This is many days late because we have not had good enough Wi-Fi to upload all the photos. Enjoy!!
We arrived in Tangier Med (about 45 minutes outside of Tangier) on the rainiest day of the year. Seriously, we were soaked! Then we went to the wrong hotel, but our driver was nice enough to wait for us to take us to the right one. It all worked out but we didn’t ever imagine we’d be so cold in Morocco. The weather has been weird all over the world is this shouldn’t be much of a surprise!
Our first stop was Chefchaouen. It’s called the blue city for a good reason- it’s blue. So so beautiful.
Thankfully, it was sunny the next day and we had an amazing local tour guide who was 76 years old and kicked our asses walking up the hill. Nope, we did not get a picture with him. Forgot. But, if you can imagine a wise old man, well, that is him.
Chefchaouen was founded in 1471 by Berber tribes to fight the Portuguese from Ceuta. Both Muslim and Jewish refugees from Spain grew the town and you can see much Andalucían influence around town. We learned that there are no longer Jewish families in Chefchaouen. The last Jewish family left in the 70’s. But, before then, they all lived happily together. We also learned that Sufi mosques do not have minarets. Many Muslims came from Spain to Chefchaouen, too, and there is even a “Spanish” mosque. But our tour guide said no one goes there because there is no bathroom or water. Haha.
Oh, do you know the difference between a donkey and a mule? I knew they were different but never thought about why. City girl here. A mule is when you breed a male donkey to a female horse and it is sterile. Ah-ha.
We stayed at the Riad Assilah inside the Médina. The Médina was crazy. Don’t really know how you don’t get lost. But, I remember alleyways like this in Korea. I guess you figure it out when you live there. Everyone was so friendly and so accommodating. We did see a couple of kids begging but nothing compared to other places. We wondered around for about 2 hours getting a history lesson at every turn. Of course, it was all so much that my brain hurt. But, so so fascinating.
We drove to Fez the next day.
On the way to Fez we visited a Roman ruin -Volubilis. Those darn Romans were everywhere. As the kids said: “another Roman ruin?!”
We heard a lot of stories about how dangerous Fez is but we felt pretty secure. It was a Friday and a lot of families and shopkeepers take Fridays off as it’s family day. They may visit the cemetery or just hang out with family. So, it wasn’t as crowded as it could have been. We had another awesome tour guide here. And, again, we forgot a picture. We visited the obligatory co-ops for rugs, leather, and weavers. We did not buy a rug, though Justin really wanted to 😂. He’s very first world and doesn’t understand you should never show interest unless you are really going to buy something. He kept saying “I really like that one” so they kept bringing out others that were like that one. I had no interest in spending $2,000 on a rug even if it was a “good deal.” But I bought a leather jacket, a leather purse, and we all bought scarves to prepare for our trip to the Sahara. Oh, the ceramic factory. How could I forget that! We had no idea so much work went into this stuff. I bought a couple of things but I think I broke them already. The bag fell out of our car. I haven’t opened it. Nothing I can do so we will just leave it until I get back to Spain.
Justin learned that not everyone in Fez wears a fez hat. There are over 9000 alleyways that all lead to one fountain. Fez was the capitol of Morocco before Rabat. 7 is a lucky number in Islam. Oh, there are no depictions of animals or people in Islam. So much more!! Makes me want to learn more about Islam.
We stayed at Riad Skalli in Fez. The breakfast was insane. How does anyone eat all of this ?!
Day 3 brought us to Meknès, another imperial city. Meknès is a smaller city and we just wondered around a little on our own.
Riad Safir was so cute and, again, breakfast was crazy good.
Today, we arrived in Midelt, gateway to the Sahara. On the way, we saw snow so the kids got out to play around a bit. We also got a peek of the mid-Atlas and even saw some monkeys!
We are staying at a very blah hotel here. The dinner was a buffet of tagines – yummy. We had a tour of Germans for company, though. Seeing fewer Chinese as we reach the desert. 😂
We are off to the desert and a camel ride to our camp. Don’t know when I’ll have good internet so will check in when I can!
Higman Travels 