Our last stop in Morocco is a coastal city called Essaouira. It is a cute city on the Atlantic known for its wind and kitesurfing. We had a walking tour this morning but have also been able to walk around a lot on our own. I especially like walking along the beachfront. They have a nice futsal court and basketball courts next to the beach. They also have camels on their beach which is isn’t something I see at home.
Our guide was great and helped explain a lot of the city to us. Essaouira means “the beautifully designed” city which has to do with how well their streets in the old city are organized. It is a pretty easy city to navigate although there are still a lot of really small streets. I really have enjoyed the blue in this city. The reason for all the blue started with the fisherman wanting to paint their boats blue to match the color of the water. They thought that would make it easier to catch fish. The paint was then also used for houses and doors by the fisherman but ended up catching on with everyone. Even the taxis are all painted a pretty blue. And I’m very amazed how they get the boats in and out but it does take some organizing with your other fisherman’s. And the blue boats are used to catch the large fish, and the larger fishing vessels are used to catch the small fish because they can use nets to catch a lot at a time.
We have a long travel day tomorrow to the Azores. We have a 3 hour driver back to Marrakech, then fly to Lisbon where we have a long layover before flying on to Sao Miguel. Morocco was beautiful and I’m sad this part is coming to an end. The people have been so welcoming and the food here is amazing. This really has been the best food I have ever had. I’m now looking forward to the Azores.
From the Atlas Mountains, we headed to the Agafay desert. This isn’t the desert I had in mind because I was thinking lots and lots of sand. But this was mainly rock. This is fairly close to Marrakech and a lot of people do a day trip here to ride a camel. We tried out the glamping and it was a great experience all around. Everyone in Morocco has been wonderful but the staff here were so pleasant and helpful. The tent was amazing and the view was out into the dessert. I’m glad they warn you when checking in to be aware of the wild dogs and that we would hear them throughout the night. Each camp has their own dogs to help scare away the wild dogs. The only issue is, they bark all night to keep the wild dogs away and the wild dogs bark back. Wasn’t a big issue though as it was just part of the experience.
The highlight for me at the camp was the camel ride. It was a short 30 minute ride but I loved it. The guide was funny and always joking. The hardest part of the camel ride is when it goes to stand but I think when it goes to sit back down is even more awkward. I would totally do a camel ride again!
The dinner at the camp was probably some of the best food on the trip. I don’t really get how they have good chefs everywhere we go including out in the middle of nowhere. But the food was perfect and the sunset with dinner was also nice. Once it is dark, you have a great view of the stars assuming it isn’t cloudy. We had some cloud coverage but could still experience some of the magic of the night. I could see a wild dog in the distance since it was white.
I would highly recommend this camp even if it took an hour to get there once getting off the highway. It was a very slow drive down a gravel road. Patience is definitely something you need to drive in Morocco and we are lucky to have a good driver. He even brought an extra tire with in case he had issues with the road. This camp is really one of the last camps on the road.
Our tour guide arranged for a hike in the Atlas Mountains on Tuesday. The driver picked us up and drove a little over an hour into the mountains so we could meet our guide for the hike. It was a beautiful drive through the mountains but also very touristy.
We also stopped at a typical Berber house that is still used by a family. A guy from the house gave us a little tour to explain how the family lives and everything is really still done manually. It was interesting to see each room and even a lady making bread. By the way, they have amazing bread in Morocco and it is always fresh tasting. The bedroom is shared by the parents and kids under the age of 5. After the age of 5, the kids are split into separate rooms with girls and boys having separate lbedrooms.
Bread mill
the kitchen
Making bread
Bedroom
living room
making a new way for water
From there we made it to our starting place for the hike. The road pretty much comes to an end for motor vehicles. After that, the only vehicles allowed are 4×4 and mules. Our guide was a nice kid who is from the region. He self taught himself English by watching different videos and movies online. He said learning languages is way for him to connect himself to the world because he will never be able to travel. Many people know 4 languages here (Berber, Arabic, French and English).
The hike started by crossing a bridge over the river. It isn’t that full right now because a lot of the snow has already melted but in the winter, people can kayak down the river. The hike is mainly uphill to the waterfall. It was a rocky hike but also plenty of shade on the way up. There are also a lot of stands to buy souvenirs or things to drink on the way up. They keep the beverages cool by utilizing the water from the river. I did finally buy one thing at one of the stops because the guy sold me on the fact that it helps the local villages. And I’m not good at bargaining so I really hope I did help the locals out. There were a lot of tourists on the hike. Most of the people do a day trip from Marrakech. The waterfall was pretty and full of visitors. Our guide took us a little up past the main part so we could take a different route down. It was beautiful to see the mountains in the distance even if it was less shady.
One the hike was done, we had lunch along the river. There are so many restaurants along the river. It is very charming and the food is all so good. You sit on pillows on the ground next to little tables along the river. You take your shoes and socks off to eat but you can also cool your feet off in the river. A very fun experience. Some of the restaurants actually set the table and chairs up in the river so you just eat in the river. It was a fun day and I’m always going to love a hike and exploring a new part of the world.
We stayed at a very charming place in the Ourika Valley. Each room was its own little house. And the gardens around the area were all very pretty. Workers were always working in the garden. The place also had a nice pool and places to relax in the shade. The food was amazing. The drive to the hotel off the main highway was a slow 15 minute drive on a very bumpy rocky road. It probably would have taken 5 minutes on a paved road. Although we were out in the middle of nowhere, there were very little villages that we went through on the way to the hotel. And the kids in the area seemed to have fun and you could hear them playing soccer and other games at night. It was nice to hear birds and other farm animals. The room even had a ladder to the roof of the cabin where I was able to see sunset one of the nights. One down side was the rooster that seemed to cock a doodle doo all night long. It was a very pleasant stay and a good base for a hike in the High Atlas Mountains.
We left Marrakech and headed to our next place in Ourika Valley. The Valley is in the High Atlas Mountains. The drive was about an hour but about 15 minutes before our next hotel there was a garden.
Anima Garden was designed by André Heller and was worth the stop. It was so nice to finally be outside of the city and hear birds and breathe fresh air. There were plenty of school groups there and the kids were doing a scavenger hunt to find different things in the garden.
Our last full day in Marrakech went by quickly with the food tour and sidecar tour. The city interesting and fun to explore. The people are all so friendly. It is also a pretty loud city and I will be okay not worrying about a motorcycle coming up behind me or a donkey cart going buzzing by. The city is full of color and so many different things to see that I have never experienced anywhere else. The guides definitely made it is great experience as I think it would have been overwhelming to start in Marrakech without them after an almost 22 hour journey to get here.
Fresh bread was always outside a bakery waiting to be delivered
After the sidecar, we met our guide for a food tour for 3 hours. I’ve never been on a food tour but I was expecting little samples of food around the old city. The guide was the same one that did our walking tour and did a great job at showing us some of the traditional dishes in the city. Only issue with the tour was I can’t eat that much food.
The first stop was starting with a sfenj (donut) and mint tea. The guy frying the donuts is the owner. The shop has been passed down in the family for years. If he needs a day off or is sick, the shop is closed until he can work again. The guide mixed the tea by putting in the fresh mint and sugar. He then would pour the tea into the cups and then put it back in the pot. He did this 3 or 4 times. He said you do that to mix up everything. He also said the higher the pour, the more welcome the people are. The donut was really just fried bread. You take a piece of paper and you smash it down. I didn’t enjoy the very hot oil through the paper. There isn’t any sugar on the donut so you are pretty much eating fried bread. Also, didn’t realize how much tea we would have during the evening and it was caffeinated.
From there, we walked to the Jemaa el-Fnaa (the main square) in the old city. It was packed full of people and booths. I’m sure a lot of the square is a tourist trap and I actually didn’t take a lot of pictures because of people then asking me for money. If you take of video of the snake charmers, they will expect you to give them money. Same with the people carrying around monkeys. The people are a little more pushy in the market trying to sell you stuff. The guide had us stop at one food stand to try a potato/egg dish. It isn’t something I would have ever gone up to order on my own. It probably wasn’t my favorite dish especially since it had mayonnaise on top but was good to try it. Watching the two guys cook the food was impressive. The one guy could pick up the boiling hot potatoes with his bare hands and peel them.
From there, we then walked to another place on the square where he ordered us two different types of pancakes and harira soup which is made with lentils. One pancake was plain and the other had minced meet and onions. One of my favorite dishes of the evening was the lentil soup.
I had already had enough food to count as two meals. And not knowing what else was to come, I was a little worried. We kept telling him that we didn’t need a lot of food but he just kept taking us to more places. The next stop was for a traditional street food sandwich. I think it was a combination of sausage, chicken, meat, onion and peppers but I’m not entirely sure. The sandwich was good but we couldn’t eat it all. Highly recommend the sandwich if you are hungry.
We then walked around a little bit. He offered to stop at one of the olive stands for olives but I don’t love olives. I also turned down the snail soup. It is hard enough for me to want soup in 90 degree weather but the snail soup would have been a stretch for me to try when I was already full. He took us to the top of a cafe so we could see an overhead view of the square. You have to purchase something to drink to get in so I had to have a soft drink (which was all they served). The view was nice though and you could get good videos and pictures up there without people bothering you to pay for the picture. We sat up there and talked. He then wanted to go to dinner at 8 at another rooftop restaurant where locals eat. I was a little nervous when he said dinner since I thought everything was already dinner. We walked about 10 minutes to the next place through some very hot markets. Then we climbed some very steep stairs to the restaurant and climbed again to the rooftop.
He ordered us tangia which is the traditional Marrakech cuisine. It always consists of meat and no vegetables. It cooks in a terra cot pot for hours in the coals. We saw one of the ovens used for this and it was very interesting. The other dish was a delicious chicken with onions and potatoes. We had a starter of a bowl of lentils and dessert was a yogurt.
It finally cooled down enough during dinner to be comfortable. The wind seems to pick up in the evenings. The guide walked us back to the hotel and I was very full. I think we could have used another 10 people to help us sample all the food. But I highly recommend a food tour as it really is the best way to get to try the dishes. He did all the ordering and paying so it was very easy to enjoy.
What a day. The tour guide arranged for a walking tour from 9 AM to 5 PM. I’m not normally a tour guide person but highly recommend it in Marrakech. I can’t even begin to tell you where we were in the old city and it seemed like we walked in circles for hours exploring all the narrow streets.
The first stop he took us was Medersa Ben Youssef. It was nice because we got there pretty much before all the tour groups. We only had it to ourselves for about 5 minutes before it started filling in. It was built in the 1550’s and was a school that could have up to 800 students. The rooms were very small and would have 4-5 students. It was used until 1960.
From there, we walked to the Bahia Palace. We were definitely greeted with lots of tourists by the time we got there. The Bahia Palace was a lot newer and was built in the late 1800’s. This is one of the most visited sites in all of Morocco. And the King of Morocco still uses the palace occasionally to host foreign dignitaries and events. It was pretty to walk around and everything there was crafted by hand. The ceilings are all made out of cedar and are hand painted. Our tour guide said there is a cedar forest near Fez where all their wood comes from.
After leaving the palace, we walked around old city until it was time for lunch. Again, our guide always knew right where to turn and we just had to follow. The old town is very touristy with a lot of little shops. You see the same thing over and over but you felt safe walking around and nobody was trying to get you to buy anything. Lunch was at a great rooftop restaurant where the food was excellent and great view. Only thing that could have been better is if it wasn’t 95 today which meant it felt like it was over 100. Places aren’t really air conditioned but luckily the rooftop restaurant had umbrellas. Here are some pictures of walking around the old city. We saw it all from donkeys working to doors for sale and lots of olives, spices and anything else you might want.
Fresh bread
Olives
lunch
lunch view
Doors for sale
We walked some more after lunch until our driver picked us up. He drove us and our guide to Majorelle Gardens. Yves Saint Laurent once owned the property, and one of two museums dedicated to him in the world is nearby. I never turn down an opportunity to visit a garden. The garden is 2 acres. I know I didn’t get to spend enough time there, but it was hot and probably for the best that I did not.
It was a great but long first day. The guide was very knowledgeable and was nice to have all day. He even helped us exchange money for smaller amounts. He bought us water when someone wouldn’t take our money because the denomination was too large.
Finally made it to my first African country. We arrived in Casablanca, Morocco last night and the driver drove us 3 hours to Marrakech. This makes for an extremely long travel day but it was worth it. The trip will be split up between Morocco and Portugal. The Morocco part was designed by a tour guide and I’m excited to see everything she has planned for us.
On the flight in, we saw a lot of farmland. Casablanca is the largest city in Morocco with over 6 million residents. We have a driver that will take us an around for the next week. He picked us up and drove us to Marrakech. It was a pretty drive without a lot of traffic. I saw many farmers working in the fields which mostly had sheep.
The first place we are staying is at Riad in Marrakech. The Riad is in the old city and is beautiful. Riads always have a fountain in the middle and that is surrounded by four sides with rooms. The middle is also open to the outside. Since the driver couldn’t drive the narrow alleyways of the old city, someone from the hotel luckily met our driver to walk our luggage to the riad and show us the way. We would have never found it on our own. And you learn very quickly to make sure you always stay on the right side of the streets here. Motorcycles and bikes go very fast down the alleyways and they don’t really care if they might hit you.
Fletch Travels 