Northern Morocco

The blue town of Chefchaouen is also called the Blue Pearl of Morocco and it is a real gem among the cities in the world. However, in Morocco nothing is nothing for free, and such pearls especially…

Morocco is a truly beautiful country, and for many years it has been attracting me like 1000 and 1 tales of Araban Nights when I was a little girl. In addition to the strong oriental influence, there is also a little French touch, since this country used to be a French colony. Moroccans, as well as the French, can enjoy good food and other pleasures of life. It is also a very colorful country, in one day you can experience all four seasons at once. You will find beautiful oriental palaces and gardens, orange orchards, the ruthless Sahara desert, unbelievable forts growing out of the wilderness, and even goats that seem to grow on trees along with the argan nuts… If you are coming here for the first time, you should know that especially in the north of Morocco English is not enough, people speak only French and Arabic. And I also wish I had read that Moroccans are used to being tipped by tourists for every small service before traveling to Morocco and not after the trip. It would have cost us much less nerves…

Nothing works 

I’ve so much desired to go to Morocco that I partner up with similarly longing girls, although I haven’t known them personally until our trip. They are flight attendants like me, we have found each other on the EY travel buddy Facebook page. We all want to see Morocco and we have the same days off, so why not go together? Apart from me, there is a very energetic Italian girl Elena who drives like a pirate and can argue same well, even in Arabic! (She has a boyfriend from Jordan.) Furthermore, there is Romanian girl Emilia, who loves shopping, Moroccan delicacy “tajine” and can speak a decent French. Her Romanian friend Costina, like me, is an important peacemaker in our very diverse group. In the early morning we land to Casablanca and nothing works right already. At first, we have to wait for a long time at the exchange office till they finally serve us. Then we can’t find an agent who was supposed to bring us a rental car. Elena, our driver, advised me to book the cheapest company on the market (Economy cars) and it doesn’t seem like a right decision now. I prefer to book verified brands that have non-stop opened offices at airports. Eventually we find the agent and the car, but our Fiat Panda is in a deplorable condition. “Most important is, that it runs,” says Elena. She is going to drive, so I leave it to her judgment. Our first stop is Meknes. Along the way, however, I find out that Elena has no plan, not as she claimed, and we are more or less driving blind…

Meknes is an ancient city in the north of Morocco, which was once one of the four capitals of the former empire. Its historic center lays behind the gate of Bab Mansour. The oldest center of the city consists of old walls and a maze of narrow oriental streets, which today serve as classical Moroccan market with spices, oils, abayas or leather products. In a maze of streets, there is a very old mosque and Bou Inania Madrasa – old school, beautifully decorated with a specific Moroccan mosaic. The most interesting in the city is said to be the Mausoleum of Sultan Moulay Ismail with its oriental gardens, but unfortunately it is being restored at the time of our visit. So we rather go on towards the ancient ruins in Volubilis, we would like to reach the place before it gets dark…

Volubilis used to be an ancient city in the time of Roman Empire, which apparently reached the territory of North Africa. Volubilis was once the capital of Romano-Barbary Kingdom of Mauritania and, before that, the seat of the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians. As a monument to great times, there still stand huge ruins… With the sunset coming, this lookes even more impressive…

When the sun goes down, we decide to change the route so we have a whole day for Chefchaouen – the main destination of our trip. And instead of Fez, we head straight to north, closer to the Blue Pearl and keep Fez for the end of our trip. According to our new plan we want to dine and sleep in the nearby town of Auzanne, but the journey in the dark takes much longer than our navigation shows and in addition there is absolutely nothing in Auzanne except one overpriced hotel. In one local restaurant, where a few men watch football and it all looks pretty devastated, we finally convince the locals to allow us to connect to their wifi for a while. However, they are not very willing to help, because in Morocco nothing is for free, not even a help in need. After few minutes they just disconnect us. So I rather use my (not cheap) international data and after a short search I convince girls to continue driving to Chefchaouen. There is really nothing acceptable for overnight in whole area. Tired – not tired Elena has to grab the steering wheel and drive few more hours through a deserted landscape to Blue Town where I hope people are more friendly to lost tourists.

Night in the blue garden

When we arrive to Chefchaouen it is already half past midnight. We park in a small parking lot and use narrow stairs to the small hotel Molino Garden, which I managed to book on the way. It seems I’ve chosen well. Beautiful traditionally furnished guest house is cozy and all blue and in addition it’s situated right in the middle of the Blue Pearl. And we are way more friendly welcomed here. The only one that makes a problem is the car park guard who chases us to the hotel and asks for parking. However, the receptionist assures us that parking is included in the price and shows the item on the computer. After a quick shower and a cup of Moroccan min tea with honey, we literally pass out…

In the morning we are woken up by the smell of unique Moroccan breakfast – fresh orange juice (oranges grow well in Morocco), cheese, honey, homemade jam, olives, eggs, fresh bread, Moroccan “Beghir” pancakes, and my favorite Mesamen (different kind of pancakes/flat bread) and of course Moroccan min tea. The sun is pleasantly shining, we are having our breakfast outside on the terrace in the garden and we don’t really want to leave the table but the blue streets of Chefchaouen call…

A well-started day is ruined for a while by a parking guard who asks us for money again. We can’t convince him we already payed for the parking at the hotel. At that time I didn’t know that the guard asked for an extra tip, as it’s common in Morocco. Here you need to tip everyone and for everything. Guard starts threatening us. If we don’t pay, he will scratch our car. Elena, however, isn’t intimidated. She immediately takes a picture of him explaining that if anything happens to our car, he ends up at the police office. And this worked. Tourists are protected in Morocco. I have heard such a story that the King of Morocco once complained to his French friends why there are no more tourists coming to Morocco. The French replied that it bothers them that at every step someone begs them for money. The king decided to disguise himself like French tourist and set out to explore Moroccan streets. And he really found out later that the tourists really don’t have it easy in his country. Moroccans have made ATM machines out of them. And so begging has been banned, tourists have started enjoying various protective privileges and the situation has improved considerably. However, in the less touristic north, the new rules seem to be harder to settle…

Let’s forget about one annoying guard and entangle into the beautiful and completely blue streets of the town. In many places, the quiet streets have turned into a bazaar with oriental goods and souvenirs. Right at the first store, an old gentleman in traditional clothing with a long white beard sells beautifully handmade leather bags. He is very nice, helpful and even speaks English very well. We are enjoying trading with him. As we are passing other shops we find out more and more difficult to resist beautiful oriental goods. Various leather products, but especially original bags and handbags, carpets, bracelets, earrings, necklaces, silk scarves, lanterns, jewelry boxes, bowls or mirrors behind carved doors frames… My mission is to buy a bottle of 100% Argan oil for myself and for my mother, because we’re both addicted. It is a brilliant thing not only for your facial wrinkles, but it also serves as body lotion or hair oil that supports their growth…

Later, just the smell of Tajine pull us away from the bazaar. Tajine is a Moroccan specialty that I can’t resist. It is actually something like a stew that has been cooked for hours at low temperatures in special ceramic dish. Chicken, lamb or beef are cooked in bowls along with vegetables, aromatic spices and often fruits such as prunes or grapes. You really have to taste it once! I bet you will love Moroccan cuisine. The summoner in front of the restaurant promises us Tajine with salad and water for 25 dirhams only, which sounds very appealing. The food that they serve to us is really delicious. Mysteriously, however, our final bill get increased by almost double price than we were promised at the beginning. We really believed that everything what they brought to the table was included in our deal. Well, welcome to Morocco! The only attenuating circumstance in this case is that these are indeed minimal costs. In euro terms, they have not asked us more than two euros per person on top of our deal. But as Elena says, what about the principle!?

After lunch we get back to the blue streets for few more hours and just with the sunset we sit back to our car to leave the town. We wanted to avoid driving in the dark through winding paths in the middle of nowhere, but we weren’t able to leave beautiful Chefchaouen earlier. And why is the city all blue? There are several theories. The most widespread is, in my opinion, the least likely that residents of Chefchaouen painted their houses in blue to scare away mosquitoes. The other theories are much more true to me. The tradition of painting houses in blue occurs in the Jewish communities, which in this way wanted to differentiate themselves from the other non-Jewish inhabitants and at the same time to express their love for God and heaven, which is represented by the blue color. As this theory says blue color to Chefchaouen was brought by Jewish immigrants around 1930. However, would these Jews, in these difficult times, when they weren’t much welcomed anywhere in the world, be willing to attract so much attention? Blue in Islam represents happiness, hope and optimism. It is also the color of the water and in dry Islamic countries the sources of drinking water were highly valued. Close to Chefchaouen there is a waterfall with drinking water. In addition, blue in the hot days cools down and in addition it attracts attention – of buyers or tourists nowadays…

Around ten in the evening, the city lights will finally emerge in front of us after a long dark drive in no-man’s lands. In front of us is Fez, the oldest and after Casablanca the second largest city in Morocco. The historic center of Fez is again formed by narrow stone streets, typical oriental bazaar and walls, so we have a problem to find a suitable parking place. So we have to leave Elena stuck with a car in one of the narrow streets, we take our luggage and go to find Dar Tahri for overnight. The Dars are actually typical Moroccan burgher houses with rich mosaic decoration and patio inside the house. Nowadays they are mainly used as vacation villas and hostels for tourists. First we knock on some Dar Tahrij’s door where we are obviously not expected. Then we find out that we are at the wrong Dar. One guy offers us his helping hand to show us the way to the right one, then he helps me to find Elena in a maze of old streets, walks us to the proper parking lot and then back to our guesthouse. Of course, he wasn’t  doing it out of kindness, but he asks for money. I’m no longer surprised. The helping hand is never for free here. Our right Dar is a huge old traditionally furnished house and back in the days it must have been beautiful but tonight it looks a bit scary and neglected. However, I notice that at many places it’s being reconstructed… But tonight we sleep as babies and no ghosts have a chance.

Fez and pigeon poo

Our last day we start with a fantastic Moroccan breakfast again – fresh orange juice, cheese, honey, homemade jam, olives, eggs, fresh bread, beghir, mesamen and of course, mint tea. I could imagine having such a breakfast every day! After breakfast we load our bags into the car and we are ready to discover the beauty of Fez. However, we get stuck at local bazaar for a few hours, mainly because we cannot resist the offered goods. Leather bags, belts, wallets and other products are here even more beautiful, sophisticated and cheaper. Fez is the capital where the animal skin is processed. We also visit one of the many traditional family businesses, the so-called “tanneries.” “Tannery” is a factory where animal skin is processed and dyed. It often belongs to one family for generations and spreads out on the courtyards behind the house. This is where the bad smell comes from, because in Fez, pigeon shit is used to process the skin. Yes, that big container in the middle of the factory is full of pigeon shit! Pigeon droppings make the skin softer and more workable. It may be a very ecological and functional form of leather processing, but the handbag I bought my mother in Fez was hanging on our balcony for weeks before my mum was able to wear it. We couldn’t get rid of the strange smell… My was hanging in the air in shop for longer time so the smell was gone…

In the afternoon we head to Rabat, from where we want to take the evening flight back to Abu Dhabi to avoid an unnecessary night in Casablanca. Moreover, we are closer to Rabat. We call a car rental number, which should work 24 hours a day, that we need to return the car half a day earlier and preferably at a branch in Rabat instead of Casablanca. But no one is answering our call for a long time, then a sleepy voice finally but reluctantly tell us that he would call us later. We are waiting a few hours more for the return call, but no one calls back and when we are calling, no one answers and we need to return the car to catch the flight! It’s Friday afternoon and Moroccans are obviously not in mood to bother with customer service. I start to realize why Morocco is so far behind Europe despite its beauty. People are lazy to work. When we were with my friends in Iceland and we needed to arrange something, rent or return the car on another date, I got a reply to my e-mail within ten minutes, even in the evening during weekend! Moroccans would like to get more money from tourism, but they don’t really work on it… At the last moment, after trying all the possible phone numbers that we found on the company’s website, we finally successfully connect with the boss himself who arrange what we need. Just in last minute we are able to return the car and then check in at the airport on time…