¡Marruecos!

I want to go back already! Okay, so for this amazing trip to Morocco I've included lots and lots of pictures for those of you out there who don't have facebook--for those who do, you should definitely go on and check out my Morocco Album where you'll see loads of pictures :). 

And now about Morocco itself: 

Morocco was everything I thought it was going to be, and everything I thought it wasn't going to be. Firstly, I was shocked at how tropical and beautiful it was. The citrus trees are lovely and scenery is amazing. Every mosque and mausoleum we saw were incredible (both old and new). 

Very old madrassa (school)

Although the first day was tiring, the weather was a bit warmer than Madrid and it was super exciting being in a whole different continent (and only an hour and a half plane ride away!!). It felt like a town on the Mediterranean instead of the Atlantic Ocean. As you can see in some of these pictures, the houses were beautifully white with blue splashes. There were adorable little kids playing soccer in the street as happy as could be, with no parents in sight!


All of the hotels we went to were great. Nothing overly fancy, but just what one would want after a long day of walking around etc. For lunch the first day I had my first Moroccan meal. Okay, I've obviously had couscous and vegetables before, but there's nothing like having it in the country that's known for it--it's like having pasta in Italy! It comes in a tagine (definitely had to go to google on the spelling of that one) which is a pyramid like ceramic structure. The most common dishes that come in tagine are chicken with veggies and lamb with veggies and of course couscous!

Beautiful (orange) trees I believe

Chellah in Rabat (what I imagine Greece might look like...)

Chellah

Helen, Ashley, and Me in Chellah overlooking the Atlantic Ocean 

Possibly the most eye-opening experience was visiting the Medina in Fez. Medina means city in Arabic, but here it refers to the old part of the city. It was like nothing I had ever seen before, ever. First off, no street names. Oh, and you know how New York is laid out in nice squares--this is the antithesis of that. I had no idea where we were the entire day. In fact, we weren't even allowed to walk around there alone during the day--not so much because it was dangerous (although I've heard it is at night) but because you will get lost, no questions asked. The poverty I saw there was overwhelming. And yet, the majority of the people were laughing and it was very hustle-bustle. Even still, some of those images (of donkeys in the streets, of the tiniest alleys I've ever seen) are indelible. 

I believe this is a guard outside the Mausoleo de Muhammad V y Hassan II

Ashley and Me

We also went to various artisan shops. One of those shops was a leather shop. The leather was of various different animals and was incredible, but the stench AH! We went upstairs to look out over where the leather was being prepped. Imagine the most awful smell in the world, and that is what it smelled like. So bad that they actually give you mint to sniff while you're up there! Basically what you see are dead animal skins and men standing knee deep in actual pigeon poop because that is what they use to clean the skins. I will not look at leather the same. 

The whole gang :) From left to right: Kate, Ellen, Anna, Chantal, Michelle, Violet, Barrie,  Ashley, Helen, Me

 I loved the ceramic store because we got to see the process basically from beginning to end--we saw a man molding the clay on a wheel, say the oven (although there was nothing being "fired" (is that what they say?) at that time, and a man painting the clay. Then, we of course saw the finished product. Happy to say this is the only place I bought something that wasn't included in the trip (that was another great thing about the trip--they said all inclusive with the price, and they meant it--I didn't pay for one additional meal, bus, nothing!) and only spend 20 euro total AH!

This is possibly some of the best bread I've ever had in my 20 years (almost 21!!! :) )

Amazing veggies!!!!

Yay Arabic :)/...French

Yes, that is indeed the skins of lambs...

Mucho pottery

I think this is the Palacio Real in Fez (Puerta Monumental) I'm forgetting already :(

Large plate...man doing...ok I forget what that's called...

Me plus scarf 

The majority of the girls + scarves
from left to right: Michelle, Ellen, Me, Kate (in the back with the blue scarf), I think that's Violet next to her, Barrie in the front in red and Ashley in the tan scarf (some of these names might be wrong because it's hard to tell who's who's!)

Fez in the background (I believe the Medina (old city))

Final Dinner
Michelle, Violet, Chantal, Barrie, Kate, Helen

Belly Dancer!

The final night we had dinner and saw a traditional belly dancing, Arabic and Berber singing, and a magician. All of a sudden during the meal, we noticed two of our classmates were gone! Then, they appeared again. One wearing a traditional Berber wedding outfit, the other traditional Arabic wedding garb and between them another customer at the restaurant who happened to be from Pamplona. Apparently, they were getting married haha. What ensued was a lot of singing and raising them up on chairs. Quite a site! 

Magician who magically took off Chantal's bra...poof!

Chantal in traditional Berber wedding garb (left), random man from Pamplona who was also at the restaurant, Kate in traditional Arabic wedding garb 

Outside Hassan II mosque 

Inside Hassan II mosque (Casablanca)

The last day we went back to Casablanca (guess I should have mentioned we went from Casablanca to Rabat to Fez and then back to Casablanca) to see the Hassan II mosque (third largest mosque in the world!) We were supposed to see it Friday when we were first in  Casablanca, however almost everything was closed. Why you ask? Fiesta del Cordero (Lamb) which is one of the biggest holidays in the Muslim religion and nearly everything closes. It marks the end of Ramadan (the month of fasting). How do they mark the end of the month of fasting. Well, by each family killing a lamb, of course. Hence, the picture of the skins of lambs in wagons...not joking. Imagine the sight...

Anyway, because the mosque was closed Friday (well, at least to non-Muslims, not sure about Muslims) we had to go back to see it  Sunday before our flight (super early, but totally worth it). I believe it is the only mosque in the world where non-Mulims are permitted to enter. It is incredible! The roof even opens! It has a legitimate "pool" well, Turkish bath, in the basement, and amazing architecture. Plus, it's right on the water!

Outside Hassan II mosque on the water 

After going to the mosque, we had our last lunch together. What was great was that we had a little bit of everything throughout the four days: we saw both modern and traditional sites, rich (in Casablanca, in particular, one neighborhood was unreal) and poor areas, and ate traditional and modern food. 

As you can tell, this was probably one of the best experience I have ever had. One of the best aspects of the trip was that it really pushed me to go outside of my comfort zone. To go where there might not be toilet paper (don't worry I brought some, but important tip if traveling to Morocco...) and to try the most amazing pastries and mint tea--because that's what traveling is about sometimes. Sometimes the unfamiliar is just what you need to make you feel at home :) 

Cautionary note for those planning on traveling to Morocco: 

a) bring TP

b) bring hand sanitizer

c) DO NOT DRINK THE WATER EVER 

d) You may be confused as to what language to speak. I believe there were moments when I said gracias, thank you, merci, and shookrun (Arabic for thank you, strangely I can spell this in Arabic and not english...) So, I tried a bit of everything and one of them usually sticks :)

e) You will love it so don't freak out!

This I believe is an old mosque in Chellah, but again I forget :(

PSPSPS