This past weekend I had the amazing experience of traveling to Morocco with a group from Madrid. I decided to this trip in a large group for safety and convenience sake and that was a good choice! Morocco turned out to be one of my favorite places I have ever visited. From Madrid, we drove overnight on a bus to a ferry in the south and crossed over the Strait of Gibraltar to Tangier, Morocco. It was an extremely long travel day of over 9 hours, but it was worth it! From the moment we stopped off the boat, the fact that we were now in Africa was obvious and an extremely exciting feeling, mostly because of the sunny weather and the Arabic writing. In Tangier we were greeted by our local guide Yusef, who showed us around the cities of Tangier and Chefchauen.
Tangier felt very much like the large city with bustling streets, cobblestone market streets and obvious Islamic influence (with mosques every few blocks). This was my first time in an Islamic country and I was astounded by how different it felt from anywhere else I have been. The way people dressed was different, we heard prayer chants from loud speakers in the mosques and were surrounded by the Arabic language. One thing that surprised me was that everywhere we went everyone was staring at our group, especially the females. We found that there were very few women on streets and men were obviously the dominant sex here. I have never been approached and stared at more by strange men than in Tangier, where men lacked any kind of restraint and said whatever they wanted. This was probably the most shocking part of the trip, because in other places and at home I have never felt more demure and overpowered. Luckily, the large size of our group kept this to a minimum but it was still evident. I never would have traveled to Morocco alone but I am so glad I found this group trip!
In Tangier we headed straight for the beach where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean, with amazing warm and clear weather. On the beach we were all able to ride camels which was a very unique experience. I was honestly terrified at first, but really enjoyed myself and laughed harder than I have in a long time during the ride. The most memorable moment from this was when one girl in our group was (stupidly) trying to take a selfie with one of the camels and it then bit her hair. I have never seen anyone move as fast as this girl after the camel went after her hair. While terrifying for her, it was a great laugh for the rest of us. Later we had a tour in a spice and oil shop where the holistic “wonders” of Moroccan Argan oils and spices were explained to us (apparently it does everything, which we were all a little suspicious of). That night we had a delicious traditional meal with Moroccan soup, bread, chicken cous cous, kebabs and mint tea. Let me tell you right now that MOROCCAN MINT TEA IS THE BEST DRINK ON EARTH!!! It was so fresh and sweet, and lucky for us served at every meal!
However, my highlight was our time in Chefchauen, which is a small mountain village famous for being the blue city. I imagined a few walls painted blue, but was surprised to find that literally every building in this city was blue. We spent hours wandering through the small streets with local vendors selling scarves, food and other goods. Because the city is built into the side of a mountain, the streets are very narrow and steep with only room for pedestrians and the occasional motorcycle. I was mesmerized by how beautiful all the different shades of blue on the traditional Moroccan houses worked together. Because of how gorgeous it was, a large chunk of our time was spent taking pictures but it was so worth it. I honestly do not think that I will ever see a city as beautiful as Chefchauen in my life.
The geography and design of the city often seemed surreal, but these moments were cut short when the residents would come out of their blue homes and be surprised at the mob of tourist taking pictures of their door. Another interesting was that stray cats were EVERYWHERE in the city, but no dogs at all. The cats have apparently become part of the famous sites of the city, which was really cool! Outside of wandering through the blue streets, our time was spent eating the most delicious cookies, pastries and breads. My favorite was msemen; a square crepe like food that was drizzled in honey and could be found on every corner! I recommend this city to anyone who loves small town charm with a beautiful setting of blue, blue and some more blue!
Curly Q Travels 