Adventures of Amy and Robert in Morocco

Map of our trip in Morocco

Day 0
After a bit of frenzy we finally boarded the plane to London, Heathrow. It has been a busy week with the normal activities of school, power Christmas shopping and with Robert on call.
Many have asked why we choose our first trip to be Morocco in Northern Africa. Both Robert and I enjoy traveling but also wanted to go to places that we would not be able to go when we are older. Robert only booked the first night in Casablanca and the rest of the trip we were to plan on the fly, guided by locals and the Lonely Planet guide book.

We arrived in Casablanca, Morocco with a familiar sense of India; the dampness, and yellow tinge as we arrived at night. We took the train from the airport to the city center. We were greeted by a group of taxi drivers all promising good rates, and even better hotel rates if we followed them. The haggling was to be expected, we were on guard and determined not to be tainted.

The main spoken languages in Morocco are Arabic and French. We had no inkling of any Arabic but luckily our minimal French enabled us to at least bargain and get around in the petit taxi’s. We were able to get tickets to Marrakech quite easily at the train station as the station had pre printed time tables in English for tourists like us.

The hotel we had booked was Al Mounia, in the heart of Casblanca next to old Medina where a wall surrounded a market filled with shops and restaurants.



We also followed the recommendations of the Lonely Planet Guide to Al Mounia restaurant, a lavishly decorated Arabic/French style restaurant were we reclined in plush cushioned covered chairs and enjoyed some of our favorite Moroccan dishes of pastille (a savory dish consisting of phyllo pastry, chicken, topped with cinnamon and chopped up almonds.), lamb tangine (a stew with lemons, olives and meat of choice) and ended up with a dessert of Seffa (coucous with sugar, cinnamon and almonds). After the nice meal we had a nice evening walk of the square and rested in preparation for tomorrow.

Day 1

Breakfast of croissant and mint tea was served at the Patisserie de L'opera after which we followed the Lonely Planet guide of a tour of old Casablanca, including cathedral de Sacred Coeur, the Anciene prefecture, Palais du justice and the central market in old medina.

In any city, Robert likes to try the McDonald's, so we found the golden arches and Robert inhaled the Chicken Mythique, small fries and orange Fanta. Then we proceeded to a telephone booth to book hotels for Marakkech. We had tried calling places when we were back in Toronto, however there had been a change in the calling codes so we had been unable to book any of the hotels. Our top choices had been Casa Lalla (check out the website, it looks amazing) and Riad Malika but in the end only Dar Soukaina was available. The owner Alain told us to take a petit taxi to Riad Larousse and wait at the pharmacy for someone to take us to the riad. So we checked out of Al Mounia Hotel and left our bags at the reception as we continued our adventures in Casablanca.

Our next destination was Hassan II, the third largest mosque in the Islamic faith, which can fit up to 30 000 men and additional 5000 women for prayer.

We took some time to take pictures and enjoy the view of the Atlantic ocean in the court yard and then had a guided tour in English. The mosque was a one billion American dollar production using all materials from Morocco except the chandelier from Italy. I wish they had been able to open the retractable roof so we could see the amazing machinery, unfortunately that is reserved for times of prayer to direct to Mecca. We ended the tour with the recreational hamman. After the tour we picked up our backpacks and went to the train station and took the train to Marakkech.

When we arrived in Marrakech, we took the petit taxi to Riad Larousse as the hotel owner had instructed. We found ourselves right in the middle of the souks which is a congested old market area.

In Marakkech, the souks are a maze of shops and eateries. We arrived in Riad Larousse which is one of the market places in this maze and was greeted by chaos as everyone was trying to talk to us or convince us to go to their hotel. We waited outside the pharmacie populaire after calling Alain from the Dar Soukaina. He sent a guide and we followed him in a winding pathway of dark alleys until finally reaching a wooden door in the basement. Dar Soukaina turned out to be a haven of tranquilty in the middle of the chaotic Souks.

We were served mint tea and recuperated, consulted our maps and ventured again into the maze to find dinner. We walked around for an hour and decided that a meal of Combos and Craisins would suffice and returned to the hotel for our snacks and warm shower. (Note: Robert had actually stepped out into the markets by himself claiming to look for food for tomorrow's trip. I learnt after the fact that he was actually out trying to find a ring for the proposal but was unable to find anything suitable.)

Day 3
We were awaken by the sounds of prayer mumbling from the walls as it was time for morning prayer. Breakfast was prepared at the riad and we had the best orange juice ever as it was from the tree grown in the riad.

In the day light and with the help of the map and compass (only $1 from MEC!) we were able to work our way through the souks and found ourselves in DJemma El Fna, the central market where many gathered for food and watch performances. Robert kept eyeing the cobra charmers as they were preparing the snake to gobble up a ferret, but we did not stay to watch the atrocity.

Just south of the square was the old Kotoubia Minaret which had once been a tower that called people to prayer. We then tried to go to Palai El Badi however it was closed for prayer and siesta so we took a long walk to Ville Nouvelle which was much newer, nicer and cleaner than the area we were staying. There were lots of shops and restaurants, however there was a particular café that we wanted to try, Café Vittoria, as in our guide book it said that this was a place especially for women. We found that in Morocco, men spend a lot of time at the coffee shops, chatting, people watching or watching soccer and amidst the smoke and stares women are not really welcomed. However the complex that included the café had been torn down so we proceed to Jardin Marjorelle which was a very blue garden now owned by Yves St Laurent.

We then took a cab back to Palais El Badi, which at its prime had been a luxurious palace, but now all that remained was piles of dirt.

We then returned to the market place, DJemma el Fna and had dinner at Chez Chegrouni with the best balcony seats in the house as we enjoyed a good lemon tangine, an amazing view of the market and sunset.

Then with ease we maneuvered through the souks back to the hotel. We met Omar, an assistant at the hotel who helped us plan the next leg of our travel. In order to get to the desert we had to take a bus to Tingher, then Rissani and then Merzouga. Omar was very helpful in that even though he didn’t have any tours to offer he called around and spoke to the locals to try to help us to get all the information. As Robert and Omar finished talking about the details I enjoyed a nice homemade apple pie

Day 4
The next morning we woke up even before the prayers and went straight to the bus station, and found ourselves in a nice modern coach (CTM) for an 8 hour bus ride. We passed through the Atlas mountains and the roads were narrow. We witnessed a truck flip over the edge.

The first stop was Ouarzazate, the film center in Morocco as many American films requiring desert shots are filmed there, e.g. Gladiator, Lawerence of Arabia. We arrived in Tingher and stayed at a nice hotel called Kenzi Sargho at the top of the hill looking down on the town. We tried to go to town for dinner, however because it was prayer time everything was closed so we stayed in the hotel and took pictures of the sunset from the balcony. We were tired and hungry so in the end we just had dinner at the hotel and slept.

Day 5
We woke up and waited in front of bank populaire for the bus to Merzouga, called Voyage Merzouga, it left at 8:30am… BUT we were actually dropped off in Erfoud and our conclusion later was that nothing good happens in Erfoud. On the bus we met a pleasant British guy traveling by himself, named John. He had been to the desert in the past and was spending the holidays in Morocco, he looked like a weathered traveler. John had a Lonely planet guide book as well and gave us advice about our plans to the desert. We found comfort in finding another traveler on the bus of all locals. At 1pm we arrived in Erfoud. The moment we stepped off we were surrounded by a number of men who wanted us to take their taxis to Merzouga which would have cost more than the Lonely Planet advised priced. There were no recognizable buses or people to ask so our instinct told us to go to a hotel or the official bus station to determine how to appropriately get to Merzouga, however, John persuaded Robert not to because he began talking to one of the men (Mohammed). Mohammed claims to have his own minibus to Merzouga, in fact he said he has a Riad there, called Riad Maria. He said we could take us in his minbus to his riad and if we didn’t like it, we could always try a different riad. John being English fell for it. (Robert’s insertion) So thinking John had more experience than us, we decided to follow him… in retrospect this was a grave mistake. We were led by Mohammed down a series of small streets until we arrived at his minibus. It was a tiny little bus stuffed with as many people as it could fit. In fact, it couldn’t even start but had to be pushed. Finally we got going. When we hit Rissani, an old beat up Land Rover was there waiting for us. We started driving towards Merzgouga and about 20 min into the drive, the car pulled off of the paved road and into a dirt path for another 15 minutes. During the ride, Mohammed pulled out a “Lonely planet”. It was a poor photocopy of what he claimed to be the next edition, with his hotel, riad Lahmada, in it. He said it wasn’t listed in the current edition, but was coming out in the next. It was obviously fake. When we finally reached Riad Lahamada, we realized we were trapped. We had no idea where we were and were isolated from all other areas. So we were stuck in this riad. The other day we had booked a place at Riad Tombuctou, which was a much nicer Riad and had even previously housed Hilary Clinton, but we had no way of getting there.

Merzouga was listed in the lonely planet as the starting point for expeditions to Erb Cherbbi, which is the western most part of the Sahara desert. We were quickly ushered to meet the owner of the riad who presented a camel safari for the price of 550 dh each, including the camel ride, dinner, overnight stay in the riad tents, breakfast and the camel ride back to the riad. The lonely planet guide quoted the appropriate price to be around 350 dh and we were clearly being overcharged but we felt we had no options as we were isolated and had no bargaining power.

We started on the camel trek with another couple, the guy from Italy and the girl from Ireland, along with a berber guide.

The camel ride lasted approximately 1.5 hours reaching the middle of the sand dunes where tents were set up. The berger guide prepared a tangine dish with bread and mint tea for dinner.

We ate under a sky full of stars and unwillingly inhaled second hand pot smoke. We spent the rest of the night sitting around a camp fire and gazing at the stars. Then we preceeded to sleep in the tent, under heavy blankets and in winter coats. At 6am we woke up and climbed up the closest and highest sand dune to get a view of the sunrise.

I was taking photos of the sunrise with my newly acquired digital SLR camera and when I turned around to find Robert on one knee asking “Will you marry me?” Which I replied “Of course.”

At the time Robert did not have the engagement ring because he feared safety in Morocco. He had actually tried to find a substitute in Marrakech, however did not have an opportunity to go shopping without me accompanying him. Robert proceeded to take a video clip of the moment.



After the perfect proposal, we went down the sand dune for breakfast consisting of bread and tea. Then we packed up and returned to the riad by camel.

We were ready to leave the shady Riad for Rissani and patiently waited for the jeep. We were sure that we had been overcharged and the last incident to top it off was the head scarves that we had been quoted at 20 dh the day before prior to the camel expedition. However, at the time of payment, he claimed he said it was 70dh each. I began insisting he had said 20dh, however Robert was adamant we simply pay without arguing as we were at their mercy and didn't want to be trapped here at their mercy.



We took the riad jeep to Rissani where we waited for 8 hours for the CTM bus to Fes. The owner of Café Merzouga was nice enough to let us stay for 8 hours where we watched What Lies Beneath and Drumline and then boarded the bus to Fes at 8pm. The driver speeded through the mountains and snow and we shaved off one hour and ended up at Fes at 5am. At the bus station, I had a chance to call my family about the good news, which my sisters all squealed with delight. From Fes we took another bus for 5 hours back to Casablanca.

In Casablanca we went back to Al Mounia hotel where we finally cleaned ourselves after not showering or changing our clothes for 3 days. After the refreshment we proceeded to old medina searching for souvenirs. We found Rick’s Café modeled after one of our favorite movies Casablanca where we enjoyed a delicious meal, had tea and coke as we enjoyed the tranquil settings. We had been on survival mode for the past couple days and decided that our bodies needed to rest with a nice long nap. To end off our time in Morocco we decided to try one of the most highly recommended restaurants by Lonely Planet, Café Maure in the old medina.

We were greeted by a building that was lined with a luscious garden and an old fort wall with canons. The waiters were very friendly and helpful and helped us make choices for a savory meal. We returned back to Al Mounia for a good night sleep and ready for the plane ride to London.

We flew into London an hour late due to a delay from a 4 day fog that had caused chaos at Heathrow. We hadn't booked a hotel in London and soon found that the prices were quite outrageous. So we went online at Heathrow and booked a hotel on Orbitz.com for a much reduced price. We checked into our hotel near the airport and proceeded to dinner and then meeting with Janey and Wongo. It was quite a shock to convert everything to pounds after a week of dirhams.

It was December 24th, 2006 when we arrived back in Toronto and quickly changed from our traveling attire, where another shower was needed, and Robert shaved his 4 day beard (his electric razor broke while in Morocco). The rest of the evening was spent with his family celebrating both Christmas and our engagement.

We took over 1000 pictures between the two of us, so we've only selected a few for the blog, for more pictures check www.flickr.com/photos/tlims