We ventured outside the city of Marrakech today into the Ourika Valley of the Atlas Mountains to learn more about the Berbers - the indigenous people of North Africa.

We had a later start today, 10 am, but the streets of Marrakech were still filled with the hustle and bustle of traffic, vendors and tourists as we made our way to the Bahia Palace in the medina (old city).

Destination - Marrakech, by way of the Atlas Mountains. We left Fes early, since this would be a more than 300 mile, 6 hour+ drive and we wanted to get to Marrakech in time for Shabbat services at Beth-El Synagogue.

There’s something to be said about a sunrise over a cemetery.  Let me be clear, this is no ordinary cemetery.  It’s one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in Morocco, located in the Mellah (old Jewish quarter) of Fes.

Our Moroccan journey got us up before the sun to begin our trek from Casablanca to Fes. In fact, the sun didn’t rise until around 8:30 am. That’s because last year the Moroccan government stayed on daylight savings time permanently! What novel concept.