Morocco Spring 2023

Kasbahs + Desert Read more

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Trip start
April 10, 2023
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Day 1
Monday, April 10, 2023 at 1:42 PM
☁️ 15 °C
Altitude: 437 m
Switzerland Zurich airport 47.451595, 8.56132647°27’6” N 8°33’41” E
E-Sim, airport lounges and NordVPN
April 10, 2023 in Switzerland ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C
On the way….
The train ride Brig -Zürich airport takes a good 2.5h. Enough time to study all providers of e-sim cards.

Mobile
I decided to use airalo. No 10 dollars to be able to use mobile data for 10days in Morocco.
The app covers about 200 country’s and for little money I escape do expensive data packages for abroad my provider. If it works, I will continue to use the app for the following trip, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand. Besides, check the mail and do the last things that you just have to do….

Priority Pass
The airport Zürich gave rise to talk with long waiting times in the last days. I am 3.5h early on the airport, prepares for long queues in the security area. But everything quiet, simple, uncomplicated. And 3/4h after arrival of the train, I sit already fully eaten and with the first Bloodymary in the airport lounge.
Yes exactly. The lounge card is a good investment for people who stay at airports from time to time. Free food, free drinks, coffee without end, wifi, showers and clean sanitary facilities, comfortable chairs for a minimum annual fee snd a one-time fee per visit, the lounges are available at all airports worldwide. For all those who know the Swiss prices, especially at Zürich airport, I can only recommend the card, you can not enjoy the airport cheaper. And the card has also helped me with involuntary stopovers, Im thinking of Moscow….

Nord VPN
To be able surf safely, I still activate Nord VPN. A good online VPN service provides you with a secure, encrypted tunnel through which your online traffic can flow safely. This way, no one can view your online data or find out your real IP address and location.
Nord VPN is the bestVPN service if you connect to insecure public Wi-Fi networks. Thanks to VPN, you can safely access your personal data as well as your work files. Besides, while surfing, your privacy is preserved and no one can see what you are doing online.
Especially when you want research or book airline tickets, it can help to change your location via NordVPN. Sometimes it makes sense to book the tickets under a different country IP address if they are much cheaper there. A subscription coast for 2years between 3 and 6 dollars/month, so totally ok.

So… and now everything is ready to go. With a stopover in Paris we are off: Morocco!Read more
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Day 1
Monday, April 10, 2023 at 2:50 PM
☁️ 17 °C
Altitude: 107 m
France Le Mesnil-Amelot 49.002045, 2.58095749°0’7” N 2°34’51” E
Stopover in Paris
April 10, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
Paris and it's raining.... And soon it goes on to Casablanca... Where I will meet tomorrow the crazy Lan from NY. together we are the next days in Morocco on the road.
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Day 2
Tuesday, April 11, 2023 at 6:14 AM
☀️ 14 °C
Altitude: 20 m
Morocco Bassin du Tourisme 33.593735, -7.5997733°35’37” N 7°35’59” W
Casablanca
April 11, 2023 in Morocco ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C
Good morning Casablanca: Two crazy women -one from NY, the other from Bern- meet again after 3 months in Morocco...

Last time we sailed through the Andan Sea and now we are conquering the desert.
TravelerCrazy is great! Viva la vida! 💃💃
4/11/23Reply
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Day 3
Wednesday, April 12, 2023 at 12:59 PM
☀️ 25 °C
Altitude: 382 m
Morocco Volubilis 34.072994, -5.55473134°4’23” N 5°33’17” W
On the way to Fes
April 12, 2023 in Morocco ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
Morocco... during Ramadan is a bit of a challenge. Everything is closed, even the restaurants.

In the hotel in Casablanca, I had to change rooms twice. In the first one, the toilet was full of urine splashes, the shower was dirty and the bed was not freshly made. The second one was clean at first sight, but when I went to bed it was full of pubic hair....
So I moved to Lan's room.
Then the next bang: from the 2 night I should spend the night with a stranger in the room. Somehow my bookings got lost, all paid and I may pay every night again if I insist on the single room....
So I spend the night communicating with the agency, which can't help. The guide we found about the. Agency have booked, just annoying. The stands in the middle of the night with the management of the hotel in front of the room door and wants to force me to take another room. I stay calm and close the door. Every other word is "go with Allah" and I could scream. Leave Allah on the side. He won't tip you.

That the food would not be mine, I knew. The vegetables are swimming in oil and overcooked. There are no water dispensers. You can buy water, in plastic bottles that are lying around everywhere on the street, in the fields. Not as bad as in Zanzibar, but bad.
Just as in Zanzibar, the men sit around lazily or pray and the women work. I and Africa have understood, we will never be friends.Read more
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Day 4
Thursday, April 13, 2023 at 7:12 PM
🌙 19 °C
Altitude: 412 m
Morocco Fes 34.036213, -4.99660534°2’10” N 4°59’48” W
Fes #1
April 13, 2023 in Morocco ⋅ 🌙 19 °C
I no longer have a fever, accordingly my mood was much better today!
In the morning we visited a ceramics factory outside of Fez. The mosaic artists or ceramic painters impressed me incredibly.
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Day 4
Thursday, April 13, 2023 at 7:16 PM
🌙 19 °C
Altitude: 412 m
Morocco Fes 34.036213, -4.99660534°2’10” N 4°59’48” W
Fes #2
April 13, 2023 in Morocco ⋅ 🌙 19 °C
I personally like Fes much better than Casablanca. We started at the royal palace, strolled through the Jewish quarter and meandered through the narrow streets of the medina. The arts and crafts are amazing and the architecture simply stunning.Read more
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Day 4
Thursday, April 13, 2023 at 7:41 PM
🌙 18 °C
Altitude: 412 m
Morocco Fes 34.036196, -4.99672234°2’10” N 4°59’48” W
Fes #3
April 13, 2023 in Morocco ⋅ 🌙 18 °C
For the part where the leather is tanned, however, you need a strong stomach or enough mint to cope with the acrid smell.

Today we had Aziz as our guide, an incredibly good and charming historian and architect, we could not have met better. History can be so exciting....

We are now complete for the desert trip: about 15 people, 12 women and 3 men from all over the world. India, Scotland, England, Romania, Canada, Germany, USA and Switzerland. Together we are going to the desert tomorrow for the next 3 days.
The mood is very good, we laugh a lot and the conversations are very amusing.

None of the group can see the food anymore. So we just bought fruits and bread everywhere, even alcohol we found. With the result that we now take about 100 bottles of beer and a few bottles of wine with us into the desert. Lan is happy.

Tripadvisor helps us tonight to find a nice local, with good Moroccan falafel, tubule and humus. That will certainly be tasty.Read more
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Day 4
Thursday, April 13, 2023 at 9:32 PM
🌙 15 °C
Altitude: 412 m
Morocco Fes 34.036213, -4.99660534°2’10” N 4°59’48” W
Good night Fes
April 13, 2023 in Morocco ⋅ 🌙 15 °C
Tomorrow we start at 6.00am in the direction of the desert. The next days we will be on the camel.
I am packing and in the house next door, the meal has started after sunset. I can not help it: I sit on the rooftop and listen to the singing.Read more
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Day 5
Friday, April 14, 2023 at 7:43 AM
☀️ 11 °C
Altitude: 1,655 m
Morocco Ifrane 33.525928, -5.10376333°31’33” N 5°6’14” W
Middel Atlas or Switzerland?!
April 14, 2023 in Morocco ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C
Update regarding food: despite tripadvisor, there was nothing to eat last night. Everything was closed. And since we already left at 6 o'clock, breakfast was also cancelled today.

A long drive is ahead and I have downloaded movies for safety. Completely unnecessary. The landscape is stunning. Every 2h it changes completely. We start in Ifrane:

Ifrane is a small town in Morocco, also known as the Switzerland of Morocco because of its European-influenced architecture.
Located at an altitude of 1,650 meters, the city surprises. Around the city is the largest cedar forest in the world. These trees erect their solemn silhouettes on the slopes of the Middle Atlas Mountains, which they cover with a mantle of green.

In winter, I. is the ski resort of the rich and is considered the cleanest place on all of Africa.Read more
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Day 5
Friday, April 14, 2023 at 10:16 AM
☀️ 18 °C
Altitude: 1,495 m
Morocco Tassardout 32.679321, -4.67058132°40’46” N 4°40’14” W
On the way to Merzouga
April 14, 2023 in Morocco ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C
i am in love The hole landscape is incredible.
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Day 5
Friday, April 14, 2023 at 12:11 PM
☀️ 23 °C
Altitude: 1,339 m
Morocco Jbel Dramchane 32.051857, -4.40754432°3’7” N 4°24’27” W
High Atlas
April 14, 2023 in Morocco ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
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Day 5
Friday, April 14, 2023 at 12:58 PM
☀️ 26 °C
Altitude: 943 m
Morocco Ayt Ighef 31.780395, -4.22448531°46’49” N 4°13’28” W
First Oasis
April 14, 2023 in Morocco ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C
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Day 5
Friday, April 14, 2023 at 2:56 PM
☀️ 29 °C
Altitude: 801 m
Morocco Saguiat Lahmiyda 31.434769, -4.23304631°26’5” N 4°13’59” W
Survival
April 14, 2023 in Morocco ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
Just before the desert, in Erfoud a store is open. And we find typical Moroccan products 🤪🤣🤪
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Day 5
Friday, April 14, 2023 at 4:00 PM
☀️ 31 °C
Altitude: 738 m
Morocco Er-Rissani 31.201626, -4.02741631°12’6” N 4°1’39” W
Merzouga
April 14, 2023 in Morocco ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C
When talking about Morocco, one can hardly avoid thinking about the vast desert that accompanies the country: The Sahara, the largest desert area on our planet, is also the most diverse.

Arrived in the oasis town of Merzouga! Merzouga is located in the east near the Algerian border. Here the giant dunes rise to high mountains and from this point begins the real and seemingly endless desert.Read more
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Day 5
Friday, April 14, 2023 at 7:03 PM
🌙 27 °C
Altitude: 735 m
Morocco Azour Zamani 31.193184, -4.02040731°11’35” N 4°1’13” W
Sahara, we come
April 14, 2023 in Morocco ⋅ 🌙 27 °C
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Day 5
Friday, April 14, 2023 at 10:21 PM
🌙 22 °C
Altitude: 761 m
Morocco Er-Rissani 31.206858, -4.01298531°12’25” N 4°0’47” W
Nightlive
April 14, 2023 in Morocco ⋅ 🌙 22 °C
By the way, who would have thought: we found the best food in the desert. The Berber guys cooked really delicious.
The night was beautiful. Unlike the desert in Dubai, it got really dark here. The stars were incredibly beautiful. With a glass of wine, it was perfect. It didn't get really cold either, at least to my sensibilities. The 19 degrees at night was pleasant.Read more
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Day 6
Saturday, April 15, 2023 at 8:15 AM
☀️ 21 °C
Altitude: 754 m
Morocco Er-Rissani 31.202078, -4.01833831°12’7” N 4°1’6” W
Workout in the dunes
April 15, 2023 in Morocco ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
The rooms were nice and cool and everyone slept well.
For the sunrise it is worth to climb a dune and enjoy the magic moment. It sounds easy, but it's not! A workout of a special kind.

3 hours time for me!
After breakfast Lan went with Mustafa and a part of the group further into the desert. There they visited the nomads living there. The other part, i.e. 2 of the men, rented a Quard and ventured with a guide very close to the border to Algeria. At least they saw the Algerian mountains from far away.
I stayed with Debbie, Björin, Josephine, Sharaia and Paula in the oasis by the pool. 3h just being and doing nothing, before continuing again to the Todra Gorge.Read more
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Day 6
Saturday, April 15, 2023 at 1:00 PM
☀️ 28 °C
Altitude: 1,096 m
Morocco El Assa n’Tazemmourt 31.458354, -5.2260331°27’30” N 5°13’34” W
On the way to Todra-Gorge
April 15, 2023 in Morocco ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
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Day 6
Saturday, April 15, 2023 at 3:24 PM
⛅ 27 °C
Altitude: 1,320 m
Morocco Tinrhir 31.530326, -5.54707431°31’49” N 5°32’49” W
Tinghir
April 15, 2023 in Morocco ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C
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Day 6
Saturday, April 15, 2023 at 5:44 PM
⛅ 22 °C
Altitude: 1,757 m
Morocco Aït Baha 31.588916, -5.59188931°35’20” N 5°35’31” W
Todra Gorge
April 15, 2023 in Morocco ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
Towering cliffs, a river that has cut its way across a fascinating mountain landscape and a dizzyingly narrow road that leads through the middle of the canyon - welcome to Todra Gorge!
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Day 7
Sunday, April 16, 2023
☀️ 29 °C
Altitude: 1,282 m
Morocco Ait Benhaddou 31.046024, -7.13435731°2’46” N 7°8’4” W
Ait Ben Haddou
April 16, 2023 in Morocco ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
Aït Benhaddou is a historic ighrem or ksar (fortified village) along the former caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakesh in Morocco. It is considered a great example of Moroccan earthen clay architecture and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.Read more
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Day 8
Monday, April 17, 2023
☁️ 21 °C
Altitude: 2,165 m
Morocco Tizi n’ Aguelmous 31.267197, -7.38420731°16’2” N 7°23’3” W
Back in the hight Atlas
April 17, 2023 in Morocco ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
The last night in an oasis with only 4.5h sleep we continue early at 07.00, back to the high Atlas and then on to Marrakech.
The temperature display in this app does not seem to work, because it is clearly hotter. Today it is supposed to be 36 degrees, in the sun it feels like 50.
It's even hotter here in the summer. Fields of poppies in bloom, pomegranate trees in blossom now defy the barrenness like spring. For me, spring is the ideal season to visit this country.

Meanwhile I am glad to be here during Ramadan, life is more pristine and there are relatively few tourists on the road. I am also slowly starting to discover the little treats of the country. You have to scour the supermarkets to discover them and have the courage to try them. Too bad that the restaurants offer so little of it. The always same tagine is really hard to bear.Read more
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Day 8
Monday, April 17, 2023
☀️ 35 °C
Altitude: 477 m
Morocco Djemaa el Fna 31.626353, -7.98783331°37’35” N 7°59’16” W
Marrakesch
April 17, 2023 in Morocco ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C
Between tradition and modernity, Marrakech is the promise of incomparable sensations.

Marrakech is one of Morocco's four royal cities, along with Fes, Meknes and Rabat.

The medina - a term used to describe the old town of Arab cities - is even a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Marrakech. Here you can experience the flair of 1001 nights as close as nowhere else.

When I enter the old town of Marrakech, the smells, colors and shapes almost overwhelm me. There is a lot of hustle and bustle and a real maze of alleys. So many impressions pelt me. It feels like a journey back in time to antiquity.Read more
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Day 9
Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at 12:44 PM
⛅ 31 °C
Altitude: 461 m
Morocco Medina 31.618986, -7.98940931°37’8” N 7°59’22” W
Hamman after a sad night
April 18, 2023 in Morocco ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
The whole day was ill-starred... Shortly before noon we arrived in Marrakech. A loveless hotel was the destination before continuing to the tombs of the sultans, the medina and souks.
I was totally annoyed from my roommate and could have shot everyone to the moon.

A few hours later I learned that our Goliath went exactly at this time over the Rainbow Bridge....
Eighteen years and almost 5 months the best dog ever accompanied first my children, then my grandfather and finally my godmother. A real family member. It is so sad... He had a wonderful life. Unforgettable remain all his tricks with which he could impress everyone, his headstrong character, his great love for football.
For the first time on the whole trip we found a great restaurant. With a selection of Moroccan delicacies and I could not eat anything. The whole night I was awake and totally crying.
With Goliath's departure ends once again the stage of life " family". My children grew up with him and have since moved out. I always have to nibble at that. I miss my children endlessly.
Thank you Goliath for all these incredibly beautiful memories that you leave behind. We love you so mutch❤️

Who knows me, knows that I love the Hammam in Bern about everything. After this sad night I am this morning in Marrakech in the Hamman. Purely from the architecture, this can not keep up with the one in Bern, but the massages were incredibly soothing. Even if every now and then a tear flows.Read more
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4/18/23Reply
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Day 9
Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at 3:35 PM
☁️ 29 °C
Altitude: 473 m
Morocco Medina 31.626228, -7.98333931°37’34” N 7°59’0” W
Riad Noga❤️ with Paula
April 18, 2023 in Morocco ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C
Paula and me, we have (finally) and finally arrived in the "right" Markko🥰🥰🥰.

Today we said goodbye to part of the group. Paula and I move on together after the Hamman. Lan stays in the other loveless hotel and leaves tomorrow morning. Actually I wanted to travel on alone to Essaouira today. After yesterday and about 3'800km driving in the last days, I don't like to sit in a bus again and decide to stay in Marrakech.

In the middle of the medina is the riad of Paula's mother's friend.
When I arrive, I realize how tired I am. It was exhausting all the days. The beautiful place, the silence, all the loving details, a blessing for the soul.
We will have dinner with Gabi tonight and then later meet up with some fellow travelers who are also staying in Marrakech.Read more
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