Morocco
Morocco is the country of 1001 nights. Ehm sorry, was. It was. It isn‘t. Altough it has lost a lot of its appeal over the years, it is still a fascinating place to travel.
“Surreal landscapes, ancient temples, mystic atmosphere.”
From the deserts in the south, mountains in the center, to lush green olive tree plantations in the north. Morocco's scenery will keep your mind busy. Since its golden days Morocco has changed a lot, today many parts of the country are overrun by tourists, but you can still find some authentic spots.
WHERE TO GO???
Fès
It‘s long standing history and the giant Medina where you can get lost for hours makes this a very special city. Just walking around there makes you feel teleport ed back in time. The picture above shows the leather tannery, which is the most iconic sight of Fes, the people around there are happy to explain you the process if you pretend to buy something off them. You can find here also the second biggest Bazaar of the country.
Despite the immense charm this city has, it was the first time ever i have felt unsafe in a place while traveling (and i have traveled for years). Some Arabs are very intrusive, they want to talk to you and or sell you something and even if you tell them they should leave you alone they sometimes won‘t stop and keep following you for half an hour. While this behavior is nothing new and i have experienced it in other places as well, here in Fes it makes you feel very unsafe when you are walking through the Medina and there is only one or two alleys to take. So you couldn‘t escape or run away even if you wanted to. The fact that there's often no one else around in the giant Medina doesn‘t help. Plus you have no idea where you are going to since its a maze, being led into an ambush.
Take note that it is raining here almost every day and pretty cold from November-April. As nice as it looks on the pictures.
Chefchaouen
If you got an Instagram account, you need to come here. There‘s no other place in Morocco where you can take as stunning photos as here. (Maybe it doesn‘t count for me since it was raining the whole two days while I was here). The city of blue, that‘s Chefchuan yes. It‘s a lot of fun walking around in the alleys and discovering -whoaaaa- yet another blue street. It looks amazing, no doubt on that.
The whole region is a giant Olive tree plantation. And they are probably the best olives i have ever tasted. So grab your camera, take some shots and fill your tummy with the greens.
There‘s not much else to do than stroll around and eat olives all day.One night is enough for Chefchaouen. Take also note here about the cold November-April months!
Ouarzazate
Ouarzazate is still one of the most authentic cities in Morocco, where you can also enjoy the comforts of western civilization. Situated at the other side of the mountains, Marrakesh and its hustle is far away. The stunning and swiftly changing landscape attracted over the years many movie directors.
A lot of movies have been shot in the region, such as Gladiator, Asterix&Obelix and Game of Thrones. You can either visit one of the studios in the city or look for abandoned coulisses in the desert. You can see some of them from the streets, the fortress with the catapult is on of the abandoned ones. It's almost completely made out of styrofoam. The exact location is here.
There are also several oasess nearby which are absolutely worth checking out. It will be difficult to get there with a normal car, the roads are mostly gravel so you'd need a four wheel drive. Here we are at the fint oasis.
In general i would recommend renting a car and driving through Morocco by yourself. Without you will miss so many awesome spots. The main streets are good in most parts new and in good condition, when you hit the side roads it can get very bumpy though. We rented our Jeep in Marrakesh from Medloc which we can only recommend and had no trouble with.
Don't forget to check out Aït-Ben-Haddou while in the area.
Merzouga
So you‘re driving through the desert, haven‘t seen a car pass by in hours, thinking, i really hope i don‘t get a flat tire out here. Suddenly you see some shady guy on the sidelines waving you down. What do you do?
Merzouga is far away, from everything. It‘s a six hour drive from Ourzazate, through nothingness. The streets are perfect to drive on, they are new and can go straight for hours. The emptiness of the desert is intriguing. Here and there giant boulders stretch towards the sky. And every 100 km or so the colors of the rocks are changing. Until you reach Merzouga. From far you can already see its huge mountains of sand emitting heat into the air. Dazzling.
Care for a camel ride?
Are you sure? OK. Well. Everyone must make their own experiences. It‘s a ride you won‘t do twice, at least not voluntarily. Wanna bet?
I mean, you have to try everything at least once, right? Right. But make sure to take the short 30 minute tours. They will try to sell you the 2 and 3 hours camel rides but behold! You will hate yourself afterwards. We took the 30 minute ride into the desert and stayed there in a camp overnight.
In history they were never used for riding, only for carrying goods. They are uncomfy and they are slow (slower than walking speed). When they walk up a dune its ok, but every dune goes back down, and that's the part where you hope your back doesn't break. Best case scenario, your ass will hurt like hell after the ride, worst case you leave with a slipped disc.
There's only one other thing than riding a camel you can do in Merzouga, and that's cruising with a quad over the dunes. This was the single most awesome thing to do in all of Morocco. You wouldn't believe how much fun it is speeding up and down these giant dunes. If there's one thing you need to do in Morocco, this is it!
Marrakesh
The infamous city of fables, where dreams are born and - dreams are crushed. Marrakesh, the capital of storytelling. Nothing needs to be true, it just needs to sound good!
Marrakesh is a bustling city where you can get lost in the never ending bazaars of the Medina. Anything you want and don't need, you can find it here, for a price you think has too many zeros. Always. Moroccans are brash when it comes to money, they will always try to rip you off. It's in their nature, they can't sleep at night if they didn't manage to screw someone during the day..
In the Medina you can find amazing displays of handicraft at every corner. That's probably one of the reasons why half of Hollywood owns a house here - literally. Almost the whole Medina belongs today to superstars, entrepreneurs and wannabes.
It is fun to explore the Medina and look through the Bazaar, no doubt on that. But fact is that it is overcrowded with tourists, and it has been for a long time, so prices are high and every step you take you are being molested. There's one great thing about Marrakesh though: It's fruit juice stands! Get a fresh juice all day for just a dollar, take a walk and factor out all sourroundings. What do you want more?!
Food
I‘ve spent 2 weeks in Morocco and have eaten in all kinds of places from cheap eats on the street to high end restaurants. Unfortunately i have to say that it was most of the time very disappointing. For a country that trades so many spices the food was simply flavourless. I am a big fan of couscous and eat and prepare it myself often, so i was looking forward to eating here in Morocco (the mother country of Couscous) some nice Couscous. You‘d think so haha. All the Couscous i got was ridicolously bad, one must not care one bit about how it will taste to prepare it like they did.
People
Moroccan people are leaving a very mixed impression. While i had some pleasant encounters, it was all over a much more negative experience. Here, I have met some of the rudest locals ever while traveling. Starting from the exorbitantly brazen attempts to rip one off, over physical harassment to little children screaming fuck you! fuck you! if you don't give them money (this happened several times). As blessed as the country is with its scenery in ancient history, a significant part of the experience while traveling will always be how the locals behave towards you. Unfortunately this makes Morocco much less appealing.
Sum up
While Morocco is a beautiful country to travel and has culturally a lot to offer the all over experience is more on the negative side. The Arab mentality is that they try to squeeze out every penny from you. For everything, from food, to tours and hotel prices. Despite being a major tourist destination, it is still a third world country and you can see it everywhere. Poverty is widespread, education is low and it's super dirty everywhere. ,Food is super expensive, hotels are super expensive, and if you are looking for some day activities, you really have to bargain hard to get a reasonable price.
There‘s only one reason to go to Morocco. It‘s stunning and surreal scenery. Not for the food, hell not for the people. Just the landscape and the ancient buildings.
Get a backpack for your trip here: Backpack
“Morocco is like a camel ride. You will try it one time - and never again.”