Hello world. Hope you all having a great weekend.

Visiting Morocco has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember. I’ve always wanted to  see the desert, explore maze-like medinas, drink Moroccan mint tea and dance with Berbers under the stars. For one week, I traveled around this amazing country. Ate the best couscous in Casablanca, spent my birthday in Marrakech, slept under the stars in the Desert.

HISTORY

Morocco, a North African country bordering the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, is distinguished by its Berber, Arabian and European cultural influences. 

 Morocco is composed mainly of Arabs and Berbers or a mixture of the two. Sizeable numbers of Berbers live mainly in the country’s mountainous regions, long areas of refuge where they have preserved their language and culture. Some segments of the population are descendants of refugees from Spain and Portugal who fled from the Reconquista, the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula, that spanned until the 15th century.

Morocco’s long struggle for independence from France ended in 1956. The internationalized city of Tangier was turned over to the new country that same year. Morocco annexed much of the Western Sahara, a former territory of Spain, in 1975.

Gradual political reforms in the 1990s resulted in the establishment of a bicameral legislature in 1997, although the King still possesses the actual political power. The press is mostly state controlled, even though there are free newspapers, and clampdowns have occurred following criticism of the authorities or articles concerning the Western Saharasituation. 

The foreign policy of independent Morocco has often differed from that of its Arab neighbors. Throughout the Cold War, Morocco generally sided with the Western European powers and the United States rather than with the Eastern bloc, whereas other Arab states usually chose neutral or pro-Soviet positions.

The major resources of the Moroccan economy are agriculture, phosphates, tourism and textiles.

Before Traveling to Morocco

Clothing: Marrakech isn’t as conservative as visiting many Arabian countries, it is still a predominantly Muslim country and you should respect that culture. So whilst it’s very hot try to veer away from skimpy outfits, ladies that means no mini skirts and men try not to wear tank tops. Marrakech is full of tourists so locals are more  accustomed to the odd scantily clad visitor but if you don’t want to draw unwanted attention to yourself then dress appropriately. The streets are also often uneven or cobbled so bring sensible and comfortable shoes for all the walking you’ll be doing.

Useful phrases and words : It’s always helpful to have a little knowledge of some key words when visiting a country, Marrakech has two predominant languages, Arabic and French, but many also speak a little English too. So here are 3 Arabic words that will be useful for your trip. If you know a little French using that goes a long way too!

Thank you = “Choukran” and “La Choukran” = “No Thank you”, pronounced “shokran”.

“Where is … ? “= “Feen … ?” Pronounced “fin”.

“Hello” = “Salam Alikome”, this also means ‘peace be with you’ and is used as a greeting

 Photos:Two main points here, first, do not take photos of the locals without permission, second, do not take photos of monkeys/snake charmers in the main square. The first point is for cultural reasons, they believe that pictures capture their soul and so unless you have permission try to avoid taking pictures of local people.  Secondly, do not take photos of the monkeys on chains or the snakes being charmed in the main square unless you’re willing to pay a hefty sum for the privilege. On this note also be careful of taking obvious photos of the stores as they may try and make you pay or buy something for doing so.

So much to say, but  I’ll let the photographs do the talking.

 There are reasonable prices on airfare from Europe. I flew in from Barcelona, Spain.

 

I was extremely excited when Jackie agreed to come to Morocco with me. 

CASABLANCA

Casablanca is Morocco’s largest city and is often the first stop for international passengers flying in from afar. The city is basically used as a transit point. But before you dismiss it entirely and quickly move on to Fes, Rabat or Marrakech, you must stop for at least few hours or one night.  There are many things to see and do in Casablanca. 

We stayed at The Sheraton Casablanca . Set in the financial district, this upscale hotel is a 4-minute walk from the Marché Central train station, 2 km from Cathedrale Sacre Coeur, and 3 km from the Hassan II Mosque.

After we settled in this beautiful hotel. We went on the hunt for the best couscous in town. 

We went back to the hotel for some delicious mint tea, belly dancing show and interacts with guests in the hotel. 

 

The next day, the plan was to be up by 5:30am but overslept.I was on snap chat chatting my life away until 3am. I couldn’t sleep thanks to all the sweets. I kept accusing Jackie for putting something in my drink since I don’t drink alcohol. 

Hassan II Mosque

Hassan II Mosque, honestly one of the most beautiful buildings ever built. It took 6,000 traditional Moroccan artisans, five years to build this magnificent mosque, with its intricate mosaics, stone and marble floors and columns, sculpted plaster moldings, carved and painted wood ceilings. It’s the largest mosque in the world outside Mecca. With room for more than 100,000 worshipers. Non-muslims are not allowed inside, but there’s plenty to marvel at on the outside.

We hired a driver from Casablanca to Marrakech. You can also take the train or fly from Casablanca to Marrakech. I will suggest the train if you are not in a rush and it’s less expensive.

Our driver didn’t speak English. It was an interesting 5 hours ride to Marrakech. I tried using google translator to communicate with the driver. lol

MARAKECH

The name Marrakech originates from the Amazigh (Berber) words mur (n) akush, which means “Land of God.” It is the third largest city in Morocco, after Casablanca and Rabat, and lies near the foothills of the snow-capped Atlas Mountains. It is a few hours from the foot of the Sahara Desert. Its location and contrasting landscape has made it an enviable destination in Morocco. 

The city is divided into two distinct parts: the Medina, the historical city, and the new European modern district called Gueliz or Ville Nouvelle. The Medina is full of intertwining narrow passageways and local shops full of character. In contrast, Gueliz plays host to modern restaurants, fast food chains and big brand stores

 

 For our first night, we stayed at the most beautiful Riad in Marrakech, Riad Yasmine. There’s hundreds of riads throughout the Medina and they’re the best place to stay to have a true Marrakech experience, they range from basic to the luxurious. You can find many on Airbnb

 Our stay at Riad Yasmine was absolutely perfect! We honestly didn’t want to leave once our first night was over. Alice and Gabriel were so helpful and kind, the best hosts I’ve ever had. Once they found out it was my birthday, they offered one of the most beautiful restaurants for dinner and mini celebration. We even came up with an inside joke about them adopting us. The Riad itself is breathtaking, and decorated perfectly by the talented Alice. Pictures just don’t do it justice! The wonderful staff are so friendly and will go out of their way to make you feel comfortable. After visiting the larger hotels in Marrakech, I have no doubts that Riad Yasmine provides a much more wholesome, traditional Morrocan experience. It is the perfect little Oasis, right in the heart of Marrakech.

 The next day, we had the most delicious Moroccan breakfast by the pool at Riad Yasmine

 

Alice and Gabriel, my amazing mom and dad in Marrakech!

The Majorelle Garden

The Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech is one of the most visited sites in Morocco. It took French painter Jacques Majorelle (1886-1962) forty years of passion and dedication to create this enchanting garden in the heart of the “Ochre City” Owned by Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Berge. After Yves Saint Laurent died in 2008 his ashes were scattered in the Majorelle Garden. 

In the midst of the chaotic roads, the busy locals and the humming of call to prayer, lies a little piece of heaven…Jardin Majorelle. Highly recommend going when in Marrakech. 

Shopping in Marrakech

Shopping in Marrakech is an interesting experience. The best way to explain this is to say that you will essentially be walking dollar bills to many of the shop owners in the souks, all of them are keen to get you to purchase goods from their stores. Whether that be Moroccan shoes, carpets, spices, tea or foreign animals they’ll be keen to flog it all to you. After the first trip to the souks you’ll have got the hang of the polite ignore but sometimes it’s quite fun just to go along with it and learn about the products they’re selling, be careful though we spent a little time trying on Moroccan slippers and broke one of the glass cup. The owner said I had to pay for it. It cost me three times the usually price simply because I didn’t want to buy anything from his store. He got a little bit aggressive while trying to negotiate the price for the broken cup. Walk through the souks open to a little exploration, expect to be hassled but be firm with declining if you’re not interested. Don’t be put off by the locals from this however, the majority are incredibly friendly and willing to help!

 I’ve always considered myself a good negotiator until I came to Morocco.

We went to Hotel La Mamounia. One of the most photo-op hotels in Marrakech. 

We stayed at another beautiful Riad. But the experience was quite different. None of the staffs speaks English. It was hard to communicate issues we had and our needs. 

We hired another driver for the day. He suggested a restaurant in the Medina. It was honestly the worst and most expensive food we ate in Marrakech. We wanted to go somewhere else but he kept insisting this particular restaurant.   Everything was absolutely disgusting. My only positive memory from the restaurant was the belly dancer. 

Wherever you go in Marrakech you’ll find hundreds of tour operators offering desert tours ranging from 1 to 3 nights and the abundance of options can be a little overwhelming. We decided to book through Riad Yasmine, since it seem less of an hassle and we had a private driver. 

 What I naively didn’t realise when we booked the tour was that the Sahara Desert is really far away. Like, two days of driving far away.Fortunately, there were plenty of fascinating stops to make along the way, all of which helped us to gain a small insight into Berber culture. We visited quite a few Berber villages, the first of which was incredible to see, even with the several dozen tourists that were also wandering around

 Seeing Aït Benhaddou

Though we didn’t get to spend much time here, exploring this place full of kasbahs (fortified houses) was pretty amazing. It is the Hollywood of Morocco and has been featured in Game of Thrones, Gladiator, Lawrence of Arabia, and many more films. It was the most picturesque ksar I saw, which is probably why it’s in every movie! It plays into what people think an old ksar -fortified village – should look like. 

 Our amazing driver Adil became my model since I got tired of taking pictures.  

After a very long and very tiring day of over 10 hours of driving we finally reached our hotel for the night, where I nearly passed out at the excitement of having wifi in the almost-desert.

This beautiful hotel is owned by three brothers. The brother that speaks english wasn’t around. But I was able to interact and discussed business with the two brothers for The Sunny Experience launching next year. My stomach was showing off all the delicious food given to me. So ignore my not so flat stomach but look at the apple tree. This was my first time seeing an apple tree. 

While taking photos for The Sunny Experience, our driver patiently waited for us to get back on the road. I didn’t want to leave this beautiful hotel!

Today, I was finally going to see the Sahara Desert!

However, like the previous day, the journey wouldn’t be complete without visiting even more Berber villages. These ones were even more interesting — dry, dusty mountains, enormous gorges, spectacular waterfalls and lush green valleys, which looked wildly out of place in the middle of the desert.

Then, finally, we reached the start of the desert.

For the next one hour we rode deeper into the desert. I soon realised that although riding a camel on flat surfaces is a piece of cake, going up and down sand dunes is a bit of a nightmare. You see, when you’re sat on a camel and start going down the steep edge of a sand dune, every step it takes has its feet sinking immediately into the sand. Whereas to climb up a sand dune, camels perform some some sort of gallop that had my camera banging against my ribs as I fought to stay upright. This was a lot harder than it looked. 

At 8pm, we arrived at our camp for the night. Our evening was spent eating chicken tagine, listening to our guides play Berber music as we danced around the campfire, taking turn in playing the drums and dancing until we were too exhausted to move.

One my fascination was the bathroom. It had a shower and a flushing toilet in the middle of the Desert. 

The camp owner asked if we wanted to see the stars. Of course, so Jackie excitedly helped them dragged our mattresses out of the tents and onto the desert sand. 

 I stayed up all night in complete admiration, gazing at the stars with no light pollution. 

Magical sunrise over the Sahara Dunes. I kept making sure I was not dreaming. I’ve never seen or experience anything like it.

I didn’t want to get out of bed. This twin-size bed was more comfortable than my King-size bed at home. 

Pouting with my Sahara friends, Bob Marley and Jimmy!

 After breakfast it was time to explore the Desert for few hours, head to the main land for our long journey back to Marrakech. 

 Our amazing tour guide, Ali

The owner of the camp, Hassan. 

Upon our arrival back in Marrakech, Alice from Riad Yasmine suggested another beautiful Riad since Yasmine was booked. This Riad was simply stunning.

 Morocco is an incredibly destination. At times, it was trying, stressful, chaotic, and overloaded my senses, but for all the stresses of travel, it was a country where I felt out of my element and like I was truly somewhere new and different. I loved that feeling and everything else about Morocco. I hope this post help inspires you all to visit Morocco

 

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