Category: Morocco

1 day + 4 countries + 2 continents

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We got up yesterday morning at 3.30am to leave Casablanca. The initial plan was to fly to Bologna, Italy and from there to Athens, Greece. „Pustekuchen“

A new thing we discovered earlier this trip was, that airlines don’t ship your luggage through to your final destination anymore unless both flight legs are booked with the same airline. That means: we booked our flight from Casablanca to Bologna with Royal Maroc Air and the flight from Bologna to Athens with Aegean Airlines. And because of that, we had to pick up our luggage in Bologna and check it in again. Which was impossible with a layover of 1h 15min, because we had to wait for the luggage more than 1h and by the time we could check in, it was too late!

Our options were

1: Book the same flight from B to A for the next day (rebooking fee $390 + hotelroom), or

2. Book an entire new flight from B to Frankfurt, Germany to A with Lufthansa ($730)

We chose the second option, we just wanted to be done with it, arrive at our friends house in Athens and give it a day! The good news: because both legs of that flight, B to F and F to A were with the same airline (Lufthansa), the suitcases were shipped through!

And we arrived at 11.50pm at our friend Peter‘s house in Athens, where a delicious Greek meal waited for us! 2 bottles of wine later, fed and happy, we fell asleep and had a really good night! Thank you, Peter!!!

And it didn’t end there, Peter also had a nice Greek breakfast buffet with dates, cheese, olives, and more cheese and lots of goodies…

Casablanca – again?

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We made it back again to Casablanca, leaving tomorrow morning at 4.30am to attend another country of our favorite list!

While driving from Essaouira northwards, we never had the feeling of getting lost. Street-signs everywhere, easy to read, kinda…

It’s pretty straight forward if your Arabic is decent, and if not, Berber is always a good second choice!

And then there are signs who do look familiar; the shape, the color…..

Sometimes it is the shape alone that gives it away:

And other times you feel like you are in America; wondering if they even know what a Black Friday is and when it is and why…..

Anyway, we did have a great time driving up the coast!

Having a nice dinner with Dave was the perfect last meal here in Morocco! Thank you Dave!!!

And a very big thank you to Abdul and Fouad, our driver and tour guide, who made this trip possible! Driving close to 3000 km, answering all our questions and managing to find a restroom every time Ted needed to pee – quite an accomplishment!

Essaouira – part 2

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We had a lot of fun today, exploring the Medina in Essaouira, eating good food, enjoying the beach, etc. After a late breakfast at our hotel, we strolled around and found a nice little market place with a cafe, where we sat down to drink some tea. We were the only people there! But all of a sudden we were spotted by a group of musicians who desperately wanted to play for (and charge) us, but we really enjoyed the quietness and didn’t want them to put a lot of effort into us. So I quickly told Ted: “Let’s talk in sign language, then they’ll go away!” So we did. Sign language-ing with each other literally made them turn around and march off and we had our quiet market place back to ourselves. I know, we are mean, but sometimes it is necessary to bend reality in order to get what you want, right? [BTW, neither of us knows sign language]

Our little quiet market place …
… where we had tea and almost listened to music 🥳

We saw a lot of animals today, mostly cats and penguins. Yes, correct, penguins!

And we discovered many blue doors, old blue doors, perfectly aged, old blue doors!

What we shouldn’t forget is the fortress here in Essaouira! It still has many canons lined up – very intimidating for anybody who had the glorious idea to take over this strategically perfect trade location!

Most canons were dated in the 18th century!

Btw, we are not that mean: when we had lunch at another, very busy marketplace, the musicians showed up again and played. This time we gave them a nice tip 🤩

Tizi n’Tichka (ⵜⵉⵣⵉ ⴻⵏ ⵜⵉⵛⴾⴰ)

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ⵜⵉⵣⵉ ⴻⵏ ⵜⵉⵛⴾⴰ, is Berber for the Tizi n’Tichka pass which is a mountain pass in Morocco linking the south-east of Marrakesh to the city of Ouarzazat through the High Atlas mountains. It lies above the Marrakesh plains, and is a gateway to the Sahara Desert. It reaches an elevation of 2,260 metres (7,415 ft) above sea level, and is the highest major mountain pass in North Africa. The road was constructed along the old caravan trail by the French military in 1936, and is now part of Morocco’s National Route 9.

The mountains were beautiful… lots of trees and much of the landscape reminded us of Sedona, Az and the Painted Desert.

Sedona (?)
Painted Desert (?)

Essaouira – part 1

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We are finally at the Atlantic again, in Essaouira to be precise. It was founded in the 7th century BCE by the Phoenicians, then the Romans took over and the Portuguese. Until then it was called Mogador and was an important location for trade. Today it is a lovely seaside town, preferred by surfers and artists and anyone who looks to escape the cold winter weather. So here we are!

We had a ~4 hour drive from Marrakech, stopped to see the Argan trees with the goats and an Argan production facility

At the Argan production facility we learned a lot about this unusual tree:

1. It only grows in the south of Morocco, nowhere else in the world

2. Goats love it!

3. There are 21 million Argan trees in Morocco

4. Argan trees are related to olive trees. They are also called Moroccan olive tree, iron tree or goat tree.

5. You have to peel the Argan nuts first, crack them, then there is a seed inside; looks like a small almond and has a bitter taste

6. Argan trees have their maximum production when they’re 60 years old!

7. Part of the seeds you use for cooking, you have to roast before you grind them. Gives a nutty flavor! Part of the seeds you use for beauty products you leave raw when grinding.

8. Left: Argan dipping oil. Bottom: orange blossom honey. Right: Argan honey. Top: Almond paste

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For the evening we signed up for a traditional Moroccan cooking class! Fortunately it was only one other person beside us, Justine, a lovely young woman from France, who took this class at Khadijah & Hussein’s house, 10 walking minutes outside the Medina in Essaouira. We prepared a Moroccan salad, Chicken with Couscous and a lamb tarjine. Moroccan mint tea, orange juice and a persimmon milk with pomegranate kept us hydrated and happy! Everything was so delicious, it’s hard to describe!

Chef Ted
Steamed couscous, fluffed and massaged
Justine measuring the rosewater for the couscous
Couscous steamed above the pot with chicken and vegetables
Lamb tarjine

Morocco – soccer

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Today at 11am Morocco came to an almost standstill: the national team played its first soccer match at this years world-cup in Qatar. Yesterday evening you could get your last minute fan accessories and today it got serious!

It was very quiet inside the souks, all the vendors were glued to whoever’s cellphone to watch this epic match and when it was over and they could manage a tie, the relief was like extra energy in the air!

Germany on the other hand started with a major embarrassment: they lost 2:1 against Japan! Japan!!! 🥴⚽️🥴

Marrakech – Majorelle Gardens and Jemaa El Fna

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Marrakech is pure energy, it is loud, fast, busy, sometimes smelly, and then there is the Majorelle Garden: peaceful, quiet, an oasis in the middle of the huzz and the buzz!

In 1923 the French artist Jacques Majorelle built a villa and a beautiful garden in Marrakech, the place he fell in love with when visiting the years before. After his death in 1962 the property fell in disrepair and was forgotten until 1980, when Yves Saint Lauren and Pierre Bergé bought the property and put a lot of TLC (tender loving care) in it. The garden was redesigned, the artist studios reconfigured and transformed into a museum. Majorelle had invented a very specific shade of blue for this property and it is still used today!

This icecream was made with rosewater and dates – a heavenly combination!

And our evening we spent at Jemaa El Fna, with a good dinner and a perfect view to this busy market

Marrakech – Saadiens Tombs, Palais El Badi, Palais de La Bahia, Koutoubia

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Back in Marrakech and this time with a local tour guide who showed us the top highlights of historic excellence in craftsmanship! The tombs were so beautiful, mosaics from Fes, stone carvings and cedar wood work – incredible!

Both Palaces we visited had similar exquisitely detailed artwork. Bahia Palace had also an interesting background: Bahia was one of the four wife’s of Si Moussa, the minister of Sultan Mohammed. But she was not only one of them, she was by far the most important one, the one who gave him his first son! Another 20+ concubines also lived at the palace and you start wondering when the minister had time to work?

“Stay healthy, wealthy and wise” is carved in stone (in Arabic of course)

Did I mention that the minister had a man cave as well? For those times he needed a break from all his wives and mistresses? One room of the man cave was to take naps, another one to sleep. So when exactly did he work?

After the palaces and the pomp we walked to Koutoubia, the highest tower in Marrakech. The mosque is the second approach after the first one turned out to be built not facing exactly east. So it was torn down and rebuilt, this time with a compass involved; It was the year 1147 and it should be the biggest mosques of the western world!

Ouarzazate – Atlas Studios and Ait Ben Haddou

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Atlas Film Studios is the largest film studio in the world. Covering more than 322,000 square feet of desert, Atlas Film is located just five miles outside of Ouarzazate on the road to Marrakech and is a popular tourist destination, in part because the grounds are littered with old movie sets that are decaying in the harsh environment.

Films made here
Pharaoh and his Queen?
A sweet angel!!

Ait Ben Haddou (a ksar not a kasbah) has been fortified since the 11th century during the Almoravid period. None of the current buildings are believed to date from before the 17th century, but they were likely built with the same construction methods and designs as had been used for centuries before. The site’s strategic importance was due to its location in the Ounila Valley along one of the main trans-Saharan trade routes. The Tichka pass, which was reached via this route, was one of the few routes across the Atlas Mountains, crossing between Marrakech and the Dra’a Valley on the edge of the Sahara.  Other kasbahs and ksour were located all along this route.

At the top of the hill, overlooking the ksar, are the remains of a large fortified granary… which as soon as Ted saw it …. had to hike up there!!

Kasbah
ruins of the Granary