About an hour inland from St. Augustine, Palatka is an historic city on a giant bend in the St. Johns River. At this point Florida’s longest and most famous watercourse suddenly widens as it turns north towards Jacksonville. I can’t get enough of the magnificent riverfront views in Palatka, and it’s no wonder that most …
Sitting next to the beloved Blue Spring State Park, Orange City was settled by Europeans in the mid-19th century. The name of course comes from citrus growing, although the thousands of acres of groves were lost in the Great Freeze of 1894-95. Orange City has a large historic district with a number of buildings dating …
For motorsports fans, this city in south-central Florida’s Highlands County needs no introduction. The name alone is synonymous with the Sebring International Raceway, home of the famed 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race. Sebring was founded in the 1910s by an Ohio pottery manufacturer who had a novel approach to urban design. The City on …
The bewitching Medieval city of Fez was founded on the banks of the Jawhar River in the 8th century by Idris I, a descendant of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. Soon after came the 9th-century University of al-Qarawiyyin, the oldest place of higher education in the world. In its UNESCO-listed Medina, Fez is a multisensory journey, …
Where the western ridge of the High Atlas Mountains drops to the Atlantic, Agadir is a port and beach resort with year-round sun. Even in January, temperatures peak above 20°C, bringing in Europeans in search of warmth and sunshine. Agadir is Morocco’s favourite getaway, and its long sandy bay is fringed by an endless promenade …
Protruding into the Atlantic at Cap de Mazagan, El Jadida is a port city with an unexpected European Renaissance accent. On the water are the ramparts of a Portuguese fortified city, built in the early 16th century and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You can walk these walls and go underground to see …
The Erg Chebbi dunes on the Morocco-Algeria border chime with everyone’s most romantic notion of the Sahara. These ethereal dunes are shades of orange, gold and bronze, and a whole industry has sprouted on their western cusp, allowing you to live like a nomad for a day or two. On expeditions into the desert you’ll …
In the 19th century the walled coastal city of Essaouira was Morocco’s main seaport, connecting trade routes through its Saharan hinterland with the rest of the world. Essaouira had been revived the century before by Sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah (1710-1790). He set up a large Jewish quarter and commissioned the French engineer, Théodore Cornut to …
Civilisations and dynasties from the Phoenicians to the Merenids have all claimed this place on the estuary of the river Bou Regreg as their home. That complicated heritage is laid at your feet at the Chellah, at the ruins of the Roman city and an Almohad necropolis. The Kasbah of the Udayas is a citadel …
Against the snow-capped High Atlas Mountains, Marrakesh is a timeless city of red sandstone. Storytellers still regale the public on the Jemaa el-Fnaa square and an army of vendors sell their wares on haphazard interweaving alleys, packed tight to keep the sun at bay. Marrakesh went through two periods as an imperial capital, under the …