Morocco + Madrid

For fall break I visited a long-term dream country, Morocco. I think the desire to travel there started when I ate some "Moroccan" couscous in Disney World's EPCOT, and grew when I learned it was a francophone country in French class. Thus when plans were being tossed around, I was a big proponent of forming a group for Morocco. Final plans included going to Fez, Morocco and then Madrid, Spain for the second half.

Day 1

We arrived and headed straight to our Airbnb, which was the coolest place I have ever slept in. I think we all freaked out about the place when we got there. At least I did. The Airbnb was a riad, a traditional Moroccan style home with rooms surrounding a square courtyard.

For lunch I took a moped ride with our host to buy kebabs from a small market. I found that in Moroccan traffic especially it is a good idea to hang on! We were also treated to some Moroccan mint tea (store-bought "Moroccan mint" will never be the same):

Soon after that we took a guided tour of the medina of Fez, which boasts 9,000 streets and countless stalls and shops. Without the guide we would have certainly been lost!

As Fez is known for its craftsmanship, we visited several artisans' shops. First, wood carving:

And then a tannery that makes products out of the skins of cows, sheep, goats and camels. Read more here about their process, it's really interesting! (hint: pigeon poop is involved):

Some leather products

Prize purchase of the group: a camel leather jacket

We also went to a spice shop (not shown) and a fabric shop:

They even tied up scarves for us!

(They must have learned that white people like this)

Close up on the ladies

More around the medina:

There are also more than 100 mosques in Fez, and while we couldn't enter any of them since we aren't Muslim, they were quite lovely even from the outside:

Dinner was a traditional tajine:

Day 2/3

The second day in Morocco we set out to the go to the Sahara. We packed up our things, met the camel company's drivers and set off on our voyage. We had anticipated a 2-hour car ride, perhaps 3.

What we didn't realize, or perhaps what we didn't learn in geography class, was that Fez is nowhere near the Sahara. The trip ended up being 9 hours!

This was full of scenery and broken up with several stops and lunch, however, so we had fun with it:

Wild monkeys!

We were pretty obsessed

Familiar snacks in Arabic!

Then, finally, we arrived at the camel company base. They tied us up in scarves again (of course) and helped us mount our camels. It took a bit of getting used to! We watched the sun set during our ride to their camp in the Sahara:

At the camp in the Sahara we were able to eat some tajine after our long voyage by car and camel. They treated us to some traditional Moroccan music and invited us to try our hand at it, but we were slightly less successful than the locals. Nighttime in the Sahara was also perfect for playing in the sand and stargazing without the hindrance of city lights.

In the morning, we set out early enough to catch the sunrise in the desert:

Arrival back to the base meant hot showers, which felt great and helped get all the sand off. The drive back went much more quickly, as we made minimal stops.

Day 4

On our last day in Morocco we took a tour of the exterior of the medina and visited a pottery shop:

To compare our two destination, I found Morocco to be fun to visit, whereas Madrid would be a fun place to live. After getting off the plane and settling in, we went to a tapas event in which many of the restaurants of the city were participating. We also took a city tour, visited a church and toured the palace. The best part about Madrid, however, is all of their parks. For a major city they have a ton of green space: