Morocco from South to North
Gastro adventure and real road trip in Morocco. 11 days and 10 nights of aesthetic pleasure in the most colorful country in Africa - Morocco. Absolutely everything is perfectly combined here: mountains and ocean, desert and cities, architecture and nature. Here the cultures of the east, west and the African continent merge. We will drive almost the entire coast of the country, walk along the fabulous streets of the blue city and the labyrinths of the old medinas of imperial cities, we will taste the country's cuisine in the best restaurants, imbued with its aromas and even try to cook it ourselves at one of the master classes.
Date: April 16-28, 2023
Route: Marrakech, Essaouira, Safi, Oualidia, El Jadida, Rabat, Fez, Chefchaouen, Tangier.
The price includes: all accommodation and transportation according to the program, entrance tickets to museums, archaeological sites and national parks.
The price not included: your flight to Morocco and back, meals, insurance, personal expenses, visa if needed.
The length of the route is about 1200 km one way. On average, a day trip is 3-4 hours. During the way we will make stops for rest and lunch in picturesque places and small towns such as: Safi, Oualidia, El Jadida, Moulay Bousselham, Larache and others, tasting local cuisine in authentic restaurants.
Marrakesh
‘Over the years, I realized that the most important thing about my dress is the woman who puts it on.” Yves Saint Laurent.
2 nights. We will visit the museum-collection of Yves Saint Laurent and his place of residence, transformed after his death into the Majorelle Garden, in which the ashes of Yves Saint Laurent were scattered in 2008.
Let's do the whole tourist "must have" - visit the ancient Medina - the "red city", so named because of the reddish tint of adobe buildings and enrolled in 1985 to the World Heritage Sites.
Immerse yourself in the maze of streets of the traditional bazaars of Marrakech. They are divided into specialized quarters, through which you can wander indefinitely. The abundance of colors, sounds and smells is amazing. Spice market, fabric and caftan market, chased goods market, carpet market.
Let's drink mint tea on one of the roofs of Jemaa al-Fna Square and try to find street acrobats, storytellers, dancers and snake charmers, while not parting with our wallet, because it is not for nothing that all the locals have been admonishing tourists since ancient times - "Do not trust anyone in Medina" and " Café upstairs, toilet downstairs and keep your wallet to yourself”.
Let's bargain with shopkeepers for souvenirs, because the process of trading is a national sport here, keeping in mind the words of:
"The cheap goods may to spend all your money". Alexander (father) Dumas.
Let's try the national dishes - tajine and harira, ride in a three-seater taxi to our riad and go to bed, because tomorrow we have a long road with amazing scenery.
Tangier
Romans, Arabs, Portuguese, English, French - all tried to master the mysterious beauty and advantageous strategic position of Tangier, this "king" of the Mediterranean.
Tangier was once known (1932-1956) as the most international city in the world. During this period, artists and writers from America and Europe flocked to the city, drawn by its bohemian atmosphere. It was a paradise for the stylish and wealthy representatives of the "Mediterranean demi-monde".
We will climb to the highest point of the city, from where the widest panorama of Tangier opens, nothing obscures it.
We will visit the bazaar on Gran Sokko Square, where the inhabitants of the Rif still descend from the mountains, then through the big blue gates we get into the Jardin du Mendoubia garden, a real green kingdom; here, in particular, grows a huge dragon tree, which is said to be over 800 years old.
We will visit one of the main attractions of Tangier - “Kasbah” and Palace “Dar el Makhzen”. Let's move and drink coffee, mint tea and stare at the passers-by in the oldest cafe in Tangier (1892) "Cafe Central", once you could meet here Eroll Flynn, Cary Grant, Henri Matisse, Paul Bowles and many others.
Let's drive through the "La Montagne" area, where wealthy Europeans once settled, today this area is a dense building of extravagant mansions and looks like a pleasant contrast to the prosaic chaos of the Medina.
Toward evening we will go to rest, have dinner and enjoy the sunset at Cap Spartel and the caves of Hercules (Grottes d’Hercule). A mesmerizingly beautiful place. This is the northwestern tip of Africa, where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean. To the north, on the Spanish coast, is Cape Trafalgar, the site of Admiral Nelson's last battle.
The two caves, which are reached by wet steps, used to be the place of worship of some mysterious prehistoric cult (hundreds of Neolithic phalluses were excavated in them in the 20s of the last century). During the period when the country was an international zone, eccentricity was in the order of things, and for one of his parties, photographer Cecil Beaton filled one cave with champagne and another with hashish. However, the caves owe their legendary status not to this, but to the fact that their ocean-facing entrance has the contours of the African continent. In the evenings, this natural "gateway to Africa" becomes a striking setting for the seascape as the sun sets.
Rabat
Unlike the Europeanized Casablanca, the capital of Morocco, Rabat, is an eastern city, one of the centers of Arab culture and education. There are many educational institutions in Rabat, Mediterranean-type villa quarters, European commercial and administrative districts, Muslim mosques and oriental bazaars, green parks and architectural monuments organically coexist.
Our main goal in the city will be visiting the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, surprisingly not mentioned in any of the guidebooks so far.
We will also visit the old city center - Medina, which is successful and there are no tourists at all, for example, Rabat carpets are one of the best and most beautiful in the country. The streets in Medina are like paths winding among undersized houses, shops, mosques.
Fez
Fez is the oldest of the four imperial cities of Morocco.
The medina of Fez is a World Heritage Site. The religious and educational complex of Al-Karaouine, which was founded in 859 by Fatima al-Fihri from Kairouan (hence the name), is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as "the world's oldest continuously operating institution of higher education."
When asked what to see in Fes, my usually answer is Fes.
The main attraction of Fes is the city itself with its narrow streets in the medina (it is believed that there are more than 9,000 unnamed lanes and about 40,000 dead ends), mosques and madrasahs, bazaars, artisan workshops and leather dyeing. It is impossible to single out one thing, here everyone and everyone is equal among equals, fortunately the city is not very big and a couple of days will be enough for us to fully explore.
Chefchaouen
Chefchaouen is the "blue pearl of Morocco", one of the most picturesque and photogenic towns in the world. The tradition of painting houses in all shades of blue (the color of the sky and the color of God) was founded by the Jews who once lived here.
We will walk along its quiet streets, where life flows unhurriedly, which has not changed at all over the past centuries, arrange a real photo shoot in the best spots, admire the panorama of the city from the observation deck on the mountain.
Our journey is coming to finish, we will spend the next day on the road towards Casablanca with an overnight stay in a quiet, but very cozy and picturesque fishing town.
