The day after the wedding, we hopped on a plane to the beautiful country of Morocco for our honeymoon. We flew to Casablanca where we rented a car to drive to the southern city of Marrakech. The only complication: neither of us knew how to drive a stick shift. We figured most of it out pretty quickly...except how to start the car from a dead stop and not stall several times. That night after arriving in Marrakech at our hotel, the Hotel Es Saadi, we went to a performance of traditional Moroccan music, dance, snake-charming, and acrobatics and had a dinner of Moroccan delicacies including couscous, lentil soup, pastilla, mint tea, and pastries.

The next day, our first stop was La Mamounia, a famous hotel where many dignitaries and celebrities have stayed. We strolled the gardens and had a leisurely lunch. Our next destination was the Koutoubia Mosque in the center of the old medina. The minaret of the mosque is 230 feet high and can be seen from miles away. We proceeded to the Place Jemaa el-Fna, a square filled with musicians, dancers, story-tellers and food vendors and then got lost while exploring the twisted paths of the souks, where craftworkers sell their wares. We especially enjoyed browsing the fabrics, the wooden artwork, the leather goods, and the pottery. Finally, we rode a horse-drawn carriage back to the hotel.

The next day we spent driving to Erfoud to our new home, the Kasbah Xaluca Maadid, where we had a spectacular Moroccan buffet dinner. The next morning, we relaxed by receiving massages and soaking in the hammam, a Turkish bath. In the afternoon, a driver took us in a Land Rover to the tiny village of Merzouga on the edge of the Sahara desert. There we met Omar, who guided us into the dunes while perched atop camels. We climbed to the top of the steepest, highest dune around so we could watch the gorgeous sunset and then rode the camels back to Merzouga. Our driver then miraculously returned us to the hotel, no easy feat when it is pitch black and when there are no roads (and every big rock looks the same.)

The next day we spent driving back to Casablanca. Most of the way was typical Moroccan highway: the road veering through every small village; fearless pedestrians, herds of sheep, erratic bicyclists, and donkey-driven carts occupying half of the road; and crazy oncoming drivers swerving into your lane. Suddenly, at Mekhnes, we encountered a row of booths on the road and a ticket was dispensed to us by a machine. Then, we proceeded onto a road with 2 lanes on either side of a median, with fences on both sides of the road to keep out people and animals, with a speed limit of 120 kms/hour, and with exits and exit signs. Could this be...yes, it was the Moroccan superhighway! With rest stops and gas stations, too! Needless to say, the rest of the way to Casablanca was a breeze compared to our travels of the last several days.

In Casablanca, our first stop was the Mosque of Hassan II, which is located right on the Atlantic Ocean. This is the third largest religious building in the world, after the mosques in Mecca and Medina. The prayer hall can fit 25,000 people, and the entire roof can open at the touch of a button during the summer since there is no air-conditioning. The mosque is open for tours to non-Muslims, which enabled us to see the beautiful interior. We then visited the medina and the souks, which was very modern in stark contrast to the souks of Marrakech. 50 Cent and Hindi movie music blared from the radios, and the people shopped for sneakers, business suits, and CD's. Finally, we headed back to our hotel, Le Royal Mansour Meridian, for a relaxing dinner of couscous, tajine, and of course, mint tea, before starting our journey back to America in the morning.