Morocco - 2015

Back from Scotland and having enjoyed watching Australia’s intense battle with Wales in the rugby at Twickenham, it was time to re-pack for our next journey to somewhere totally new… Morocco  This time Jarad & Rachel, our son and daughter in-law were joining us for the experience as we settled in for the 3.5 hr flight from London.

So for those of you who are geographically challenged like me, Morocco is located in the very north of Africa as can seen by our flight path below.

As we got closer to our landing in Marrakech, the sense of trepidation Rob and I were feeling slowly increased, not because we were landing into a mainly Muslim country, instead wondering if anyone would actually be at the airport to meet us.

We had opted to take a private small group tour operated by a small local company called ‘Trips To Morocco’ having researched them extensively online and with some back/forth discussion via email, settled for our final itinerary and paid a small deposit.

Customs cleared and bags collected, we ventured into the arrivals hall to be confronted by lots of people holding up signs with surnames on them, ours not amongst them.  So we split up and started searching deeper into the throng and eventually found two guys standing well back holding a ‘Trips To Morocco’ sign. With a sense of relief, we introduced ourselves and began to get to know our guide for the next 12 days, Youssef and driver, M’barek.

The drive into Marrakech in the Toyota Prado 4WD, our vehicle for the next 13 days, was a great introduction to Morocco… bedlam, traffic seemingly coming at us from multiple simultaneous directions, horns being used like morse code between drivers, traffic lanes almost optional and speed limits seemingly just a guide.  Not all the cars around us liked using headlights despite it being around 8:30pm and this added to the heightened levels of adrenaline surge.

Inside courtyard of one of our Riads

Our itinerary included staying as much as possible in original Moroccan Riads which are a traditional form of house or ‘palace’ with courtyards and gardens in the middle of them, extending from the ground floor to ceiling.

“Wow!” was the single word which came out of all our mouths when we first saw the internal layout of our first Riad.  

Characteristically, all Riads look extremely plain on the outside as part of Moroccan culture not to show off what they own, but the insides were a very different story.

The next map shows where we travelled starting from Marrakech heading south into, up and across the High Atlas Mountains before going west towards part of the Sahara Desert.  Then it was north again finishing in Fez before travelling via Casablanca and back into Marrakech. 

Apart from the last leg of this trip, most of our time was spent travelling on smaller back roads through little villages and on a few occasions we headed overland using 4WD.  There were a few locations where we stayed a few nights but most times it was only overnight.  Each day usually started about 9am and not reaching our Riads until around 6:30pm to their traditional welcome of very sweet and scented mint/herbal tea.

serving welcome sweet mint tea the traditional way

This blog post is going to be far less about the where and what as hopefully the photos , probably too many, will tell more of that story, it will be more about the essence of Morocco, how it ‘confronts’, challenges and teaches you.  There will be a few standout experiences described in a little more detail though but let me stress right at the start, not once did we feel unsafe in Morocco.

Morocco essentially is very much a developing country and increasing tourism, in part triggered by what is happening in places like Syria, is accelerating Morocco’s wealth.  As a result of being a developing country, Morocco is full of complexity, vivid contrasts and is very diverse.

part of the contrasts in Morocco

Youssef and M’barek's homes are near the Sahara desert and they are proudly of Berber origins who have inhabited the country for thousands of years and also one of Morocco’s official languages. In 40BC the Romans annexed Morocco until the 5th century AD then Muslims conquered Morocco in the 8th century AD.  Consequently, the Muslim faith and Arabic language also dominate along with French as a result of them controlling part of Morocco from 1912 to 1956.  The French influence is also very visible in the abundance of baguettes and pastries throughout most of the country.

You learn very quickly to avoid taking pictures of people or their stores unless you ask for permission first. Seldom can you take a picture of women, most of whom wear the burka or hijab and then you learn why in the old parts of towns many doors have two knockers on them, one of which alerts the women in the house to cover up as strangers are entering.  Quite often however in the larger cities we would see younger women dressed like anywhere else in Europe, strolling the footpaths.

The city with the romantic name of Casablanca is a seething mess of more modern looking chaos, apart from the 3rd largest mosque in the world which was very beautiful.

outside Hassan II Mosque

and inside

In contrast, the very historical city of Fez, is the convergence of 3 cities, one built in the 9th Century, the next in the 12th Century and the final one in the 19th Century. The oldest medinas in Fez and Marrakech were fascinating to wander through or as they call it, places of a thousand maze like alleys and very many narrow ones around a metre wide.  Medinas in Morocco are the old parts of a town, typically walled and divided into quarters.  Inside the medinas are ‘souks’ believed to be of Berber origins meaning marketplace(s) and are where the shops are.

typical style shop in the souks within the medinas

We were warned to be careful in the medinas because of pickpockets and as one local guide told us, they are so good, “they will steal your socks before your shoes”.

Moroccan 4WD 'parked' in Medina alley

The medinas in both Fez and Marrakech were a favourite for many reasons, the small laneways, the aromatic smells wafting throughout them from the colourful spice markets and street food.  With very narrow alley ways, keeping an ear open for the sound of small motorbikes was crucial as they negotiate at speed past you, the occasional donkey also making their presence felt.

in spice market

olives, dates... all sorts of foods

then the pastries and biscuits

Away from the larger cities we stayed in a few smaller towns/villages and it was in these you saw the ‘Moroccan 4WD’… the donkey, toiling amongst run down buildings made out of terracotta coloured mud and straw bricks.  When driving through very barren areas we were quite often fooled by sun triggered shimmering specks scattered across the plains, only to realise this was coming from thousands of discarded empty plastic drink bottles strewn everywhere.

Moroccon 4WD

There is much grand beauty in Morroco’s mountains, valleys, gorges and waterways, including luxurious ski resort style towns, the equal of many in Switzerland, only to be countered after wandering along rocky 4WD tracks into the vast nothing, to meet a nomad family and sharing mint tea with them sitting cross legged where they are living in a cave.  Later we met another nomad family living in a camel and goat hair woven tent on the edge of the desert.

across mountains

and plains on the way to visit some nomads

in their cave

or tent

Whilst in the Sahara region, we went 4WD driving to fossick for fossils, something of abundance near the Sahara, visited a working oasis then walking through one of 350+ underground irrigation tunnels of 25+ kms each  Each tunnel had been hand carved by the local communities over centuries and due to changes caused by the climate, only are 56 of them are still in use.

inside hand carved irrigation tunnel

first sunset in the Sahara

A major highlight of our trip was getting to know more than we ever thought we would about camels, especially after riding them for 1.5 hrs out into the Sahara to stay overnight in nomad style tents.

We were all allocated our camel, then unceremoniously jolted a few metres into the air on its back and off 10 of us trekked in single file out into the reddish dunes of the desert.  These were single hump camels and you sat on this weird wrapping of cloths on top of the hump, a metal cross bar down low in front of you the only thing to hang onto.  

The first 10-15 minutes of camel riding on fairly flat sand riding out into the desert was the stuff of dreams until it came time to descend down into the first sand valley.  

heading off into the desert

Camels splay their legs out in some strange way to maintain traction and they rock backwards and forwards in a very jolting and ungainly way, at the same time your crutch and thighs trying to shape themselves around its hump whilst at the time clutching it. The romance of the experience was well and truly gone by 30 minutes and total pain in the thighs and bum in full force by 60 minutes… only 30 minutes to go.

When a camel is told to sit, you had better hang on because it feels like your face is going to be pummelled into the sand as it tilts its front legs down and squats on them.  It was over but it was funny watching everyone else doing what I was whilst walking to our camp, imitating a cowboy who has been on horseback for years… oh the pain!

our camp in the desert, camels in the background

Then the silence hits you and the colour and shadows of the desert all around you, contrasted by our tent camp nestled in a small valley and trussed up camels in the distance, waiting to inflict more pain on us during our return journey.  We had a great tagine based dinner that night at a table plonked in the Sahara sharing and enjoying the life stories of the fellow travellers.

dinner in the desert

Very early on in our trip we visited a number of deserted 16th century AD kasbahs which is a type of islamic city or fortress and was a place where important local leaders lived and provided defence to the community when a city was under attack. Each kasbah had high walls, usually without windows and inside they were adorned with intricate decoration.

large walled kasbah

ornate mud & straw brick construction

wandering through the corridors was a delight

example of internal decoration

or in part of the storage areas

Another very memorable event happened during our very short tour of the 3rd century AD Roman UNESCO recognised ruins at Volubilis located near Meknes in the Middle Atlas mountains. Volubilis covers a very large area and the tour started very well with fine examples of very detailed mosaic floors and the ruins of the buildings they adorned.  In the distance however was looming and large bank of dark thunderous clouds rapidly rolling towards us, our guide constantly trying to hurry us up.

Well things changed very quickly indeed as the clouds got closer and much larger and light rain started to fall.  Our guide had become very anxious indeed, as were all the other tourists roaming the site.  He soon told us to move quickly back towards the shelter near the entrance and not long after this advice, he started to run.  Some of us also picked up pace towards cover, but Rachel decided to instead run straight towards the storm to get a picture she had in mind.

the small aqua speck is Rachel running towards the storm

Jarad went after Rachel whilst Rob and I had to start running for cover as the rain from the storm pelted down and the winds roared all around us, footpaths quickly becoming small streams.  After 10 minutes or so, Jarad and Rachel appeared out of the still raining gloom, a huge broad smile all over Rachel’s face because despite both being totally soaked, she had achieved her goal.

all for this wonderful photo... good on her

Our tour of the Roman ruins was over as we drove out of the car park and past a few cars, unfortunately crushed by trees flattened by the storm onto them and along the road towards Fez having to slow frequently for minor flooding or rocks and debris strewn across the road.

We were also very privileged to be invited to M’barek’s home, meet his mother and enjoy, sitting cross legged on rugs on the lounge floor, for their warm hospitality, beautiful delicate biscuits and more of the mint tea   We had also met M’barek’s father, brother and some cousins during our time in country and it was a great opportunity along with other casual interactions with numerous local Moroccans, to witness their strong family bonds and very mischief sense of humour. 

The last few days of our travels were spent in and exploring Marrakech, its medina, souks and very famous Jemaa el-Fnaa, 10 acre square in the centre of the old town.  Late each afternoon, we would find a suitable balcony overlooking the square to watch what was going on.  

There were cobra snake charmers plying their trade, fortune tellers, very colourfully dressed former water carriers being paid for their picture and men with macaque monkeys we also saw in the mountains, being paid for letting them sit on tourists.  There were BBQ street food stalls, people everywhere trying to sell something to someone.

Traditional water carriers paid for a photo

snake charmer plying his trade

macaque on a tourist

macaque in the mountains

Inspired by the food stalls in the medinas and tagine based meals, we all booked ourselves into a half day cooking course to learn more about how to cook with tagines and the various spices used in Moroccan cuisine.

As the sun set behind the largest minaret in Marrakech, the market came further to life with the wafting smoke of the food stalls and ever increasing numbers of locals and tourists intermingling throughout.

Jemma el-Fnaa square Marrakech comes to life at sunset

So by now we hope you understand why we titled this blog ‘Mesmerising Morocco’ a country of complexity and contrasts and truly worthy of a visit.  After nearly 2,000 fascinating kms, we finally bade farewell to our new friends Youseff and M’barek after a truly enjoyable experience and headed off again but not back to the UK, but that’s for another post.

For photos of Morocco, please click on the link below:

CLICK HERE for more photos Morocco 2015