The Points Mom

Morocco-Forever Embedded In Our Souls

 

By Hilary Murray

Morocco! A destiny my husband and I have always desired to visit. Finally, after 20 years of travelling together, we took the plunge and along with our three children, visited this mysterious land during Christmas break.

After doing some research our trip was booked through a local Moroccan Travel agency (Travel Link) that was recommended by family friends. Not knowing many that had travelled to Morocco, we weren’t sure what to expect, but we were pleasantly surprised by what we did.

As is always the case, part of the journey is just getting there. While it’s possible to fly direct to Casablanca on the only nonstop Moroccan airline, Air Maroc, we opted to fly on Air TAP through Lisbon, because the fare to fly business was reasonable (as reasonable goes when it comes to flying business).
After departing at 11pm we arrived in Casablanca around 2pm local time. Soon we learned why Travel Link was the agency that many travel agents in the U.S. use.

Upon arrival into the airport, we were whisked away into a private room that handled customs, and then to street side, where we were greeted by our private driver, Khalid, and guide, Nabil.

On the 3-hour drive from Casablanca down to Marrakech, Nabil prepared us for our trip. He shared the many details of what to expect on our itinerary, as well as details of the customs and culture of Morocco. From the obvious things like climate in the month we were there, to the less obvious, like what we can and cannot photograph. Apparently, the locals don’t like to have their picture taken unless asked, and this was helpful information.

We arrived at our hotel, The Mandarin Oriental in Marrakech, after dark. Upon our arrival we were escorted to our room on lantern lit walkways.

The room we had booked was their two-bedroom oriental pool villa, and we all agree it may have been the nicest room we have ever stayed in. Upon opening the door, the first thing to be noticed, were lanterns that were lit up around a private pool in the middle of the villa. The pool was surrounded by 2 bedrooms, and multiple living rooms, both indoors and outdoors. One even included an outdoor fireplace. It was beyond spectacular.

The first morning of our trip, we woke up and had an amazing breakfast at the hotel, and the staff would go on to remember what we wanted every morning.

At 9:30 am we were picked up by Khalid and Nabil and taken to an area where we picked up a horse drawn carriage and headed through the new city to Majorelle Gardens. This was an ideal way to travel through the city because you saw things that you might miss in a car.

Majorelle Gardens is a garden in the middle of the city, bought by the famous designer Yves Saint Laurent in 1980 and restored. The gardens were rimmed with buildings of beautiful cobalt blue, which was an amazing contrast set against the bright green cacti of the gardens. It was a photographer’s dream.

Inside the gardens, there is also the new Yves St. Laurent museum and a Berber museum, that we quickly explored.

After our morning we headed to the Medina, better known as the old city, to explore the colorful souks. This is where you get to explore amazing foods, goods and antiques that the Moroccans sell and make, as well as the culture of old Morocco.

The kids had as much fun as we did as they each got to shop and pick out items that they wanted and then enjoyed the art of negotiating with the vendors. It was definitely beneficial to have a guide that could help us navigate. In addition to shopping, we did a food tasting tour in the Souk where we got to try a traditional vegetable soup and their signature dish, chicken tagine.

That evening we ate at the grande dame of Marrakesh Moroccan restaurants, Dar Yacout, set in a beautiful old riad, (a traditional house in Morocco) in the middle of the medina. There they swarmed our table with exorbitant amounts of food. Couscous for 12 even though we were 5, yummy tagines of vegetables and chicken served in oversized pots, and tons of different colorful Moroccan salads.

Day two started off with a cooking class at the well known restaurant and riad, La Maison Arabe, also situated in the medina. Our kids had a blast learning how to make their own chicken tagine and Moroccan salads. That became our lunch which we enjoyed immensely at a rooftop table shared with the other chefs. We then received our official cooking class certificate along with a gift of our own tagine to bring home and remind us of our trip.

After lunch we decided to continue our exploration of the souks in the medina before heading back to the hotel to rest until dinner.

Day three started with us making our way through the Atlas Mountains to our next resort, Dar Ahlam, with stops along the way. Our first stop was Ait Benhaddou, a UNESCO site. I would suggest looking that up on Google images. There you will see photos of an amazing hilltop village that has been the setting for multiple movies.

Despite it looking like a movie set, it is still an inhabited ancient village with a lot of history. We hiked to the top, and although not as high as Masada for those who have been to Israel, it was still hearty enough to give us an appetite for lunch.

Nabil had arranged for us to have a home cooked meal at the home of a friend, which was actually a small inn nestled in the hills of the Atlas Mountains. The views were amazing, and the lunch was one of the highlights of our trip. So much so, that we stopped there again on our way back from our next stop.

We finally made our way to Dar Ahlam, a resort which defies words and descriptions. Dar Ahlam is a 14 room, Relais and Chateaux hotel in an old Kasbah (a Moroccan fort) that sits in an oasis in a town called Skoura. To get there, you had to drive on winding roads through an adobe town filled with stray dogs.

As there is no official check-in desk, upon our arrival we were greeted by one of the owners and his assistant and taken to a living room with a roaring fire and refreshments. Luggage arrived in our room before we got there, and we were informed that all meals, (where we were eating and what we were eating) would be a surprise. All we had to do was walk down to the living room when we were hungry and they would show us to our dining spot.

When the time came to eat we weaved our way down through the old lantern lit Kasbah and to the living room, getting lost on the way. We then gathered by the fireplace with other families until they showed us to where we would eat our feast. We were guided to a beautiful little nook in the hotel where our table was decorated beautifully. Our personal waiter then served us a memorable meal.

The night ended early, as we were due to enjoy a unique adventure early the next morning. We were to be picked up before 8am to start a trek to a private tented desert camp in the middle of the Sahara Desert. We divided the family into two four-by-fours for what would be a seven-hour drive, all for a one night stay. Yes, seven is not a typo, it was seven hours away. We had originally cancelled this part of the trip for fear of the journey, but had heard from several people that this was a must do. And they were right.

This beautiful scenic drive included stops for a picnic lunch in the middle of an oasis, stores on the side of the road filled with goods such as geodes, and a woman’s co-op where many products were made from argon nuts.

After 6 and a half hours, the last three of which were on dirt, we arrived at the camp, where we spotted the staff setting up for tea on top of the sand dunes. It is worth mentioning here, that the Moroccan tea is amazing and was served at the end of all of our meals. This became a favorite part of our day.

Moroccan tea is typically made from a combination of green tea and fresh mint or herbs. The tea and biscuits were set up on a small table atop Moroccan rugs and poufs. We were then shown to our tents, which were in fact tents, but had comfortable beds and toilets inside. Despite no electricity, lanterns and warm water bottles were provided.

We then enjoyed the desert for the evening, where we got to see a glorious sunset seep below the wispy sand all while they set up appetizers before our dinner. Dinner would be served beneath the stars with a roaring fire built to keep us warm. And the fire was a necessity.

Once the sun sets in the desert it gets cold, and it gets cold very fast. By 8pm the temperature was close to 45 degrees and the low that evening would be down to around 30. Plan on sleeping in socks and gloves.

We were woken at 6:45 am to see a beautiful sunrise, and the air warmed quickly. After that we were given a traditional Moroccan breakfast in the sand and then headed back for our last night at Dar Ahlam. We squeezed in a camel ride when we got back and then had our final dinner, which did not disappoint.

Our final stop was heading back through the windy Atlas Mountains to Sir Richard Branson’s resort, Kasbah Tamodot. We learned that traveling in Morocco required a lot of driving, so we made multiple stops along the way. One stop was at The Atlas Movie Studios in Ouazazate. There we saw sets for many of the movies made in Morocco (which is a very popular destination for filmmakers) like “The Mummy”, “Jewel of the Nile” and “Game of Thrones”.

We arrived at Kasbah Tamodot in an area of the Atlas Mountains called Asni, about an hour and thirty minutes outside Marrakech. The setting was beautiful, with views of the snowcapped mountains that were off in the distance.

The hotel offered rooms in two ways- in the main Kasbah itself, or in an ornately decorated Berber tent. My husband and I opted to for the tent, further from the main Kasbah and more private. We loved it. Meals were included and offered both traditional Moroccan meals and American choices as well.

Perhaps the highlight of our stop here was a mule trek through the Atlas Mountains. It was a hilly hike on mules that took us through a winding Berber village with adobe homes. It was there we ate lunch and drank tea in the home of a local Berber family.

After a day of rest at the resort which included badminton and darts, we finally packed our bags for our journey back home. We said our goodbyes to Khalid and Nabil with tears in our eyes, as we had bonded with both of these wonderful men during our stay in their country.

Local Berber serving tea

After arriving home, we talked about how Morocco was one of our favorite trips and how it will forever be embedded into our souls. We wished that we had more time to explore this beautiful, hospitable country. Next time, we hope to see Fez, Rabat and Casablanca, but for sure plan to go back to Marrakech again, the beautiful red city.

As a footnote we were asked by many people upon our return whether we felt safe and comfortable in a country that is primarily Muslim. I can only say we have no understanding of what that even means. At no time did we feel unsafe (as a matter of fact we felt safer there than we do in NY), and the people could not be more hospitable and welcoming of Americans regardless of background.