Experience Morocco in 5 Days, 5 Cities

I could almost smell the ginger, hear the muezzin.  Visions of crumbling medinas lured me off the Costa del Sol, onto a ferry, and into northern Africa!  I could not resist the pull to experience Morocco.

Here’s how I spent my 5 days:

Experience Morocco in Tangier:

The new King of 2 years has dazzling plans for a modern port, cleaner city, and high-speed train down to Marrakech.

Bab means "gate". Kasba was originally the most fortified part of the walled city,

For now, though, the history of this critical area was enough for me.  Tangier houses the oldest US Consulate in the entire world!  Back when we were just13 States, Morocco endorsed us (seems they didn’t so much like us, as hate the Brits, holders of Gibraltar across the Straits!) and today, you can experience Morocco’s International City as a cool mix of French schools, modern Spanish neighborhoods, and diplomatic buildings, all alongside turban-ed Arab men holding baskets of dancing cobras. 

Turns out many rockers and poets liked to experience Morocco here too – Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, even “Poor little rich girl”!

Matisse's Window in Tanger

In fact, one house so inspired Henri Matisse that he painted it into his Window in Tanger.                                                                              

I eventually landed at the bus station   To experience Morocco, fulbol-style, I sat amid 80-some local men, sipping steamy mint tea and cheering for Seville against Barcelona (not that “we” liked Seville but we loved Madrid – sound familiar?)  My fellow fans were both uproarious and gracious and before I knew it, the 1:15am bus arrived.

Experience Morocco:  Casablanca

The overnight bus predictably broke down but was promptly replaced, and by 8am, I was buzzing down Blvd El Mansour in a cab entroute to Hassan II Mosque, home of  the highest minaret in the world.

Built in only 6 years around 1990, its 25000 worshippers stay cool by an immense, intricately carved and filigreed, wooden ceiling that retracts to “air condition” the building.  The overlay of old craft and new technology wowed me.

Afterwards, I headed to a neighborhood hamman, where, as a Turkish gal once said, “they scrub parts of your body that you didn’t even know existed!”  3 hours and 360 dirhams (about $45) later, I had soaked up a seaweed wrap, full body massage, thorough exfoliation, and steam, not to mention the company of the 30 women from age 8 to 68 who shared the waters with me.  I was raw and refreshed!

I struck out on foot to check out La Doge, an art deco hotel with a charming rooftop “jardin” and a small piano bar, complete with fireplace, on the 2^nd floor.

And then continued on foot through the souk – past the fuel-tank-laden donkeys, the spice bins,  the piles of Direct TV dishes, the butcher’s table of goat heads – 





and straight up to Ricks Café!  

Not the movieset original, but just a perfectly clichéd way to experience Morocco!  The Moorish whitestone façade houses elaborate wooden furniture, a glass-backed bar with a scratched and properly faded Ricks golden emblazing…. Petite café stands were sequestered on palm-fringed balconettes and heavy green velvet drapes barely disguised the TV on which the black-n-white Casablanca film silently looped.  Order the house drink:  a Sour Jdid.

Nice detail to know:   Casablanca is typically the cheapest gateway city in Morocco.

Experience Morocco:   Fez

The evening train took me 2 hours north through Rabat, then east to Fez.  I had the pleasure of meeting an ancient Mum, traveling with her son in my coach.  She was so old her hands were complete-ly henna-ed, a custom now quite outdated except for young brides.  With sparkly, laughing eyes and a giggle, she invited me to her home to cook with her.   How I wish this experience Morocco  could’ve happened!

Fez fascinates. Its medina is a “bowl”, with terrace after terrace climbing the hillside, all in beige sandstone, turning peach at sunset.

It has the oldest Universtiy in the world and is the artisan capital of the country, featuring a vast tanning industry (imagine 100s of pools of water and lime, with men in shorts literally stomping the hides to softness, then tinting hides with colors, the saffron ones lying like mustard-covered bread slices on all the adjoining rooftops)

Ceramics,  and  even Metalworks.

I watched a man scrape a goatskin and make me a drum, and then, to experience Morocco cuisine, I took a tagine class to learn how to stew lamb (but for more details on life in Fez, tune in to the next Tales of the Trip.)

I find it fascinating that Fez operates on 2 distinct levels. ..

On one level, down in the souk, on the medina floor, it is pure chaos.  Picture Venice.  Add crowds of July.  Then add mules with gas tanks and many crippled people too.  Add exotics like tables of goat heads and homemade soap ( see below) and squawks of live chickens, waiting for slaughter ... all in a 6'wide passageway.... and you have Fez!  It is pandemonium.  It is so warm and lively and alive... and I love it! 

In contrast, rooftop life in Fez in etherial. Serene.  Peachy hues and muted chatter and clatter of souk seem far below (except when there’s a fight which is not infrequent) Rooftops dot the entire landscape -- small trees and flowering bushes,  ornate ironwork and many porticos hanging laundry in many hues, in some cases strung discordantly straight off a mosque's minaret.

An entire life happens up there, too.  Not just tourists and people dining out, but locals, cooking and chatting and watching their kids play.  There is no A/C in most houses, and not even running water in many!  So people take refuge, especially in evening, up on the rooftops.  

The contrast between the raging souk and the serene roof, all compressed into the “bowl”, is something profound. It's my favorite thing about Fez.                           

Experience Morocco in Chefchaouen

Only one bus per day goes up into the Rif mountains to this village of blue, and it was full.   So I hopped the Grand Taxi -  basically a shared ride system where you wait until 5 other locals want to go to the same place you do, and you all pile into an old, old Mercedes and head out!  For about $14, I got a 4-hour ride up to Chefchaouen and even got to switch taxis at midpoint, in a common lot full of dust, yelling, passengers, packs, and chaos, that miraculously landed me in the correct transfer taxi. Experience Morocco with locals?  YES!

Chef, as they call it, is sleepy… scenic…  Full of old customs, like common laundering in the waterfalls at the head of town,

Surrounded by the old Kasbah walls,

And every hue of blue…

Its lovely Andalusian architecture creates an intimate square for people-watching and, nearby, an ethnographic museum where you can experience Morocco’s culture of the surrounding Rif mountains.

If you want an eyeful of azure and some lazy days, this is the spot.

Experience Morocco in Cueta

Pronounced The-WAY-ta, this Spanish town on the northeast African coast is a fun stop (it has those rock-edged pools at the edge of the Sea) and an easy port to hop back over to Costa del Sol. 

Want some help planning YOUR adventure in Northern Morocco?
Give me a call today: (609)923 0304!