Majestic Morocco

Majestic... the word that kept popping into my mind as we travelled through this versatile, exotic and easy-going country.

Our first travel day was quite long. Windsor to Toronto to Montreal to Paris to Casablanca to Marrakesh... but once we arrived our gracious hosts at Riad Argan had an amazing meal ready for us which made it all worthwhile. Truthfully, the first tajine we had at Riad Argan was probably the best meal we had the entire trip. Homemade bread, olives, vegetable tajine and couscous for me, beef and date tajine for Jan, and an apple baked with honey and anise for dessert. YUMMERS.

Once we slept off the jet lag, we were ready to explore...

MARRAKESH

The medina (city centre) was beautiful and historic, yet packed with people, shops, kitties and motorbikes which flew down the streets and somehow didn't run over everyone and everything. The people seemed very helpful and caring, offering us directions, and letting us know when we were heading towards a dead end (which we would ignorantly ignore and then have to face an "I told you so" as we walked by them again).

The entire city was so busy and hectic, Jan even made me hold his hand when crossing the street. With no traffic lights in sight... bicycles, horses, cars, motorbikes and buses seemed to come from every direction. We also made an obligatory visit to the night market, Jemaa El Fma which was packed with people, drum circles, women doing henna, and people promoting their food stalls in a very aggressive way.

Pictures: Palais Bahia, Saadian Tombs, Bab Agnaou, Koutoubia Mosque,
Cyber Parc, the view from our dinner at Gastro MK and Jardin Marjorelle.

ESSAOUIRA
We grabbed a petit taxi to the bus station and "Supratoured" our way over to the coastal town of Essaouira. The sights along the way were incredible - donkeys, horses, families of camels and families farming the land. Oh and cement walls were lined with shards of glass along the top as a way of keeping people out.
We stayed at Riad Zahra, just a 15 minute walk down the beach from the medina. The room was fine with a view of the Atlantic... however we did encounter a giant and very quick moving cockroach one night. Near our riad was a bar called "Beach & Friends" hilariously enough. We actually spent quite a bit of time there, because the wind was so strong it was impossible to sit on the beach due to blowing sand. So we sat on the patio at Beach & Friends and watched wind surfers fly around the water and parades of camels lead by a man hoping to lure tourists for a ride.
The medina in Essaouira was a nice change from Marrakesh. We were able to browse the shops and ask questions without much pressure. Right outside the medina were the ramparts and the fish market, which was quite the sight... and smell. Fishing boats lined the water and fisherman lined the dock with their daily catches of eel, jellyfish, tuna and swordfish. Also, a haven for kitties and seagulls who had more than enough to snack on.

OUR 4 DAY TOUR!

We saw so much on this 4 day tour from Essaouira through the desert and ending in Fez. So I will us give you the highlight of each day.

Day 1: Essaouira to Ouarzazate

Highlight - Toss up between the beauty of driving up the High Atlas Mountains and eating a berber omelette at this tiny restaurant at the top OR visiting a Argan Oil Women's Collective and seeing the labour, skill and talent that goes into making argan oil (they even let me give it a try!)

 

Pictures: High Atlas Mountains and a Berber Omelette for lunch,
Argan Oil Women's Collective and Kashbah Haut Ben Haddou

Day 2: Ouarzazate to Dades Valley

Highlight: Roses Valley. Kids stood along the street selling wreathes made of roses, stores were packed with rose water, rose oil, rose perfume, etc., women were dressed in pink and the taxis were even pink! Rose pride yo. Oh... and I got a hammam. That was very interesting as well. Scrub scrub yo.

 Pictures: Taourirt Kasbah, Kasbah Amridi in Skoura Valley, Monkey's Feet (Dades Gorge), top of the Dades Valley, our fancy hotel Xaluca and the call to prayer while poolside.

Day 3: Dades Valley to Merzouga (the desert!)
This was definitely the best day of the tour... possibly the entire trip, so brace yourself for a few highlights.
Highlight 1: Visiting a nomad family who lived just passed the Todra Gorge. As we arrived, the family (a mother, 2 daughters and a young son) were washing their clothes in the stream. They brought us up the mountain, welcomed us into their home inside a cave and served us tea. The family raised animals for people, so there were baby goats everywhere. The family had a shockingly large amount of possessions strewn about - blankets, clothing, mattresses AND a jug full of olives being cured... mmm.
Highlight 2: Merzouga Desert! We arrived at a hotel where we could leave our belongings for the night, and packed an overnight bag. We had a cup of mint tea, before meeting our camels and our guide and heading out into the sahara. Our guide was hilarious... calling me Fatima and Jan Ali Baba... and continuously shouting "Africa!" "Couscous!" "Tajine!" We rode our camels for over an hour as the sun set to our camp in the middle of the desert. The tent was quite luxurious, and there were even flushing toilets in the camp. We had a delicious traditional dinner of harira, kabobs and tajine. After dinner, we sat around the campfire while our hosts played the drums... Jan even danced a bit.

Pictures: Todra Gorge, Nomad Family, Merzouga Desert, Berber camp

Day 4: Merzouga Desert to Fez
Highlight: Waking up in the desert, and riding our camels back to the hotel as the sun rose. Majestic theme continues :)

Pictures: Sunrise Camel Ride back to hotel, Ziz Valley & Barbary Macaques!

FEZ

We stayed at a great place called Riad Adarissa, which had a killer patio for us to enjoy breakfast or lots of olives and wine on. The medina in Fez was packed... we hit a wall of people quite a few times while walking through it. The nice thing, compared to Marrakesh, was no motorbikes were allowed in the medina. So while it was packed with people, we didn't have to worry about getting run over... well except by donkeys. The streets were so narrow in this medina, that we didn't think they could possibly lead to something... but they always did. We visited the Koutouine Mosque (but we were not allowed in), the tanneries (where they make and dye leather), Jnan Sbil (a large and beautiful garden) and we finally did some shopping! I even purchased a berber carpet which was quite an ordeal... lots of negotiation which included haggling over mint tea and walking out completely before getting the price we were happy with. 

 

Pictures: Breakfast at Riad Adarissa, Jan and his donkey friend, the tanneries,

the narrow medina street, Jnan Sbil and my berber carpet! (the one he is holding)

CASABLANCA

The final stop... and unfortunately the worst stop. Casablanca is a dirty city with nothing going on. I honestly saw a child pick up a razor blade... that kind of filthy. The old medina didn't have much going on, but we did enjoy some cocktails at Ricks Cafe. Our final adventure was a tour of the Hassan II Mosque which was pretty remarkable. A massive structure built in the 70s with a beautiful ornate roof that actually opened!

 
Pictures: Different shots around the Hassan II Mosque

UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN MAJESTIC MOROCCO! SHOKRAN!