Moroccan Blogs - January update.

January, after getting off to a slow start, has proved to be a really active month for the Moroccan bloggers. Some new blogs have appeared, some have fallen silent and others that had been pretty quiet, burst into life again. What is wonderful about the English language blogs in Morocco is the way they link between each other and bounce off each other's stories. The View from Fez, thanks all those new sites which have linked to us this month. We appreciate it.

Once again, the top blogs were those authored by bloggers with a literary bent, journalistic background or simply those with a real eye for the off beat. Topics ranged across everything from the Saddam video and the Nichane case through to snow in Meknes and the best bottle water in Morocco (about which we, however, beg to differ!).

Cat in Rabat has been an entertaining read all month and the blog celebrated its first birthday (Cat in Rabat is 1-Year Old) as well as the Islamic new year (Party Like It's 1428 (A.H.)!) Those of us who have been following Mr and Mrs C in Rabat as they venture to get a permit to stay in Morocco were treated to the final installment (The Cat de Sejour: Part the Fourth) and after discovering that the Cat is truly evil (Vindicated!) and we held our breath as she tried in vain to watch the Da Vinci Code ( da Veni, da Vidi, da Vinci) - alas we also have to wait as it appears the Cat has yet to subject herself to that unspeakable experience.

Morocco Time continues to be a "must read", particularly as its author, Liosliath, has the wonderful gift of taking the seemingly mundane and making it really interesting. A case in point was her story on drink water. That's right. Drinking water! (سيدي حرازم ) Morocco Time obviously has shares in Sidi Harazem and sidelines Sidi Ali - "I’ll be over here drinking my tasty Sidi Harazem, reveling in my good health, while all the rest of you drink that bilge they call Sidi Ali and visit the pharmacy for anteebeeoghteeks for the tiniest sniffle." Liosliath also reawoke our interest in hiking in Morocco with a delightful post about the area around where she lives (Hiking in the Mountains ) Her post on tourists (Tourist Stereotypes) cracked us up.

Laila Lalami is one of those blogs that constantly reminds you of how many great books there are out there that you "must read" (Marjane Satrapi's Chicken with Plums), (The Virgin of Flames) just to name two. Laila has shuttled around from her base in Casa and this month saw her heading to literary events in the Netherlands (Dutch Wrap Up) and also blogging about the Nichane case (Nichane:Update) and the murder of Hrant Dink (Dink's Murder) and so much more. The question that needs to be asked is does she have enough spare time to write another novel like her superb Hope & Other Dangerous Pursuits ??? We hope so.

The Morocco Report is powering along with heaps of posts and a great mix of the local, national and international observations. Her acute eye picked up a wonderful detail in a Maroc Telecom advert (More Bad Advertising.) and she blogged the blogosphere as well (The English language Moroccan "Blogoma"). Best of all The Morocco Report tore strips off the so called experts on Morocco who write in online forums such as Thorn Tree (Debunking Morocco's "Expert Advice") - "I've got to say, I'm quite tired of Morocco "experts." This is a class of people - some of whom are foreigners, others are Moroccans, most often with little grasp of English beyond "You are welcome in Morocco," but all of whom think they know it all and most certainly do not." - We couldn't agree more.

My Marrakesh and its author "Maryam in Marrakesh" - what can we say? Apart from the fact that she has changed the look of her blog, she continued to have her readers mouths watering at her lush pages, beautiful eye for colour and composition in photographs and a cheeky turn of phrase that might have you imagining she is going to leave her husband for a furniture designer Alberto Pinto, (Morocco and a love unrequited) or that she is a secret stalker (Moroccan Proclivities.) To top it all Maryam's blog has deservedly been shortlisted in the 2007 Blog Awards. (Morocco: And brazen hussy). You can ( and should) vote for My Marrakesh here.

Of the specialist blogs that concentrate on things such as renovation of riads in the Fez Medina, the two that consistently get the most visits from our readers are:

Louis Fes: Louis writes really interesting reports on the trials and tribulations of restoration.
Dar Mystere: Again a renovation blog with some really interesting photographs

The blogs by those outside of Morocco have also been interesting and we would like to salute those who have entertained, educated or engaged us this month:

Eatbees: Always fascinating and with great analysis.
The ala Menthe - You will never miss a story if you check in with Bill.
Refusenik: Farah Kinani is a wonderful blogger who comes up some very touching posts.
BO 18 - is a young blogger based in London and although reasonably new to the Moroccan blogosphere, is one to watch.
Morocco Savvy is a very new blog about tourism in Morocco and it will be interesting to see how it fits into the existing networks. It is certainly off to a good beginning.

Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news