Make Way for Morocco: The Sahara Desert Edition

With Spring Break at Rota Elementary underway, I wasn't missing out on an opportunity to travel guilt-free! While Bryan had duty mid-Spring Break week, I needed a trip that would be easy and short...and where the Spring rainy schedule wouldn't affect us. Thus, Morocco was chosen!

After trying to visit Morocco last year with Ryan and having the weather cancel our ferries, I wasn't risking it this time. Instead of visiting Northern Morocco, we were heading farther south to Marrakesh by plane!

Oh, and before we dive in, Bryan and Katie are co-authoring this blogpost! Katie's writing will be italicized, while Bryan's will look regular. So here we go!

Friday, March 28: Morocco, Here We Come

You know how we travel- after a full day of work, Bryan and I took off for the Sevilla Airport for a late-night flight down south to Morocco! We departed at 8:20 pm and landed in Marrakesh, Morocco at 8:45 pm local time.

Marrakesh Menara Airport: مطار مراكش المنارة الدولي

After some earlier research, I knew I didn't want to deal with the haggling taxi drivers right outside the Marrakesh Menara Airport, so I opted for the hotel pickup service. Upon exiting the airport, we met our driver holding a "Riad Black Doors" sign and began our journey to Marrakesh's Old Town.

Riad Black Doors

And thank goodness we went with the private driver because our hotel was in the middle of the pedestrian-only Medina district...meaning we would never have found the place on our own! Our hotel staff met us at our car and walked us to the hotel, while Bryan and I kept glancing over our shoulders, remembering we were far from home and well outside our comfort zone.

Arriving at our Riad, we were blown away! Traditional Moroccan hotels, called riads, have an open-ceiling layout designed to keep nature within the home. Our hotel manager explained that the open-ceiling concept is another religious reminder that God is always watching over the home and is welcome inside.

Between the rooftop terrace, our spacious room, and the open-air dining space on the first floor, I was honestly shocked by our $66/night accommodation. Not to brag or anything, but I did GOOD!

Saturday, March 29: To Tinghirتنغير

After our late-night arrival, the following morning came early! Our riad host kindly provided us with a to-go breakfast at 7 am, well before the scheduled breakfast at 8:30. (That's right, Katie's $66 riad included breakfast!)

After wolfing down the pre-packaged pastries and chugging our bottled waters, we left the riad and headed to our meet-up point at Jemaa el-Fnaa, Marrakech's old city square! The bustling souks (markets) from yesterday evening were now quiet makinghis morning's walk much less overwhleming!

Restaurant Barka Tizi

Once we joined up with the rest of our group, we were off towards the Sahara Desert! After a few stops around town to pick up additional passengers, we began making our way through the Atlas Mountains, a large mountain range running from northern Tunisia on the Mediterranean, through Algeria, and to the Atlantic Ocean in southern Morocco. Our first stop of the trip was for a bathroom and coffee break in the foothills of the beautiful mountain range!

Tizi Tishka - Panoramic View

Our next break was 45 minutes into the High Atlas Mountains, which has some of the tallest peaks in the range! The guides found a great spot for us to take amazing pictures before we continued our drive east!

Argan Oil Shop: Palais de Tichka

The third stop of the tour was a bit kitchy: an argan oil demonstration and store. Although this stop was relatively unremarkable, it was nice to get out and stretch our legs and have some bread samples with almond butter, honey, and argan oil! Katie also didn't mind applying some of their tester lotions.

Hôtel Restaurant L'Oasis D'or

After an hour and a half nap, we arrived in the historic town of Ait Benhaddou for lunch and a walking tour! For lunch, Katie and I shared a soup, salad, and a chicken skewer plate & meatball tagine, a traditional Northern African dish cooked in a clay pot bearing the same name.

Aït Benhaddou: آيت بن حدّو

Now for the highlight of the day! Immediately after lunch, we met up with our local guide for a tour of this 11th-century fortified city! This city played a significant role hundreds of years ago because it lay on an important caravan route from the Middle East & Egypt to Marrakech! Even more importantly (to us), Disney Imagineers used this village as the inspiration for the façade of the Marrakech Restaurant in Epcot's Morocco Pavilion! There's your fun fact of the day!

In early February, just a few weeks before our visit, this village played host to a major film production for Christopher Nolan's next project: The Odyssey. Major stars like Matt Damon, Tom Holland, and Zendaya were here for eight days filming in this exact location! This village is no stranger to movie productions, having previously been used as a filming location for Game of Thrones, Gladiator, Gladiator II, and The Mummy.

We also found ourselves at yet another James Bond filming location! We are not strangers to James Bond locations; you may remember our beach in nearby Cadiz, the Casino in Estoril, Portugal, that was the inspiration for the original books, and Gunkanjima, the abandoned mining island off the coast of Nagasaki, just to name a few! Ait Benhaddou was used as a filming location for the 1987 film, 007: The Living Daylights!

As we crossed the dried-up river into the ancient village, it was like going through a time machine. These compressed mud buildings were surrounded by small alleyways and steep stairs. This village still has no electricity, running water, or sewer system. There are no permanent residents in the ancient village, with everyone living in the more "modern" village on the other side of the river. But like our guide explained, the locals love it when entertainment companies shut down their tours and reserve the village for weeks of filming because they get to play extras in the TV shows and films!

Within the village, we stopped in an art store where we learned about local Berber people and their unique art! What started as a way to send invisible inked messages to various desert tribes has now turned into an art technique that is unique to the Berber people.

These artists use natural ingredients to create their paints: indigo for blue hues, saffron for yellow and orange tones, and steeped black tea with sugar, which, when heated, creates a brown color. Katie and I were sure to buy a painting, and the artist even wrote "Johnson" at the bottom in the traditional Berber language!

Check out the video of the artist demonstrating how they use heat to turn their bland watercolors into masterpieces! It's pretty crazy how a little heat makes the painting come alive and pop off the page!

Click Here to See the Tea Painting Demonstration

Castle: قلعة

After our art demonstration, it was time to hike our way to the top of the hill, where the remains of the town's castle sit. This provided a great viewpoint of the stark differences between the ancient & modern villages below.

You can also spot the ancient gate used to film Season Three of Game of Thrones, where Daenerys is stranded in the desert and stumbles upon the city of Meereen. The memorable scene where she is lifted by the freed slaves and called "Mhysa" is a memorable moment from the show and was filmed right there on the riverbed!

Hôtel Saghro: فندق صاغرو

We immediately jumped back in the van and made the 3.5-hour journey to our arranged lodging for the evening! As part of our three-day tour, our accommodations were provided at Hotel Saghro in the town of Tinghir. This hotel was definitely below Katie and I's normal standard, with ants in the room and mold in the bathroom, but considering the entire tour for both of us was $300 with two dinners and two breakfasts included, we weren't expecting five-star hotels. Oh well, it's only one night and at least we'll be sleeping in the Sahara tomorrow!

Sunday, March 30: Merzouga Dunes & Sahara Desert

As the sun rose over the city of Tinghir, we woke eager to hit the road and make the final leg of the journey to the Sahara Desert! In the daylight, our hotel seemed better than last night, but we weren't complaining with our mid-morning checkout after enjoying a traditional Moroccan breakfast of bread, jams, hard-boiled eggs, and coffee.

Tinghir Oasis Panorama Overview

One important note about Morocco: it is cash-heavy! Since you can't safely drink their tap water, we were constantly buying liters of bottled water...and almost all shops were cash only. Running low on funds, we stopped at a local bank ATM to stock up on small bills. As you can see, it took three guys to work the ATM- with the sun hitting the screen directly, no one could read the screen without the shade provided by others! It was a team effort for our group to get out the much-needed cash supply!

With money in hand, it was time for our first viewpoint of the day: the Tinghir Oasis. Located along a river, this dry, desolate landscape transformed into a green oasis filled with palm trees and vegetation!

Todgha Gorge: مضيق تودغا

A little further upriver was the Todgha Gorge. Formed over millions of years, this riverbed has carved the rock into a deep canyon and is home to local sheep herders. The Todgha Gorge is also world-famous for rock climbing and reminded us of the Caminito del Rey hike we did outside of Ronda, Spain.

We were greeted by another walking guide who took us through the canyon and nearby oasis to see how local Berber tribes farm the land along the riverbed.

Ait Oussalem: آيت أوسالم

We ended our walking tour in the abandoned village of Ait Oussalem, where our guide explained the construction of Berber villages. Since the buildings are made of compacted mud and straw, they don't last very long. When entire villages begin to fall into disrepair, the villagers move outside the "old" town and begin building new mud houses. The vacant, and often dilapidated, homes are then used as animal stalls and chicken coops.

For centuries, the Berber tribes were nomadic people, leading caravans across the desert and herding sheep, goats, and other livestock in the desolate landscape. When these tribes decided to settle, their desire to constantly move stuck with them. This explains all the abandoned Moroccan neighborhoods located right next to bustling cities that we spotted along our drive east!

Of course, it isn't a true Arabic tour without a carpet demonstration, so Bryan and I sat through another sales pitch that reminded us of our time in Turkey and Tunisia.

Restaurant Reda

After some more driving, we finally stopped for an outdoor lunch of meatball tagine (it was so good last time we ran it back!) I fell in love with the Moroccan salad that lacked lettuce, and instead consisted of tomatoes, onions, olives, and coriander. This will definitely be a dish I add to my international recipe book!

Souvenir Of Sahara: تذكار الصحراء

Right along the edge of the Sahara desert, we stopped to buy the traditional headwraps needed for our time in the desert. Bryan and I opted for the longer fabric wrap that consisted of the "tagelmust" (headwrap) and the "litham" (nose and mouth covering.) With the sun beating down on us and the sand blowing across the dunes, our guide was quick to point out that this wasn't just a "touristy" photo op, but a true local necessity.

OK, the wraps may have been needed, but the full dressing for pictures was definitely a tourist trap, hoping we would buy more than needed. I may have rocked the white blinged-out headdress, but ya girl went with the cheaper plain tagelmust and litham.

Merzouga Dunes: عرق الشبي

A short (and highly anticipated) drive remaining, we finally made it to THE Sahara Desert! Our group arrived earlier than the other vans, so we lucked out by enjoying a 4x4 drive through the dunes to our desert camp. Riding in a Toyota 4Runner may not sound exciting, but it was off-roading to the extreme! Our drivers took us up and down the dunes, giving us the most epic roller coaster experience! The video I took didn't do the adrenaline rush justice!

I will admit, our tagelmust and lithams came in handy, as the sand whipped in the vehicles and hit us full force in the face!

Global Desert Camp

Surrounded by dunes and seeing nothing but sand along the horizon, we made it to our desert camp for the evening! That's right, I wasn't just going to visit the Sahara Desert- we were going to stay the night here!

Now, I talk a big talk, but I did splurge for the private "luxury" camp, meaning Bryan and I had a private tent with our own shower and bathroom. Our group had a bunch of college students on Spring Break from their study abroad programs, so they were more comfortable with the shared tent setup with a separate mass bathroom tent and another separate shower tent. Bryan and I realize we are at a different stage in life, and we were happy for the extra $80 luxury setup! (Again, this two night-three day tour included two breakfasts and two dinners and only cost us $300. Not a bad price for all we got to do!)

While we waited for the sun to go down, we tried sandboarding! Using some old snowboards, Bryan and I each tried out our balance down the dunes! I fell the first time, but Bryan looked like a professional!

I eventually figured it out and we both enjoyed sandboarding down the dunes near our camp! I have to admit, it was fun sandboarding down and less fun climbing back up the dunes...

As the sun started to go down, it was time for the main attraction: camel riding. Now, if you know anything about us, we are super conscious of animal rights and welfare while traveling. Just like our time in Thailand with the elephants, I did a ton of research and learned that camels are working animals. Sometimes called "the horses of the desert," camels have been domesticated and used for desert travel for centuries. Unlike elephants, camels have been bred for riding. As long as they are well-treated and part of humane companies with animal welfare in mind, riding a camel isn't "evil" or "cruel."

With the help of our guide's translation, I learned that these camels give a sunrise and a sunset ride every day. Between these journeys and overnight, they spend their time roaming freely in a giant field close to the dunes. It's easy to say, they are happy camels!

And happy camels lead to happy riders! Just look at our pictures from our sunset ride- it doesn't get much better than this! Bucket list item checked!

 Getting up on the camels was more thrilling than I imagined! When the camels go to stand up, the rider goes almost horizontal while holding on tightly to the harness. I wasn't expecting the uncomfortable saddles, but the views were well worth it! Halfway through the ride, the camels had a break and we climbed a nearby dune to watch the sun set. Sitting on a dune while the sun set was spectacular and a memory we will not soon forget!

Thanks to our spectacular guide's advice, we had picked up a few beers on the way to the desert earlier in the day. This led us to a delightful evening back at camp, where we enjoyed a refreshing drink post-camel ride!

Together with our Aussie friends, Daniel and Amy, we passed the time by the fire pit chatting about travels and what brought us to live in Europe. Our new Australian friends moved to London, found local jobs there to finance their travels over a 3-year work visa.

At 8 pm, it was time for a group dinner of chicken tagine in the main community tent. Post dinner, Bryan and I climbed atop the dunes for some time stargazing; it's not often we escape from light pollution and can see the stars this clearly!

March 31: Sunrise Camel Ride & Return to Marrakesh

Our day started bright and early with a 5 am alarm and an underwhelming breakfast of tiny yogurts and leftover bread from last night's dinner. I guess getting food out to the desert isn't an easy task, but at least we had a sunrise camel ride to make the early morning wake up worth it!

Like last night's ride, Bryan and I were quick to don our tagelmust and lithams for our morning in the windy desert dunes! Having the headwrap and nose covering helped keep us dust-free!

Today's camel ride was much longer than last night's ride through the dunes! Our camel trek was our transportation out of the dunes and back to our vans awaiting to take us back to Marrakesh, meaning we were camel-back for over an hour...whew!

Luckily, we did have another short break halfway through the ride to climb up a nearby dune to watch the sun peak over the desert! My inner thighs were screaming by the end of the ride, and Bryan disembarked with a strange gait!

Café Palma

After thanking our camels for the ride, they headed out to pasture for the afternoon while we boarded our buses for the long journey back to town. Our first stop of the day was at Cafe Palma for, you guessed it, coffee!

As we endured nearly 9 hours in the car from Merzouga to Marrakesh, we had plenty of time to look out the window and see the smaller villages as we passed. Our guide also explained that today was the final day of Ramadan; locals celebrated the end of the month's fasting and prayer by gathering in town and feasting together.

Café Restaurant Panorama

As we officially leave the Sahara Desert, I think it's important to note that the desert isn't all rolling mountains of sand. In my mind, the Sahara Desert looked like the Disney movie Aladdin....when in reality, it actually looks like the first picture below. I learned that there are only small parts of the Sahara Desert with sand dunes- luckily for us we got to camp in the Merzouga Dunes!

We did take a break eventually for lunch! This time around, we enjoyed a Moroccan buffet. This got us right in the mood for a long nap for our remaining drive to the city center.

Riad Black Doors

A long 9-hour drive later and we arrived back in Marrakesh! I was really happy that I chose to stay in the same Riad from our first night in the city, making it easy for us to find the location among all the bazaar's shops.

Our hosts provided tea upon check-in, which Bryan and I enjoyed outside our room on the second floor before donning our cross-body bags and heading out to explore the city at night for the final evening of Ramadan celebrations!

Jemaa el-Fnaa:ساحة جامع الفنا

Djemma el Fnaa Square is a UNESCO World Heritage Site filled with storytellers, musicians, performers, as well as food stalls and vendors selling everything you can imagine! I tried to talk Bryan into letting me buy more pottery, but that was a hard no... He also wasn't allowing me to buy a brass chandelier lamp to hang over my dream dining room table.

Sometimes I swear I married a no-man....but I guess he has a point- I do own a lot of Moroccan-style pottery (I mean, all of Southern Spain's styles are Moroccan designs!) An we don't hae a plan for my "dream house" anytime soon...so I left empty-handed!

Snack La Place

We enjoyed looking around until some hagglers arrived and tried to pressure us into eating at their food stalls. At that point, we grabbed a Kebab to go and ate on our Riad's roof- it's not every day you get to enjoy the Moroccan skyline as you eat dinner!

Tuesday, April 1: Marrakesh, Morocco

Our last morning in Morocco started a bit slower. Shortly after waking up at 8:30, we were treated to breakfast on the roof! We enjoyed eggs, a Nutella crepe, and bread with numerous spreads and cheese to go along with Moroccan mint tea and coffee! Katie definitely found a gem of a hotel for us!

At 10 am we stored our bags in the riad and headed back to Jemaa el-Fnaa (old town square) to meet up for our walking tour of Marrakech. Along the way to our first stop, Katie marveled at all the beautiful mosaics and doors!

Bahia Palace: قصر الباهية

Our first stop of the tour was the Bahia Palace. The palace began as a home for the grand vizier and was expanded to become a stunning example of Moroccan architecture and design. Katie and I marveled at its stunning tile work, colorful, ornate ceilings, and beautiful archways! Our tour guide told us that the design for this palace was inspired by the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, which Katie and I had the chance to visit in August 2023.

As we were touring the palace, we noticed that there were numerous signs written in both Arabic and Berber. We learned that Morocco is a country composed of ethnic-Arabians and ethnic-Berbers. While Arabic is the primary langauge of the country, a large portion of the population also speak various dialects of the Berber language. Seeing this symbol-based language displayed in the palace was a true testament to how vastly different the Moroccan people are!

Saadian Tombs: ضريح السعديين

Our last stop of the walking tour was the Saadian Tombs. Believed to have been constructed in the late 1500s to early 1600s, this necropolis serves as the final resting place for the sultans of the Saadian Empire and their families. Katie and I were again blown away by the beautiful and colorful tile mosaics that adorned the walls and each grave site.

Bab Doukkala Mosque:مسجد باب دكالة

Unfortunately, we had to cut our walking tour short in order to make our way across town to our scheduled 2:00 pm cooking class! We grabbed our bags from the Riad and hauled them across town where we met up with our guide and the rest of our group.

After a quick shopping trip in the souks for fresh vegetables, it was time to get to cooking! We donned our aprons and began dicing up vegetables and adding numerous colorful spices to every dish! For our starters, we enjoyed a Moroccan salad, eggplant zaalouk, potato salad, and a caramelized carrot dish. Our main courses consisted of vegetable tagine and lemon chicken tagine, which was made with salted, pickled lemon! For dessert, we enjoyed yogurt with apple and filo pastry!

Librairie Chatr: مكتبة شاطر

With full stomachs, we still had an hour before we needed to get to the airport, so we decided to make a pitstop at Librairie Chatr to get our copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in Arabic! Along the way, Katie spotted a closed bookstore named after our Boy, Hugo!

Marrakesh Menara Airport:مطار مراكش المنارة الدولي

Around 6 pm we made it to the airport well in advance for our 9 pm flight! Around 6:30 pm, things quickly took a turn for me as I began vomiting up everything from our cooking class. After a few more episodes on the plane and also on the drive home, I decided I was not going to be able to go to work the next day!

Katie and I made it back home around 3 am. Since my illness had not subsided the following day, not allowing me to even keep water down, Katie and I made a trip to the ER for some fluids and medications to help with the nausea! I have absolutely no idea what made me ill, but I'm incredibly thankful to Katie for taking care of me, making sure I got home safely, and nursing me back to health!

Even though the trip may have ended on a slightly negative note, it was still an amazing experience overall! Stay tuned for our next adventure coming up very soon!

Cheers!

Katie and Bryan