When we decided we were going to travel *somewhere*, we first narrowed down the list with two criteria. It had to be someplace none of us had been. And the weather had to be great. We got the list down to Indonesia, Turkey, and Morocco. We crossed off Indonesia because we had already been to SE Asia several years ago (though I still plan to go someday). Turkey sounded great with its great melting pot of European, Asian, and the Middle Eastern influences. But Dante was told that it wouldn't be very warm in April/May yet.
So we were left with Morocco, which somehow just felt right. I think that this trip was particularly exciting for me. A large part of my childhood was spent in Saudi Arabia where my father worked as an engineer and I have many fond memories. I suspect that no matter where I live, I will always feel a special connection to Middle Eastern culture.
If you are ever looking for a good deal for tickets, try my travel agent Kathie Tong at Daiichi International. Her work # is (503) 646-1118 and her e-mail is kathie@dai-ichi-travel.com. For trips to Asia, she can get especially good deals on flights. Often even better than what you can find online. For our Morocco trip, her price wasn't significantly cheaper than online, but she minimized our layover times far more than any flight itinerary we were able to find.Our total trip would be 11 days not including the travel time, so we had to plan a somewhat tight schedule. The overall goal was to visit 3 cities in Morocco: Fes, Marrakech, and Essaouira. In the map below, you can see all our major stops and the side trips that we had on our trip. Yep, all this is possible in 11 days.
There are several major airports in Morocco that one can choose to fly into and out of. Casablanca offered the most flights and the best prices so that's what we chose. In spite of the romantic imagery one might have because of the city's name and the classic Hollywood film of the same name, there is very little to see there of cultural or historical significance. Most recommendations that we heard or read said that we should minimize the time we had in Casablanca. If you had a little time there though, the Hassan II Mosque with its ocean backdrop is supposed to be a nice visit. Considering what happened a few hours later, our time would have probably been well spent if we had stayed overnight in Casablanca.
Hassan II Mosque, Casablanca, Morocco
Monday, April 22, ~9:30 PM
After a 20 hour flight from Portland with layovers in Atlanta and Paris, we finally arrived in Casablanca. None of us had gotten much sleep on the flight, but all in all, we still felt pretty good. Our original plans had us staying in Casablanca for a night and then in the morning, catching a train to Fes. But because we still felt good and we wanted to maximize our time in Fes, we decided to take a train straight to Fes that same night. Our plan was to sleep on the train and arrive early well-rested and start our explorations right away. You know what they say about the best laid plans.
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| First class cabin on the train |
Trains in Morocco are decent quality and are a very cheap way to get around Morocco, but their coverage is still fairly limited. It covers the major cities - Marrakesh, Casablanca, Rabat, Fes, Tangiers, and many smaller cities that are along those routes. There's a website for the trains but 1) it is in French, and 2) you can't reserve a ticket online. Tickets are either first class or coach class. I recommend getting first class, since it is cheap and you get a semi-private compartment (if the train is not crowded) with seats wide enough to lie down on. Our price was 60 Moroccan dirhams - about $6.98. The conversion rate is 1 USD=8.59 MAD.
Now as you can see in the map above, the distance from Casablanca to Fes is about a 3.5 hours car ride. So we counted on the train taking at least 4 hours. It took a little less than 4 with our arrival in Fes at about 2 AM. Fes is the second biggest city in Morocco with a population of 1 million, but nonetheless at 2 AM, it's like any other small town - quiet.
We stood outside the train station pondering what we should do for the next 4-6 hours while we waited for everyone else to wake up. 4-6 hours seems like a short amount of time except when you have nowhere to go and no bed to sleep on. We briefly considered camping out in the train station but in a fit of poor decision making (the first few days were full of poor decisions), we hailed a cab who took us to our riad (a guesthouse/B&B), the Palais de Fes Dar Tazi, thinking we might just hang out in the neighborhood for a few hours.
As we arrived at our guesthouse, we started to realize our decision was not very well thought out. The street was empty except for a few young guys playing soccer on the street. We arrived with our luggage in hand, but nowhere to go since the Dar Tazi was definitely closed for the night, with no one awake to open the doors. We started walking down the street to just get oriented with the neighborhood, but suddenly heard shouting coming from somewhere above us. A cafe owner happened to be awake and was trying to get our attention. He shook his hand and said "Non, non, c'est dangereux!" - easy enough to understand even for non-French speakers.
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| Fes Train Station |
As we turned around to head back to the Dar Tazi, he shouted something to one of the soccer players. who then ran over to the front door of the Dar Tazi and began ringing the doorbell. But after a minute of no response and a quick discussion amongst ourselves, we decided to go back to the train station. As we arrived back at the station, we spotted an Ibis Hotel next to the station and decided to get a room. As it turns out, we were much more tired than we thought. We woke up the next morning at 10 AM. The scene outside had completely changed. Whereas the night before, the city appeared abandoned, the next morning, there were people just about everywhere.
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