Moroccan Memories

Ait Ben Haddou

I can now say I've been to Africa! I know every country and region is Africa is different and that we shouldn't classify the whole continent based on one country but I didn't think I'd make to to Africa anytime soon. So much happened over this trip, I don't even know where to begin.

Katie, Lydia, and I flew from Bratislava to Marrakesh on a Saturday to start our week long adventure. We arrived early afternoon so we had plenty of time to get to our Riad and then go out and walk around the medina and see the markets. They were so colorful and smelled so good from the spices different vendors were selling. We only stayed in Marrakesh one night because the next day we started our camel tour. It was a three day, two night tour that took us from Marrakesh, to the Sahara, and then to Fes. The first day of the tour we stopped at Ait Ben Haddou which is an old caravan town and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We had a tour of the old town before moving on through the Atlas Mountains to the Riad where we were sleeping.

Riding camels in the Sahara

The second day, we finished traversing the Atlas Mountains and arrived at the Sahara Desert. This is when we packed up the things we would need for one night and got on our camels! We got to ride the camels at sunset into the desert for about an hour before arriving at our desert camp. We didn't know what to expect from this camp but there was running (non-drinkable) water for toilets and the tents were made like traditional Berber tents. After a night in the desert, we rode our camels back the next morning at sunrise and hopped back in the van for our journey to Fes. We crossed the Atlas Mountains again and were able to see Barbary monkeys!During our time in Fes, we had a guided tour of the medina and the tannery and also spent a lot of time in our Riad. The medina in Fes has more than 9,000 streets and alleys in less than one square mile so it's so easy to get lost. When it was possible we took the petits-taxis which were not expensive and got us to where we wanted to go quickly. I think on top of the confusion of finding our way around the medina in Fes, we also were tired from our camel trip and just wanted some time to relax.

Chefchaouen, Morocco

We then took the CTM bus, Moroccan Transport Company, from Fes to Chefchaouen, also known as the Blue City. Chefchaouen was like a blue dream come to life. All the houses were different shades of blue and it felt very calm and peaceful which was very different from the other two cities we visited. We were able to walk around and see the main parts of the city while eating pasta instead of tajine. Our last day in Morocco was spent traveling, via taxi, from Chefchaouen to Tangier where our flight back to Vienna was leaving at 12:30. All in all, this was a great trip and I'm so glad I had the experience to go to Africa!