My Traveling Destinations

My Travels

        I started out traveling at the age of 20 years old. I started in my hometown, Tangier, Morocco and traveled through Western Africa to Cairo, Egypt. I started off by riding a donkey, but after several stops on the way to Cairo, I found other caravans and joined them, some riding on camels, and donkeys while others were walking. I received gifts from governors at cities I came across, like Constantine and Tunis. Although the cities were very inviting, I had one goal, and that was to reach Mecca. I arrived in the city of Cairo, but did not stay long. After about a month of frantic, crowded streets I pursued my trip to Mecca by taking a route up the Nile River. I continued on and once again made stops at several cities. Some of the largest cities I stopped at included Jerusalem and Damascus. I stayed in Jerusalem and Damascus for approximately one month until I continued onto the Hajj (Mecca). By the time I reached my final destination, my caravan had grown to close to 1000 people. I received lots of charity, but each person was responsible for their own supplies, and I was very strict about that rule. I stayed in Mecca for about three weeks, making visits to holy and "tourist" sites.

        After my first journey, I decided I wanted to keep exploring, so I joined a caravan of pilgrims to Persia. From Persia I continued onto Iraq and into Baghdad, where I observed the destruction caused by the Mongols. As my quest to explore Iraq and Persia came to an end, I once again joined a caravan to the Red Sea, where I traveled to East Africa and onto the Arabian Sea. My group left Syria from the Arabian Sea and went onto Turkey, which was a very busy trading port. From the busy trading ports of Anatolia (Turkey), our group traveled along the Black Sea to Constantinople, which from there we went to The Steppe. From the cold winter of The Steppe, our group traveled to the Land of Chagatay. We went over the steep mountains into Delhi, India, which is known as the capital of Muslim India. After working in Delhi for a while, Muhammad Tughluq wanted to make me his ambassador, which was a perfect escape plan. I was sent on a mission to receive gifts from the Mongol Court in China. I left immediately, and went to the Maldive Islands after being rescued by a Muslim after a rebel attack on my group. After my recovery, I went to Sri Lanka and through the Straits of Malacca onto China. After sailing china for about 40 days, I went back home to Morocco for a few years.