Morocco Day 1

You’re Not Tourists; You’re Travelers

Our next adventure will mark a first for Jenny and me – we will finally be visiting the continent of Africa (Billy was there for work many years ago). We were supposed to go on a safari two years ago, but when Putin invaded Ukraine, I felt the near future seemed rather uncertain so I canceled it  Funny thing is setting off today, I would say the current climate is just as iffy and we are headed to an area of the world that is getting more and more unstable. But… here we are in Morocco. 

Our trip began with a train to Boston, then a bus to the airport followed by a 10:30PM flight to Lisbon. We arrived at 9:00 AM, after an incredibly turbulent flight and grabbed an Uber to the Marriott where we hoped to get a few hours of sleep and cleaned up before returning to the airport to meet up with Jenny, but not before witnessing a rather amusing scene unfold between an American woman, who was clearly frustrated her room was not ready for check-in, and the desk agent. She began questioning the agent about how much a ride from the airport should be because she had read it should be no more than 12 Euros but she was charged 20 Euros by the taxi (as though it was the hotel’s fault). The agent confirmed that it should not have been 20 Euros (taxis in Lisbon are notorious for ripping you off) and instructed her she needs to make sure they put their meter on, to which she emphatically informed him, “Well I don’t speak Spanish!” The agent, very calmly yet pointedly replied, “Ma’am, you are in Portugal. We speak Portuguese here.” The woman, clearly feeling a bit foolish, snapped back at him, “Well, I don’t speak Portuguese either.” The one thing I learned in no uncertain terms on a previous trip to Portugal is the Portuguese take great offense to be spoken to in Spanish or have you suggest they have any relation to the Spaniards.

I, on the other hand, had booked our room for the day, from 9:00AM-5:00PM, so we were able to nap and shower before meeting up with Jenny, who was flying in from Edinburgh. Reunification with Jenny has always made life feel complete, and today was no different. 

Our upcoming trip is going to be a fast-moving one – we are covering a lot of ground: 10 days in Morocco; 4 days in the UAE; one day in Qatar; one day in the countryside of the UK. We are changing locations every night but one. Some people will say we are only seeing places through the windshield of a car and not really experiencing it; there may be some truth to that but we all enjoy the “trip” as much as the destination (hence why we have not bored with driving cross country and back every year). Jenny insisted she wanted to see as much as we could, so that is what we are doing; it may be to the detriment of a more in-depth experience, but only time will tell.

After a delay in our flight leaving Lisbon, we did not land in Marrakesh until almost 9:00 PM and by the time we cleared immigration (which was a a rather slow process), finally found the driver I asked the Riad to send for us, it was 10:00 when we made our way by foot through the pedestrian only streets of the Medina to our first stop – Riad Rafaele.

Walking through the doors we all gasped with delight. It was exactly what I was hoping for – a gorgeously classical Moroccan Riad – spectacular in every sense.

Our room was large, with very high ceilings, exquisitely decorated and inviting, the kind of spot that one could easily spend more time than not in.

The two gentlemen that greeted us were affable and welcoming. Elhoussaine had a great sense of humor, roasting me about who planned the trip after learning our itinerary. He roasted even more after learning that we were going to rent a car ourselves (as did our driver Sam) but gave us very good tips, especially about how to handle the police that frequently stop you to shake you down for some made up traffic violation. I had read all about this prior to deciding on renting a car over hiring a driver, including many posts by expats and recent tourists, all saying that if you tell them you only have credit cards and no cash on you, or ask for their name and badge number, they waive you on…It is a difficult concept for us to fathom, but we are going to give it a whirl. But Elhoussaine also recognized something in us very quickly, he remarked, “You’re not tourists; You are travelers.” We all agreed very quickly that we certainly fashion ourselves in that sense.

We enjoyed conversations with both Elhoussaine and Ridouan,, both of whom are from the Southern part of Morocco where the Berber communities are. — referred to themselves as Saharans. There seems to be a great debate about whether any of Morocco is actually considered to be part of the Sahara, but if people born and raised there are going to refer to themselves in that manner, then I sure as heck ma not going to argue.

By 11:15, we were having a delicious dinner of Moroccan salad and an off the charts chicken tangine prepared with preserved lemons and olives. Our delicious meal, of which there was nothing left, was a topped off by an over the top, decadent, chocolate mousse.

By 1:15 AM we were done, both mentally and physically. But…want a wonderful introduction to Morocco!