As you approach Marrakech, the earth turns salmon pink, deepening as it reached the walls of the town, with its belt of majestic palm trees and the haughty Koutoubia Tower facing the snow-capped Atlas mountains. The city of splendor. The city of the Oasis, the Capital of the desert, spread out like a coral necklace offering at the feet of the Atlas, the door of the Sahara, the domain of El Glaoui Pasha, known as the "King of the Sahara", the richest and most powerful of the Pashas of Morocco.
Marrakech is different from Fes and from any other town in North Africa. It is more African. A desert way station, Marrakech prospered from the gold, ivory and other exotica that passed through on camel caravans bound for Tinbuktu or the Barbary Coast. Winston Churchill, who took painting holidays here, called Marrakech the "Paris of the Sahara". Today, Marrakech is Morocco's Touristy Capital by excellence.