The World Is Going Down↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓

i am in germany ,believe it or don't , the first thing i visited is that monument of Otto von Bismarck ,don't ask who's that cause i am gonna say it , i just want to ask my readers to be patient ,i'll writte again just don't have time to look after this blog, be patient thx  

Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg, Prince of Bismarck (born April 1, 1815 in Schönhausen, today Saxony-Anhalt; died July 30, 1898 in Friedrichsruh near Hamburg), was a Prussian and German statesman of the 19th century. As Minister-President of Prussia from 1862–90, he oversaw the unification of Germany. From 1867 on, he was Chancellor of the North German Confederation. When the second German Empire was formed in 1871, he served as its first Chancellor, gaining the nickname "Iron Chancellor". As Chancellor, Bismarck held an important role in German government and greatly influenced German politics during his time of service.

Tangier

Visitors will most likely first set foot on Moroccan soil at Tangier. Their first impressions of Morocco will be punctuated by the scent of sulphur that hangs in the air and the sultry atmosphere that accompanies it. It is this very mood that has proved irresistible to writers and artists alike. Henri Matisse, Tennessee Williams, Samuel Beckett, Orson Welles and the heiress Barbara Hutton added a bohemian touch to this remarkable city.

From 1932 until its incorporation into Morocco in 1956, Tangier was an international tax free zone, under the control of a committee of 30 nations. This was an era that was characterised by financial fraud, espionage, large-scale smuggling and outrageous sexual licence by wealthy and eccentric expatriates.

From the tops of the mountains that surround Tangier, a magnificent spectacle unfolds as the evening sun sinks into the Atlantic Ocean and a bright moon slowly rises up out of the dark waters of the Mediterranean. Such is the view of Cape Spartel, where the waters of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic meet. This cape, famed since antiquity, contains the Caves of Hercules—for centuries the haunt of the Barbary Corsairs, the savage pirates who were the curse of the Mediterranean.

The Phoenicians set up a trading post here and it later became the Roman town of Tangis. Arab rulers from the east took over in the 8th Century AD and Portugal captured it in the 15th century.

Things To See

Grand Socco
Just outside the city walls is the Souk, where you can see traditional products being made and sold. Walk through the archway into the medina and encounter a medieval world as you traverse the narrow lanes of the old town.

Petit Socco
Here, in the heart of the medina, you will find an open space with cafés where you can take a break from shopping and strolling, and watch people from all cultures go by.

Kasbah
A complex of castles on top of the hill overlooking the city. The Sultan, Moulay Ismail, built his palace here, and the gardens are part of his 17th century palace, called Dar el Makhzen.

Kasbah

Museum of Moroccan Art
Here you will find all manner of treasure, from Berber carpets to wood and metal antiques and ceramics.

Archaeological Museum
This museum holds artefacts dating back to the Stone Age, and includes beautifully preserved Roman mosaics. There are two wonderfully decorated courtyards.

Forbes Museum
A museum of toy soldiers (honestly) left behind by Malcolm Forbes, the American magazine tycoon, in his former residence at the Mendonb Palace.

New Town
Centred around the Rue de la Liberté, the Place de France and the Boulevard Pasteur. Sit at one of the pavement cafés and it isn't too hard to imagine life under French colonial rule.

Hotels

Minzfa
The best hotel to be found in Tangier in the colonial style. The terraces are a good place to enjoy mint tea and escape the madness outside.

Nearby

Cap Spartel
The cape to the west from where the lighthouse shines out across the Straights of Gibraltar. You can visit the lighthouse observation platform, which overlooks not only a magnificent seascape, but also the expansive beaches nearby.

Travel

Ferry
The Ferry terminal has frequent car ferries to Algeciras and a fast hydrofoil service. For more information about Ferry Service, click here.

Airport
Located 10 km to the southwest, it has about two flights a day to Malaga and Casablanca, daily flights to Paris and seven a week to London.

Trains
There is a train service to Casablanca and a night train to Marrakech.

Crossing the desert

Built by the French beside the perennial Ziz River, the little town of Erfoud is not characterised by the charm of a centuries-old settlement. It's red sand buildings, however, stand out in impressive contrast against the surrounding desert, and with its good hotels, restaurants and a lively souk, it is an excellent place from which to explore the surrounding landscape of desert and oases.

In the latter, the people live in fort-settlements knows as ksour, whose high walls, tightly packed houses and intricate pattern of paths and alleyways are as beautiful as they are charming. Made from lime and the red sand of the region, they provided protection from both marauding nomadic tribes and the scorching sun. Surrounding these settlements are the large palm groves that have sustained these communities on the fringe of the desert for centuries. Not far, the desert offers its own tourist attraction, in the form of camel rides to the sand dunes of Merzouga.

Borj-Est

Cross the Bab el Oued bridge from Erfoud's main square and follow the track up a steep hill to the military fort of Borj-Est, which was built as an outpost of the French Army and was manned by the Foreign Legion. From here, the views across the entire region are stunning.

Erg Chebbi

The Erg Chebbi is a range of gold-coloured sand that stretches for about 20 kilometres, some 25 kilometres south-east of Erfoud. Here, visitors book ahead to make sure of a place in one of the two dozen or so little café hotels that have sprung up around the one side of the Erg, a magnificent series of huge sand dunes whose changing tone in the light of dusk or dawn, draws a constant stream of romantically-inclined travellers.

The desert route

As is often the case, the fun is not just in seeing a special sight, it is also in getting there. Although there is a good tarred road that leads from Erfoud to the Erg Chebbi, most visitors prefer to join the convoy of white Land Rovers in which local guides take them across the desert and through dry river beds to the sand dunes.

The Valley of One Thousand Kasbahs

A little north-east of the southern city of Quarzazate, lies the Dadès Valley-stretching out between the peaks of the High Atlas and the Jbel Sarhro mountain range. Known as 'The Valley of One Thousand Kasbahs', it is the most prominent of the oasis valleys that dominate southern Morocco. Originating from melt water high up in the snowfields of the Haute Atlas, the river Dadès cuts a steep gorge, known as the Dadès Gorge, at Aït Oudinar and Aït Ali. From here, it flows across the broad Dadès Valley in a south-westerly direction towards Quarzazate.

Traditionally, the people of this region lived in a large number of small Kasbah settlements scattered across the fertile river plain. In recent years, however, they have been leaving the valley and been congregating in larger villages along the valley's edge, leaving only a few Kasbah to be populated and maintained in perfect condition.

Kasbahs

There are many Kasbahs in this region; some alive and pretty, others impressive in their desolation, adding mystery to the exotic architecture and fascinating structure of society that has been in place here for thousands of years.

Berber Culture

As a Berber heartland, it is a centre of their culture, so besides architecture, food and crafts, the music, dress and customs are quintessentially Berber-including brightly coloured dress and ornamentation for women and girls, as well as the heavy dark blue cotton haiks (cloaks) of the region.

The north coast of Morocco forms a little-explored landscape of bays and coves framed by a surprisingly green hinterland that shatters the first-time visitor's preconception of Morocco as an arid and desolate country. Set within this scenery of blue Mediterranean waters and green hills covered in wild flowers lays Marina Smir, Morocco's most fashionable marina and resort.

Situated directly on the beach, halfway between Ceuta and Tetouan, and 30 kilometres from Tangiers airport, Marina Smir is approached through unspoiled natural scenery. Just 40 kilometres across the sea from Gibraltar and the Costa del Sol, the marina and resort which opened in 1991 has been developed by a Spanish group to the same standards as one finds on the Costa del Sol, offering first-class facilities for yachtsmen and visiting tourists who wish to enjoy a Mediterranean resort with a  difference.

Popular with visiting yachts from Andalucía, the marina forms the hub around which a series of luxury resort hotels, restaurants, bars, cafés, shops and residential developments have arisen. Beside a luxurious Sofitel Spa & Thalasso resort, the facilities now also include a golf course, a wide range of water sports, fine beaches and the kind of services that accompany a small but exclusive resort.

Offering easy clearance procedures for visiting yachts, good berthing facilities and excellent value for money, the success of the marina has spurred on the development of the resort, which in turn has given rise to an up-and-coming residential area. For those interested in exploring the surrounding countryside, there are a series of smaller hotels, rounding off what is an increasingly popular and trendy resort in a little-discovered but beautiful corner of the Mediterranean.

Marina

A yacht harbour with a full range of services, including water and electricity on all berths, a 200-ton crane and repair services, as well as restaurants, bars and swimming pools.

Beaches

Long beaches of fine white sand are backed by gently rolling green hills covered in flowers. The view across the water is to Gibraltar and the coast of southern Spain.

Hotels

International hotel groups such as Sofitel have established luxury resort hotels with a full range of comforts, facilities and entertainment - including sport and spa treatment.

Property

Still in its infancy, the region offers a small-scale but burgeoning property market with luxury apartments, townhouses and villas in a modern interpretation of Moorish-Moroccan styles. Prices are a strong point.

Morocco: bargain priced properties still below market value, free viewing trips, truly breathtaking beaches and scenery. The property market is booming.

Ornamental Plates

Like a "fata morgana" (mirage) looming up out of the rock in the heart of the Moroccan countryside, the former royal city of Meknès is yet another unexpected delight this country has to offer. One of Morocco's most beautiful historical cities, its twenty-two kilometres of town wall, monumental gates and the ruins of an immense palatial complex form an impressive and curious backdrop for the meeting point of Morocco's main roads.

The 17th century sultan Moulay Ishmail wanted to create a royal capital here that would rival Versailles. He had an army of bricklayers, black slaves and several hundred captured Christian slaves build 120km of town wall, dream palaces, stables for 12,000 horses, hanging gardens watered by a 4 hectare pond and immense storage sheds. After almost a century of construction, he left one of the most beautiful cities in Moorish-Arabic style in the world.

Things To See

City Gate
With its intricate horseshoe shape and beautifully decorated detail, the Bab al-Mansour gate in Meknès is the most beautiful in Morocco-and one of the most iconic in the Muslim world.

Bab Al-Mansour Ruins
The ruins that surround the gate of Bab al-Mansour stretch out for miles along the town walls, watch towers and adjacent complexes that once formed the heart of the town's defences.

Heri es Souani
The ancient granaries and vaults that were once designed as a state-of-the-art project under imperial supervision may be overgrown with foliage, but they haven't lost their impressive architectural features.

Moulay Ishmail Mausoleum
The most famous leader of Meknès, and the creator of much of its architectural splendour, is revered and remembered in this stylish, solemn mausoleum.

Jamai Palace
Built as the residence of a vizier, this delicate palace within the town's medina (old quarter) now houses the fascinating collection of the Museum of Moroccan Arts.

Moulay Idriss
From Meknès, rolling green hills extend towards Mount Zerhon, where the holy city of Moulay Idriss lays perched against a slope. Famous for its green rooftops, it offers one of the most picturesque views of Moroccan town life.

Volubilis
A short drive from Meknès lays Volubilis, the most important Roman site in this part of North Africa. Built in AD 40, this formerly imposing and sophisticated Roman town, inhabited not just by Romans but also by Greeks, Berbers, Jews and Carthaginians, built its wealth and power on the wheat trade.

A pretty little town drawn up in pink stone, Tata is the centre of a network of three river beds that feed the surrounding palm groves and gardens through a system of irrigation channels. The land is worked by communities from the nearby ksour villages, made up of local Berbers and descendents of slaves brought here by the famous Saharan caravan traders.

Today, they live and trade together in the lively souk of Tata, once one of the main slave markets of the entire region. Although it gradually declined and was forcibly opposed by the colonial powers, this slave trade continued well into the 20th century. The last slave caravan was spotted in the Sahara in 1956, and in neighbouring Mauritania slavery was only officially abolished in 1981. Today, it is no more than a distant memory, but in places like Tata it stills adds to the exotic atmosphere.

Geological formations

The 7111 is an excellent road that runs between Tata and Taroudannt, crossing a landscape of great geological interest, where incredible rock formations and exposed strata succeed one another in rapid succession in an environment almost devoid of human settlement.

Issafèn Valley

After the ruggedness of the almost lunar landscape that one crosses to reach it, the olive, almond and walnut trees of the Issafèn Valley are all the more welcoming. Here, in these mountainous surroundings, stone houses replace the sand and lime dwellings of the valleys, and the women wear the characteristic blue and purple smocks of the mountain Berber tribes. The men used to be infamous raiders, but now they work the land and trade in the lively souk.

Igherm

This white-washed village in a mountainous plateau is situated at an altitude of 1700 metres. Embattled fruit orchards point to the hardiness of the people in this windswept terrain, but Igherm is an important market town in this highland area.

Whereas the coast gets dry in summer, the capital of the Rif Mountain region, Tétouan, lies in the cool valley of the "Wadi Martil", just kilometres inland from the Spanish coastal enclave of Ceuta. Formerly the capital of Spanish Morocco, this pretty city has a tangible connection with Andalucía: balconies and windows framed by iron grilles, shaded squares and patios with refreshing Moorish-Andalusian fountains, white plasterwork and flamenco.

This connection is accentuated by the fact that many of the Moriscos, expelled from Spain by King Felipe IV in the 16th century, settled here. The extent to which their descendants are still nostalgic about Andalucía is borne out by the 400-year-old tradition in which the keys of homes left behind in Spain are still passed on from generation to generation, yet the locals have recreated the beautiful Hispano-Moorish architecture of old in this charming capital of northern Morocco.

Things to See

Khalif's Palace
The old palace of the Khalif also served as the residence of the King's representative during the time of the Protectorate, when Tetouan was the capital of Spanish Morocco.

Gateways
Seven magnificently sculpted gateways offer not only a visual delight, but also a variety of ways to breach the age-old ramparts and enter the town from different angles.

Market Produce

Kasbah
Dating back to the 14th century, the Kasbah of Tetouan is a particularly good example of a Middle Eastern covered market place whose maze of stalls produce sights, sounds and scents that are inextricably part of the Moroccan experience.

Old Quarter
The maze of alleyways and cobbled streets, with their blue-tainted whitewashed houses, remain among the most enchanting of Tetouan's sights. In places is this quintessentially Moroccan feature more alluring.

Museums
The Archaeological Museum and the Ethnographic Museum, both located in grand old buildings, offer an insight into the many different people who have inhabited the country over the ages, and the typically Moroccan traditions that have evolved out of this.