Things you probably didn't know About Morocco

 Morocco is just 8 miles away from Europe, across the Strait of Gibraltar  White is the official colour of mourning. A Moroccan widow wears white for 40 days after the death of her husband  Moroccan Berber women have tattoos in geometric designs on their faces, covering much of their forehead, cheeks and necks. The practice is a form of tribal identification originating from times when it was essential to be able to spot women who had been carried off by another tribe after a raid  Often referred to as the “Red City”, Marrakech requires sun protection and headgear of some kind all year-round, including winter  In Morocco, the liver is traditionally associated with love rather than the heart  In the 1950s Orson Welles stayed at the Hôtel des Îles in Essaouira while filming Othello where, according to legend he met Winston Churchill. Essaouira also became a famous hangout for singers Cat Stevens and Jimi Hendrix in the 1960s  Private baths are not the norm in Morocco. In order to perform the required ritual purification of the body before Muslims can pray, many Moroccans bathe at the public baths (hamman) which is segregated  Morocco is the only African country that is not a member of the African Union.  The country covers 446,550km2 and is slightly larger than California  Morocco was the first country to sign a treaty with the United States in 1786  Apart from Egypt, Morocco is the only other Arab country encouraging friendly relations with Israel, now enjoying direct air, telephone and postal links to each other  During the 50s and 60s, the country served as a literary sanctuary for many foreign writers including Americans William S Burroughs, Paul Bowles, Brion Gysin, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsburg and Tennessee Williams  The Romans introduced wine-making to Morocco more than 2,000 years ago. After the establishment of Islam in the 7th century AD, the country's vineyards were not maintained  During the French Protectorate, they were revived and are now under the control of French company Castel famous for producing Gris de Boulaouane, a rosé with hint of citrus  Morocco's prized thuya wood was the first burled wood used in the luxury dashboards of the Rolls Royce  The Atlas film studios just outside Ouarzazate are known as ‘Morocco's Hollywood' and movies shot in the location include Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator, Bertolucci's The Sheltering Sky and Scorsese's Kundun.