Morocco

I had heard varying things about Marrakesh from friends and clients who had been there before. People either hated it or loved it. Those that hated it commented that it was touristy, and they felt harassed by souk owners to buy things, also that the medina is overwhelming, loud and exhausting. Those that loved it, stated that it’s an experience in and of itself, that it shows the diversity of Morocco and has spots of hidden beauty. I found both perspectives to be accurate. I really didn’t do any shopping in Marrakesh because I was saving that for Essaouira, which I had heard was laid-back and had souks with set prices. So I didn’t encounter many souk owners and didn’t have the opportunity to feel harassed. 

In Marrakesh, Ian and I spent most of our time in the medina, being lost, which was great. We stumbled upon a couple of great restaurants, explored Bahia Palace and walked and walked and walked. We did a lot of watching and we escaped back to our riad several times a day to rest and recharge. Hot mint tea was always awaiting in our riad. 

The main square (Jemaa el-Fnaa) would come ALIVE with people at about 6 PM each day. From about 6-9 PM, the square was full of locals walking about, buying goods sold on the streets and listening to live music. Every time we would stop for a minute to look at something, listen to music, etc., we were immediately ushered to the center of the event and then asked for huge amounts of money. That got old really quickly, and it made it so that we couldn’t every really enjoy ourselves in Marrakesh.  

On the last morning of our trip, we went to check out the snake charmers in Jemaa el-Fnaa Square. We got three quick photos and were asked for money, which we expected. For two minutes of interaction, I gave the snake handler $5. He acted outraged and demanded more. We walked away. I realized it was an act on his part, in order to make more money and I didn’t begrudge him the right to try to make a better wage for his work. But the downside of this is that is colored my memory and perception. Instead of having a positive memory of the experience, I had a slightly negative memory. And that was my perception of Marrakesh overall, and to some degree, of Morocco overall. This happened over and over again, so that almost every interaction we had with Moroccans was the same version of this. We had some reprieve wile trekking in the mountains, but the rest of the trip was highlighted by this tension. 

 

Easily the highlight of our trip, Essaouira has just the right amount of tourism without losing its soul or its cool. Located about a two hour drive west of Marrakesh, Essaouira is a beach town with a slight surf vibe. It's famous for being the town of Astapor in Game of Thrones and you can see why from the ancient ramparts and gorgeous coastline. It’s an intriguing meld of traditional Muslim culture, surfer influence, literature, rock n’ roll (Jimi Hendrix spent time here) and Game of Thrones enthusiasts. Somehow, it all works together. 

Essaouira is beyond charming. It’s quite small – the medina only takes about 15 minutes to walk across. So that feeling of being hopelessly lost occurs, but is never scary because you know you’ll end up on a familiar street in three to four blocks. 

Essaouira is home to fantastic restaurants, an abundance of Argan Oil products (being the home to the Argan tree), an entertaining fish market and a long stretch of white sand beaches. It’s a great place to wander aimlessly for a day or two, browsing the souks and enjoying mint tea at a café on the beach. It’s also the best place we found to purchase rugs. 

Everything seemed more relaxed in Essaouira, especially after the frenetic energy we encountered in Marrakesh. Had we had more time, we would have taken some surf lessons and explored outside the medina walls a bit more. We had only two great nights here, so we spent most of our time wandering the meandering alleys of the medina, stuffing our faces with seafood in every well-reviewed restaurant on TripAdvisor and buying more trinkets and Christmas presents than we had space for in our suitcases.

I would highly recommend Essaouira to anyone who wants to get slightly off the beaten track in Morocco for a few days. 

 

When Ian and I travel, we tend to find ourselves trekking for at least a few days out of it, if not the entire time. We both love backpacking and get to do it frequently since we live in Montana. I have always been intrigued by the Atlas Mountains. The idea of having mountains in Africa high enough to ski on floors me. Unfortunately, we couldn’t make the entire itinerary a trekking trip, but we were able to devote three days to it. 

We worked with Aztat Treks for this part of the trip. Mohammed Aztat is one of the most famous trekking guides in the Atlas and now runs a well-known trekking outfitter. Our guide, Hossain, picked us up at our hotel in Marrakech for the short drive to start the trek. We started our hike climbing a gentle grade out of the valley to crest a small pass where we stopped for lunch. Our muleteer/cook prepared a lunch that was so fresh and delicious, it was hard to believe it was packed on the back of an animal. If this was what was in store for food for the next three days, we were excited and ready! 

We made our way to the village gite for the evening. A gite is a traditional Berber-style mud-brick building. Berber families in the Atlas Mountains often have two to three rooms in their gite (house) that they don’t use, so they rent them to trekking outfitters to use. It’s halfway between a guest house and a homestay experience.

The next day, we hiked up a beautiful valley and stayed in a village at the base of a massive mountain, covered in snow. A brand new road was being built up the middle of this valley, which will likely ruin any future hiking experiences there, but give the local communities much better access. 

On our final day, we hiked in the pouring rain all day to the top of what I suspect is a beautiful mountain pass and down into Imlil. It was also Ian’s 45th birthday. I was a bit sad that our views were completely obstructed and that I was soaked with rain, but grateful to spend a night in a nicer guesthouse in Imlil. 

I’ll be back for the Atlas Mountains someday. Next time, we will be there to ski or do one of the longer 6-12 days treks. A great little taste to whet my appetite!

The Sahara Desert plays a major role in Morocco. When people think of the Sahara, they think of vast orange sand dunes as far as the eye can see. The reality in Morocco is that there are only a few smaller seas of sand dunes, Erg Chebbi and Erg Chigaga that are found within the greater desert area, which is semi-arid. Technically, the dunes aren’t even part of the Sahara Proper. They are apart of the pre-Saharan Steppe. These dunes are surrounded by hundreds of miles of black rock desert in all directions. While driving through the desert, our guide educated us on the landscape and how it used to be a savannah, similar to what is found in East Africa. It was hard to imagine this hostile black landscape as once teeming with large mammals. 

The sand dunes at Erg Chebbi are beautiful! They rise up from the flat expanse, shining in the sun. I imagine finding this place 30 years ago, before Morocco became a country rich in tourists. Before the hundreds of hotels, ATV’s and camel trek operators. It’s still stunning and a worthwhile experience, but could use a little regulation. 

We did a sunset camel ride across the dunes for two hours until reaching our camp. As we crested the top of the dunes, we could see the other side where our camp was. Stretching as far as the eye could see were identical camps from one end of the horizon to the other. There must have been at least 100 camps, each with 10-16 tents. It wasn’t exactly the remote, secluded experience we were expecting. The stars were almost entirely obscured by the sand pollution caused by motorized vehicles tearing up the dunes. Generators ran all night long, providing electricity to the camps. 

Perhaps there are part of Erg Chebbi where travelers can pay a pretty penny to avoid the overcrowding, but they won’t be able to escape the sand pollution. It clouded the sky all the way back to Marrakesh. That’s the inside scoop you won’t find on most travel blogs. 

 

I’ve touched on Souks a bit in other posts, but wanted to address shopping in a separate post as it’s often an integral part of the travel experience in Morocco. Souks are small stalls within medinas that sell any number of items. Morocco is famous for rugs, lamps, silver jewelry, leather goods, slippers, argan oil, perfumes, olives, spices, colorful tagine pots, tea sets, scarves and henna tattoos. 

Souk owners run the gamut, but tend towards wanting to pushily make the sale at all costs. I found that just entering a souk was game-on for getting sold something I wasn’t sure I wanted. Same goes for just strolling by a souk. The American art of “just browsing” or casually window shopping without buying didn’t go over well in Marrakesh. It was definitely more well-received in the more laid-back beach town of Essaouira.  There, I could tell the souk owner I was just browsing and they would generally leave me alone. 

Once I asked the price of something, it was game-on. The souk owner expected us to eventually come to an agreement on me buying it. I used to be an excellent haggler when I lived in Guatemala, but it has been many years and I have lost my joy for it. Haggling is an official part of the buying experience in Morocco. It’s hard when you don’t speak French, Arabic or Berber to be fluid with those negotiations. Eventually, I realized there were a few souks in Essaouira with posted prices for their goods and I ended up buying almost exclusively from them. I found exactly what I wanted, the souk owners weren’t pushy at all and I walked out with twice the number of goods I would have otherwise. 

I would say that I failed at the art of haggling in Morocco, but that I enjoyed the laid-back experience of shopping in Essaouira. The surf vibe of Essaouira really lends itself to browsing souks slowly. I could easily spend another few days there, recovering from the hectic nature of Marrakesh. 
 

One part of the trip I was especially excited for was to ride a camel through the red dunes of the Sahara Desert. There are a few sand dunes in Morocco – we chose Erg Chebbi near Merzouga. It’s a long 10 hour drive from Marrakesh through the Sahara. I wouldn’t suggest adding the dunes to your itinerary unless you really want to ride a camel through the desert or you have 3+ weeks to travel and can spare four to five days to explore the Sahara.   

One thing that surprised me about this experience is that we weren’t riding the camels independently. Strings of four to seven camels are roped together in a line, led by a gentleman walking through the sand. I have always heard that camels can be unruly, spitting and angry. Fortunately, my camel was well mannered, even sweet. In order to get on a camel, you mount them while they are resting on the ground. Then, they stand up with you on their backs.  It must take an incredible amount of strength to do this. From the rider’s perspective, it’s bizarre to be slowly thrown first backward, the forward as the camel stands up on its front then back legs. 

The actual riding is a bit harder than riding a horse. Camels don’t have the smoothest gaits or flattest backs! Uphill is fine, but downhill is uncomfortable with the camel sliding through the sand. I would say that it was a more pleasant experience than I had expected, but not one that I would want to do for any length of time. We spent about two hours riding through the desert at sunset, which was spectacular. The only detractor from our experience was the large amount of unregulated use of the dunes. There were a huge number of camel outfitters and motorized vehicles. It definitely is not the serene experience touted in the literature. Get ready for a few thousand twenty-somethings on dune buggies and ATVs. Fortunately, the engine noise didn’t seem to bother our serene dromedaries. 

 

 

Medinas in Morocco vary from city to city, but share a few of the same characteristics. Chiefly, they are the oldest parts of the city encircled by stone walls. Built prior to colonization, they feature narrow winding streets great at getting tourists hopelessly lost. During the day, their streets are primarily wandered by tourists. Come 6 o’clock, the medina streets are packed with locals buying food for dinner, going out to be seen or meeting with friends.

Every medina has its own vibe. The medina of Marrakesh is famous for the Jama El f’na Market – a large open square where vendors hawk their wares. It’s also famous for being overwhelming. The first few hours in Marrakesh, we definitely felt this. We were immediately lost in the labyrinthine alleys with souk owners calling for us to just come in to see what they offered. We quickly learned a few skills for surviving the medina:

Don’t enter a souk (market stall) unless you intend to buy something. Browsing without buying isn’t done easily in Morocco. Get ready to buy something and get ready to haggle on price.  It’s just how things are done here.

You will get lost in the medina. To find your way around, keep walking and you’ll eventually get somewhere you recognize. To get somewhere faster, load Google Maps on your phone before you leave your riad and follow that. If you are lost and have no hope left, get ready to lose a good amount of money in the interim, allow one of the many people asking, to guide you out of this mess. But, when you offer them a dollar or two for their services, they are going to ask for ten dollars. Stand firm: we all know ten dollars is too much to pay for 30 seconds of walking someone to Jama El f’na square (guess who made THAT mistake!?)

You’re probably NOT going to get hit by the motorcycles zipping by six or seven inches from you. Walk with purpose and do not change direction unexpectedly. Moroccans are masters of riding their motorcycles as fast and precise as humanly imaginable. The secret reason why no one drinks alcohol – it would be destruction in the medina streets.

Relax and enjoy it! It’s supposed to be loud and smelly and wonderful and exciting and overwhelming. 

One of the greatest surprises of our trip was our affinity for the cuisine of Morocco. Upon arrival, we had dinner at our riad in Marrakesh and were floored by the flavors we encountered.  Morocco is probably best known for its tagine. Tagine technically is a ceramic dish used to slow cook a stew over open fire (historically). While the two-piece ceramic cookware is still used today, the open fire has mostly been replaced with electric or gas ovens. 

What makes tagine so delectable is the super tender meat and/or veggies, slow cooked for hours at low temperatures as well as a spice blend that can include turmeric, cumin, coriander, cloves, paprika, cinnamon, cardamom and saffron. It’s a simple but very satisfying dish that comes in many iterations – lamb, kefta (meatballs), chicken, beef – even camel and goat.  Tagine is on EVERY menu in Morocco. In fact, a menu will normally include 3-4 different types of tagine, a couscous dish and kebabs. 

What isn’t on many menus in Morocco? Alcohol. Especially in restaurants inside the medina, beer and wine are hard to come by. That’s because the medinas are the more culturally conservative parts of the cities. Outside the medina walls, you’ll find more restaurants serving beer and wine. We had good luck being served wine with dinner at our riads, but it was understood that this was a bit hush-hush. 

What I found particularly interesting is that Morocco produces some excellent wines. I would have loved to taste more of them, but they are hard to find without expressly seeking them out. The ones we were lucky enough to encounter were fantastic. I have dreams now of leading wine tours in Morocco or starting a business to import Moroccan wines to the US. A relatively untapped market, in my mind. 

 

Before we left on our trip, one of my travelers told me that Morocco was easily the most photogenic place he had ever been. In fact, about two weeks before we left, I heard this multiple times from multiple people. The weird thing is that when we got there, I didn’t feel that way at all. I was expecting everything to be pristine and beautiful and that is NOT Morocco. Perhaps it is the curse of the Instagram influencer that every photo you see of Morocco online looks perfect. The baseline colors of Morocco are a dusty, muted red and tan. Parts of Morocco are gritty. It is the splashes of color that make Morocco so photogenic. Stained glass windows in the medina of Marrakesh, doors painted a shocking blue in Essaouira, a woman wearing a bright green abaya while exploring the docks with her husband, the exquisite tilework, the color of the Sahara sands at sunset --- these are the things that popped out in photos. 

Some of these things I didn’t realize were so vibrant until I looked back at my photos that night. At first, I judged myself for not fully seeing the beauty at the time the photo was taken. After a few days, I realized this was likely because the medinas are so overwhelming with people, donkeys and mopeds flying by at breakneck speed. There were moments where I saw something intriguing, got a super fast shot off on my iPhone and moved on before getting run over or heckled by a souk owner. 

There is a bit of combat photography occurring in these instances. It’s all very exciting, but I did crave more quiet moments to be with the beauty and absorb it. I did find those opportunities, mostly when allowing myself to get lost in the medina streets and finding a dead end. Those streets were devoid of Instagram influencers and pushy souk owners selling their wares. On those dead ends, you might find just an old woman standing in front of an ancient, weathered blue door. Those are the moments to smile and say hello and not take the photo. 

When I first started planning our trip to Morocco, naturally I began with accommodations. I LOVE a good four or five star boutique hotel and utilize TripAdvisor heavily when researching new destinations for Adventure Life. Sure, reviews tend to trend either super positive or super negative, but if you see a bunch of negative reviews, so you bet that something is amiss.
One of the first things I noticed about the hotel options in Morocco is a word that I had never come across when planning previous adventures. This word was “riad." I noticed that about half of every well-reviewed hotel in Morocco was not a “hotel” but a “riad”. I honestly thought the only difference was that a riad had fewer rooms and more of a boutique feel than a larger hotel. That is about 50% correct. A riad is actually a guest house that is typically located within the walls of the medina (old-city). 

When staying at a well-run riad, you definitely feel like you are part of a family. After a few nights, you know all of the staff by first name. We came back to the same riad in Marrakech four separate times, as it was the base for several different trip segments. Because of the intimate atmosphere of the riads we stayed in, Morocco didn’t seem so overwhelming. We knew that we had a peaceful, quiet place to retreat to when we had enough of the bustling medinas. Our hosts were always there with mint tea to refresh us and advice on everything from restaurant reservations, hammans and shopping. Without the staff at the riads, we would have felt like strangers in a strange country. Instead, we just felt like bumbling tourists in a vast, complicated maze of medina alleys. A shout out to Riad Andallaspa in Marrakesh and Riad Chabanate in Essaouira. If you go, check them out!