Morocco was.. surprising!
After Egypt, Turkey, and some Mughal-influenced parts in India, I considered myself an authority on Islamic art and culture. Morocco put me in my place. Culture like everything else is a spectrum and Morocco was at an end I didn’t expect.
Why Morocco- feels like destiny now
Morocco was never in my bucket list but I had the blessing of Swiss bunny and his parents, and a new red passport, to travel anywhere I wished without the children. It was pure luck that I talked to my friend, Af and she agreed to travel with me. Out of nowhere Marrakech came up. The flights were booked, the excitement was high. Then we checked the weather forecast. 46 dg C. So we booked a hotel that had a spa package 😂. Thankfully the temperatures didn’t go that high while we were there and we could still do and see and spa a lot. 3 days were gone in a blur.
Hopping with Af
This was the first time Af and I were traveling together and I loved it. She’s the second most upbeat person I know (first being my mum). Af can talk a lot to anybody about anything. The first day we went to the markets, we wanted to know if she was getting ripped off for a kaftan she wanted to buy. She just turned around and asked a random lady how much she got her kaftan for. The other lady’s husband and I both wanted to hide, but the other lady was also American and she and Af talked like they were childhood friends and a benchmark price was established.
After spending the hottest hours at the hotel, we head to the Jama el Fana market, a large square with juice stands, street peddlers selling random plasticy stuff, musicians with spinning hats, and alleys and alleys of shops selling clothes, souvenirs, shoes, whatnot, and people on mopeds zooming past. Dangerous, exciting, overwhelming.
With all our senses fully saturated with the market, we were ready to wrap up a very long day. But on our way back, a guy approached us and said earnestly “Ladies, ladies, I opened my shop just a week ago and I really want your opinion on the decoration. Can you please help me?” I was muttering under my breath, no Af no, don’t indulge him but out of the goodness of her heart, she did. We were lured in and the magic show began. He mixed powders, doused us in perfume, made us smell random things, he even offered to marry my friend and his brother to me. When she said she already has two children, he said, “but not with me”. It was very entertaining and before we knew we spent almost a 100 eu in his shop. This marriage proposal was costly!
The next day we made it to the Jardin Majorelle. That shade of blue-OMG-stunning. They could use this for a paint ad!
That evening we did a Marrakesh food tour, a highly overpriced tour with ok-ish food but we sat and ate with locals – so that was cool.
This food tour was pivotal for this trip, not because of the food but for the two very Christian Danish boys, who Af became best friends with. They talked about God and football with equal reverence. Next thing we knew, we agreed to share an Uber next day with them to the Atlas Mountains.
The Atlas mountains kiss the edges of Marrakesh. There are many organized trips but we are SO glad we did not do one. Our Uber driver spoke English (a rarity!) and agreed to stay the whole day with us. He took us way past the tourist hotspots to a place where we didn’t see any European tourists anymore- just some local tourists and locals.
I do not have words to describe how wonderful this part of the Atlas Mountains was. We did two mini hikes – one onto the highest point of a village where people had likely never seen a tourist before. We were literally standing on poop and trash but the beauty and rawness of the place made me feel like my travel heroes Anthony Bourdain and Ian Wright.
The bridges at this place were a bit questionable. One of the Danish guys (Johannes) and I found it very funny to run across and jump on the threadbare bridges while the other Danish guy (Markus) and Af were ready to call our families to inform them of our impeding heroic demise.
The rest of the ride back Johannes and the taxi driver discussed about God and while I did not have anything to add on the topic of judgement day, it wasn’t irritating. It just made me realize how distant I had become from my own beliefs. Anyway, all was forgotten as we got a fantastic hamam treatment at the hotel spa. We met again for a rooftop dinner at a restaurant called Nomad. An ironical name for the last dinner before returning home
With the little we could see of Morroco, I feel we only scratched the surface of this amazing country and the surface was unassuming and beautiful. I think we will be back again.
A story we will remember: One morning on our way to the Medina, we saw a woman and a baby sleeping in the park. Clearly they had spent the night there. So we quietly dropped off half of our breakfast next to them that we were planning to nibble on later. The next morning, despite running late for our flight, we drove past the same park again to give her some cash this time, but the baby and mum were gone. I don't know what the future of this baby could be but all the God talk makes me hope a miracle would happen.
