Morocco

Notes From Kev

Our second time to Northern Africa but the first time exploring on our own without a dedicated guide! We were a little nervous after our time in Egypt but fortunately Morocco is a bit more tourist friendly and we made it through unscathed.

Marrakech is a tale of two cities. The old Medina, where Ben warned us not to stay but we accidentally did anyway, is a maze of small, market-lined streets with mopeds constantly buzzing through and vendors who have monkeys and will frequently try to hand you snakes. In contrast, the newer part of town is monkey and snake-free and feels like what I would expect a nice area in Miami to be.

While in Marrakech the only time we felt truly uncomfortable was when we went to the tannery and a couple different people became our “guides.” Another big difference between here and Egypt is that they are much less pushy when it comes to asking for a tip. If you say no and walk away they usually respect that and let you go without further hassle. They will also give you directions and advice for FREE!

My favorite things we did here are visiting Bahia Palace and eating fatteh, which is a DEEEEELICIOUS Lebanese dish.

Our trip to the Sahara was a long three days but we saw some really cool places and did some fun things like sand boarding! Aside from a British musician who I think is the shepherd boy from The Alchemist and a lady from Germany who cheers for a mediocre German hockey team, the rest of the group was from Morocco, and boy did they like to sing and dance, whether on hour one or six of a bus ride or at 3 am when most everyone else is trying to sleep and has to wake up at 6 in the morning.

On the way to the Sahara we stopped at an oasis and Ait-Ben-Haddou, where many movies and TV shows have been filmed such as Gladiator and Game of Thrones.

Overall Score: 8.0

Marrakech

Sahara

Somewhere in Between