The Radical Sabbatical: Morocco (part 2)

October 12 through 20, 2022

We are nearing the end of our stay in Morocco, having spent the past week or so in Essaouira (a lovely seaside town) and Casablanca, with side trips to Tangier, Rabat, and Chefchaouen. Each has been unique in its own way 😊. I think we wound up seeing quite a bit of the country's diversity and culture in a relatively short amount of time.

Our Atlas Obscura group tour ended in Marrakech (where it started) and we got to experience it once again in all its chaotic glory 😝. We had a final farewell dinner, a home-cooked meal at a local's house, which involved making our way through scary back alleys and dodging motor scooters in the streets. (The food was delicious though 😋.) Happily our final memory was a hot-air balloon ride, which involved getting up quite early to catch the sunrise 🌄. This was definitely a highlight, very professionally organized, and worth the steep price. It allowed us to take in the beautiful landscape and "see the big picture" of the city.

Our flight to Casablanca was okay but would have been better if we didn't get to the gate so far in advance of our flight. For some reason, many of the airports we've been to do not have any services once you've gone through security and made your way to the gate (I have no idea why 😕). Art decided we should check in 3.5 hours early (for real 😑) which left me without anything to drink for all that time. And to make things worse, the TSA folks confiscated my fork at security (my fork?!) so now I'm down to just one real spoon. I'm somehow managing to survive 👍. The flight itself was fine; I'm glad we masked up even though hardly anyone did. I wound up with yet another migraine 😓 but I'm realizing that's often the case with travel days (not enough water or fresh air).

Bizarre side story: When we arrived in Casablanca, we were one of very few people on the flight who weren't connecting to elsewhere. We got our luggage and tried to figure out the taxi situation. The airport security guard came over to help us, even offering to call his taxi-driver friend to get us a "good price of $40". Normally I'm skeptical of everyone and everything when I travel but hey, he had a uniform and a government badge. He had us wait while he called his friend, then determined his friend couldn't come after all (huh?), so he told us we should just take any taxi outside the airport, but said "do not let them charge you more than $40." Such a nice guy, looking out for us 👀. We walked outside, hailed the first cab, asked how much, and the guy said $30. Sold. And wow, that confirmed my belief that you can't trust anyone 😒. Not even a uniformed security guard with a badge at the airport.

We had some other similar situations throughout Morocco. Not to generalize but there was definitely a prevailing "hustle culture" among the tour guides and taxi drivers (especially in the big cities). Definitely a vibe of "how much can we take advantage of unsuspecting tourists?" We were lucky not to get taken in, but we came close at times. Art's lucky that my New York upbringing has made me more wary (and probably kept us alive); it balances his mid-western trust-everyone upbringing. What a pair we make 👫.

In Casablanca we are staying at a very nice "luxury apartment" Airbnb with all the amenities we need (except maybe a dryer and a working microwave). We are very close to the famous (and enormous) Hassan II mosque and the souks, and not far from the also-famous Rick's Cafe (from the movie Casablanca). The area is relatively safe and next to the coastline and a giant modern shopping mall (think Marina del Rey). We've never seen so many security guards in all our travels so far 👮.

I took the opportunity to take some day trips to Rabat (the capitol of Morocco), Tangier (next to the Strait of Gibraltar, and a city with more European influence), and Chefchaouen (a small and charming blue-hued city). Each had its own charm and personality. I think (for me) the key ingredient on these tours is the tour guide and I've been pretty lucky with that. I probably could have done some of these trips without a tour guide but I think solo travel here (especially as a woman) is a bit risky 😮.

Funny aside: my tour to Tangier and Chefchaouen was an overnight trip and involved the lovely and modern bullet train 🚅. I was picked up from my apartment area and taken to the train station, given the ticket, and then the driver said "okay the train is around there, bye!" 👋 and left. Huh. I'm pretty smart so eventually I figured it out, and tried to enjoy the train journey without wondering what would happen when I arrived in Tangier. When I got out of the train station, I saw a guy with a sign that had my name on it -- I was honestly never so happy to see my name! 😅 Lots of trust was involved in this journey and happily it paid off. I highly recommend seeing both cities, for longer than I stayed. Two days wasn't nearly enough.

Interesting aside: Until now I hadn't been to a primarily-Muslim country (or at least not for very long) so I wasn't prepared for the daily calls to prayer (5x/day). I think by now my biorhythm has adjusted to waking with the 6am call (and then sometimes going back to sleep 😴). It's fascinating to see a whole country in sync that way. My tour guide did tell me that Morocco is a liberal and progressive Muslim country so no one is actually required to pray daily or wear hijab, although many do (especially in the middle and southern parts of the country).

Final aside: We went to visit the Jewish museum in Casablanca... turned out to be incredibly difficult to find a taxi to take us there since it was far (5 miles away :-) Taxis seem to operate in a small geographic area, and often pick up multiple fares along the way (whether you wanted a carpool or not 😦). Happily we got there safely and happened upon a rehearsal of a Moroccan-Jewish orchestra. We got to watch them for quite a while which was amazing! I'm sure our Cantor at TBI would have been ecstatic to bear witness to it. (Getting back home was yet another adventure but we made it 😅.) Never a dull moment over here.

I'm sure I could write for pages more, but that's enough of an overview of our trip here. Visiting a developing country was eye-opening and mind-broadening for sure, but that's exactly what travel is for 😎. We leave for Athens, Greece tomorrow which will surely be a whole different kind of experience!

Deena and Art