Off the Beaten Path : Morocco
Our most recent trip to Morocco certainly was memorable both for the beautiful moments and those that did not go according to plan. I will get into those more memorable details later but for now I think it best to start with the takeaway.
I was both elated and overwhelmed to be traveling to this part of the world - Northern Africa! Flashes of vintage postcards I had seen, blue pools of riads and piles of deeply saturated spices all danced before my eyes. Wanting to be prepared I read every blog and article I could about cultural customs, helpful Arabic phrases, what to expect from Ramadan, the highlight reel of where to go, transportation options...you get the picture.
But the reality is nothing can truly prepare you but hopefully my hindsight will help give you a leg up on your own journey.
We started out in Marrakech where we decided to spend a little bit more on a Riad as we figured we would be exhausted from our travels. This ended up being the best choice for not only was Riad Kbour & Chou an incredible experience but helped ease us into a culture that was so beautiful but so different from our own.
Riad Kbour & Chou Dining area and dining guest
Nicholas our host
The riad itself is run by a Belgian couple, Nicholas and Jacques who have called Morocco their home for the past 13 years. They were incredibly attentive to our emails before we arrived, arranged for a pickup from the airport and Nicholas met us personally to direct us through the labyrinthian medina. Over the course of the next four days we relaxed in Oasis - a clean, modern , beautifully resorted b&b built around an open garden courtyard. A family of tortoises, cat and dogs ( Bobby and Lubos) kept us company and made us feel right at home.
Me with Bobby and Lubos at our riad
Going back to our very fist day there, armed with google maps and feeling sure we would remember our way back we ventured out on our own. Many twists, turns and failed map loadings later we ended up hopelessly lost. Not wanting to stick out at typical tourists ( although it was hard not to) we ducked into a cemetery to get our bearings and an hour later we were safely back inside our riad walls. The next day armed with a tip from a friend - maps.me( which allows you to download maps for when you are offline or have no service, which usually happens at least convenient of times) we confidently navigated the maze of the old mediana, patronizing the souks before visiting the Museum of Photography. Passes to the museum are only a few dollars and last several days making it a great bathroom pit stop or place to grab a rootop bite.
In regards to food the best advice I could give would be to eat wherever you are staying - this will be an authentic and delicious introduction to traditional fare. Riad Kbour & Chou set the bar high starting off the meal with courses of cold salads ( my favorite being the beet salad) ,leading into a tagine ( a meat or vegetable dish served over couscous) and ending if your lucky in a dessert (bananas with hazelnuts or pudding with oranges). Everywhere we went we were served a smorgasbord of jams, yougurt and bread and always the most incredible fresh squeezed orange juice.
Our room
Our time in Marrakech also marked the somewhat unexpected start of Ramadan: the beginning of Ramandan in Morrocco is determined not by a "traditional" calendar but the sighting of the first crescent moon. This would completely shift our journey in many ways. Calls to prayer would start at 4 am happening five more times throughout the course of the day. The sound created a cacophonous echo that reverberated across the city as each mosque joined in, dogs barked and people made their way to the places of worship. During this period there is no alcohol allowed and people forgo food and water . As soon as 7:30 PM hit though people would eagerly break the fast eating and celebrating all night. It was a beautiful thing to witness but did add extra planning to our schedule as things shut down so people could go prayer and evening meals were served later after the fast was broken.
Ramadan in Marrakech
Delicious Tagine at Le Jardin Marrakech
Our last day in Marrakech was when our journey really took a turn. We had initially toyed with the idea of renting a car prior to our arrival but wrote it off as too stressful. Once John started talking with our host Nicholas about his experiences however we quickly became enamored with the idea to taking the scenic route through the country. After an all day haggling expedition we somehow ended up with a Prius hybrid which we both found hilarious. Just getting out of the city proved quite difficult. I thought the cumulative experience of driving in Providence, Boston and NYC would help but nothing is like driving in Africa. All the roads were incredibly narrow packed with cars driving in no particular lane, donkeys, children, dogs....you get the picture. These occurrences make walking around quite intresteing but when driving it's all on you. My advice to you is that if you are going to rent a car into Morocco, you have to be prepared and very brave
Traffics jam in the Medina
Once out of the city an error in our GPS route quickly got us lost in the Atlas Mountains .This turned into four or five hours of us wondering "will we make it out of here?". We traversed narrow roads, blind turns, washed out spots making me think that if all else failed we could at least live with the Shepards we saw on the side of the road. Luckily it didn't come to that and we arrived in Skoura an hour after nightfall.
Lost in the Atas Mountains on our way to Skoura - terrifyingly beautiful
We were the only guests at the Kasbah
Our place that evening was an Kasbah found on Airbnb. This proved to be a great location for shooting Lotuff photos, but also a little strange. It turned out that we were the only people staying there....and I think the only people to stay their in years. We arrive late at night and saw no one until the next morning when an incredibly kind woman came out of nowhere and set the table for our breakfast. Taking advantage of the fact we had the whole place to ourselves we spent the majority of the day taking photos before moving onto our next location which we hoped would be a little more normal. As luck would have it there was a charming family friendly Airbnb not far away, run by a French woman and her husband Mustafa, a Berber ( or original nomadic tribesman).
Moustafa
Dades Gorge
We quickly booked it and headed towards the Dades Gorge, a multicolored cavernous wonder with all these touristy little hotels built into the mountainside along the way.In a strange way it reminded me a little bit of Kankamakus Highway in New Hampshire. The Airbnb was incredibly hard to find as the photos we had saved on our phone did not look like the ancient adobe structures and ruins we were currently standing in front of. To make matters worse we had run out of phone minutes. Where were we? Our hostess Fanny had told us that if we had any trouble finding the place everyone knew Mustafa so we ended up asking a local woman who took us straight to his door. The home itself was very basic but clean and decorated very clearly in his wife's Parisian style. After some mint tea,incredible converstation about the Berber culture and overall wonderful hospitally we went to bed happy but thinking " We're so far from home!".
The walls of Moustafa’s house looking out at Tinghir
From there we went to Fes, where we stayed at a comfortable colonial guest house run by a French woman named Cecile. She graciously reccomended the app Here we go!which was the offline map program that worked in that area.Fes is a lot less chaotic than Marrakech in terms of pushiness and size, but we noticed the people themselves move around at a fast paced. They seem to rush about as if they are on New York time! The Souks here are known for their amazing leather slippers and are a lot more relaxed about haggling. Much like Marrakech the marketplace is located inside the media , the stalls themselves being built literally into the sides of the walls. Sometimes the traffic gets so bad you have to press yourself into a doorway to let people through which admittedly is pretty funny. One minute your shopping for slippers and the next minute your ducking into a corner to let a donkey cart go by.Fes also boasted a delicious new restaurant Palais that we tried per reccomendation from our French host before we continued on to the Chefchaouen the "blue city".
Cecile’s guesthouse entryway in Fes
Mesh Mesh Cecile’s dog
Chefchauen, now a national heritage site, has many theories surrounding the origin of it's blue motif. A predominately Jewish city historically occupied by the Spanish, it was rumored that in celebration of their liberation in the 1950s the locals painted the city blue, the closest color to God. Chefchauen by far was the most stunning city aesthetically and reminded me a bit of Newport in the sense that the locals seemed to be (mostly) tolerant of the constant influx of tourists. After settling in to our hotel with the help of our desk manager Redwan we caught wind of a rumor that you could purchase beer at the main tourist hotel in the square. We walked in the lobby and were instantly transported onto the set of a Wes Anderson movie! The hotel at one time I am sure had been opulent but had become quite dated and shabby. Men in bellhop uniforms were running back and forth across the hotel lobby frantically trying to serve everyone: the Asian tourists in the left hand corner, the stoic Russaians in the right and the jovial Brits in middle!
Chefchauen resident
The view from our hotel
Chefchouen provided the perfect backdrop to take all kinds of photos. The locals also produce incredible textiles so this is where ended up purchasing several rugs. The place we stayed was a really lovely little boutique hotel called Le Petie Chefchaouen . We found that alternating between more authentic Airbnb spots and treating yourself to a hotel at some destinations provided the most well rounded experience. Staying in hotels also provided us with opportunities to talk to other guests and share experiences. It was here that we met a retired couple from New Zealand who were doing the same kind of trip as as, traveling all around the country and having unexpected but similarly wonderful experiences. We thrive on the genuine human experience so every time we would meet new people we would take down their email. We still keep in touch with several of them!
From Chefchauen we made our way to Tangiers where we would stay overnight and then fly out to Italy in the morning. This is a huge, bustling city on the coast which made the driving in Marrakech seem pale in comparison. It was madness but we made it back to the airport where knowing a few phrases in arabic ( ramnada mubaraekc - happy Ramadan) helped us drop of our car without a hitch.
Our dinner in Tangier the night before we flew to Italy
Overall I would not have traded any of the experiences John and I had.I feel that we had an incredible wealth of authentic moments and saw more of the far out reaches than we would have if we only stayed to the main cities. By rolling with the punches, saying yes to (mostly) everything and trusting in the kindness of strangers we had one heck of a memorable journey!
To start:
Read travel blogs:
Absolutely download navigation apps:
Maps.me - this works offline and is best for walking around the labyrinthian Marrakech medina and for driving
Here we Go - best for Fez
Phones:
Keep your phone on airplane mode at all times. You can still use the WiFi and make AT&T WiFi calls.
We have AT&T - you can let them know you will be out of the country and they will setup a plan for $10/day which only is to be paid for if you make calls/use data
Only works with an unlocked phone which most providers will not do for you if you have a contract/ owe money on the phone itself. Some places will "jailbreak" your phone but in our case we used an old phone. You can text an unlocking request
13 euros /$18 airport
Local "convenience stores" in the city have them for $8 or so - most raids will direct you to those places or as was our case offer to send someone with you as a guide
What's App
Skype
Learn a bit of the language :
Both Moroccan and French are spoken .Simple phrases go a long way to show respect to those who's country you are visiting and also help in a pickle
Es salam
La-no
Shukran
Duolingo
French and Arabic
Tipping :
Public bathrooms sometimes have attendants - 1-2 DH
Restaurants - 10%
Cleaning in hotels - 100 DH
Bathrooms in the city:
I had read a lot about bathroom culture and prepared for a more primative situation.These I am
Arriving | Marrakech :
Customs - know the name and address of your Riad /hotel
Use ATMs at the airport - there
Travel in between countries :
Make sure to read the specifics for baggage for each airline
Air bnb is not the same
Be aware but also say yes
