Morocco | FindPenguins

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Trip start
June 11, 2024
Morocco Traveler
Marrakech- Day 1
Jun 11–12, 2024 in Morocco ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
A leisurely start in Orpington courtesy of Fran before a lovely (pricey) train trip to Gatwick. Security was a breeze, got a new hat because I forgot mine and then decided to have a Wagamamas for lunch. Then realised we only had 20 minutes until our gate closed. Ate Katsu curry that fast I didn’t even taste it and then ran through Gatwick to our gate (before waiting 30 mins)
Slept for 3 hours on the flight then got told that Raye was on our flight so spent the rest of the flight trying to spot her.
Got a public bus from the airport to the centre of the Medina and walked through the windy streets trying to find out hostel.
Eventually found our Ryad hostel, dumped our bags and ventured out for dinner. Had lamb tagine on a roof top restaurant over looking the medina and ended the night with carrot cake and card games.Read more
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Morocco Traveler
1
Atlas Mountains
June 12, 2024 in Morocco ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
An early start to find we were too early for breakfast in the hostel, decided to try and find somewhere in the medina for breakfast. Stumbled across a small cafe filled with locals and had coffee and honey glazed croissants. Got on a bumpy mini bus where Lilah got stuck in her seat belt.
Arrived at the first stop on the tour at a women’s cooperation, we tried flat breads dipped in honey, peanut butter, Argan oil and olive oil. They taught us how they extracted the oil and made the butter.
We then arrived at the next stop where we thought the group would split in two it actually split into everyone else and us. A private trek through the Berber villages and the high Atlas Mountains, lots of sweet tea and a lovely egg tagine. Invited into a very tall and kind lady’s house to have more sweet tea. Arrived at our lodge and had more sweet tea and small biscuits. Played cards on the terrace until dinner with some questionable looking soup, Americans and chicken and veg tagine. Finished off with some more cards before shower and bed time.Read more
TravelerLooks amazing x
6/12/24Reply
Traveler Bon voyage
6/19/24Reply
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Morocco Traveler
Atlas day 2
June 13, 2024 in Morocco ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C
Began with a late start with a gorgeous breakfast on the terrace looking over the mountains. Added what we thought was milk powder to my coffee- we still don’t know what it was. Watched my bag with all our passports ride off on a mule fingers crossed to be seen at our final destination. Began our walk through the valley of the mountains and through the actual river before climbing up a really really steep path. At the top we were given the long or short slippery option. We chose the short. Basically scrambled down the side of the mountain. Saw a snake and chipmunks. Arrived at our final destination to have another tagine for lunch followed by more games of cards.
We ventured back on the mini bus after being reunited with our bags. I got to sit up front between the guide and the driver while Fran and Lilah listened to Taylor swift in the back. We got stopped by the police twice and saw Richard Branson holiday home.
We arrived back in Marrakech and ventured into the Medina to try and find Lilah a hoodie to take to the desert tomorrow. The medina men tried to charge us £40 for a fake Nike hoodie and wouldn’t barter with us.
We got a new room at the hostel and found it all to ourselves. We got ready and headed to le Jardin for dinner. Houmous, bread, cheese parcels, couscous and fish meatball tagine yummy. We then realised we didn’t have enough cash to pay for our tour tomorrow so had to find an ATM in the dark in the Medina- not fun. Luckily there was one in a lovely square next to an ice cream shop so we had ice cream before returning to the hostel for a few games of cards and an early night before our 7 am start tomorrow.Read more
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Morocco Traveler
Sahara desert- kind of
June 15, 2024 in Morocco ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C
A very early start, ready for 7am in the main square with no breakfast and minimal items due to the bed bug fear. We then did not leave Marrakesh until 8 am and was traumatised by a man in suit climbing on top of Fran and shouting at the girls that made us late. Transferred to another van for an hour and a half nap until our first stop for coffee and Madeline’s. Then more queasy bus rides to another women’s cooperative which is basically the Moroccan version of Avon probably owned by Richard Branson.
Carried on the winding bus journey through the high atlas to Ait Ben Haddou- the film place of gladiator, the mummy, Indiana Jones 3 and Lawrence of Arabia. We then were bullied into spending €8 each on pinkish scarfs which later turned out to be exactly the same colour as my face.
We then stopped for lunch of pasta soup and crap margarita pizza. They then charged us extra drinks which we were told were included and then charged us for service while pretended not to speak English even though he spoke it earlier. Chaos.
We then carried on in our bus for 2 more hours before stopping for ice cream. Then we carried on again to get water and were taught to count to 5 in Arabic.
We then arrived at our camels. We rode for an hour to our campsite in the almost Sahara desert. Lilah has to go on the smallest camel and my camel was called Wayeed.
We arrived at our desert camp and inspected for bed bugs. We socialised with our new German friends and had some Moroccan tea. We were asked if being vegetarian was a choice or prescribed by a doctor. We ate barley soup and chicken tagine- just soup for lilah, the small camel will be grateful. Our guide notified us that the door to our tent had been left open by our own Fran, I bravely battled the wind and the sand and the stray dogs to close the door before all ours beds were covered in sand. We then listened to some Berber music and lilah played the bongos. We had a fire in the desert and tried to sing we will rock you in Berber. We finally came to bed to find everything covered in sand and tried to brush our teeth outside but was surrounded by the stray dogs and their puppies. We are currently lying in bed too hot, covered in sand, suncream, sweat and deet because in the commotion we invited some mosquitos into our tent.Read more
TravelerOh dear. Sounds like it’s been a bit crazy. X
6/16/24Reply
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Morocco Traveler
Returing from the Sahara
June 15, 2024 in Morocco ⋅ 🌬 39 °C
Told to wake up at 6:20 in time for the 6:30 sunrise but it was too cloudy to see. Very unamused. Had one slice of bread for breakfast. Then a bumpy 15 minute camel ride which was surprisingly hot for 7am.
We then waited for what felt like an hour for our driver to arrive feeling very queasy in the Sun, we then set off on our monster of a journey back. All three of us forcing our eyes closed in the hope of getting more sleep. Our first stop for a much needed actual toilet, some ready salted Pringles and travel sickness tablets. Returned to the car for another 2 hours before stopping at a strange man’s house to look at carpets and more tea.
At this point starving and nearly out of cash we then stopped for lunch. Had a lovely veggie couscous and threw half a bottle of sprite over Fran.
Returned back to the hostel after what felt like a million hours in the van where we were decontaminated. This process involved being sent to a room without a door to take the clothes off that had been to the desert and have them tumble dried to destroy any trace of bed bugs. Humbling.
We washed off 48 hours of sweat, suncream and sand before heading out to a funky rooftop bar to watch the sunset.
After the sun sets the main square transforms into a food market with live music and entertainment even gambling games!. We listened to some of the Berber music we had seen in the mountains and had a look for what to try tomorrow! We have our eyes on some ginger cake and a patisserie for the morning.Read more
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Morocco Traveler
Marrakesh
June 16, 2024 in Morocco ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C
A more graceful start to the day finding a patisserie for croissants that were less than 20p each.
We then joined our free walking tour with our guide Youssef. He showed us the Koutobia- a mosque, the royal palace, the medina walls that have holes in for scaffolding, the Jewish quarter and the Bahia palace.
We then had lunch at a pizzeria where our lunch cost all together less than £6!!! Followed by banana filled pastry- specifically penicillin flavour yuck!
We had heard earlier in the day about the festival that was occurring on Monday, which we were told meant there was only one day left to see the leather tanneries. So we thought we would take ourselves for a wander to see them. On the way there we were told the square is in the opposite way to which we replied we know we are going to the tanneries. The kind man replied oh my friend works there he is about to walk there he will show you. This kind man taught us some Arabic and marched us to the tanneries. We arrived and were handed some mint by another man to block the smell. This is when lilah got involved and asked are you going to charge us for this and the man replied only donations!
This man then rushed us round the tanneries in approximately 5 minutes and were pushed into the shop across the road and asked multiple times to buy a €900 rug. We declined and left the shop and were met by both our “guides”. They demanded €30 euros each!!! We responded with you said donations! And tried to give them 40 Dirhams- approximately €4. They were not happy. Then the man who marched us the same route as Google maps demanded more money to which we gave him €1. We quickly left and marched back to the hostel to rest.
Had a quick dip in the pool and did some shade bathing.
We then headed out to the market to find some vegetarian street food.
We were bombarded with sale man after sale man. Eventually settled on one street food stall and argued with the man about vegetarian food. Sat there for at least 10 minutes and no one took our order- for reference there was only 5 other people at the stall and it was a fast paced environment. We got up and left.
NEXT STALL- They said they had vegetarian we sat down and the chef then told us no vegetarian.
NEXT STALL- we sat down said vegetarian and weren’t given a choice. We were given olives, barbecued aubergine, peppers, a weird orange potato and vegetarian couscous. All Scrummy but we were very hungry at this point. We thought this would be a cheap meal seeing as lilah was sat on a bin lid as her seat. BUT NO- more expensive than or rooftop dinners.
We then got ‘ginger cake’- a mix of spices and flour.
We then tried to return home via a shop we had seen before, Fran and I picked up some souvenirs and we tried to return to the hostel. At this point it is late. The medina is closing due to Eid tomorrow. Oh we got lost, we got stressed, we walked round in circles in the dark. We walked for about 30 minutes in the dark before eventually getting home. We won’t be doing that again.Read more
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Morocco Traveler
Marrakesh day 3
June 17, 2024 in Morocco ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
It’s Eid! Everywhere is closed oops!
Luckily one museum is open- Le jardin Majorelle. We stopped off in a bakery before for a tiny croissant and coffee and then was nearly late for our
The old home I’ve Yves Saint Laurent. Lots of plants, cacti, blue vases and mini turtles. A very aesthetically pleasing place to see and take photos with quite an interesting history.
We then wandered from there into the new town but nothing was open. We had emergency Pringles again to prevent any queasy ness.
We then attempted to get into a garden which was closed and decided we have exhausted all options before returning to the hostel.
We went to the roof for some games of cards and some lunch- which took 40 minutes urgh.
We then decided it was time for the pool but then I got my results so got very distracted ringing everyone to tell them.
After I found Fran and lilah sunning themselves on the roof and after taking another dip in the pool we spent some time reading.
Then we got ready and went out for some celebratory food. We had salad bowls and zingy lemonade. Ended the night with ice cream in the main square and a card tournament which lilah won.Read more
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Morocco Traveler
Final day in marrakesh
June 18, 2024 in Morocco ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
Our first day without an alarm- but the rest of our roommates had other plans 😭 We took a leisurely stroll for some breakfast. Found a very fancy patisserie. We decided to get 3 “breakfasts” but the waiter wanted us to get 2, we said no we are hungry and the 3 small pastries detailed did not seem enough.
Breakfast arrived and it was 3 large pastries- a pain au chocolat, a croissant and a pain au raisin, a coffee and orange juice. 3 very full girls.
We walked through the centre to the saidian tombs but they tried to charge us €10 euros each so we decided it wasn’t worth it.
We then walked to a garden which was closed and then walked through a pretty bit of the medina to a mosque and gate. On the way we saw sheep skins and sheep horns in carts from the sacrifices the day before ewww.
We then walked to medresa ben Yousef- an old Islamic college. May have been one of the prettiest buildings ever. We watched how they renovated it over 5 years for apparently $30000.
We then searched for some lunch while feeling very very queasy and decided the best bet would be returning to the hostel. A very quick walk back to the hostel and ordered some houmous and bread for lunch. They did forget to make Lilah’s lunch tho.
Then decided to chill in the sun/shade for the rest of the afternoon. Made friends with some English people and then headed out for dinner.
Had falafel pittas for dinner and ice cream for desert. Headed back to the hostel for some more card cames.
Then the hostel cat decided to mark its territory on my bag by spraying it eww. Now it smells of plum hand soap and hoping it stays like that.
Then we returned to the room got packed and went to bed nice and early ready for our flight back tomorrow.Read more
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Trip end
June 18, 2024