How Green Is the Valley

Charlie and I went for a beautiful walk through olive groves and alongside fields of wheat. We could not ask for a more perfect day or nicer way to pass the time.

One of the things that Charlie and I were struck by most in Morocco was how green it is. Sure the country has dry desert land and scraggly, high-mountain brush, but even in these areas, people manage to eke out a limited amount of lush green through irrigation. In other areas, particularly in the valley around Meknes and outside of Moulay Idriss, if you squint your eyes, there are times the land almost could be England. (OK, maybe not so much the olive groves....) We have been told that, after enduring decades of drought, Morocco has had record rainfall in the last two years.

The area around Meknes also has vineyards, none of which we visited. We tried several brands of Moroccan wine during our trip and, let's just say we would choose Australian New Zealand, Californian, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Chilean, South African, Canadian, or, for that matter, Indian, before we would choose to drink another Moroccan wine. At least for now. Maybe they will get better someday.