COVER N. 516 - MOROCCO

Postmark: Meknes CD 20.09.2024

Posted on the 20th September; Received on the 3rd Ocftober 2024

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The Marathon.... I can't even imagine what it is like to run for over 42 km... for me running is mostly pain, intermingled with boredom and suffering... I love to walk, at my own pace (which is not that slow...). Proof of that is that everyday my first routine is to go out after breakfast and walk for about 1,5 hours. I find it therapeutical, and invigorating, and I do get pleasure out of it, something that running completely excludes from the equation, as far as I'm concerned...

All this because a while ago I completed my daily walk and am now in front of the computer with a letter that I received from Morocco with that country's official FDC for the 2024 Euromed issue, this year subordinated to the theme Sports of the  Mediterranean. Un grand Merci, Pierre!

Now that I look at it in more detail, I don't know if the runner wearing Morocco's colours (same as Portugal’s, by the way) sprinting at the head of the race to the finish line is a marathonist but even it was just a 100 m race, my thoughts regarding running would be the same :-)

Anyway, the painting reproduced on the 9.80 dirham stamp issued on 08JUL2024, as indicated in the first day postmark, is quite nice and colorful and  is a fitting homage to all Moroccan running athletes, like Soufiane El Bakkali, who won gold in the 3000 m obstacles race in the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

COVER N. 450 - MORROCO

Postmark: Premier Jour d'émission Meknès CD 14.02.2024 / Meknés 19.04.2023

Posted on the 19th April; received on the 6th May 2024

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A joint issue FDC from Morroco and Oman, and the opportunity to again thank Pierre for a great cover. Merci bien, Pierre, pour cette très jolie lettre.

The Arab Postal Leaders Forum of the UPU took place in Muscat, in the Sultanate of Oman, from the 12th till the 14th February 2024, under the theme  "Arab Posts: On track towards digital transformation and innovation".

Morocco and the hosting country took the opportunity to create a joint issue highlighting the history of 50 years of official relations between the two countries, which were  established on 10 March, 1973. 

To illustrate the common cultural heritage underlying the relations between the two countries, a two stamp souvenir sheet was created, on which important cultural monuments of both countries are depicted, under the light of a day sun cycle, since the design of the stamps also wants to shed some light  as to the places  where the sun first rises in the Arab world and where it last sets in Morocco.

As such, on the left stamp of the pair (9,90 Dirham), dedicated to Morocco,  we have the Al-Khair mosque at El-Guergerat, inaugurated last year, representing the place where the sun lastly sets in Morocco, while the stamp in the right (4.10 Dh), dedicated to Oman, is illuminated with the light of the rising sun at Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, the largest religious building in Oman, located in the Capital Muscat, and the place where the sun first rises in the Arab world.

 Both the first day of issue and the day of dispatch postmarks are from the city of Meknès. 

COVER N. 333 - MOROCCO

Postmark: Festivals Mediterranéans Barid al-Maghrib 18.07.2023 / Meknes C.D. 18.09.2023

Posted on the 18th September; received on the 18th October 2023

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Another very nice Moroccan FDC courtesy of Pierre. Un grand Merci!

The Tetouan Mediterranean Film Festival, whose 29th edition will run from the 29th April till the 4th May 2024, is the brainchild of the Friends of Tetouan Cinema” (FTC), and was created in 1987 with a view to the promotion of the cinematographies of the countries of the Mediterranean basin.

It was also the event chosen by Postes Maroc to be highlighted on the Euromed 2023  common issue stamp, dedicated to Mediterranean festivals.

The stamp, which began to circulate on 10JUL2023, is illustrated with what I presume is the official poster of the festival, upon which  the Euromed and the Film Festival logos were also printed on its the top and bottom left, respectively.

As usual with Moroccan FDC the envelope is numbered, #0922.

COVER N. 333 - MOROCCO

Postmark: Premier Jour d'émission Meknès CD 11.09.2023 / Meknés 21.09.2023

Posted on the 21st September; received on the 17th October 2023

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According to the official definition, "UNESCO Global Geoparks are single, unified geographical areas where sites and landscapes of international geological significance are managed with a holistic concept of protection, education and sustainable development.

 A UNESCO Global Geopark comprises a number of geological heritage sites of special scientific importance, rarity or beauty. These features are representative of a region’s geological history and the events and processes that formed it. It must also include important natural, historic, cultural tangible and intangible heritage sites".

In Morocco, an area of 5,730 km2 in the middle of the chain of the central  high Atlas, some 100 km from Marrakech and 330 Km from Casablanca, was so declared and designated as the M'Goun UNESCO Global Geopark, in 2015, recognising the importance of the existing geological structures, some of it imprinted with fossil footprints of sauropod and theropod dinosaurs and harbouring large deposits of bones.

Morocco also hosted the 10th international conference on UNESCO Global Geoparks,  in Marrakech, which was to run from the 7th till the 11th September. Unfortunately, as if a stern reminder that the geological features over which  Geoparks want to call on our attention are sometimes due to tremendous convulsions, on the night of the 8th September Morocco was impacted by a terrible earthquake, rated at 6,9 on the Richter scale, with its epicenter in the town of Ighil, 63 kilometers southwest of the city of Marrakesh.

This unfortunate fact led to the congress works having to be closed in a dignified and organised way in spite of the appalling circumstances, on the 9th, with participants in a gesture of solidarity volunteering to donate blood, a scarce and much needed commodity on such devastating occasions.

The hosting of the Conference was also an occasion for Poste Maroc to issue a stamp dedicated to the event, which was to be issued on the last day of the Conference, the 11th, if not for the already mentioned disruption brought about by the disaster.

The 9,80 MAD stamp, illustrated with an image of a waterfall  in the M'Goun geopark, features on the numbered FDC that Pierre so kindly sent me and which besides the First Day Postmark dated of the 11th also features a regular postmark dated of the 21st September.

Un grand Merci, Pierre!

 COVER N. 250 - MOROCCO  

Postmark: Marrrakesh CTD 19.04.2023

Posted on the 18th April; Received on the 4th May 2023
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Self-sent covers are a pleasure to receive, because either they look like the prodigal son has come home, when, after a good while, you receive back on your letterbox a cover that you carefully prepared and sent away for postmarking and returning, or, better than that, they are evidence that you had been away somewhere.

One of my last travels abroad was to Morocco. But this time, contrary to what we usually do, my wife and I, we let ourselves be seduced by not having to book transportation, accommodation, organising the day, what to see, what to eat, in a word (or a bunch of them): think or care about anything other than paying the bill to the travel agent.

BIG MISTAKE!

Yes, we had been on organised tours before, but we had never spent so much time inside a bus travelling around a country and actually visiting almost nothing, except for a larger than normal choice of  arts and crafts shops where the main aim is selling the tourist something. Not that this is wrong in principle, it’s just a question of balance as it should not be the main aim of an organised trip that is supposed to introduce a country to you....

The real interesting places we did not visit, because they were either closed by the time we arrived or they had nothing to sell....

Anyway, this fact notwithstanding, Morocco was a discovery for me and I may go there in the future to see what I didn't this time, but when and if we go, we'll do it on our own... that’s for sure!

Before departing to Casablanca, I had of course prepared some letters to send to some friends.

Now, letters to be sent, and especially to be sent to cover collectors, should respect some minimal qualitative criteria.

One of them is they shall not be sent without at least one stamp and the other is that it should be manually cancelled.

And here my troubles began. The tour schedule contemplated no free days at all. I would only have a free partial afternoon in the last day in Marrakech. So how the heck would I be able to buy stamps and post the letters?

So I was always keeping an eye whenever the bus stopped to see if we were going past a post office so that at least I could buy some stamps, thinking that If I got the stamps I could, in the evening, prepare the letters and the very next day, at another post office, deposit them and ask for them to be manually cancelled.

Well the first 5 days or so of the tour went by without me seeing a post office of sorts...until, on the 6th day, (and I was already believing that on the 7th, I, like God, would be entitled to rest....) in Marrakech, while following the guide on route to the Musée National du Tissage et du Tapis Dar Si Said (one of the few interesting visits we did) we passed by a Post Office. I immediately told the guide, that I needed 5 minutes to go inside and buy some stamps, and with his permission, I did just that. Luckily there was only one person at the counter and he was already paying, so it really was a fast operation. The problem was that the only stamps available were the current domestic and international definitives with the photograph of King Mohammed VI...not the most interesting stamp for a cover, but I bought some, anyway, since I had some postcards to send and maybe I would still find something more interesting for the covers.

Unfortunately the rest of the tour days passed and I did not pass through any opened post office again. On the last day, the day I finally had some free time in the afternoon, I went past a large post office in Jemaa el-Fna square, probably the central station in Marrakech, but it was already closed for the day.

I finally gave in to the idea that I would not be sending any covers from Morocco this time. I had sent the postcards, so at least, I would get mine, but I was a bit sad about it.

The next day we went  to the airport. Upon arrival at the terminal for check in, I saw the Post Maroc logo right beside that of the Al Barid Bank, (which I understand is a bank ran  by Post Maroc) above a counter  in one end of the terminal. I asked the lady at the counter if I they sold stamps and she confirmed she did. Exultant, I bought what she had, in the form of self-adhesive stamps, opened my bag, took off the letters, affixed the stamps and asked the lady to manually cancel them....

She looked at me and shook her head…. “We just sell stamps, we do not process the mail. just go to the other end of the terminal and drop the letters in the letterbox....”

this I did...

The stamp is part of a set of eight self-adhesive stamps issued on 21FRB2020, dedicated to Moroccan traditional dances and music. 

Unfortunately, after using the stamps and since I was in a hurry to get to the check, in I threw away the backing paper, not realising that it contained probably an explanation of the images on each stamp.

The machine cancelation is not what I wanted, but at least it is very clean and clear  and confirms that from the airport, the cover was sent to the central processing facility  - Centre de Traitement et de Distribution - at Marrakesh, from where she eventually flew to my letterbox.

COVER N. 246 - MOROCCO  

Postmark: Barid Al-Maghrib - Dima Maghrib 20-12-2022 / Meknes 26.04.2023

Posted on the 26th April; Received on the 5th May 2023
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Pierre is also a frequent contributor of unexpected items for my blog, which day by day is steadily growing with  a little help from my friends.

Merci Bien Pierre, pour ce chouette pli!

I've spent 10 days in Morocco very recently, but I was on an organised tour (big mistake....) so I did not have the time to go to the post office and do things the proper way (more on that for a later post), so receiving a nice and proper FDC from Morocco, more that makes up for the inconvenience.

Dina Maghrib - Morocco Forever - reads the legend on the flag with a lion, an allegory for Morocco's national soccer team,  "Atlas Lions".

I really do not care about soccer at all. And it is one of those themes that I'd rather not go into, because much, very much, of what I would have to say, would be far for being uplifting, optimistic, positive,...

But, being Portuguese, I can understand  the impact a good performance of a national team can have on the country's self-esteem, given the absurd place the game occupies in the habits and aspirations of a population that bows to two creeds: God and soccer (and not always by that particular order....).

Of course, in Morocco, God may answer by a different name than the One here revered, but I feel that soccer occupies the same space in the collective imagination of its people as in that of my own.

During last world soccer championship, Morocco had a brilliant performance, having risen to the 4th place in the final classification after beating the Portuguese team in the quarter finals.

I said I wouldn't go there, but I can't evade it. Just to show the level of idiocy and “irreflectiveness” soccer can impart on soccer alienated human beings, I will tell a little story.

I was watching the news on TV, on the day or days after the defeat of our team by Morocco's.

As usual, soccer was all over the news and an earthquake or a nuclear explosion could have happened somewhere and still that would not scratch the news alignment and time distribution.

A soccer specialised journalist, a true scientist in the unfathomable ways of the sphere, as we have so many, everyday, on tv, was interviewing someone. I can't remeber if it was our national coach or anyone else, but it was someone directly connected to the team.

"How do you feel after losing to a team such as that?"

I couldn't stand it! The level of supremacism, racism, stupidity such a question implied was absolutely staggering!

"A team such as that? " a team that goes on to the final selection of a world championship, and ends up qualifying in the 4th place? The question coming from a national whose team has only once earned an European championship, and most of the times wins nothing in spite of having a plethora of first grade artists in the team (or could this also be one of the reasons...?) made me quite uncomfortable...

Anyway... My  belated congratulations to Morocco and its team... a team "such as that", may well be champion one day!

The performance of Morocco's national team gave rise to absolute hysteria on the streets (much the same as it happened here when our team won the European championship) and on the wake of the team's last game, which took place on the 17th December, the celebratory  9 Dirham stamp that can be seen on my FDC was promptly issued on the 20th.

Should the Lions have won, I would bet on an overprinted legend: “Champions”.

COVER N.159 -  MOROCCO

Postmark: fdc: Tétouan 11.07.2022 Villes Antiques de Méditerranée - Barid Al-Maghrib / Meknes C.D. 16.08.2022
Posted on 16th August; received on the 29th August 2022
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My country list has been increasing steadily, lately. I couldn't be happier!

Thank you so much Pierre for letting me tick another square in my  Philatelic Atlas, with this beautiful cover from across the straight of Gibraltar!

Tétouan, an ancient city in the north of Morocco whose ancient quarters, the medina, is included in the list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, for its unparalleled conservation status which highlights the Andalusian influence brought about by the refugees fleeing the "Reconquista"  later increased in number by the Muslims expelled from Spain by Felipe III of Spain (Filipe II of Portugal) who throughout the years rebuilt it after we, the portuguese 😞 raised the ancient city to the ground in 1437.

Today Tétouan is a city of cultural relevance being part of the  UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN), and an important university centre, these two realities being obviously interrelated, given that knowledge fosters creativity and vice-versa.

The Postal Union of the Mediterranean congregates  postal operators of the European and Mediterranean region. Established in Rome in 2011 by 14 Postal Operators it has been steadily growing to include 23 members, at present. 

Each year, a common theme is selected for a  joint emission by all members of the organisation, much like the famed EUROPA emissions, each postal administration  being absolutely free to design their own stamps, provided they follow the adopted theme. 

For some reason that I could not identify, the theme for 2022 is two fold: Maritime Archaeology or Antique Cities of Mediterranean. This, as far as I know, happens for the first time, and is probably a one off stunt for next year's theme is already chosen and has no double option. I'd also bet some money on the fact that the disruptures brought about by the Publich health situation we all are familiar with, had something to do with it.

The Postal Operator of the  Kingdom of Morroco Barid Al-Maghrib - Poste Maroc elected Tétouan as the city to promote under this year's  common Euromed Theme and so the beautiful 9 dinar stamp featuring a view of the Al-Jalaa public Square with the Zaouiya Qadiriya, a religious building,  was issued on 11JUL2022.

The FDC is embelished with what I suspect is a view of the medina, with the characteristic white walls (to ward off the heat) and blue doors and window shutters (to ward off the mosquitoes).