- March 24, 2025
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The Manatee County Public Library System is planning a vacation, and residents are invited to join.
If an eight-night trip to Morocco doesn’t fit the budget this year, the librarians have patrons covered with a staycation of sorts.
“The trip is just part of the series,” Library Services Manager Tammy Parrott said. “Not everyone feels comfortable traveling internationally, even if they have the money.”
With that in mind, the librarians choose travel destinations that lend themselves to interesting and plentiful programming. The intent is to introduce different countries and cultures to those who can’t or don’t want to travel.
Residents can be swept away by Moroccan music, spices, belly dancing and crafts, all within the various library branches.
Parrott said Voyagers is popular among its patrons, many who asked for its return since the program was forced into hiatus during the pandemic in 2020.
Mosaic tile work is a classic Moroccan design element. The two classes scheduled for February, where attendees can make a mosaic candleholder or a set of coasters, are already on a waitlist.
The library is also offering information sessions for anyone with questions about the trip, which will tour travelers through the cities of Rabat, Fez, Casablanca and Marrakesh.
The library sends two staff members to accompany residents, but the staff members have to pay their own way.
Former librarian and East County resident Pamela Gibson traveled to Spain with the Voyagers in 2018 before retiring in 2020 after 43 years of service.
Healthwise, Gibson isn’t up for a trip to Morocco this year. But if she could, she would travel with the group again.
“I can’t stress enough how wonderful the tour guides were,” she said.
The tour director was with the group for the entirety of the trip, but after arriving in each new city, an expert “city guide" took over.
The tour director offered the history of each city en route. As a reference librarian with a penchant for history, Gibson especially enjoyed the extra stories that were sprinkled in, such as what it was like to grow up as a girl in Francoist Spain.
General Francisco Franco was the dictator of Spain from 1939 until his death in 1975.
The tour guide said girls had to marry by a certain age and couldn’t travel without their husbands. All female names had to be chosen from an approved list and start with Maria.
Gibson felt safe traveling with the group, which was mostly seniors, and described the venture as well planned.
She was provided with “detailed documentation” from the travel agency ahead of the trip that included information about the hotels and each day’s activities and special excursions.
The base price for Morocco is $1,999 (without airfare) and includes activities, such as a tour of the Royal Palace in Rabat and a home cooked meal with a local family in Fez.
However, three excursions are available as add-ons.
Spend a day in Essaouira, a seaside resort city, for $50 per person; or take a hot air balloon ride over Marrakesh at sunrise for $200.
For $85, guests can learn to make tanjine from a Dada chef, who has mastered traditional Moroccan cuisine. After lunch, a horsedrawn carriage will guide guests through the bustling streets of Marrakesh.
The next at-home excursion, which is free of charge, is scheduled for the Rocky Bluff Branch Library Feb. 15 at 12:30 p.m. Tahja will be performing a live concert with Moroccan music and dance to “sweep you off to a land full of sand, stained glass lanterns and warm sun.”
“(Voyagers) is something unique,” Parrott said. “I haven’t heard of another library system that does this. It speaks to the creativity of the staff we have here in Manatee County.”
