Morocco:

philius

Hi.

hitting morocco for a few days over christmas.

recommendations?

(travelling solo as well, not booking anything)

Appolonia

Hi Philius,

I travelled around Morocco a couple of years go - lovely country, cant wait to go back.

The highlights were:
- Essaouira - town on coast with a fabulous long beach. Popular with surfy types. Very ladi back.
- Desert sand-dunes - near Er Racchidia I think. Gorgeous sand-dunes, just like in photos. Stayed in a tent in the desert and up at dawn to watch the sun come up over the dunes.
- Meknes - think it was Meknes anyway, maybe Fez! I small hilltop town towards the north of Morocco.
- the mosque in Casablanca is impressive.
- Hammam - a traditional public single-s*x baths. I've never felt as clean!

Things to avoid:
- Tangers - smelly, dirty, filled with touts hassling you.
- I know it's very popular, but I wasnt that keen on Marrakesh. Much more hassle from the locals than in other towns.

Another thing - the 'call to prayer' from the mosques will wake you up every morning! You'll prob get used to it after a few days..


Also some restored Ryads (traditional homes) are amazing. Some are hotels, but tend to be pricey.
Being islamic, sometimes it can be hard to get a drink, but most towns have a store where you can buy wine/beer at certain times of day.
I found the food a bit monotonous - either cous-cous or tagine everywhere, but harissa (a hot paste) spices things up!

If you speak a bit of french, that'll be a huge help. A couple of words of arabic would be useful too - like please, thank you (skrukran), etc.

Have a lovely trip!

philius

cool

all noted, yeah sounds good, gonna head direct to Pez and also grab a day or two somewhere else.

thanks for you response.

keevita

agree on the tangers thing...phew...

however i travelled in a bit to tetuan (not quite sure if i spelt that right) and its the real deal. the time i was there, the king was visiting, and security was unbelievable!!