This was our first trip to Morocco, and since we only had a week, we decided to focus our time around the Marrakesh region. The places we saw were truly beautiful and the culture is so fascinating - we definitely want to return to see more of the country. We were there at the end of Ramadan, which is their month for fasting. It did not hinder our schedule as most things were open but we did feel guilty eating in front of the locals!
Our flight took us from Raleigh to Madrid, where we had a long layover before catching a direct flight to Marrakesh. On the return fight, we flew back through Madrid, this time spending one night before we returned to the States.
Accommodation:
Marrakesh - Riad Saba. A Riad is a traditional Moroccan house or palace with an interior garden. The word riad comes from the Arabian term for garden. The owners of this place are a Swedish/Moroccan couple who renovated the place themselves. It is inside the Medina, located a few streets over from the main square - only a 5 minute walk to the center of things but far enough away there is no noise. It is nicely appointed and comfortable. The owners are very helpful and they serve a filling breakfast on the rooftop terrace.
Kasbah du Toubkal
Imlil - Kasbah du Toubkal - it is listed as one of the top eco-lodges in the world. The location is spectacular, perched on a cliff over looking the town of Imil, with views of the surrounding mountains.
Asni - Kasbah Tamadot - This was the highlight accommodation of the trip - a Richard Branson/Virgin resort in the Atlas Mountains. Stunning. The architecture and decorations are really cool, the service is top notch, the pool is quite nice and the food is superb. Every evening, they changed the location of where dinner was served - either in the restaurant, outside by the pool or outside on the roof terrace.
Kasbah Tamadot
Madrid - Petit Palace San Bernardo - this was a functional hotel - nothing fancy. The only drawback is that it was really hard to find - we walked in circles for 20 minutes before we figured out where it was.
Activities:
We used our day in Madrid to get to know the city. Shawna navigated us through a couple of walking tours of the city where we saw several churches (you can imagine that there are many in Madrid), palaces, courtyards and government buildings. After several hours of walking, we then headed back to the airport for the flight to Marrakesh.
Spices in the Medina
Our time in Marrakesh was mostly spent walking around the city, checking out the Djamaa El-Fna (town square) and the medina (a maze of small alleyways with shops packed one after another selling everything imaginable). With no map in hand we tried to navigate our way through the thousands of stalls of the medina. With so many tourists walking through, we never really got hounded. We avoided buying trinkets, and instead just bought some dried fruit and some spices.
Bahia Palace
A few of the other places we visited were The Koutoubia Mosque, Bahia Palace (beautiful carvings and paintings), the Saadian Tombs, the Badi Palace and the Jardin Majorelle (a lush and colorful garden on the outskirts of town). One of the more fascinating experiences was walking around Djamaa El-Fna at night - there is a cloud of smoke that arises from the food stalls that are set up throughout the square, each making their specialty local dish - the smells were amazing. There are also more vendors selling their wares, along with street performers such as snake charmers and belly dancers.
Hike - Imlil Valley
The next objective was to hike in the Atlas Mountains where we did two hikes both of which were arranged by the Kasbah du Toubkal staff: 1) a two-day trek in the Imlil Valley and 2) a two-day climb up Mount Toubkal (the highest mountain in northern Africa at 13,600 feet). We did the two-day valley trek first, which took us from the Toubkal to their remote lodge for an overnight stay. It worked out well because we had the lodge all to ourselves. The lodge is fairly rustic but has great views from the deck where we relaxed and read our Kindles after the long hike. The second day, we completed the circuit hike and ended up back at Kasbah du Toubkal. On this hike, we were accompanied with a guide and a porter (who rode/walked a donkey carrying our overnight bag). We saw beautiful views of several of the valleys as we summited one saddle back that brought us from one valley to the next - we had lunch here where the guide set out a picnic with a smorgasbord of salads, couscous and fruit. We also walked through a few orchards where we saw fig trees among other fruit trees.
View from Mount Toubkal
Our hike up Toubkal was also escorted by a guide and a porter with a donkey to carry all our stuff. The walk the first day was great - we had to walk slowly as it was quite hot but we made it no problem. We arrived at the Refugio (it sounds fancy but it's not - it's a large building with a bunch of dorm rooms with bunk beds) where we had dinner and stayed the night. We were initially told that we could have one of the rooms just the two of us. We were then joined by 9 of our new best friends from Italy and Germany who spent the ENTIRE night farting and laughing at themselves. Perhaps funny the first 23 times, it did prevent us from sleeping a wink which irritated Shawna to no end. We got up at about 4am the next day to trek to the top of the mountain, which took about 4 hours. We took in the gorgeous views for about 45 minutes then started the hike all the way back to the bottom. One the way down, we took a bit of an alternate route higher up the valley through a different town. We thought it was just a cute side trip until the guide walked us into a tea house to show us our room for the night (we were supposed to return to the Kasbah Tamadot resort). Shawna would have none of this - there was no question we were returning to the luxury of Kasbah Tamadot - to a proper shower, bed and pampered service! After a couple of frantic cell phone calls from the guide, all was sorted out and an hour or so later, we were tucked into paradise.
At the Summit of Mount Toubkal
Pool at Kasbah Tamadot
The last day in Morocco we spent sitting on our butt at Kasbah Tamadot - a full day doing nothing but reading at the pool, getting a massage, and relaxing. It was a great place to wrap up the trip.
Our flight home took us through Madrid overnight. We arrived in time to grab dinner - we originally had a reservation elsewhere, but changed it to Botin, famous for being the oldest restaurant in the world.
Restaurants:
Food was definitely a highlight of Morocco. Meals seemed to always be some combination of couscous, with lamb, chicken, or vegetable - but we never got bored.
Marrakesh - Villa Flore
This was the capstone of our Marrakesh time. The restaurant is located in the lobby of a more modern-style riad, complete with black and white tile floor. The food was quite good and the atmosphere was romantic.
Madrid - Botin
We were nervous that the "oldest restaurant in the world" would be a little kitschy for us, but we must say that this was stunningly tasty. We showed up without a reservation and walked straight in - likely because we arrived so early. We sat in the basement where there was only one table left. Immediately next to us was a roasted suckling pig, complete with the head on, partially carved. Shawna was not wild about looking at the pig, but I thought it looked amazing! We kicked off the meal with a pitcher of sangria to get the juices flowing. For starters, we split the Salad Botin and for our entrees we had the Roast Suckling Pig, Roast Baby Lamb, and a side of green beans with Iberian ham. There was WAY too much food - so we left some of the green beans! Both of the roasts were succulent, though we agreed that the lamb was some of the best we have ever tasted.
