Morocco in a nutshell

After crossing the “border” via ferry we arrived to MOROCCO!!! First stop- Rabat.

It was about a 4 or 5 hour drive from where we arrived so by the time we got there we were ready for some lunch. The lunch that day was one of my favorites because we ate Bastela (its meat/fruit/veggie stuffing wrapped with phyllo dough). They also like to sprinkle powdered sugar and cinnamon or honey on them. YUM.  Also during our stop we did a short tour of the city center. It was quite beautiful and surprisingly a LOT like southern Spain (which make complete sense since there is so much Arab influence in Andalucia, especially in the architecture).

Once we got back on the bus we were headed towards Fez. We didn’t spend really anytime there the first time around (just passing through to sleep) but we did on our way back. We did make a few stops during our long travels on the road. Feel free to check out those pics in my album: Morocco trip Now lets go ahead and skip to the desert…

We had another full day of driving before we arrived to the Sahara. Once we got there everyone in the group jumped into a 4x4 and headed out into the desert. There we met up with our camels :) That was an experience that none of us will forget. Just the whole process of getting on and you holding on for dear life when they stand up so you don’t fall off…well, it was a ton of fun.

Me and E were SUPER excited

FUN FACT: There are no camels in Africa. They are actually called Dromedaries. But since everyone knows them as camels we’ll just go with the flow…

One thing I should also mention there were about 80 of us…yes, 80. So that meant 80+ camels.
It was already dark when we arrived to the camels so we just had a short 30min ride to our tents. Now it’s hard for me to just say we stayed in tents because they were very nice w/ mattresses inside (not anything I’ve ever imagined when I think of a tent).

Once we arrived to the tents we were welcomed with tea and a drum circle which was followed by a homemade dinner. Then we stayed up for a while after eating to watch some more of the drumming while some people joined in to dance. I think there was even a magic show going on from one of our guides. Basically there was more going on than I even thought would be happening in the Sahara Desert.

The next morning was one of the MOST memorable experience of the whole trip. We got up at 5:30 to watch the sunrise. And not only did we watch it, we saw it from the top of a gigantic sand dune. Well I actually didn’t make it to the top until after the sunrise…have you ever tried to climb a sand dune??? It’s EXHAUSTING! But it was well worth it even to watch the sunrise from halfway up.

After climbing halfway up...we EXHAUSTED

I just can’t describe to you the feeling of being up there and the peace you get just watching something so beautiful. But soon enough we had to slide down and head to breakfast. And we went in style…on camels. It was actually quite a long camel ride (2 hrs) but it was a ton of fun. And girls that were in our camel riding group were also amazing (there were 5 of us total).

What we learned after riding on camels for two hours was that we needed to sit in very cushy chairs afterwards. So that’s what we did while we had a buffet of Moroccan meats, grains, fruits and veggies.
We were finally able to relax a bit for a few hours. We just hung out next to the pool before we headed to the sister hotel (where we were actually staying the night). We did make a short journey to a market selling the typical Moroccan items: rugs, ceramics, purses, clothes, jewelry etc. It was really cute but since they just had 80 Americans walk in the door, it made it a bit difficult to haggle.

That evening we went to our 5* hotel.

In the hotel lobby. Something looks different...

 There were a ton of activities going on such as another magic show, chilling out in the bar, drinking tea next to the pool…but me and E just crashed. We went up to the room to make a quick stop and never came back downstairs. After 4 days in a row of walking up at 5:30am (one of those days not going to bed until 5:30am) we were TIRED, to say the least. But that night of rest was well worth it as the next morning we had to be up by 7 and had a full day of bus riding ahead of us. This time back in the direction of Fez!

The whole day was pretty much dedicated to driving and that night we just hung out in the hotel but the next day was full of adventure…at least for a few hours.

It was our last day and so we just had to make a stop at the famous Medina (market). We had a WONDERFUL tour guide who showed us through the streets and took us to an ideal location to see where they dye the fabrics.

After our tour around the huge market we were set free to get whatever we desired. So me and E got our game faces on and set out for some spices. Once we found them we were a bit confused on what to buy and even how to buy but we figured it out with some help, haggled a bit, and walked away with our #1 item.

We walked around some more looking for some other items to bring back to the states but the things I liked were a bit pricey and they didn’t seem to like my haggling tactics (Oh, its 40euro? Let me give you 3...) since they kept walking away from me. I was, however, very content with the spices I bought and left a happy camper.

Before we even knew it our hour of shopping time was up and we had to head back to the bus. From there it was all driving, back to the ferry and then back to Sevilla.

When I got to my friend’s place I was READY to crash before we had more adventures the next day. I’ll let you know how the new adventures went in my next post.
*Hint: I arrived in Sevilla…during the Holy week.