Tag Archives: Gibraltar

Morocco–the real Morocco

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100% Moroccans 100% of the time

Day-dream or the real thing?

On an early summer day in Gibraltar I was relaxing on a hotel terrace, shaded by wisteria, looking towards Africa, Morocco, Tangier. At a table near me, I met a grizzly old American landscape architect named Herb Striet. He talked about the geography at the Strait of Gibraltar.

Why was Striet in Gibraltar?

Striet was in Gibraltar because his old-time Lebanese friend ran the bank where Striet kept his off-shore accounts. “It’s convenient,” Striet said, “I can easily go back to my Tangier if I want.” Then the conversation got weird. I couldn’t understand. He twisted. I got twisted; but I listened.

“Heh, heh,” he said, “…if… if I want.” I didn’t really get the picture. He continued. I summarize.

All the while he had been working and living in the Arabian Peninsula, Striet said he had missed the freedom of Morocco, North Africa, the Maghreb. He had missed the accessibility of the Moroccan people. He had missed the intimate human nature of their medina public realm. He had missed life in Morocco, very real, just 100% Moroccans 100% of the time–Morocco, where daily life was not flash like the oil-countries of the Arabian Peninsula. He told me his daily public realm life in the oil-rich Middle East was awkwardly filled with contracted, sad-faced expatriate service people.

At the end, I finally understood, almost, that Striet had a love/hate thing with Morocco. So nice… but…

And all this is mellowed-out by C418’s cut “Door” on his Alpha album.

Curious Tales: The Prequel is free to read on Kindle Vella at this link: https://bit.ly/3Hv6p2p

And the story behind Curious Tales is Tangier Gardens and it is available on Amazon at this link: https://amzn.to/3HLrtyv

Curious Tales Ebook will launch 15April at a huge discount: Sign up here for details: https://bit.ly/3q5lcaq

Please share this with your like-minded friends.

Curious Tales Prequel 01

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In Curious Tales, CJ wrote:

“I was at sea–absolutely nothing was certain.

“Back home, at university, in my original Design Study Statement, I wrote that I would evaluate the use of water features in the Moroccan medina urban public realm, with a view toward deriving a metric of understanding their physical and cultural components.

“I must be frank. I almost failed this self-directed Moroccan design study.

“My time in Tangier took me to some deep places—some I had seen before. Others? Most peculiar…I didn’t know where I was. And others still where I was glad to be.”

But that is CJ’s tale; this prequel is my story.

A weak breeze and a few late wisteria flowers prepared me to be charmed by the view of the Strait of Gibraltar the way I like it–a safe distance, a comfortable distance away from that strangely aggressive magic, that throbbing aura of Joseph Conrad’s Africa. The more I thought about it, the more I could feel that hot African breath prickling the back of my neck.

I had been strolling lazily, inspecting the Gibraltar hotel where I was staying. I walked through the Barbary Bar out onto the shaded Wisteria Terrace. Nobody was sitting out there. Off season. Siesta time of day. Perfect quiet for me, perfect for daydreaming–my way of searching for the orange gardens of the Hesperides.

Curious Tales The Prequel is free to read on Kindle Vella at this link (https://bit.ly/3Hv6p2p)

And the story behind Curious Tales is Tangier Gardens and it is available on Amazon at this link (https://amzn.to/3HLrtyv)

Curious Tales Ebook will launch 15April at a huge discount: Sign up here for details (https://bit.ly/3q5lcaq)

Please share this with your like-minded friends especially if they are:

-A nature lover or a landscape aficionado;

-Curious about all things green—the environment, plants, gardening, horticulture; or

-Intrigued about the northwest Africa multi-cultural, mystical history of people and plants.