Two Towns

Tangier, The Blue and White City

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     We spent our first two weeks in Tangier, a port city adjacent to the Strait of Gibraltar, in our hotel. Our first impression centered on how this city catered to a large audience. In Morocco, menus were available in both French and Arabic, as the national languages; however, many also included Spanish and English for the large tourist population. The temperature was fantastic, in the 70s with a cool breeze and no clouds the entire two weeks.

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     We remembered what’s called the ‘Old Medina’ the most, as it’s the oldest part of the city, with a variety of shops and history along the way. It is a maze of dead ends and narrow walkways through which anyone could get lost. As it was only a twenty-minute walk from our hotel, we visited multiple times a week, whether that be for the views, the bread (which tasted fantastic), or souvenir shopping (which I somehow forgot to purchase anything in this city). One night, we even wandered through it to enjoy the beach on a late Saturday night, where we saw hundreds of people relaxing with friends and families. Everyone ate crepes from food trucks, and some kids kicked soccer balls with each other, with everyone we saw having a blast.

     Our second most memorable experience was when all the guys went to their male bathhouse, called a traditional hammam. A local who worked at our hotel, Mummhahd, helped us understand the proper customs. For it, we had to wear our swimsuits, and were washed by older men with a special black soap to cleanse our skin in an extremely humid room. I can confidently say that this experience bonded all of us guys to each other and gave us a greater appreciation of the cultural community gathering settings.

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Marrakesh, The Red City

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     After the two weeks were up, we took a high-speed train to Casablanca, where we boarded a slower train to Marrakesh. As someone who loves taking trains and looking out the window, neither of these disappointed me. As we arrived in Marrakesh and stepped outside, the temperature, while only thirty degrees hotter, felt like Gainesville if humidity was a myth. 

 

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     For Marrakesh, we stayed two weeks in another hotel, this time much further from the downtown, leading to multiple memories of trying to catch a taxi and letting them leave because the ‘tourist tax’ was five times as much as using the counter within the taxi! In this city, the temperature was often over 100 degrees, so afternoons were meant for relaxing or homework.

This city is known for its souks, open-air markets, with thousands of shops to visit, from leather making to hand-crafted rugs to jewelry. We visited in the morning, afternoon, and evening across the two weeks, each with a starkly different vibe. The morning was relaxed, with most shops closed and mostly locals shopping for food. In the afternoon, the square started filling up, but the oppressive heat kept everyone in the shade. At night, however, it truly came alive. There was music flowing everywhere, all the shops were open and lit up, calling to tourists, and the street food looked good everywhere. This was the best time to do shopping, which required haggling ( I even walked out of a store to get a better price on a keffiyeh) and was difficult at first, but practice makes perfect, so I kept at it until I felt comfortable.

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     With a few extra free days in this city, a group of us chose to take two day trips. The first was to the Ouzoud waterfalls, the second-tallest waterfall in Africa. Our group booked a tour online, took a three-hour taxi there and back, but we had a blast, as the view was overwhelmingly pretty. A few of us even jumped into the refreshing water! The second was to the Agafay desert, a barren rock desert. There, we rode ATVs and camels, which we all enjoyed, with a fantastic fire show and dinner to cap off our trip. 

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Two Trips

Chefchaouen (The Blue City)

 

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     Each Friday, we took a trip to a new city as part of our program. For our first Friday, we went to the blue city called Chefchaouen. This was my favorite city, as the whole city was painted blue, and I saw at least fifty cats around. We took a guided tour around the city, and everything was beautiful. There was a river flowing through the town, with two huge mountains in the background. As we only had one day, we enjoyed the city, but I wanted to do a hiking trail nearby, and we just sadly ran out of time. We also tried to try goat cheese, a famous local product, but they sadly ran out by the time we arrived.

Atlas Mountains 

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     For our third Friday, we took a trip to the Ourika Valley, located next to an Amazigh village. For this trip, we spent about two hours hiking to see a waterfall and took a picture a few minutes from the top of the ridge. If you can’t tell, I love nature, and this trip was a nice break from our days in Marrakesh. I will say, parts of the hiking were slippery with no hand railing, but I enjoyed it just as much as our lunch along the river afterward. While in the village, we talked about the Amazigh, natives of Morocco, and how their culture differs from other Moroccans.

Two Tips

Tip #1: Bring Cash to Exchange 

     ATM withdrawals suck for two reasons; you don’t get a great exchange and you pay a fee. As I had never been abroad before, I didn’t think I would need to withdraw a ton of cash. I was dead wrong. I went to the ATM over ten times during my trip, as I never wanted to withdraw a ton, but all my souvenir shopping required cash. What I would advise anyone to do is bring cash, as there were plenty of exchange places, but none took cards, and the cash exchanges were often better than ATM ones, as I wasn’t a member of them.

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Tip #2: Plan your activities in your free time

     One of the things I loved was the side trips I took on my free time. I visited another seaside town one Sunday, took a trip to Spain after the trip, and we did the ATVs as a group. You will think you have a ton of free time when checking the schedule, but in the final week, I still had so much I wanted to do. This led me to make sure every free day of the last week I had something planned, and I don’t regret any of it, even if the drives were long and I was tired at the end.

Conclusion

     For my first time traveling abroad, spending a month in Morocco was an unforgettable experience. I had to embrace being uncomfortable, as my nonexistent French and one year of Arabic felt very limited in talking with the locals. With that said, I definitely want to go back to visit multiple new cities (like Fez) and spend more time at the places I know, and I hope you learned a little bit about Morocco.