Original subtitles

NARRATOR: This is the story of a journey.

A journey through the bright colours and the light of Morocco...

..through the narrow streets of its old cities...

..its marketplaces...

..its people...

..its religion...

..its industry.

Even to Moroccans, Morocco is full of surprises.

It is a kingdom of ancient traditions...

..but in many ways, it is very modern.

For 2,000 kilometres, it faces the Atlantic.

It also has the Atlas Mountains,

with peaks up to 4,000 metres high.

Both the ocean and the mountains take their name from the Titan Atlas,

who was believed by the Greeks to hold up the sky

at the far western end of the world.

On modern maps, it is one of Europe's nearest neighbours,

but it is also the gateway to the interior of Africa.

Morocco is all these things.

Join us on a journey to explore Morocco

in a way few will ever see it.

Morocco...

..seen from above.

Where do we start?

Why not start where it all began...

..far away from the sea, on the cliffs of the Zerhoun Massif?

This town, perched on two rocky peaks,

is the real birthplace of Morocco.

It takes its name from its founder, Moulay Idriss,

a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed.

He was a Shiite, and towards the end of the 8th century,

he fled westward to seek refuge in this remote land of the Berbers.

Ever since, the town of Moulay Idriss

has been a place of pilgrimage for Moroccans.

Many come in search of the favours of a Muslim saint

descended from the Prophet.

But others come to admire the view of the plain

and the even more ancient town below, Roman Volubilis.

The ruins of Volubilis are like pages from a history book.

In this outpost of the Roman Empire,

there were Berbers, Jews, Christians, and then Muslims.

Its wealthy citizens lived in villas

decorated with magnificent mosaic floors.

Each mosaic tells its own story,

for example, the labours of that slightly Moroccan hero Hercules.

On his 11th labour,

Hercules is said to have smashed one of the Atlas mountains,

opening the Mediterranean to the Atlantic beyond.

So, it was Hercules who forever separated Africa from Europe.

You also come across the goddess Diana

bathing with her nymphs.

The ruins tell of a succession of religions,

from the gods of classical mythology

to the remains of a Christian basilica.

They are all signs of the close links between Morocco's roots

and the civilisations of the Mediterranean.

Morocco is deeply rooted in Africa,

but it is also almost European,

because above all, it is profoundly Mediterranean.

The history of the successive ruling dynasties proves it.

After Moulay Idriss and Volubilis,

Fez and Meknes are the best places to go back in time.

In both cities, there is banter about the rivalry between them.

There are arguments about which town is better,

jokes at each other's expense,

variations on recipes, differences in tradition.

Meknes is an imperial city.

It was the capital of a kingdom that stretched from the Mediterranean

to the banks of the River Senegal.

Just as Versailles tells us about Louis XIV,

Meknes tells us about his contemporary,

King Moulay Ismail.

Walking through Meknes,

you can imagine the life of yesteryear in the palaces,

the splendour of the court,

the reservoirs and canals supplying the gardens,

the Turkish baths,

and the stables that could hold up to 10,000 horses.

Horses and horsemanship are highly prized in Morocco.

They are the basis of the mass display

known as the fantasia.

The groups of riders still bear the names of ancient tribes -

the Zemmours, the Zaers, the Rahamnas.

This display of skill and courage,

with horses that seem ready to take flight,

fascinated the Orientalist painters of the 19th century,

especially the French Romantic Delacroix.

Despite the musket fire, a fantasia isn't about war.

It's a playful demonstration, also called gunpowder play.

But it is more than just folklore.

It is a way of harnessing violence, of showing off a sense of belonging.

Fez is another imperial city.

The streets of Fes el Bali - or Old Fez - are a real labyrinth.

Some of them are barely 50 centimetres wide.

Walking around Fez, you need to be ready for some surprises.

In the heart of the city is the Karaouine Mosque,

home to one of the oldest centres of Islamic learning in the world.

Beneath the emerald roofs

is a masterpiece of architecture and ornament

that can hold 20,000 people.

The study centre was founded in the 9th century

by Fatima al-Fihri -

a woman who is said to have invested all her fortune in it.

The old city of Fez had long been in decline

when, in 1981, it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Ever since, it has been reviving.

Its neglected monuments and houses are being restored.

Its people have regained their pride.

Their traditions too,

like these tanners working in their hundred-year-old vats.

The work is hard, and the smell is so strong

that the tanneries are kept well away from residential areas.

Nowadays, there are chemical dyes,

but they have not replaced natural pigments

sourced from Morocco's plants and soil.

The tanners keep alive the memory

of the best in Morocco's craftsmanship.

From slippers to leatherwork,

from saddles to the most precious manuscripts,

this know-how fuels a heritage that is still very much alive today.

Fez is the archetypal Moroccan city.

Its people call it simply el-Medina - the city.

It is like a microcosm of the country's identity.

But where does Morocco's identity lie?

Undoubtedly also in the farmlands among the cereal fields -

one of the Mediterranean treasures Morocco inherited.

Cereals are the basis of Moroccan cuisine.

The heart of the grain is used to produce the fine flour

needed for pastilla - Moroccan pastry.

The coarse wheat is used to make couscous.

Each region has its own bread.

Barley and wheat - both hard and soft -

are the basic staples.

Moroccan production varies according to the weather.

In any case, to meet its needs, Morocco must import wheat every year.

Morocco's best-known food item comes from the market garden -

the tomato.

Peas, lentils and broad beans

are further staples of the Moroccan diet.

Sugar is a must in Morocco,

as are the sugar beets to produce it.

Sugar is given as a present on happy occasions

as a way of sharing the joy,

and if someone dies,

a gift of sugar helps ease the sorrow.

A Moroccan saying runs,

"The water has boiled,

"but the sugar is nowhere to be found."

It means that you cannot make mint tea without sugar,

but the deeper meaning is, we may think we have everything,

but if the essential element is missing,

then we are left with nothing.

The weekly market, the souk, is an institution in Morocco.

Even in the age of the internet and mobile phones,

the souk remains a major social network.

People talk about friends and family,

but also about what rain might be expected.

It is a key topic in a country constantly threatened by drought.

The rainfall fills the market stalls

or leaves them empty.

It determines whether there will be shortages or abundance.

When the rain fails,

farmers sell some of their sheep to raise money.

This is why it is said the Moroccan fellah

is first and foremost a shepherd.

(SHEEP BAA)

For a long time,

serving guests any other meat than lamb

was an insult in Morocco.

Today, that has changed,

but a special occasion still requires a mechoui -

a sheep or lamb roasted whole on a spit.

Half the population still lives from agriculture,

and there are 35 million Moroccans to be fed.

The farmland plains are only a small part of Morocco.

The centre of the country is dominated

by a long mountain chain - the Atlas.

In the south, there is a desert - the Sahara.

And all along the western coast is the Atlantic Ocean.

This is where our journey will continue...

..as we head for the legendary cities

of Asilah, Rabat and Casablanca.

In the south of Morocco,

the Atlantic Ocean stretches as far as the eye can see.

There are fine sandy beaches, lagoons,

and towns dating back to Roman times

where we also find traces of the Spanish,

Portuguese and French.

Morocco's coastal cities have often faced peril from the sea.

The walls of fortified cities like Asilah tell the story.

The city was seized by the Portuguese

almost 600 years ago,

and later, it was taken by the Spanish.

In 1829, even the Austrians bombarded the city

in reprisal for piracy.

Asilah is known today for its painters.

During the annual festival,

they take walls as their canvases, covering them in murals.

Harnessing the sea, living with it, trying to defeat it,

Moroccans traditionally called the Atlantic the dark ocean.

In Morocco, with a 3,000km coastline,

life, poetry, tradition, popular wisdom

and even religion often have to do with the sea.

It is said that, in the 15th and 16th centuries,

the Spanish Inquisition tried to keep Moroccans

from learning modern navigation techniques.

However, this may have had more to do

with Morocco being a haven for pirates at the time.

Morocco's fishing boats are still made by hand.

They are also still painted with inscriptions

to avert the evil eye or other misfortune.

Rabat, the capital, has a second World Heritage site -

the Udayas' Kasbah.

With its streets painted in white and blue,

the fortified walls

and the fortress known to this day as the Pirates' Tower

recall the days when Rabat was a stronghold of the Barbary pirates,

who ranged as far as Iceland.

The enclosed Andalusian Gardens

look like they were built by the Moors,

yet they are not even 100 years old.

They are the work of the French Colonial architect

Maurice Tranchant de Lunel.

This white marble mausoleum

is the tomb of the father of Morocco's independence,

King Mohammed V, and his sons.

It overlooks the River Bou Regreg.

Nearby is the Hassan Tower -

the minaret of a mosque begun in the 12th century

by King Yaqub al-Mansur.

He dreamt of making it the biggest mosque

in the Muslim west.

But it was never completed,

and in 1755, an earthquake struck and left only the minaret standing.

The enormous Shuhada Cemetery, beside the sea,

has tens of thousands of ornate graves.

Since 2011, Rabat has been linked by a tramway

to its sister city of Sale.

It carries 170,000 passengers a day.

Then there's the Mohammed VI Bridge, spanning the Bou Regreg River.

Opened in 2016, it is the longest cable-stayed bridge in Africa.

Clearly, Morocco is not only changing,

but is developing at a rapid rate.

On the way to Casablanca,

we pass Bouznika Beach,

where wealthy Casablancans have their summer houses.

Their villas replaced the holiday cabins

built by the French.

There are still a few of them left in neighbouring Dahomey Bay,

but beach erosion surely means their days are numbered.

Modern Morocco can seem a giant building site

with accommodation, infrastructure, large-scale projects.

And the main ingredient in making the concrete for all this is sand,

so a lot of sand is needed.

These men help provide it,

still wet from the ocean.

It's not easy for them to transport such a heavy burden.

True, it gives them work, but at what cost?

The demand is high, and so is the price.

But even though it is free and plentiful,

sea sand is not unlimited.

In many places, removing it threatens the coastline with further erosion.

A few donkeys can hardly swallow up the sand dunes,

but companies use machinery to extract it by the truckload.

Casablanca is a laboratory for Morocco's future.

New ways of life, new jobs, new social relations -

all of it is being invented in this ever-changing city.

Casablanca is the beating heart of the Moroccan economy.

With 4 million people, it is also the biggest city in North Africa.

Casablanca is a city full of life

where wealth and poverty live side by side.

It is a young city, representative of the country,

with a quarter of its population aged under 15.

The old city, hidden behind its walls,

borders the French colonial city.

This part of Casablanca was planned

as Morocco's economic capital 100 years ago.

Today, it feels a bit cramped.

This future-oriented city retains some of its history,

such as the neo-Gothic Sacred Heart Cathedral,

built by the French in 1930 and now a cultural centre.

But nowadays, all eyes turn to the Hassan II Mosque,

standing right on the edge of the North Atlantic.

It's one of the few mosques in Morocco

that are open to non-Muslims.

With a minaret 200 metres high,

it is the tallest religious monument in the world.

(SEAGULLS CAW)

Fishermen are sea people,

but also people of the night and the small hours.

They follow the rhythm of the seasons and fish migrations.

Morocco is Africa's top producer of fish,

and fishing is one of its main industries,

employing over 300,000 people.

The industry is typical of Morocco,

with both traditional and mechanised methods

operating side by side.

The catch includes common pandoras, sea bream, sargos, sardines,

hake and octopus.

Most of it will end up in markets and on plates

from Europe to South-East Asia and Japan.

For some years now,

there have been campaigns against overfishing

and in favour of observing biological cycles

and improving conditions on trawlers.

But competition is fierce,

and everybody comes to fish along the Moroccan coastline.

Around El Jadida, the next city on the road south from Casablanca,

the global market also gives work to seaweed divers.

But for how much longer?

Red seaweed is not an unlimited resource.

The seaweed is gathered, dried in the sun,

and used in pharmacology or for cosmetics.

Chemically transformed, it is used to produce agar-agar,

a natural gelling agent in the food-processing industry.

The demand is high, but only a small part of the profits

goes to the men and women who collect the seaweed

for a few months every year.

Still heading south, we begin to feel the trade winds,

and we discover one of the jewels of the Atlantic - Essaouira.

(SEAGULLS CAW)

Essaouira, a town between two worlds,

follows the rhythm of Gnawa music -

an intoxicating fusion of cultures, sounds and rhythms

from north and south of the Sahara.

It is said that, for many years,

caravans of up to 10,000 camels linked Essaouira and Timbuktu,

with relays as far as Saint-Louis on the coast of Senegal.

In the days of the caravans,

Essaouira was a hub for trade in gold, fabric,

ostrich feathers and African slaves.

Men, women and goods alike passed through these streets

to end up in Italy, Amsterdam or London,

or in the case of the slaves, in the New World.

Sultan Mohammed III encouraged Moroccan Jews

to settle in Essaouira to handle this global trade,

and they made up 40% of the city's population.

The former Jewish quarter, known as the mellah,

still evokes their memory,

though barely any Jews remain there today.

Everywhere in Morocco, Jewish areas are called mellah -

a name derived from the word for salt.

Some activities, such as salting and preservation,

were often allocated to Moroccan Jews.

For centuries, salt was at the heart of exchanges

from the Mediterranean to the south of the Sahara.

Salt was traded for gold from Ghana.

Morocco still produces salt

by the same traditional methods as in times past.

The workers go barefoot

to avoid damaging the dykes in the salt marshes.

These scenes tell the same story as others we have seen -

the story of a country

situated at the intersection of major trade routes.

And for us, salt marks a milestone.

From here on, the Mediterranean world begins to recede.

Essaouira's salt and sea breezes introduce us to Africa.

As proof, after 2,000 kilometres of coastline,

the scenery changes dramatically.

The south wind is blowing.

From Essaouira, we go even further south,

beyond Agadir, towards the wild coasts and beaches

of the Sidi Ifni region.

Legzira Beach was known for its two natural arches.

Now only one remains.

The headland on the right is all that remains of the other,

which collapsed in 2016.

Khenifiss National Park -

a unique panorama where the ocean, the desert and the lagoon meet.

Covering thousands of hectares of wilderness,

the park is a haven for fauna.

It is on the route of migratory birds

heading down the Atlantic coast to South Africa.

Early pilots, such as the legendary Mermoz

and Saint-Exupery,

also followed the coast.

In the '20s and '30s, Khenifiss was a stopover

for the French airmail carrier Aeropostale,

for which both men flew.

Captions by Red Bee Media (c) SBS Australia 2019