Welcome to Part 1 of my Adventures in Morocco!
It's long so grab a cuppa tea/coffee/wine/beer and settle in for an adventure!
FRIDAY
Friday morning I woke excited & nervous. I am looking forward to my trip to Morocco but worried something will go wrong, like I won't be able to board my flight due to changed restrictions or something. But once I got to Gatwick Airport, check in was very simple & I had no issues. As I got to the airport 3hrs early I had lots of time before my flight & I was hungry so I went in search of food. I settled on Sonoma and had a plate of nachos.
Boarding took a long time as people kept getting up & moving around. Also the flight was about 30% kids and unfortunately I was at the back of the plane with 6 kids under the age of 5. 2 of them decided it was a great idea to let loose ear-splitting banshee screams frequently during the flight so I, and the passengers around me, were not impressed. Meal service was very slow & by the time they got to me there was only beef left. It was served with spicy rice, stale bread roll, cream cheese, smoke trout & yoghurt. I had it all except the trout.
Upon arrival at Casablanca, it took a very long time to get off the plane. The flight attendants blocked the aisle and let 1 row off at a time, for covid reasons. They said it’s for social distancing however the aisle was full of people queuing for the toilet the entire flight with zero social distancing. They were strict on the masks though.
Finally we got off the plane and headed to Immigration. Yep, another long & slow queue. One family were at the same desk for 40mins! Immigration took 50mins from the time I joined the queue to the time he stamped my passport & let me go. Post-trip edit: this stamp is extremely important. The numbers they write on it must be written on all your accommodation check in documents.
Next it was time to go look for my bag and find at ATM. Moroccan money is a closed currency so you cannot get it outside of the country. You have to get it once you land at the airport and they still require cash for a lot of places so you can’t just get away with card everywhere you go unfortunately. I found my bag, found an ATM and then I had to find my driver. He was waiting for me and drove me to my hotel in Casablanca. It's a 45 minute drive and we made it in time before the curfew started at 11 luckily.
SATURDAY
This morning I got up early & went down for breakfast. A continental breakfast is included & I had a choice of scrambled eggs, sausages, toast, Moroccan pancake, yoghurt & pastries. After breakfast I went and waited in the lobby for my transport. I had a day trip to Tangier booked & I was looking forward to it. 20 mins past my pickup time, I had my hotel call the company & they informed me that the trip is cancelled because there are restrictions preventing travel outside of Casablanca. I was extremely unhappy especially since I only booked the trip 3 days ago & the company never notified me of the restrictions. He offered me a refund but it still ruined the day.
I went back to my room, changed my clothes & headed out in search of the Hassan II Mosque. It was a 50min walk and I made it 10mins before I got stopped. I found a stray kitten sitting on the middle of the footpath not moving. If you know me, you know that I am a HUGE cat person. I care about cats more than humans. This baby was tiny, like 3-4wks old. I moved him off the footpath & discovered he is super sick. He was covered in mud & poo & his eyes were super gunky & I was so heartbroken that nobody cared enough to help him, they just walked past him. I used some tissues to clean him up a bit then put him on some more tissues & headed back to my hotel. I had no data so could not find a vet/animal rescue unless I have Wi-Fi. I sat outside my hotel trying to find someone who could help. I sent a message to an animal aid organisation but they didn't respond. I found a vet 20 mins away by foot so I ended up walking down there. Unfortunately they refused to keep him or get him to a shelter or rescue. They would only help him if I paid for it and took the kitten back when they were done. I didn't know what to do so I went back to sit outside my hotel & called my mum in tears. Basically the only option was to just put him somewhere & leave him to die or for someone else to find him. I felt like the most awful human being in the planet & I was broken. This is one of the cruellest things I have ever done & I was a mess. I put him under a tree in some grass and he stayed sleeping for a bit. I went back to my room, washed & changed my clothes, in case he has rabies or some other yukky disease.
After I recovered I headed back out. I went along a different road to find the central market. I passed lots of little cafes & coffee shops. The central market is like a square inside a square. The outer square has some food outlets, plant stalls, fruit & veg stalls etc. The inside square has seafood & meat. It stank!! There were lots of crabs, lobsters, all kinds of fish and.....turtles!! What the?!?! They eat turtles?? Not big turtles, the small kind people have in tanks in their living room sized turtles. AND THEY WERE ALIVE! I also saw a large swordfish on the floor. Dead, guts cut open just laying on the floor. There was no form of refrigeration or ice either so.....
The central market is home to a huge amount of cats as well. It is maybe 30m x 30m and I think I saw 30 cats! Most sleeping in the sun.
Next I headed off to the Medina. It was quite easy to find, crossing the road to get access is another story. A man, who claimed he works at a hotel and was off-duty, tried to get me to go upstairs to the women's art exhibition but I refused. I'm a snow white, glow-in-the-dark, stick out like a sore thumb tourist so I am not going in ANY back rooms! I walked around for a while (loads of cats here too) half looking at the stalls without looking too hard. Most of the men were nice when I said no to look in their shops which was good.
By now I was a little overwhelmed after my stressful morning & the constant no thanks & the language barrier. Moroccans speak Arabic, Berber & French. Some speak a little bit of English. I speak only English which makes things a challenge. I decided to go find the Marina Mall. It was a 20 min walk and I was looking forward to some air conditioning. The mall is quite big and I spent a while wandering the supermarket, one of my favourite things to do in a foreign country. They had a big range of products you can by in any amount, which is cool. I got some fruit for the next few days and then got some lunch in the food court.
Then I decided to head to the Hassan II Mosque and see about the tour. It was a 15 min walk and I stopped to check out the rocky beach on the way. Unfortunately the mosque was closed but I got some photos of the outside.
By now I was super hot with sore feet & hip so I decided to head back to the hotel. It was a 50 min walk so by the time I got back to the hotel I was knackered. I had a cold shower and watched some Netflix while writing this.
I decided to head out and find some dinner at 7pm and chose a restaurant only a 5 min walk from the hotel. They had a delicious looking chicken cordon bleu on the menu I thought would be good. When I arrived I stood just inside the door for a while with the staff members looking at me while standing at the bar talking & ignored me. Rude!! Eventually I went to the bar & asked for a table. I ordered and while I waited for my dinner I was bathed in everyone's cigarette smoke. They can smoke in restaurants, hotels etc. here. When my dinner came I was disappointed to see it looked nothing like the menu & that it was almost 100% carbs. Next to the crumbed chicken was a large pile of pasta in a creamy white sauce & a pile of French fries. No salad, no vegies. So I ate the chicken & a little bit of the chips & pasta. I ate quickly then headed back to my room to chill for the night. For the record, I walked 19km today.
SUNDAY
Sunday morning I had a lazy morning. Check out was not until 12pm and I had no real plans for the day. After watching tv for a while I headed down to breakfast then returned to my room to pack. At 11.30am I checked out, stored my bag & decided to take the tram to La Corniche, a beach area. A one return trip cost me just 14MAD, which is around $2.25AUD. Cheap! I had to change tram lines half way and it took around an hour. The teams are lovely, clean & air conditioned. At the beach I was surprised to see the huge number of umbrellas covering the sand. There would have been thousands across the whole beach. I walked 35mins south along La Corniche to the Morocco Mall. It is the biggest in Africa and I had no idea what else to do. It was a hot but nice walk.
The mall has temperature checks on entry and the air conditioning is on a high temp. Much higher than our shopping centres. It was still a welcome relief to be out of the sun. I wandered around for a while and found the massive aquarium in the middle of the centre.
Then I went in search of food & water. I got a 1L bottle of cold sparkling water from the supermarket for just 5MAD, which is about 75 cents. Bargain!
Then I headed upstairs to the food court. Unfortunately for me, every menu was in Arabic & French. I used Google Translate as best I could & then chose a sit down restaurant for a nice salad. The salad I wanted came with blue cheese and I don't eat it for 2 reasons: it stinks & I'm allergic to penicillin & the blue mould is a penicillin mould. So...how do I communicate to a non-English speaking person that I don't want blue cheese? Google Translate! I typed into the translator “no blue cheese, I’m allergic” and he completely understood! Yes! Winning at the language barrier today! The salad was delicious & exactly what I needed.
Afterwards I walked back to the tram & headed back to the hotel. Just after I stepped off the tram I heard a crash and looked up to see a car run over a little boy! The car was pulling out from a garage onto the footpath to go onto the road and the boy was riding his bike past some pillars and he went under the front wheel. The car stopped fortunately and a whole stack of people came running. He seemed unhurt except in shock at first glance because he got up and after a minute or so started crying. I think it was his legs that got run over but I'm not sure if an ambulance was called because I never heard any sirens. I was also shocked at how rough one of the men (the driver) treated the boy. The boy was trying to get away & the man grabbed his arm & was yanking him back. I really hope the little boy is ok. I didn't stick around as there was a crowd of 20+ people there helping & I don’t speak the language.
When I got back to the hotel I checked back in, this time under my tour booking. I had a twin share room with another female. After cleaning up I went down to the group meeting to meet everyone. There is meant to be 14 people of the tour but at the meeting only 8 were there. 5 of them are American, 1 British, 1 German & me. Our guide is a local Berber from the Atlas Mountains.
We went out for dinner after the meeting & another girl had joined us (another American). The place we went specialises in the lamb tagine so that's what I had. It was delicious! The only downside is that all the meat tagines have the meat on the bones . Another 2 girls joined us during dinner (a Scottish girl & an American).
Then it was back to the hotel with a water stop on the way. Our guide recommended the 5L bottles so I got one. 8.90MAD, roughly $1.20AUD. Cheap!
Back in my room I got ready for bed & put the TV on, wondering when I would meet my roommate. She turned up a bit later. She is a Brit & lovely so far.
MONDAY
Monday was an early morning as we were meant to be on the bus by 7.30am. I was ready (of course!) but a lot weren't. We met another newcomer, a British guy. We also found out 1 girl never turned up so our group is now 13 with 8 Americans, 3 Brits, 1 Scot, 1 German & me. We have a big bus to ourselves so we all get a row each. We also have Wi-Fi on the bus which is awesome.
Our first stop was the city of Rabat 1-2hrs away depending on traffic. Fortunately it only took us 1hr. The mausoleum we went to see was closed due to covid unfortunately so we took pics from the outside then headed to the Kasbah (castle).
When you walk through the streets of the castle you come to a big open square that overlooks the beaches. The view was great. The buildings are blue & white, and the alleyways are filled with cats. I have seen more cats in the last 3 days than I have in my entire life! It breaks my heart to see them all so hungry.
After a stop at the cafe for the toilet we boarded the bus & headed to the supermarket to get food for a picnic lunch. I already had a peach & nectarine so I got a banana, apricots, green beans (for snacks) & then a bowl of salad (for lunch).
Then we began the 4hr drive to Chefchaouen. We knew we would stop somewhere along the way to eat and it turned out to be at the half way point. Along the way we passed the main agricultural region of the country. It was market day so all the people had come down from the mountains to buy fruit & vegies to take back with them. Yellow melons are in a huge abundance & second most are huge watermelon.
Chefchaouen is a small town in the northern part of Morocco. It is famously known as The Blue City because the buildings in the Medina are painted blue. I was definitely looking forward to some awesome photos! Our bus wasn't allowed on certain streets so we had to park and walk 10mins uphill to the hotel. After checking in, I asked my guide, Abdul, to take me to a local doctor as I had a blocked ear and couldn't hear very well. Everyone at the clinic spoke Arabic or French, no English, so Abdul stayed with me while the doctor examined me. Then he sent me off to have my ear irrigated by a male nurse & Abdul left to meet up with the group. It was awful. The nurse spoke no English so communication was done through Google Translate and it hurt so much. It took him 1.5hrs because I was crying & in a lot of pain. I was glad it fixed my ear but I was so miserable I went back to my hotel & went to bed, missing the group dinner.
My roommate came back about 9.30pm and said some of the group had gone to the only bar in town to get alcohol. Then at 1am we heard yelling and someone banging on the doors in the halfway. One of the young American boys had gotten so drunk he was pretty much doing a hip & shoulder to try & get into the room of 2 other boys. It woke the whole top floor of the hotel & some of the rooms below. Some of the boys took him to his room & dumped him on his bed but he came back out so they had to wrestle him back. It was so bad! Apparently earlier he had poured a drink on one of the girls for no reason too. They said he was drunk but he was also vaping & they thought he had THC mixed in his vape. Then we were wide awake & it took a good hour to go back to sleep.
TUESDAY
Tuesday we had a free day to do whatever we wanted. 2 went
on a hike up the Rif Mountains, 4 took a taxi & a 1hr hike to a waterfall
& the rest of us walked around the town. I found a blog showing the best
locations for photos so myself & 2 other girls went out on a little “insta
photo walk". Having virtually zero Western tourists meant that all these
spots were empty & we spent ages taking loads of photos. It was great!! After
we got lost looking for one that you pay for (only 5MAD, like 70 cents AUD, and
so worth it), we went back to the main square next to the Kasbah & found a
rooftop terrace for a cold drink.
There are soooo many cats in Chefchaouen, it is so sad. Hundreds and hundreds of them. Some of them old, some newborns, some healthy looking, some quite sick. We came across these 2 boxes of babies in the streets. Here are some of the kitties we encountered.
Then we set off again and found the paid place. It is actually someone's front terrace of their house & they had the idea to start charging tourists to take photos. The owner has decorated it really nice & provides a tea set so you can pretend to pour tea as well. He also has a teeny tiny kitten (clean & appears cared for) so I had some photos with the kitty (of course!).
Next we headed in search of food. There were a few restaurants near our hotel and we chose one that had a huge range of foods. It also had an outdoor terrace overlooking the valley. I opted for a taco with a mix of chicken & beef for the filling. Well…. A taco in Morocco is most definitely nothing like a taco in Australia, or Mexico for that matter. It is a tortilla wrap filled with minced beef, diced chicken, chips & sauce (like Big Mac sauce), folded into a sealed rectangle then toasted in a sandwich press. It was absolutely delicious! And I just realised that that it is Tuesday and I had a taco.....Taco Tuesday!!!
Next we hung out at the hotel for a couple of hours until 5pm. Another group member wanted some photos so 2 of us offered to take her to the 2 best spots. Then it was time for our group meeting to give us the info for the next day.
Lastly for the day, we had decided we all wanted to walk up the hill to the Spanish Mosque to watch the sunset over Chefchaouen. We grabbed drinks & some took food (they all got the tacos we recommended) and we walked through the town & up the hill. It was an interesting walk as there is a river at the back of the town & this area was heavily congested with locals bathing, washing clothes, eating & also heading up for sunset. We found a spot on the wall and settled in. There were no clouds tonight so no pink colours but it was still pretty. After dark some of us headed down to town. We were all out past curfew but it doesn't seem to be enforced much in this town. I got an ice cream to cool me down. 2 small scoops in a cone cost me 6MAD. That's less than $1AUD! It was yum too! Then it was bedtime for our last time in this city.
WEDNESDAY
Wednesday morning was an early rise as we were leaving at 7.45am. We had to walk to the bus but it was downhill so that was good. We had a windy 1hr drive to our first stop, which was for coffee & toilets. Then we continued on to the city of Meknes, which took 2.5hrs.
Upon arriving a local city guide joined us and took us to a local restaurant for lunch. After lunch we drove to the main square and dropped off the people who hadn’t paid for the city tour. Only 4 of us ended up doing the tour. We first drove to the Thursday gate. This elaborate gate is one of the entries to the walled city and was where the local market took place every Thursday, hence the name.
Next we drove to the sit of the Royal Palace ruins. We didn't go inside but stood outside and talked. The Royal stables are under restoration and they used to house up to 12,000 horses! Next to it is the Granary where King Ismail stored food & grains for a rainy day. Across the road is the site of the old palaces and the King's concubines lived there. According to the stories, he had 500 concubines and fathered 800 children!! Yikes a moly!!
Lastly we headed back into the old town. We stopped inside the walls and walked through to the outside gates. The Mansour Gate is extremely elaborate and huge! It is one of the 4 most outstanding gates on the planet apparently. The King stole the marble columns from other Moroccan cities to make his the best. He then beheaded the man who built the gate so he could never build a better one elsewhere!
The guide then gave us 10mins to visit the local market. He told us to go inside as it is the important part. So we did. Upon entering we are greeted to an impressive sight. Stalls everywhere loaded with Moroccan sweet pastries & biscuits. Unfortunately they were covered, and I mean covered, in bees! Eww!! I’m allergic to bees so this was not fun for me. We found a couple of aisles filled with spices which were really colourful. There were numerous stalls selling a huge range of olives and lastly we found the meat section. First we saw tons of live chickens crammed into cages for you to pick. Then we saw stalls selling pre-cut meat, then we encountered a stall selling offal. Hooves, livers and what looks like tripe. Disgusting. But it got worse! As we rounded the corner, we saw the next stall had a partially butchered skull, 2 other tops of skulls and was in the process of cutting up some animal. Nope nope nope. Eww. Gross. I took a photo and left quickly.
We walked around a couple more aisles and we had one guy telling us what all the spices are. The pretty multi coloured ones are a 5 or 7 spice blend.
Then it was back on the bus for the 1hr drive to Fes, our destination for the next 2 nights. Upon arriving at the hotel 4 of us went for a walk to find the big Carrefour supermarket. It was about a 15min walk although it was very hot. There were lots of police and military in the town and it turns out this is because the King is in town at the moment. This supermarket also is one of the few places you can get alcohol. For 60MAD I got a 200ml vodka and 1.25L lemon squash. That's roughly $9 AUD. Then we went back to the hotel and sat in the lobby having a few drinks. At 9pm the hotel locked the front door due to the curfew so we told our group mates to get back quickly. Then we went upstairs to one of our rooms and had a little party, music, dancing etc. We had everyone except one girl who was very sick & in bed unfortunately.
THURSDAY
Thursday, we had an optional tour of Fes, which 10 of us decided to take. It was only 200MAD ($30AUD) and 6hrs. First, we picked up our local city guide and drove to the Royal Palace. The gates are extremely elaborate.
Next, we took a walk through the Jewish Quarter to see the architecture. Apparently, there are no Jewish people living there anymore as they now live in New Fes but there are still lots of shops.
Next, we boarded the bus again and drove up to one of the military forts overlooking the whole Medina. The Medina in Fes has over 9,400 streets and is 42 square kilometres! The sheer number of streets is the main reason we signed up for the tour. We would absolutely get lost if we went on our own. It is the largest car-free area in the world.
Next was a pottery factory. It is outside the Medina as they needed the space. We were taken on a tour of the factory and saw every step in the process, right from the raw clay to the finished product. Everything is 100% handmade and hand painted. They also do mosaics there. The tiles are cut into shapes by hand and all by men. They do 30mins then have a break. It takes a long time to make all the pieces for a mosaic. They do custom pieces and one lady in Dubai had ordered a large number of water fountains, tables etc. which will be sent in a shipping container when ready. Lastly we went to the shop and I ordered a custom made tajine. It will be pink & white (of course) and sent to my place in London. Exciting!
Then it was finally time to enter the Medina. We drove back down to the city and started our walk. Some streets are wide enough for a mule & wagon, others are so narrow our arms & backpacks brushed the side walls. Our first stop was to see people dying the fabrics for clothes. They do this right in the market streets. The men were dying things in blue & black when we saw them.
Next up was the Tannery. This was a place I was looking forward to as the picture online looked awesome. What I didn't think about was the smell. Upon entry we were given a sprig of mint to sniff on and taken upstairs and out to a balcony. This gives you a great aerial view of the tanning pots. Boy does it stink!! Due to covid, a lot of the pots weren't being used and there were a lot less colours then I had seen online but it was still good to see. There were men working in the pots while we were there. They work with 4 types of animal skins – cow, goat, sheep & camel. Then we went back inside to look/buy leather products. They have a huge range of poufs, bags, shoes and jackets, and in every colour under the rainbow. The softest leather was lamb leather. Incredibly soft, would be an amazing jacket, but then I thought about the fact that it is a little baby lamb & I was turned off. Man, I think I need to be a vegan!
Next, we kept walking through the streets and we walked down a very plain residential street & into a door. Our jaws hit the floor. We had stepped into the most amazing riad restaurant. It was stunning! We had a set menu and got a discounted price as it empty when we arrived. For 120MAD, we got a selection of Moroccan salads, chicken pastilla, fruit plate & mint tea. So, the salads were 11 small plates with things on them. Not salads in the way we call something a salad. Beetroot, tomato relish, garlic greens etc. My favourite was the tomato relish thing. It was like pureed tomato with a bit of sugar & cinnamon or something. Next, we got individual pastillas. They call it a chicken pie but it is a filo parcel. Inside is a dry mix of chicken mince, spices and pine nuts. Maybe other stuff too but not sure. On top is a criss cross pattern of icing sugar and cinnamon sugar. Yes, you read that right. A thick layer of sugar on top of a chicken filo parcel. The chicken part was nice but I'm not sold on the sugar addition. It was super filling though. Lastly, they put 2 large plates of whole fruit on the table for us. By the time we left the restaurant was almost full with a mixture of western tourists and locals/domestic tourists. One of the guys in our group filmed the walking from the street to the inside, which is below.
After lunch we went to the outside of a mausoleum (closed for covid). Whilst walking we had to make way for several mules carrying things to pass.
I stayed at the back of the line (we had to walk single file) so I could take photos more easily. A little boy was following us trying to get us to buy things and he would not go away so we told our guide who spoke to the boy in Arabic and made him leave. We were like “Abdul help!” and the boy finally went away.
Our last stop for the day was the looms factory where they do weaving. They showed us the manual weaving machine where we saw a man making a blue blanket. They have lambs wool and agave silk. I have never heard of agave cactus silk but it was so soft! I ended up purchasing a pink & yellow agave silk scarf. Vegan silk. Winning!
We headed back to the hotel and had some chill time. Myself, another girl & 1 of the guys had booked a hammam package. A hammam is a Moroccan bathing process. Males & females are separate so us 2 girls went to the room & were given disposable g-strings and told to remove all clothing. So, the 2 of us were starkas together in the room, apart from those paper g-strings. We were taken into a big steam shower cubicle thing whee we sat on a seat and hosed ourselves off. Next the lady took me to sit on a marble block in front of a large clamshell shaped sink. Everything was made of marble. There she proceeded to use a small bowl and pour water all over me. Then she got this olive oil gel and rubbed it over my whole body. My naked chest, butt, everywhere except the very inner crotch part. Then she rinsed me off and washed my hair. Then I went and sat in the jacuzzi while she washed the other girl. Then when she joined me in the jacuzzi, I was taken out and I had to lay face down on a heated marble slab. She covered me in the black soap & used an exfoliation mitt to scrub my body. The amount of skin coming off was disgusting. She did front & back, and the face. After rinsing, she then covered me in a mixture of argan oil and something else (looked like almond butter). I was soooo slippery on the marble! After washing that off I got back in the jacuzzi while the lady scrubbed the other girl. We sat there while she cleaned the room then she took us to the shower to wash off and then we sat in a bathrobe for a bit. The culture is very liberal because the hammam lady showered and walked around topless for a bit! Lastly, we were taken for our massage. There were no privacy towels here! She even massaged your chest! My skin certainly feels amazing and it wasn't unpleasant, just different. I haven't had someone scrub me so thoroughly since I was a baby & no-one has bathed me since I had surgery back in 2008! I have admirer one booked for Marrakech but with the change in restrictions, it might have to be cancelled. Definitely an interesting experience.
After that we went hunting for food. Abdul offered to take us to a place that sells “avocado fruit salad”. Turns out it is like a smoothie bowl with avocado & fruit. It was quite nice. I wasn't full though so I got myself a taco on the way back time the hotel. Then we just chilled out and played some games in one of our rooms.
Continued on part 2……