Morocco - Feb 2025

A two week adventure covering three countries (Part two)

We are now in Morocco. Ferry was an hour and you can be "processed" passport wise while on the boat, which was very convenient.

We booked a room at the Hilton which was a five minute walk to the train station https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/tnggigi-hilton-garden-inn-tanger-city-center/?SEO_id=GMB-EMEA-GI-TNGGIGI. Nice hotel!

After checking in, we took a walk around the city. One thing we noticed was the lack of traffic lights (?). We were trying to figure out how to cross the street on a multiple lane road... finally figured out that there are crosswalks located on the pavement, and vehicles are REQURIED to stop for pedestrians. We were quite nervous at first but quickly got the hang of it.

Found a restaurant to have dinner (Woods Cafe Restaurant - sorry no website). Great place to people watch and have a relaxing dinner. We did notice that they did not serve alcohol. Many restaurants don't in Morocco due to Islamic traditions. Liquor stores are available and so we headed there to check out some wines. We ended up buying some and enjoyed them very much!!

After dinner we decided to head to the train station to get familiar with the landscape. Turned out we had nothing to worry about. The train station (as in Europe) are quite easy to navigate. Signs are also in English so that's helpful.

The next morning we hopped on the train to Marrakech. It is a five hour ride - with a few stops along the way. I love the trains overseas. If we had them in the USA I likely wouldn't ever fly again!! As we left Tangier, we noticed that the landscape was drastically changing.... not only was it rural, but it became quite deserted and rocky.

Once we arrived in Marrakech, we were immediately greeted by taxi drivers eager to take us to our hotel. When we originally booked this hotel, we wanted to stay somewhere "traditional" where the beds are on the floor, open air, etc. So our cab driver ends up dropping us off in a city square in a very old section of the city. Immediately another gentlemen grabs our luggage and places it in a makeshift wheelbarrow and said he would take us to our hotel. By this time we are noticing that there are ZERO signs, donkeys everywhere and everyone is dressed in headscarves. We walk through a few alleys and end up at a door to which an old lady greeted us. She was quite friendly but spoke almost no English. Another lady was there who asked for our passports. While I was working with her, Mark was being guided to our room. Unfortunately he had to climb a very skinny circular stone staircase to our room with our luggage!

We got to our room - long day, hungry, and nervous. This was NOT the experience we were hoping for. Immediately we decided that we needed to get closer to the train station so we would be more comfortable. The alleys were dark and we did not feel safe. Since we had no idea where we were, it was kind of hard finding a hotel that would fit our needs. Luckily I remembered the name of the hotel next to the train station and Mark found it online. We were able to book a room and immediately headed back downstairs to leave. The ladies asked us why we were leaving and if our room was ok. We told them we were hoping to be closer to town. So they directed us to where we could pick up a cab and off we went!

Finally... a sigh of relief. The Grand Plaza Marrakech was exactly what we hoped for! https://grandplazamarrakech.com/. Once we settled in, we immediately headed to the bar and had some cocktails :) and dinner.

We will say that if we were trekking across Europe like vagabonds, the original hotel would have been fine. It just wasn't what we wanted in terms of experience.

Day two - Casablanca!

We booked a private day trip via Viator www.viator.com. Our driver Josef picked us up at our hotel and we were on the road. This trip took all day as the drive there and back was five hours. On second thoughts, we probably should have hubbed there and gone to Marrakech for the day. But we got to Casablanca and WOW... what a beautiful city it is!

Our first stop was the Hassan Mosque https://www.fmh2.ma/en/node. It is the largest in Morocco and one of the largest in the world. The tickets include a visit to an adjoining museum. Lots of handmade art and artifacts. We did the museum first as our Mosque ticket was at a certain time. Once we were able to walk the grounds of the Mosque, we were in awe of its beauty! To enter, we were required to remove our shoes (which is customary in many places in Morocco). We were able to get some beautiful pics since it was off season and there weren't a lot of folks around.

Hassan Mosque - Casablanca, Morocco

Our second stop was Rick's Cafe. https://www.rickscafe.ma/

If you are a fan of the move "Casablanca", then you will appreciate how much it has NOT changed since the movie. In fact, even the waiters are dressed in the appropriate era clothing. LOLOL

Josef allowed us enough time to enjoy some wine and take photos. Then it was lunch time at the Restaurant Italien Chef https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g293732-d27153504-Reviews-Italien_Chef-Casablanca_Casablanca_Settat.html. While it was lovely, we chuckled because we noticed that many other tour drivers took their customers here.

After lunch Josef drove us downtown to the Medina. This was super cool. It is a stretch of boardwalk overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. There were shops, museums, playgrounds, beaches (sort of), etc. It was a beautiful day and so we enjoyed the scenery and marveled over how stunning the coastline was. Now we will say that there was a lot of sludge/seaweed - whatever - on the beaches. But it didn't matter, it was gorgeous nonetheless.

Atlantic Ocean - Casablanca, Morocco

We ended our trip with me asking Josef to stop at a market so I could buy a bowl to take home. They are everywhere, but it was our only opportunity to pick one up. So he did and we brought home several items along with my (what Mark calls) "satellite dish" which weighed a ton in my carry on luggage, but looks beautiful on top of our kitchen cabinets! The trip cost around $220 and we highly recommend.

Day three - Oh boy, we had to get up super early to catch our next adventure. We decided to end our stay with a hot air balloon ride at sunrise, breakfast, and camel ride. The experience was AMAZING, however, we both felt that we had to wait a really long time in the dark (and COLD) for our balloon ride. Probably could have slept in an hour. However, we were offered teas and the equivalent of danish - and some campfires - before we headed to the launch.

The balloon ride was a first for both of us and it did not disappoint. We were at the foot of the mountains and was able to see a spectacular sunrise over the Atlas Mountains. Just stunning! Our pilot was fantastic, making sure she turned the balloon 360 so that we were all able to take great photos and videos. We think you'll agree.

Atlas Mountains - Morocco

Once our balloon ride ended, we were taken back to the base camp where they served us a traditional Moroccan breakfast. Again, shoes off! We were sitting low to the ground and it was very cool. We were served hard boiled eggs, selections of bread items (not sure the traditional names), and some sweet treats. The best part though was the TEA. It was absolutely fantastic! The families were excellent hosts and when breakfast was finished, we headed to the farm for the camel rides.

Morocco

The camel rides were Mark's idea. He said the only way he would visit Morocco was if he could go to Rick's (check) and do a camel ride (check)! The camel rides were pretty lengthy from our perspective. They made us wear the traditional head dress and covers so it made the experience a lot more traditional. The camels are very calm and were well trained. Here's a pic of Mark's camel behind me :)

Morocco camel ride

Once that was over, we headed back to our hotel where we had to pack and get on a plane to Porto, Portugal. So long Morocco!

Some takeaways:

1). Moroccan currency is closed, so you have to exchange it in country. The travel books say you can use EURO but don't believe it. The markets like their local currency!

2). Make sure you know your hotel's location before booking. We would have felt fine in Europe but you are not in Kansas when you are in Morocco. We felt much better exploring where there were tourists, or going with our driver.