Cheers for following along from home. This is the eighth edition of the blogs that we put together to catalog our travel! We hope to share some of the trip with all of you, and in turn have writing we can go back and read when we’re eventually back home.

After a change to our plans following the earthquake, we made it to Morocco with a slightly shorter trip mapped out. We spent about a week and a half travelling through the north of Morocco, no longer making it to Marrakech, the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara Desert in the south. We hope to go back and visit these places one day, but still had some great experiences and adventures in Morocco. We hope you enjoy!

Fes

We left London and touched down in Fes, the cultural capital of Morocco. We had a bit of a chaotic time getting a taxi to our accommodation as we couldn’t speak Arabic and only minimal French (the other common language in Morocco) but we eventually got on the way. We were staying in the Medina in Fes, basically every city in Morocco has a Medina and it is effectively the term for the old part of the city predating cars and bikes and it is made up of narrow alleyways and very dense concrete buildings. Our taxi driver obviously couldn’t take us into the Medina so it was a bit confusing trying to find our way, but we somehow navigated the alleys and got to our Dar (Moroccan guesthouse).

The Dar we were staying at had an amazing terrace overlooking the old city and was run by a lovely lady who greeted us with fresh mint tea, one thing we had a lot of over the next week or so. She offered to organise a tour guide for us and could also cook dinner for us if we wanted. We took her up on the offer the first night and had the best introduction to traditional Moroccan food and hospitality.

The next day we had a local guide take us around the Medina for about 4 hours, well worth it considering how chaotic it is to find your way through the alleyways, its like a maze! The tour showed us the Mosque and University Al-Karaouine, apparently the oldest university in the world founded in 859. We saw copper teapots and dinnerware being made by hand, fabric and wool dyed using flowers and spices, argan oil being extracted from argan nuts, and a display of Moroccan rugs in a Berber house.

Our guide also took us to the Chouara leather tannery, something that Fes is well known for and still uses a traditional handmade process to this day. We stood overlooking heaps of different pools filled with the various dyes and liquids required in the tanning process, watching the backbreaking work of moving the animal hides between the pools. Before going up to have a look, we were given a sprig of fresh mint to sniff and we soon found out why. Turns out they use pigeon poo, cow pee and quicklime to clean and soften the skins before they are dyed - and it stunk!

The rest of our time in Fes included walking through souk/markets and looking at all the cute cats that live in the Medina and hang out in the alleyways. We also walked outside the Medina and visited a nearby public garden which had heaps of stray cats living in it too. It was a pretty hot day but not unbearable, so we decided to walk up the hill to the side of the city and were awarded with a pretty cool view of Fes.

Meknes

Next up we were heading west to a nearby city called Meknes. We were able to get a 30 minute train between the two places, and although the trains weren’t quite as flash as in UK/Europe, they were pretty comfortable and easy to use.

We were also staying in the Medina of Meknes, so we navigated a simpler Medina than Fes and arrived at the Riad we had booked. A Riad is what we would consider a hotel, whereas the Dar that we had stayed in in Fes only had about 6 rooms and was more like what we would consider a BnB. On arriving at the Riad we were given Moroccan mint tea in a beautiful lounge area with mosaic tiles, carved plaster and wood adorning the walls. The reception team were also really helpful and kind here and recommended a delicious dinner place in the Medina before leading us there so we didn’t get lost!

Unfortunately when we set out the next day to do a bit of sightseeing, we were disappointed that a lot of the touristy/public places were under construction/restoration in Meknes - something we didn’t hear about when we were planning a stop over there. We still walked around and saw what would eventually be a new gate to the Medina and where there will soon be a new market square. With not much else to do we stumbled across a museum that showcased the musical history of Morocco and it ended up being pretty cool to see the diverse range of instruments that Moroccans made and use. Our time in Meknes was then finished with another delicious dinner at a traditional Morrocan restaurant, we didn’t get to see much but we definitely ate some good tagine in Meknes.

Rabat

From Meknes we headed further west until we reached the coastline, and hit our next destination, Rabat. This is the capital of Morocco and had a very modern feel compared to the more traditional Fes and Meknes. Rabat was pretty clean and the gardens were immaculately kept compared to these places, workers were even scraping gum off the footpath outside the pristine government buildings.

We set out on a bit of a homemade walking tour that would take us through different parts of Rabat. It started with a walk through the Mausoleum of Mohammed V, a recent king of Morocco. You weren’t allowed to take photos of inside, but it was an incredibly ornate room with mosaic tiles, gold framing and hand carved plaster and wood everywhere you looked.

After this we headed down to the waterfront, which was really just along a canal. There was a small fishing port and lots of people with surf casters, even though it looks like your not meant too! Past the waterfront we headed up a path leading to the Kasbah of Rabat, a high walled area much like a Fort. Inside the Kasbah were a few alleyways worth of souks/markets, and the Andalusian Gardens.

Tangier

Our final stop in Morocco was a port city called Tangier, which we had planned to visit so that we could get the ferry over to Spain. We took a high speed train from Rabat direct to Tangier, which at one point was travelling just over 300km/hr!

Arriving in Tangier we were surprised with how busy it was, but sooner saw that it was because it was a port of call for cruise ships. We were only staying one night and stayed in a hostel in the Medina, which ended up being in the noisiest neighbourhood with people walking around yelling in the streets until 3am - not great when the windows are singled glazed!

There wasn’t too much to see in Tangier but we had a wander through the markets and along the waterfront. We had our last Moroccan dinner at a local restaurant, and yet again it was delicious and did not disappoint!

The following morning we headed down to the ferry terminal and made it onto the high speed catamaran that crosses the Strait of Gibraltar. It was pretty quick and within an hour we were disembarking in Tarifa, and were back on the shores of Spain.

Spain again

Morocco was a fantastic mix of cultural history and amazing cuisine, and we are so glad we got to visit in the end. We hope you enjoyed this shorter blog post, compared to our recent novels from the UK!

The next one will also be a short update on our quick trip through the south of the Spain and Portugal, before we head over to Greece.

See you soon,

Baylee & Jamie