Morocco
Morocco is a beautiful and incredibly diverse country to explore with crumbling sandcastles, deserts, busy markets and beautiful moorish architecture. I visited in June 2014 with my friend Llinos. We split our time up between three cities; Marrakech, Essaouira and Ouarzazate.
Marrakech
We started our trip in Marrakech, which is a vibrant city - full of bright coloured markets selling fabrics, spices, bags, soaps, beautiful mosques, parks and sensational culinary delights.
The city is split into three main areas - the medina, the ville nouvelle, and the surrounding areas. The medina is the old historic area, made up of twisting alleyways and a maze of bustling market stalls, and this is where we decided to stay.
The hardest part about staying in a riad was trying to find it. With lots of unnamed roads creeping off main roads with multiple names - we spent a good 40 minutes in a taxi weaving down random roads and knocking on random doors until FINALLY we found it.
In hindsight, taking a screenshot of the directions or the contact number would have been helpful, alas these were the days before roaming was so easily available. At least the taxi ride wasn't expensive!
Riad Amlal, Marrakech
Riad Amlal, Marrakech
Mint tea in Jemaa el-Fnaa
1. Jemaa el-Fnaa Square
Jemaa el-Fnaa, Marrakech's main square was our first stop. Although there is a lot to see and do pretty much 24 hours a day, the area really comes alive at night and has a fantastic atmosphere. Here you can weave your way through market stalls, food stalls, snake-charmers, horses, musicians and restaurants serving an abundance of delicious mint tea and lamb tagine!
2. Souks
As a compulsive shopper, the souks were the main attraction for me - mazes of stalls selling row upon row of fabrics, spices, bags, soaps and of course, tagines.
There are a multitude of souks in the city - we wandered around a few different ones, gauging the prices before settling on a slightly smaller one in the medina to start haggling. One thing we did notice was that if the owners heard us speaking English, the prices wouldn't budge much. When we spoke in Welsh to each other, we managed to barter for significantly lower prices. I was pretty lucky that Llinos speaks French, and so we developed a system of speaking solely in Welsh to each other, and then Llinos would translate to French to speak to the stall holders.
I felt pretty chuffed to be coming away with three new bags, lots of spices I hadn't tasted before, solid perfume, and several lampshades. Sadly I couldn't fit a tagine in my backpack.
Souks, Marrakech
Souks, Marrakech
Souks, Marrakech
Henna in the main square
3. Hammam
No trip to Morocco is complete without visiting a hammam and after a long tiring day of shopping, we decided to try it out. There are lots of options - including ones specifically for tourists, specifically for locals, or some that are a bit of a mix. We chose a hammam that promised an 'Authentic Moroccan Experience' for both locals and tourists, we weren't really sure what that would entail but it sounded like a good balance.
Although I wouldn’t have said it was necessarily a ‘relaxing’ experience, it was an experience nonetheless. It firstly involved being shouted to remove my clothes and left naked (and awkwardly-facing my equally-naked friend) for what seemed like a hours.
Finally the woman returned and I was ushered through to a different room. Here I was scrubbed vigorously with a black exfoliating scrub until my skin was lobster red from head to toe (and I was wincing with pain). The experience finished off with buckets of lukewarm water thrown all over me, and then we were left again for about half an hour, carefully avoiding each-others gaze until the woman returned with our clothes.
We weren’t quite sure what to make of the whole experience, but two things I was sure of - my skin was baby soft and Moroccan women clearly have a higher pain-threshold than I do.
I think next time, I'll opt for the 'tourist-friendly experience'.
4. The Saadian Tombs
These were well worth a visit. Since the late 1500’s, this area has become home to beautiful mausoleums decorated with colourful patterns, carvings and Arabic scripture for over 60 members of the Saadi Dynasty. Incredibly these tombs had been forgotten over time - only rediscovered in 1917.
Beautiful geometric patterns
in the Saadian Tombs
Koutoubia Mosque
5. Koutoubia Mosque
The stunning minaret of Koutoubia mosque stands can be seen from Jemaa el-Fnaa square. The mosque itself is beautiful but we could only enjoy it from the outside as we weren't permitted to enter.
6. Ouzoud Waterfalls
A popular day trip from Marrakech is to visit a Berber village and the beautiful Ouzoud waterfalls. We chose a day trip that included a visit to a Berber house, copious amounts of mint tea, a camel ride, and a walk up to the waterfalls. If I were to do the day again, I would probably have just taken the walk up to the waterfalls. Although it was interesting to see the Berber house, it felt very much like a tourist gimmick. Groups of tourists on the exact same trip itinerary were shepherded through the house every 10 minutes.
The waterfall itself was pretty and was a nice escape from the bustle of the city.
Day trip to Ourika Valley and Ouzoud Waterfalls
Ouarzazate
Ouarzazate was the next stop and was where I was most looking forward to exploring.
It is a small city on the edge of the desert and was a lovely place to wander around.
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Kasbahs
These are incredible castles and fortresses built from mud and hay. Many have become crumbling ruins whilst others are standing strong. Kasbah Taourirt is the main kasbah in Ouarzazate itself and provided a beautiful backdrop for wandering around the narrow alleyways. Although incredible, pushing East we found Ait Benhaddou and Kasbah Amridil much more impressive.
Kasbah's around Ouarzazate
2. Day trip to see Skoura Oasis, Dades Valley, Todra Gorge, Tinghir, Ait Benhaddou and Kasbah Amridil.
We only had one more day in Ouarzazate and wanted to make the most of it, so we had planned a day trip to see kasbahs, the oasis of Skoura, the Dades Valley, the Todra Gorge, Tinghir and the through some rocky desert villages.
Arranging the trip was pretty easy as most taxi drivers offered this as a day tour.
Day trip from Ouarzazate
The city itself had a very relaxed vibe, however we did feel a little uneasy walking around during the evening despite modest dress thanks to the many offensive and inappropriate comments directed at us by young men.
Essaouira
Our final stop was Essaouira. We wanted a beach stop but were keen to avoid anywhere too busy and so chose this small surfing city, and I'm so glad we did.
Essaouira was hands-down my favourite place in Morocco, with its charming seafront, strong french influence and a distinct relaxed vibe.
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Harbour and Port
Here we found the iconic blue boats along the harbour with an abundance of fresh fish on sale.
Essaouria harbour, port and souks
2. The Medina and Ramparts
The medina felt so calm and peaceful compared to Marrakech, and prices were much lower too. It was a great place to shop in souks, sip mint tea and admire beautiful artwork in the many galleries and showrooms.
3. The Beach
The beach in Essaouira is clean and well-kept. It’s a great place to come in Summer as even though the rest of Morocco has scorching sunshine, Essaouria temperatures drop to mid 20 degrees celcius - perfect!
City ramparts
Souks, Essaouira
Essaouira beach
My best meal of the trip was here in Essaouira. The fish market had been recommended to us by a girl at our hostel, and so we decided to check it out.
At the harbour were a row of fishing boats - each day they anchor here at about midday and the fishermen sell a selection of their fish. You pick your fish and buy it. Gut it yourself or pay a nominal fee for the fisherman to do it. (No guesses which we picked!)4
To eat it, we walked down to the fish market itself - big blue market stalls with clusters of picnic benches and beaming locals ready to cook your fish at their grill. We paid 20 dirhams to have our fish grilled with spices, and plated up. You can also buy raw fish here if you don't have it from the harbour (however it's slightly pricier here and less fresh).
The meal was delicious - the meatiest fish I’ve ever tasted! The only downside was the fact that there was no cutlery available - it took a lot of strength (and hunger-filled determination) to break my lobster up with bare hands!
Fish market, Essaouira
Beware of hungry cats trying to steal your fish!