This past weekend, I went to Morocco with a student travel company called Discover Excursions. It was so beautiful and unlike any place I have been in my life. Sevilla is located in Southwestern Spain, which makes traveling to Morocco easier than getting to most places in Europe. With that being said, I decided to take the amazing opportunity and step foot on another continent!
...And boy am I glad I did! Even though I was only in Morocco for a weekend, I think I got a pretty good feel for the beauty, unique culture, and charm this small, northern African country has to offer. It definitely felt much more European than the image that probably comes to mind when you think of Africa, but that didn't mean that it was anything like the other places I have been in Europe.
I have never been to an Arabic country, so that alone was an entirely new experience for me. Prayer calls could be heard all across the cities at different times throughout the day, and women are covered from head to toe. Even though I knew these things about the culture in Morocco, it was still quite an experience to be surrounded by it all.
Our trip began on Friday afternoon, when I met up with my friends and the other people who would be spending the weekend on the trip. I went with Lindsay, my friend from my high school, and Caela, my friend from college. We loaded the bus for our two and a half hour ride down to Tarifa, Spain, where we would went through customs and got on a ferry to cross the straight of Gibraltar. The ferry was surprisingly nice, and the ride only lasted an hour.
After going through customs in Morocco (yay to getting a new stamp!), we got back on a bus to travel down to our hotel, which was about an hour away in Tétouan. Our hotel was very nice, and we were greeted with delicious Moroccan tea and a feast of soup and couscous. We crashed before midnight to get ready for our early wakeup call the next morning.
On Saturday, we spent the day in Chefchaouen, a beautiful city where most of the buildings are painted blue. We stopped about half way to take a look at a beautiful lake in between mountains.
With Lindsay and Caela
Once we arrived in Chefchaouen, we were greeted by the most adorable little Moroccan man who would be our guide for the day. I can't remember his name, but I can tell you that he has lived in this beautifully blue city for his whole life, so he was a total expert.
(Our guide)
Our guide led us on a walking tour around the city, which is home to about 26,000 people. I was shocked that even though it is a similar size to my town back home, it felt much bigger. I guess it is just because it is very concentrated. The highlights of the walking tour for me were admiring the beautiful shades of blue and colorful art, as well as observing the people and everyday life around me in a whole new culture.
Also, I can't fail to mention all of the unique doors throughout the city. I absolutely fell in love with the shapes, colors, and details of every door I saw. The story behind the doors is quite interesting, as well. From what I remember, Chefchaouen used to be divided religiously, so the color of your door let the people know if you were a Jew, Berber, etc.
Our walking tour also brought us up along the side of a mountain overlooking the city. It was a pretty beautiful site...
After the tour, we had lunch provided by our program at a restaurant called Aladdin. It was the perfect arabic-feeling place. We then had a few hours of free-time to shop. Caela and I had mentioned to our tour guide that we were looking to buy Moroccan blankets, so he told us to meet him in the main square after lunch so he could take us to the best place and help us get a good deal. He took us to a really cool shop that had blankets and rugs piled up to the ceiling and a loom where the items are made in-house. (See for yourself below!) Caela, Lindsay, and I all ended up buying beautiful blankets to take back home to the US. It was the perfect souvenir.
I finished out the day in Chefchaouen with an amazing cup of Moroccan mint tea. Anyone who knows me can probably imagine how happy it made me! :)
We went back to our hotel to have dinner, which included a show of traditional Moroccan music and dance. The program hosted a sangria party that night, which we went to for a total of about 8 minutes until we realized that it was an awkward gathering of people basically drinking juice in a room meant for business presentations. We decided it was more worth it to get our things together and get some sleep before waking up and needing to be out of our rooms by around 7:30 am.
On Sunday, we loaded our things on the bus and drove to go see the Caves of Hercules in Tangier. As you can (kind of) see below, the cave's opening to the ocean is said to look like the shape of Africa.
Then came the moment that everyone was waiting for... THE CAMEL RIDE!!!!! We all got to ride a camel on a cliff along the beach in Tangier. It wasn't a very long ride, but it was just the right amount of time to get to enjoy such a crazy experience! As you can see by my friends' faces in the picture below, it was pretty scary when the camel stood up and sat down. I held on tight to my saddle at first, but I quickly got over it and put my arms up for what I'm sure will be a picture I will look at year after year.
Because no camel ride is complete without a camel selfie!
The last stop on our whirlwind of a day was Asilah, a coastal town with a cool, artistic vibe. It hosts lots of art and music festivals, including a street art competition that allows the winners to keep their work up on the walls throughout the city for two years. We went on a walking tour around the city and spent a little time sitting in the sun at the beach.
On our walking tour, we came up to a wall that was painted as a "Relationship Tree." It was so cool to see everyone's love expressed in so many different languages. I'm a huge cheese ball, so I of course whipped out a pen and made my mark! Shout out to my Ben! (Especially if he is still reading this post- haha!)
I, once again, ended my visit with a glass of mint tea. Our visit to Asilah was a bit too quick for my liking, but I did manage to score an adorable decorative tea pot for my room!
After another bus ride back to Tangier, we got on the ferry to head back up to Spain. We got on just in time for sunset, which was a really cool sight. It was a great end to an even better trip. I'm one lucky, lucky girl!
So long, Africa!
Thanks for reading!!
A
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