Moroccan Fairy tales- part I

Everyone asks me: "Okay, why Morocco?" Well there is no specific reason but this country had always attracted me with its culture, it seems so different than the European one but at the same time we live so close to it. It was an experience I've been dreaming about for so long...

Since I'm studying in Madrid for the spring semester (yay Erasmus), I decided that Morocco is closer than ever and I have to go no matter what, I didn't care that I was going to eat pasta till the end of my Erasmus. So I just asked a Bulgarian friend of mine if she wants to join me and surprisingly she got extremely excited and we paid everything really fast! It was a trip organized by "Emycet Granada" and we are more than happy we went with them. I don't recommend going alone because of all the criminality, I'll explain more later.

WHAT TO PACK

What is the first thing you have in mind when you hear "Morocco"? For me, it was the sun, hot weather, sand, and HOT WEATHER. Yeah, that's the truth, BUT I advise you to not bring sandals, you need only sneakers. If you look at my photos, you can see I wear 1.Sneakers on each one of them. Trust me, the streets are really dirty and also if you travel like us from early in the morning till late in the evening, you'll notice the temperature change.

2. Sunscreen! If you're white like me, you'll probably need it. I didn't bring it and I was really sorry because of the fact that we were walking around the whole day in 40 degrees temperature.

3. NORMAL FOOD- Ok, I've heard Morocco has great food and blah-blah but we ate only chicken and rice (tagine) for the whole week. I was so sick, I still don't want to eat chicken (yeah and probably there aren't many vegetarian/vegan options). Also, they don't have our typical sweet stuff in most of their shops so I recommend bringing lots of Milka and Oreo.

WHEN TO VISIT

We went to the middle of April and the weather was so incredibly hot in the first days- 30,35 degrees. So the best time to visit it is from February till May and then from September- November. During the summer months you won't be able to enjoy walking around and exploring the cities, it's not only hot, but also the weather is pretty dry.

So our adventure began in Granada and we traveled to Algeciras to catch the ferry. It was a long night, we didn't know anyone from our bus (btw we were with 5 buses) and also everyone looked really unfriendly, no kidding, that was the effect of not sleeping at all. So we were like: "Oh, okay, we're not going to make any new friends, we'll just be alone for the whole trip".

DAY 1- CASABLANCA

Basically, we were traveling for the whole day and in the afternoon we visited Casablanca and the Hassan II Mosque- the largest mosque in Africa and the 5th in the world. It was pretty impressive but the smart person that I am, my camera was in my suitcase on the bus and I couldn't take it so there are no professional photos of Casablanca ;( I recommend if going to Morroco: don't bring really short dresses, skirts, or clothes with your neckline till the belly. The Morrocan men are really touchy, looking type so if you don't want to get in trouble, better wear pants :D.

I told you before that we were with 5 buses, right? Ok, so when we got to the hotel in Marrakech, there was complete chaos- 250 people were trying to get some food from the buffet, of course with no luck. We were too many, also tired and hungry and everyone was still pretty nervous. The only thing we got that night was some chicken with rice (Ohhh we had no idea that was going to be the only kind of food we would get for the next 7 days).

DAY 2- MARRAKECH

You won't believe how different the guys were after a good sleep, a shower and some food. There was hope! We spent the morning in Marrakech and went to several places. First, there was Jemaa el- Fna- the most amazing and terrifying place ever. It's a market where you can buy absolutely everything but the sellers are always lying about the prices of course. I got dizzy with all the colors, I felt like in a movie. Everything I've been reading about was true! Street food, people with colorful clothes, men yelling things, the smell of the herbs...

Also, there were women working hard and selling argan oil, you could smell the nuts in every small street. We stopped to watch this woman, we wanted to see the process but she wasn't looking at anyone. I wanted to know more about her life and the way she feels but she didn't let us look at her eyes.

There were also donkeys on the super small streets and the people were running and carrying big boxes with stuff, pushing everyone who stands on their way. The only word that can describe Marrakech's streets is CHAOS.

This is supposed to be a pedestrian street. Yes, of course, you can drive your moto over me.

Herbs in one pharmacy we went, they were selling also typical stuff like Argan oil, which by the way smells like an actual nut. The argan oil I've tried before in Europe always has a perfume smell.. not a real one, sweeties.

We also visited the Koutoubia Mosque but we didn't go inside. Honestly, we saw only a small part of Marrakech but for 7 days we visited 5 cities and the desert, so you can't have everything in this life. Next was the Bahia Palace, I was really impressed actually with its colors and architecture, the tiles were very similar to the Real Alcázar palace in Sevilla.

Just me being part of the decoration.

Anndd after visiting Marrakech we travelled for 6 hours or maybe more. At some point, we stopped for lunch at this beautiful location with an empty road and big mountains. I'm telling you, it was an actual movie.

Unfortunately, I have no idea of how the place is called or what it is close to. But I think it was actually in someone's home. They had prepared dishes on a buffet and we were getting whatever we wanted to. The family was really hospitable and so kind, they were feeding us till we couldn't breathe more.

DAY 3- OUARZAZATE

It's probably one of my favorite cities in Marroco, it has absolutely amazing houses in an ancient style. It has been a shooting location for lots of movies like GAME OF THRONES of course, "Gladiator", "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time", "Ben Hur", "The Passion of the Christ" and many others. We stayed at the hotel next to the city, it's like 5 min walk from it. Just for the record, I wasn't watching GOT at this time and after visiting the city, the passion started. They were shooting the scenes of Daenerys from the 3rd season here when she was taking over the city of Yunkai.

Pretending to be a Khaleesi.

Me with my army taking over Yunkai.

I was watching the 3rd season after coming back from Morocco and I was so excited that I have been at the shooting location, I don't know what it is, it just feels like а magic being on the same place where a movie was shot.

We were walking around this magical city and the guides were telling us its story. There are actual people living in there and that's an agricultural village. Basically, when they are not shooting a movie, they are sowing. And the people living in this area want it to be perfectly clean because they live from the food they are sowing. And it was true, that was the only city in Morroco I saw so clean and tidy.

I loved the people there! They were so welcoming and nice and of course, they were selling typical Morrocan stuff, such as clothes, postcards, accessories and etc.

So when you want to make a photo of a typical Moroccan person, they usually want money. One of my friends wanted to shoot this fella over here and he gave him money. I took advantage of the situation and tried to capture his soul. He saw me and as you can see he was making signs with his hand to ask for money. (I didn't give him tho, oopss)

1001 nights

On our way to the hotel, we stopped by the famous "Dades valley" in the High Atlas mountains.

Me and my friend enjoying the wind.

There is the road "Gorges du Dades" which has the shape of a snake. We were climbing up for at least half an hour. The view was unbelievable!

The wind here was so strong, my long skirt came up to my face.

In the evening we went to sleep in cute family hotels. It was no luxury of course, but we loved it. We had a typical dinner and after this, we were wondering what we were going to do but suddenly the Berbers (typical Morrocan men) started playing and dancing around. At that moment I realized I'm exactly in the place I want to be, exploring this rich culture and having fun with these awesome people. Every one of us started dancing with the Berbers and I can't find words to describe you the atmosphere we created. It was so warm and peaceful, everyone was smiling or laughing and there weren't differences anymore between Spanish, Italians, Morrocan or Bulgarians. We were just there enjoying ourselves and we didn't feel how we were becoming closer with every dance.

To be continued...