No Regrets!

I’ve been very fortunate to have done a lot of traveling over the years, and my country bucket list is growing shorter and shorter. Remaining in the top tier are Japan, China, Turkey, and Morocco. With work and life making it hard to take the several week-, month-, or year-long adventures I used to take, I have accepted that I’m going to have to take shorter trips to these places if I am to visit them at all. The only thing that’s been missing is a travel partner. Sure, I could do these trips alone, but after completing my fair share of solo travel over the years, I’ve found that it’s now more fun to take these kinds of trips with someone I enjoy.

So when my friend and fellow travel-lover Lindsay told me that she might be able to rearrange her summer schedule to take a trip with me, I was all for it. Wedged between what was already a busy travel summer for me, we found a two-week opening and settled on Morocco. She had always wanted to go there, and neither of us had ever been to Africa before. I shared my experience and enthusiasm for organized group travel, and we found an 8-day itinerary with G Adventures that suited us perfectly: Morocco Kasbahs and Desert:

• Casablanca
• Fès
• Merzouga
• Todra Gorge
• Aït Ben Haddou
• Marrakech

We’ve added on a land cruiser desert excursion in the Sahara, a sunrise hot air balloon ride in Marrakech, and a day trip to Essaouira. It looks like the perfect itinerary for our time and budget, except that it leaves out the photogenic Chefchaouen. That shiny blue jewel is just too far out of the way, and we can’t get there on this visit.

The adventure all began yesterday morning with an overnight flight from DC to Casablanca. We thought it would be smart to grab a dinner before our 9:30pm departure, but we were dismayed by the lack of restaurant options at Dulles International Airport. We settled on Cava, where I got a slop of a pita that certainly didn’t look like it does in the pictures. Can you believe they were out of tzatziki?

The people waiting at the gate to board our plane were mostly Moroccan, as much as I can discern a Moroccan look. The rest were darker-skinned Africans and a smattering of obvious tourists like ourselves.

Lindsay and I boarded the medium-sized Royal Air Maroc Boeing B787-8 and sat in seats 15A and 15B, next to the biggest engine I have ever seen. Announcements came in Arabic first, then a less enthusiastic English. Next to Lindsay was an old woman who was half-asleep. My impulse was to wake her and ask her to tell us stories from the 1800’s, but Lindsay is much classier than I am. She engaged her in conversation about tea (one of Lindsay’s favorite subjects), the spices and flavors of Russian cuisine, the charm of Old Town Alexandria, and the miserable heat wave in DC over the last few weeks. Lindsay is a talker.

Lindsay and I were surprised to find a very late dinner served to us at 11pm. I found room to eat the meal of chicken and rice, salad, and yogurt. Lindsay wasn’t hungry, so I finished hers as well. Soon, we were over the utter blackness of the Atlantic Ocean at night.

I had planned to get some work done on the laptop, but found that the overnight flight surprisingly did not offer wifi. So the smart thing to do would have been to go to sleep like everyone else. Lindsay and I tried, but the seats were just cramped and vertical enough to make things too uncomfortable. I don’t know how everyone else does it, but we both struggled to get any quality sleep.

After a few hours in a zombie-like state, I opened my eyes to see the sun rising over heavy cloud cover in the Atlantic. The snazzy polarized tint of the windows turned the sun into a glowing orb, red at sunrise and then blue higher in the sky. The blue glow from the window made the clouds over the ocean look a blanket of peat moss on the surface of another planet. Sadly, difficult to capture in a photo. The tint gradually dissipated, revealing a blazing sun that hurt my eyes.

My first glimpse of Africa through the clouds and haze was an overwhelmingly brown and flat landscape of geometrically shaped farms as far as the eye could see and a few roads. These farms looked mostly dry and dead, with occasional flashes of green from lucky, lushly irrigated fields.

Getting off the plane, we gathered on the tarmac and waited for buses to pick us up and deliver us to the airport terminal. The sun was warm but not overbearing, and a gentle breeze kissed our faces. I wouldn’t have expected it, but this was actually a break from the heat in DC.

The airport featured signage in Arabic and French and occasionally English. We collected our bags, hit the ATM, and figured out how to get tickets for the ONCF train to the Casablanca city center.

The train took us past fields of fields of trash and sorry-looking horses, gradually turning into dilapidated city blocks and roads. Apartment buildings and houses had satellite dishes on every roof.

I don’t know much about Casablanca other than that it was the backdrop for the famous 1942 Humphrey Bogart movie. Sadly, the film was shot almost exclusively at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. I wonder if there is any nostalgic romance from the film in the city today.

After arriving at the Casa Port train station in the center of town, we made our way to Hotel Campanile on foot. The rising sun and humidity made it hot, but the walk gave us a basic lay of the land.

Our room is nice enough, except for the stuck door, bathroom light that doesn’t work, towel hooks that come out of the wall, a faucet about to fall off the top of the sink, and AC that blows but doesn’t cool.

After a much-needed nap, we headed out to start exploring the city. We’ve given ourselves an extra day in Casablanca to give us time to adjust to the time difference and see some of the city on our own before the start of our group tour.

Casablanca is gray and brown and crumbly, like Cleveland. It’s run-down, with brutalist concrete apartment blocks and buildings in varying stages of disrepair. Lots of half-constructed buildings but no construction. Cats are everywhere, and they don’t look too happy. A blanket of haze covers the city, locking in the humidity.

We walked to the medina, or old town, and found it to be similarly run-down and unimpressive. It’s filled with crumbled alleys, makeshift stalls with caged live chickens next to raw chicken for sale, buckets of fish buzzing with flies, and blankets on the ground covered with plastic goods. Men stood at every storefront and filled the seats of outdoor cafes. Meandering the walkways and alleys was an exercise in dodging scooters and making sure we didn’t get lost in the maze.

On a TripAdvisor recommendation, we tucked inside one of the indoor markets to find a restaurant called Dar El Kaid. We were greeted at the unassuming doorway by a Moroccan man in traditional dress and a wonderful toothless grin named Aziz. In surprisingly good English, he enthusiastically welcomed us, invited us inside, and proceeded to give us a charming, in-depth tour of his restaurant.

The place is massive and magnificent. The structure is a former synagogue, but it is incredibly opulent, with intricate carvings, details, designs, and stonework that make the place feel like a palace. He showed us all of the restaurant’s three levels, finishing with a view of Casablanca from the rooftop terrace. Aziz proudly shared the history of the building and further explained that Jews live in peace here with Muslim population. Despite their differences, everyone gets along in Morocco.

Aziz seated us on the second level for the best view of the band and belly dancers, which he promised would be coming later. Menu selection was fantastic. There’s even pigeon on the menu, which I was not courageous enough to order. Instead, we got a couple of traditional clay pot Moroccan dishes called tagines: the Chicken Seffa (angel hair pasta, chicken, cinnamon, raisins, and served with powdered sugar), which Lindsay accurately described as tasting like a cinnamon bun, and the Chicken Rfissa (chicken, flat noodles, lentils, dates, almonds, garlic, and quail eggs). Both were delicious, as was my mint iced tea and Lindsay’s beverage of mint, lemon, and ginger. That’s totally a Lindsay kind of drink.

As we finished our meal, we were treated to some traditional music on violin and an enthusiastic belly dancer hopping around our table. And from Aziz to our waiter who looked like Tik Tok star Khaby Lame and was similarly Senegalese, the service was fantastic. This was an amazing spot, one of the best restaurants I’ve ever been to!

The only blemish was when Aziz caught us on the way out and ushered us into his “family business”, a storefront around the corner where a couple of salesmen were waiting to sell us dresses and natural remedies. We felt a bit uncomfortable and left.

Then back to the hotel for the night. Our warm, humid room is not the most comfortable, but eventually we slept.

This morning, we’re recharged enough to head out and explore more of Casablanca, including what seems to be the city’s most impressive highlight, Hassan II Mosque. Tonight, we meet our G Adventures group.