Morocco was such a cool country to explore. From the desert to the coast to big cities, there were so many different areas to explore. After spending time in Marrakech and the Sahara Desert, I headed to the Moroccan coast and then made my way up to the north of Morocco and was able to visit so many cities in the north.
After long travel days getting to and from the Sahara Desert, I was glad when my next travel day, getting from Marrakech to Essaouira, was short with only a three hour bus ride. Once I made it to Essaouira I headed to my hostel, which was located in the middle of the medina. After checking in and getting settled I went out to walk around the medina. My time in Essaouira ended up being a mix of relaxing and work time. I spent the first three days in the city exploring the town and the different areas of the medina as well as relaxing on the beach. Essaouira was super windy due to Atlantic winds and some of the medina streets seemed to be wind tunnels causing it to feel pretty cold at times. On the beach when out in the sun it was lovely; not hot enough to go into the water but nice enough to lay out and relax on the beach. During one of my outings to the beach I was brave enough to go in the water and it was freezing cold. It felt like there should have been ice on the water. After getting out of the water I layed out under the sun to warm up. On my second night in Essaouira I was on the beach for sunset and while there a super cute and friendly dog came up and laid with me. It was adorable and the dog was so sweet; I wanted to take her home with me. After the sunset, when I was walking back into the medina, the dog followed me for a while then went off to see its other dog friends and then five minutes later I felt the dog's nose touch my leg. She had found me and was clearly happy to see me. It was so sweet. My last two days in Essaouira ended up being busy admin days spent making travel plans.
My next stop after Essaouira was to Rabat, the capital of Morocco. It ended up being a full day bus journey to get from Essaouira to Rabat and I had to change buses in Casablanca. By the time I got to Rabat I was surprised by how fast the day’s journey felt. I was prepared for it to be a long, slow day but somehow the bus journeys went by super fast, which I was glad for. In total, I only ended up spending one day in Rabat. During the one day there I wandered around the city, exploring both the old and the new. I went in not knowing much about Rabat and was pleasantly surprised by the city. While I didn’t feel as if I needed more than one full day there, the day I did spend there was full of sightseeing. One of the places I visited was an area with multiple sights; from a tower to a mausoleum. The mausoleum was so beautiful. On the inside it was full of colorful, beautiful tiles and the arches and doorways inside and outside were so ornate. After exploring the mausoleum and the surrounding area I wandered through the old medina and along the water in another old area of the city. My day in Rabat was busy and I really enjoyed it.
The next day I headed to the train station and took the train to Fes. Once in Fes I made my way to my hostel which had been recommended to me by the owner of the hostel I stayed at in Rabat; his recommendation was great. The hostel was in such a beautiful building, with colorful lights, bright cushions, and a great rooftop. After checking in, I hung out at the hostel for the afternoon since it ended up raining after I arrived. I didn’t mind spending my afternoon there since all of the common area spaces were so beautiful. The next morning I had breakfast at my hostel; it was the best hostel breakfast I have ever had and it was free which made it even better. After breakfast I went out and explored Fes with a girl I met in my room. While there I learned that Fes is the world's largest living medieval Islamic city and the medina was so huge and winding. We made our way around the medina and eventually to a tannery. A tannery is where they dye leathers. When visiting we were able to see the tannery from a terrace and were told more about the steps involved in dying leather. The smell from the terrace overlooking the tannery was so bad, which we learned was because the first step in the process of dying leather is to put the leather in a white liquid that has pigeon poop in it. Apparently the smell is even worse in the hot summer heat. After the tannery, we explored more of the medina and then headed out of the winding streets of the medina to a beautiful park. Fes was cool to explore and I really liked the city. Later that afternoon I headed back to the hostel and ended up meeting more people on the rooftop and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening with them. It was a fun first day in Fes. Originally I was only planning on spending one day in Fes but since my hostel was so nice I decided to spend another day there and just relax in the nice common areas and do more planning. It was a lovely last day in Fes and I was sad to have to leave my hostel since it was so beautiful and the workers there were so friendly and nice.
After spending two days in Fes, I took a bus and headed to Chefchaouen, also known as the blue city. Most of the people I had met in Fes went to Chefchaouen the day before me or the same day as me and we all ended up staying at the same hostel, which was really fun. The bus ride from Fes to Chefchaouen was easy and uneventful and once I arrived at the entrance of the medina, before even getting to the hostel, I ended up running into two people I’d met at my last hostel who had left for Chefchaouen an hour before me. Once at the hostel I checked in and ended up going to the rooftop and enjoying the view for a while. After hanging out on the rooftop for a bit, I ended up going out to dinner with a group of people from my hostel. After dinner our group wandered around the town and eventually found a cafe and got a dessert. While there it started pouring rain so we got stuck at the restaurant for a while before being able to head back. Once back at the hostel the group of us hung out on the rooftop for the rest of the evening. The next day was my only full day in Chefchaouen so I spent the day wandering around the blue city. It wasn’t until I had wandered around for a while that I realized I accidentally wore my one blue shirt while in the blue city, so I decided to pop back to my hostel to quickly change shirts so I no longer matched with the town. After exploring all of the different areas of the medina and seeing all of the different shades of blue, I made my way out of the medina and then on to a short mountain trail to a mosque. Along the way I saw amazing views of the town and the valley below. Once at the mosque the views were even more breathtaking. I ended up spending a while hanging out at the mosque and enjoying the views before heading back into town. Once back in town I walked around Chefchaouen for a little while longer before heading back to my hostel. That evening I ended up hanging out with another group of people at my hostel; it was a mix of people I met in Fes and Chefchaouen. We all spent the night hanging out at the hostel and playing card games. It was such a fun evening and the next day most of us were leaving Chefchaouen.
The next morning I took a shared taxi to Tetouan, the white city. I had nothing booked and planned on heading to and booking a hostel once I arrived. Since not many tourists go to Tetouan I figured it would be fine. Once my shared taxi got to Tetouan I headed to a hostel that I had seen online and had plenty of availability. After checking in I booked a free walking tour they offered for later that day and then headed out to find a place for lunch. Even though I had already explored medinas in multiple Moroccan cities, Tetouan’s medina seemed even more confusing than all of the ones I had been to. Once I was done with lunch I headed back to my hostel where I met my walking tour guide. Even though it was a free walking tour it ended up being a private one which was so nice. Tetouan was cool to explore and I enjoyed having a tour guide and seeing areas I wouldn’t have otherwise found. Coming from the blue city of Chefchaouen, Tetouan was the white city and all of the buildings in the old medina were bright white.
The next morning I packed up and got another shared taxi and went to Tangier, my last stop in Morocco. In Tangier I ended up seeing a bunch of people I met at my hostel in Chefchaouen which was a lot of fun. That afternoon I ended up reading on the rooftop terrace and hanging out with people that I had met in Chefchaouen and that evening I went to dinner with four people from my hostel. On my one full day in Tangier I went out to brunch with a group of girls from my hostel, one I had met in Chefchaouen and the other two I met in Tangier. After brunch we explored different areas of Tangier for a while and then slowly made our way to the beach. The weather was the nicest it had been in days and it was a warm sunny day. With the sun out it was so nice hanging out at the beach for a while. Even though none of us went into the water, it was nice just sitting on the sand and talking. After spending a while at the beach we wandered back to our hostel to meet up with another guy from our hostel. The four of us then went to a museum and while there we discovered that none of the information was written in English. One person in our group knew a little bit of French but what made the museum fun was making up random information for the different pieces or guessing what things said. Going to the museum alone would have been really boring, but as a group it was so much fun. That evening we went out for dinner and drinks as it was one person's birthday. Overall, it was a really fun day spent with new friends in Tangier. The next day I had a flight in the evening, so I ended up spending the time I did have during the day working on admin and getting snacks in preparation for spending the night in the airport.
My time in Morocco went by so fast and I was able to meet so many amazing people. I had a lot of fun exploring all of the different towns in Morocco. It was definitely the most photogenic country I have been to. There are so many amazing colors, architecture, and textures to see all over Morocco, but even so, my favorite part about my three and a half weeks spent in Morocco were the people I met.
“We travel, some of us forever, to seek other places,
other lives, other souls.”
- Anais Nin
Comments