Morocco!!!

I had finally organised my first trip out of Spain since I’d been here and you guessed it we went to Morocco. Choosing to go to Morocco was a easy choice. First I wanted to tick another country off my list, second I wanted to claim that I had been to Africa and third I found a tour for 200 euros so how could I pass that up. I went with one of the girls’ I work with and we did a tour of the Blue Cities.

For our tour to start we had to make our way to Malaga where we would be picked up to be taken to the ferry terminal. The bus ride to Malaga was about 6 hours. Luckily, each seat had a mini screen like you would see on a  plane, so the time went by quickly. Once we got to Malaga, we checked into our hostel for the night as we were leaving for Morocco the next day. The hostel made a slight slip up with our room only having one bed avaliable instead of two but we were upgraded to a room with less people and a private bathroom. For dinner we ate samorejo, which is a typical dish from the south of Spain which consists of a tomato soup with ham and a boiled egg on top with of course a tinto de Verano (wine and lemonade).

At 10am the next day the coach picked us up from the Townhall in Malaga. It was then an hour and a half bus ride to Algeciras where we would take the ferry from to get to Ceuta which is apart of Africa but still apart of Spain. The ferry ride was about 45 minutes, and once in Ceuta we had to cross through the Spain border and then the Moroccan border in our coach and we were finally in Morocco!

Fun fact: From 1912 to 1956, Morocco was ruled by Spain in the North and by France in the South. Ceuta and Melilla are two cities still ruled by Spain.

Our first blue city that we were visiting in Morocco was Asilah. In Asilah we started off with a guided tour around the Medina, Asilah is filled with painted murals around the Medina, it was very beautiful always a new street to admire. The tour then ended with some free time to shop around and try some Moroccan mint tea. I always seem to become obsessed with tea’s assosciated with different countries that I visit. In India it was the masala chai, in Japan it was the matcha and in Morocco it is the Moroccan mint tea. We then settled in our hotel for the night with an incredible view of the Atlantic Ocean.

 

Fun fact: In 2004 the law decided to make Polygamy illegal with the exception that if your first wife allows you to have a second wife then you can have a second wife. Before men were able to have up to 4 wives.

Our second day in Morocco was jam packed. We started with a camel ride by the beach in Tangier. I was fortunate to ride on the camels twice. However, I didn’t get great vibes from these camels. The first camel I rode on tried to bite me when I tried to take a selfie with it and then the second camel tried to fling me off. I then realised they must have a sixth sense because I remembered that I was wearing my camel leather handbag that I bought in India. Oops…

We then had a quick toilet break in Cape Espartel where on the left side of the lighthouse was the Atlantic Ocean and on the right you could see the Mediterranean Sea. Of course we also had another Moroccan tea during this break.

It was then another 2.5 hr bus journey to our next blue city of Chefchauen. Of course with all that tea drinking we needed to pee half an hour into our journey, so it wasn’t a fun ride. Once we got there we had a buffet lunch, which was delicious and with our tummys full we set off for a guided tour with one of the locals in Chefchauen. Our tour guide was a funny old man whose family had lived in Chefchauen for centuries. Apparently the houses are painted blue either due to an influence of the Jews or to repel mosquitoes. We then had free time to roam around. I ended up buying a hand-made blanket, had an artist paint us a picture of the city of Chefchauen and of course more Moroccan tea! We then checked into our hotel, it took us a little longer to get there as Morocco qualified for the World Cup and people were literally blocking the streets and standing on top of cars and trucks, it was quite exciting. BTW my two countries Australia and Argentina have made it!!!

 

Fun fact: Islam is the national religion with 98.7%, followed by 1.1% Christian and 0.2% Jewish.

Our final day we arrived into the city of Tetuan where we had another guided city of the city centre. We then visited a Berber Pharmacy, this is where an assortment of oils, spices, teas are available to be purchased. I am all about natural remedies so this was the place for me. I ended up buying Moroccan oil for my frizzy untamed hair and Jasmine oil which I was told was to help me relax, but I was also told 2 drops of that in milk would cure a hangover in the matter of minutes. I was sold!

Our last activity in Morocco was to have lunch in an Arabic Palace in Tetuan where there was live music and magic shows. I also got henna done here, with my name in Arabic written on my arm. I also finally got to eat couscous in Morocco, which was definitely the best I have ever had and the best dish I had had in Morocco.

Fun fact: Green tea with mint is the national drink in Morocco. Cous Cous is their most famous dish

We then had to head back to Ceuta to catch the ferry terminal back to Algeciras. From there another bus back to Malaga and then the 6 hour night bus to Madrid. We arrived back in Madrid about 5am and we went to work with about 2 hours sleep, but with the amazing weekend we had had, it was totally worth it.