If you haven’t read my previous posts about my trip with Intrepid called “Morocco Uncovered” start with Day 1. But if you are caught up OR just here to read about Fes, let’s go!
Day 5: It’s fun to note that this day was January 1, New Year’s Day.
It was a more relaxing morning since we were staying in this hotel (Across Hotel and Spa, though I saw no spa) for two nights and didn’t need to check out. I went to breakfast and as usual, ran into Barb and Graehm. No fresh-squeezed orange juice at this breakfast, though the food options were fine and they had a coffee machine, which was fun.
We boarded the bus and headed to meet our tour guide. It was a very foggy morning!
Doesn’t our mini bus look handsome in the fog? If you look closely you can see the remnants of our New Year’s celebrations.
We met up outside of the Royal Palace, which you can’t go inside, but has some great doors.
The biggest door was very crowded so we took pictures of a smaller door instead. Still gorgous!
You can see up close the detailed tiles and the work that went into the doors. I’m sure no expense was spared!
We walked through the Jewish quarter which was nearby.
i thought this gate really showed the people of Fes just going about their daily lives.
Next we bussed to the ceramics factory, where we learned how the ceramics are made. It was very interesting, and featured men sitting in what looked to us to be very uncomfortable positions doing work for our benefit. Is this really how they work or is it a show for us to pay more for the ceramics sold there? I suspect some of both, and after the tour I did purchase a small ceramic cat ornament and a little bowl to put trinkets in, so I fell for it, ha!
Zoom in on the picture and it says “Smile, you are in Fes”.
Next we went to the Medina. We were warned not to get lost from the group as it was very hard to navigate and the streets/alleys didn’t always show up in Google Maps. One annoyance I had with the tour guide is that he was very soft spoken so as we walked through the medina unless you were right behind him you couldn’t hear anything he had to say. He was super knowledgeable, but just soft spoken. We also felt very rushed through the medina, but I know that’s part of the deal with a group tour. If we stopped for everybody to look at everything they wanted to look at we’d still be there. Hmm…that wouldn’t be so bad!
Some very narrow streets!Dates.Olives. So many!That’s olive oil in the jars in the back.Pastries. So many pastries!Smart cat, standing near a fish stand.
The medina was amazing, and I just wanted to look at stuff, but instead we walked through very quickly. We visited a madrasa there (a school) as well as seeing a University. It was not just the stores (souks) but houses, mosques, fountains, restaurants and cafes, and everything a person would need. I imagine if you lived in the medina you rarely needed to leave.
I inadvertently crashed this photo of Barb waving.
Next we walked to the tanneries where they make leather. They smelled horrible, and we were told it was much worse in summer, so I’m glad I didn’t visit then.
We were given sprigs of mint to cover the smell. I found if I shoved them into my nose and breathed deeply it almost worked.If I were the sort of person to ride a motorcycle I would want that purple jacket. Alas, I am not. Aman and our local guide (I have forgotten his name and failed to make a note of it) chatting in the leather shop. You can see that excess is the name of the game! It was overwhelming at times, but also amazing.
We were taken to a place for lunch next, which was in a really cool house.
We were all seated inside of that room.
I had chicken couscous and the food was quite tasty.
We all got impatient with how long it took though, and wanted to leave the room and get back into our sightseeing. Moroccan meals are never fast, that’s the lesson here.
After lunch I managed to take a few minutes to buy a fez: the first place I failed to talk the guy down lower, and the second place I ended up paying the same as I would have at the first place, but felt more successful because I had haggled from 130 to 100. Ha! The last stop we made for shopping was a weaving factory and I ended up buying a beautiful camel scarf (which I have worn several times already here). I had fun haggling down to 300 from 350. (I wrote that down, but I feel like I paid slightly less, but maybe I’m dreaming, or thinking of a later scarf purchase. I suppose my notes I made the day after are more accurate than my memory today).
One in the group, Travis, bought a drum and ended up playing it with this man who we encountered.
Our last stop on the tour was from the top of Fes to overlook the city. It was really neat to see where we had been.
You can see my new scarf here, as well as please note that I am wearing just a t shirt: it must have really warmed up on that day!
We ended the tour then and went back to the hotel. After a quick refresh, a few of us walked to a nearby mall to shop: I went with Steph, Alicia and Sabine. We looked around at the mall and then the grocery store, which was absolutely slammed, it was like navigating a public high school (at least, mine) in between classes. We decided to make things easy and have dinner at the food court. The whole place felt like a modern medina, which I suppose it was. I panic ordered finally, and got a burrito called the bang bang, which was chicken with cheese, fries, and a sauce. Not super healthy, but a nice change from tagine.
Moroccan Pizza Hut!
We walked home then, and we saw a van absolutely stuffed with people, and either Steph or Alicia (now I just can’t remember, forgive me!) said “Oh, that must be the basic tour.” We just died laughing. (If you have researched Intrepid trips, this is a much funnier joke, or maybe you had to be there). And then we saw this van:
I decided, no THAT’s the basic tour van. Everybody inside and the luggage tied on top.
We discovered there was a bar at the hotel, quite hidden, around behind a corner, and Sabine and Steph and I decided to have a drink. The bar smelled like smoke, but we noticed there was a little garden terrace so we sat out there. We also invited the rest of the group and Barb and Graeme joined later. I had a beer from Fez and another from Casablanca, which I preferred.
I looked up at one point and noticed this LINE of a/c units. Crazy!
It was pleasant but chilly on the terrace, and it was nice to chat and relax with a beer, one of the rare times we did that on this tour. And then that was it for the day, and I went up to bed.
Day 2: Let’s go! We are in Morocco, we are touring, we are having fun!
My alarm went off at 6:30 am and it was still pitch black outside in Casablanca. I got ready and went downstairs for breakfast. I ran into Barb and Graehm again (this would become a thing, we basically became breakfast buddies as the earliest ones to get ready on the tour). I ate yogurt and some bread, juice, coffee. Nothing too exciting. I brought my bags down at 8 and then we headed out soon after.
This was the day we started traveling on our minibus, really, our home away from home for the next 10 days. I brought my backpack on board the first day, but just to let you know: I started just bringing my purse and a few things in a tote after that as the space wasn’t that big. I do wish I had brought a smaller zip up tote or something on this tour as I just used a disposable tote from a store (they give you these weird cloth feeling bags instead of plastic) for the whole tour. It worked fine though.
But the first day I had my backpack, and my suitcase (my glorious suitcase! how I love thee) was in the back of the van/minibus.
Our first destination was the Hassan II Mosque. I had seen the outside the day before, but this morning we would be going inside. It was still early so it wasn’t too crowded, just us and a few other small groups.
You can see it’s less crowded that the day before, but this picture of me isn’t as good…
We had to take off our shoes to enter the mosque and they gave us a little (cloth feeling) bag to put our shoes in and carry them around. What an amazing place! The detail in the decor is phenomenal, and the designers and builders spared no expense. The guide was excellent and we learned a lot…and I’ve forgotten a lot of it by now, but that’s the nature of the beast. We had a woman guide as well, which was quite rare for this trip.
Looking into the mosque.A door to the outside that would only be open during certain times.So many gorgeous tile patterns. I think this is the door that they said was made of titanium to avoid rust.I thought this sign was great. So fancy.
On the way out we used the bathroom which was very clean squat toilets. It turned out there might have a been a “western style” toilet as well, as I saw a line after I left, but it was nice not to wait in line, when the restroom was clean. Then we got back on the bus and headed to Rabat, after a quick stop at Rick’s Cafe, which is a replica from the movie Casablanca, which I have not seen (yet.)
Things I noticed on the drive: old buildings with so many satellite dishes on top. SO MANY. And lots of clothes hanging out the windows. I was just watching the world go by out the window and loving it.
We got to Rabat in about an hour and met a local guide there. Intrepid likes to use local guides to stimulate the economy and to provide the most authentic information.
We visited the Kasbah first. The guide had trouble keeping our group together–it was like herding cats. We were all overstimulated and didn’t want to walk around learning history, I think.
A sampling of doors, so many glorious and unique doors.
Great view over the ocean and several sides. I kept an eye out for marauders.A cat!We took a break for mint tea and sweets.The group.
Then we got back on the bus and rode to the ruins of a mosque that was unfinished, the Hassan Tower, built near the end of the 12th century. There was also a mausoleum there for Mohammad V, who died is 1961. You could take pictures of and with the guards, which was sort of fun.
Me standing by the guard.The Hassan TowerInside the Mausoleum.Guarding the tombWe saw a lot of these strangely trimmed trees throughout RabatIs this building screaming or just in awe?
I did feel like the guide was mostly just rushing us around for no real reason. He was nice and very knowledgeable, but there was a lot of hurry up and then wait…I might have preferred just a bit of free time and meeting up somewhere.
Lunch was at a restaurant by the river/estuary. One thing on the tour was there were some meals you had to paid for, but you would be taken somewhere for the meal. It made sense, but something to keep in mind. We ordered from a menu: I was going to order fish pastille but then they didn’t have that so I panic ordered fish tagine. It was not nearly so flavorful as the tagine the night before. It was…fine. A bit bland. And cost more than the tagine the night before. Oh well, you pay for the view.
Look at this vehicle!
We drove to Meknes next, stopping at a grocery store along the way. I love grocery stores in foreign countries, so I got a few things to snack on (lunch had been VERY late) as well as some sunscreen that I love.
We pulled up at the hotel, and I think we were all a bit disappointed by this one, the Hotel Swani. It was a bit outside of town in a grungy looking area, and while the hotel was perfectly safe and clean, it wasn’t too exciting. My room smelled of smoke and a hint of sewer, but I got the fan going and that helped. I did have a balcony, which was nice, though it was cold so I only popped out. Aman recommended we eat at the hotel restaurant and just rest, so I did that. You had to order the food first and then go up to the rooftop restaurant later. I wasn’t terribly hungry so I ordered soup and an appetizer, running into a few other tourmates when I did. We met up at the restaurant a little later and enjoyed a really tasty meal, so that was good. And then I went to bed: I was exhausted from the day and still recovering from jet lag.
Morocco: land of colors, excess, horns, arches, doorways, ceramics, and more!
Why did I go to Morocco? So many reasons, but I really wanted to travel somewhere DIFFERENT, and the pictures I’d seen made me so curious to see it for myself. I knew I needed a tour group, and did a lot of research about what was best, and ended up choosing the 13 day Morocco Uncovered trip with Intrepid Adventures, based on the small groups (maximum of 12), the itinerary, and the price. They also had great reviews, and seemed to be a very reputable company. Spoiler alert: I found everything to be true, and the tour was terrific. 13 days is a bit misleading, as they count their days the way musicians count intervals, and the 13th day is the day you have breakfast and then leave.
I hope that this series of blog posts can be fun to read as well as helpful for anyone looking to do this tour and having trouble finding information on it online! I researched very hard to see what actually happened on the tours and only found two blogs written about it, so I may be the third. In typical fashion, I will share a ton of photos with my writing and take awhile to finish recapping it (but I WILL FINISH) and I hope you enjoy hearing about my trip. If not, why are you in here??
Pre-Tour: I originally booked a ticket to fly to Casablanca through New York and then Paris. On Christmas morning, the day before I was to fly out, I got a text from Delta saying that that flight was canceled and I was rebooked for some flights the following day. Noooooo!!! I had planned to arrive 1 day early, and the rebooked flight would have me missing the welcome meeting. Not good at all. I got on the phone with Delta and managed to get a flight leaving the same day, and ultimately ended up with the same flight from Paris to Casablanca. Crisis averted.
Other pre-tour: I was planning to pack using just a carry-on suitcase, backpack, and purse I could stuff in the backpack. But then my last flight was with Air France and Air France has a strict carry-on weight limit of 12 kg, which is 26 pounds. This doesn’t seem too crazy, but when I started weighing things my suitcase weighed something like 22-23 pounds and then my backpack and purse were 10, and it was all just going to be too much. I decided I’d better just check my suitcase, and we put airtags on it and my backpack.
Sunset as the plane left St Louis–it was truly stunning!
But then my flight from Atlanta to Paris was delayed and I ended up missing that flight. No problem, I got booked on the next flight. However, this messed up my transfer with Intrepid–they were supposed to pick me up at the airport. I spent some time in the Paris Airport calling and leaving messages, unsure if I had gotten through.
I will say that I found this to be a challenge–flights get canceled and delayed all the time and it should have been easier for me to contact someone about this. I knew I could take a cab from the airport and it would be fine, but I was owed this transfer.
Anyway, when I landed in Casablanca I knew my bag wasn’t with me because of the airtag, so after clearing immigration and customs I immediately went to make a lost bag claim. Note about immigration: I somehow got the softest speaking immigration officer every, and had to ask him to repeat absolutely everything. As I stood there waiting to get my stamp I thought, hmm, if they send me back it’ll be because I just couldn’t hear this man.
(This was a quick entry into Moroccan society, haha!) The woman I was talking with about my luggage spoke English pretty well, but we were still struggling. And there was a dog barking loudly the whole time, and it was just a scene. (I also realized that lines were more of an idea and the best thing to do was just make yourself known and push your way in.) Anyway, I got a copy of the missing baggage form and then exchanged money, and needed to see if there was any chance Intrepid was there to pick me up. The answer was no, no sign of any transfer. And so then I was outside of the airport and it was fairly empty, and a few people kept asking me if I needed help, and I fended them off (because I was told that’s what you should do).
I was exhausted and it was after 10 pm Casablanca time at this point, so I probably missed a sign. I realized that I actually DID need help, and here is where I did something I shouldn’t have, but I was tired: I let a woman help me “find a cab” and then ended up that she drove me to the hotel. I was half worried that she was kidnapping me and the other half worried she was just scamming me, but she did get to me to the hotel at the agreed upon price, so I think I only ended up falling for the unlicensed cab scam and nothing more, and alls well that ends well.
I checked into the first Hotel, the Hotel Les Saisons, around 11 pm or so. Thankfully they were expecting me and had my room held, and that went just fine. Oh, and even though my suitcase was delayed, I did have all my toiletries with me as well as a change of underwear, so not all was lost. I got to the room and collapsed into bed.
The bed in my room. It was a nice enough room for two nights, the toilet worked, the shower worked, the bed was comfy, and it was almost warm enough.
Official start day of the tour:
Day 1: Casablanca. I had a day tour booked for this morning, since I was arriving early. I got up and went down for breakfast, where I met Barb and Graeme, another couple that would be on my tour. I wasn’t very hungry so I drank some coffee and juice and ate yogurt and a croissant. i talked with the hotel about my luggage and they said they would call when the office opened up.
The tour guide sent a cab to pick me up. It was raining and cold, so if you are going to Morocco in December, be aware that you will need things other than “desert wear.” After picking me up, the cabbie went to pick up another woman at her hotel. She was named Lori and was from Victoria, Canada, and we were the only two on the tour! This ended up being really fun and I was glad it wasn’t a private tour, but also it was great with just two people.
We met our tour guide Hicham outside of the Hassan II mosque. We didn’t go inside, but we got some pictures outside.
The mosque, you can see it was rainy and wet.I’d love to remove those people from the background but don’t know how. But as you can see, it was cool and rainy, but what a beautiful place.One more for the skies too. The Hassan II mosque with wet floor and intense skies.
We headed off on the tour, via the cab as needed and sometimes on foot: it was a walking tour mostly, but then we used the cab (the driver just waited) to get from place to place to walk around. We learned about the history of Casablanca as we went from place to place, and visited the old Medina and the new Medina.
This is me in front of the old fort for Casablanca, which is now a restaurant.Fun street murals, and just a sense of the streets. Little cars everywhere.Who doesn’t hug their fish like this? A picture of a mural with a woman hugging a fish.Palm trees and little cars.Little truck, check. Inanimate object that looks like a face, check!Such beautiful woodwork for a random door. Who knows what is behind it?Hashtag cats of Morocco. I couldn’t stop taking pictures. Look at this building!What about this door for your house?
We tried prickly pear fruit in the Medina, which left our tongues red. We walked up and down streets, and saw many more cats.
A cat sitting on a motorcycle. This was a surprisingly common occurence.Doors, electricity, and marble.It is important to note that I have not actually seen the movie Casablanca.A fruit and vegetable stand in the medinaBags of grains and who knows what.More cats! The other woman on the tour said I’d be taking a lot of pictures if I took pictures of all the cats. Whatever. I pay for extra cloud storage.A beautiful park.DoorsWhat a beautiful entrance way to somebody’s home.Arches, with cars.Arches, and me. Olives! So many olives. Did you know they are all from the same tree, just that they are different colors depending on how ripe.Pottery. Maybe just from China, maybe from Morocco. My first cup of mint tea. The Moroccans love a very sweet mint tea.
We ended the tour with mint tea and pastries.
the Hassan II mosque from across the sea/ocean.
My suitcase was still in Paris (thanks air tag) so the guide dropped me off at the mall where I bought a warm scarf and a pair of sweatpants to tide me over. I walked back to the hotel from there, without too many men yelling at me (the thing to do seemed to be to step in front of me and say “welcome to morocco” which was at a minimum, super annoying.) I knew I needed to eat something but my stomach felt bad–stress plus jet lag, poor combination. I ended up getting a cheese sandwich and fries at a nearby fast food style place.
I was grateful to be in Casablanca, but exhausted and a little (ranging to very) stressed out about my bag. Barb had said that morning that of course Intrepid would help, but I was unsure what they might do. Also, then I sort of hurt my ankle again walking around and luckily didn’t fall, but I was feeling like I had bitten off more than I could chew with this trip, and had some moments of doubt!
6:00 pm Time for the Welcome Meeting. It was in the hotel, and we met our guide Aman along with all the people. It ended up that it was 10 people from Australian (3 couples, 2 sets of women traveling as friends), 1 woman from Germany, and of course me. At this point my bag was “unknown” on the airtag rather than in Paris, so I thought, maybe it was on a plane. I talked with Aman and he said he would help, of course. He talked to a friend and said that after dinner we could go to the airport. We also set up a what’s app group with everybody in it for communication.
We went to dinner as a group (on our own dime, but I thought very reasonable) at a nearby restaurant. I had a chicken tagine with vegetables: note to reader, you will eat a lot of chicken tagines on this tour, so in retrospect I might have ordered something different, but it was delicious. My stomach was still funny so I figured chicken and vegetables would be good, and it was.
A tagineThe unveiling of the tagine!
The meal also came with bread and olives, which is very typical. I got terrific news during dinner, which was that my airtag was showing my bag at the Casablanca airport. Aman made some calls to determine the best course of action, and he said after we ate he and I would go in a cab to the airport. We got there and he walked with me as far as he could go–there were security checkpoints and I was only allowed past them because of my missing bag paperwork. I followed the airtag and ended up at the office from the previous night. I explained that my bag was THERE, and they went to look for it. I will say, without the airtag, I would not have known–they had not scanned it in yet, and while I’m sure they would have eventually done so, it is likely that I would have been without my suitcase for several days or longer, as they would have had to scan it, and then send it somewhere, which Aman had said would likely be to Fez, in four days, as we would be staying there for two nights.
I waited outside the office for a few stressful minutes until lo and behold, out walks the man with what can only be described as a “shit-eating grin” and my suitcase! I may have cried a few happy tears.
Now, this whole debacle cost me 600 dirham for the cab ride, and I couldn’t get a receipt to submit to insurance, because that’s not something they do, but I was incredibly relieved nonetheless. We got back close to 11 pm (the airport is a good 45-60 minutes from the hotel) and I was exhausted. I did a few organizing things as we were leaving the next morning, and went to bed. The next day would be starting on the early side, and I was happy to finally really feel like my vacation was starting.
