Week 6: Remoting in Rabat
Sahara Safari & Salé Sightseeing
Saturday, September 3: Arabian Nights Pt. 1
We left Marrakech early that morning to officially begin our adventure into the Sahara. Along the way we learned from a cooperative of women how argan oil, a Moroccan staple, is made. Next was Ait Ben Haddou in the Ourzazate Province, a sand castle village that is both a UNESCO World Heritage site and a famous Hollywood setting used both in Gladiator and Game of Thrones. It was unlike anywhere I’ve ever been and continued to foster my newfound love for the palm tree + desert village combo. After a few more hours on the road, we landed at our incredible lodging for the night, Auberge Panorama, where we joined in a Moroccan drum circle & star gazed from the terrace.
Sunday, September 4: Arabian Nights Pt. 2
Sunday was desert day. We learned how to tie our scarves to protect our faces from the wind, sand and heat, stopped at unbelievably picturesque stops like Dadés Gorge (aka Monkey Fingers bec look at those rock formations!) and Todra Gorge, prepared to enter the desert with makeshift cocktails in hand and then began our sunset camel trek.
The second I got on my camel (named Frank (the tank) Camel) I was in love with the experience. I actually didn’t think riding a camel was too different than a horse and took to it pretty quickly. It was entirely surreal to be riding a camel through the Sahara with amazing people as part of our camel caravan so I found it to be relaxing! We briefly stopped to soak in the sunset & take a shot at sandboarding (which I was over the moon excited to try) and then we continued our trek to camp as darkness set in. We (not surprisingly) ate some tagine, drank some wine that we carted in ourselves via camel and then spent the rest of the night lying on a dune stargazing. We shared stories, songs and eventually snoozes as we decided to take our tent bedding out under the stars & into the open air. It was a day that definitely goes down as one of the best of my life.
Monday, September 5: Sunrise, Sand & Snoozing
We woke up bright & early and trekked out of the desert as the sun rose over the dunes. Sleeping in the desert clearly didn’t make the camels as dazed & confused that morning as it did me since they were apparently feeling pretty photogenic. I had some fun capturing their camel-ness. Frank (the tank) Camel even selfied in unison with me (notice the smile progression from closed to open lips). Once we made it out, we stopped at a hotel for showers and breakfast and then hit the road to Fes.
Tuesday, September 6: Braving Fes
We got to Fes late Monday night and were starving. Having zero appetite for Moroccan food left (it’s delicious but heavy & just continued to rock our stomachs) we decided to venture out for Thai take away. Details to come in a different blog, but long story short, while we ended up at a really nice, safe restaurant, we later learned that we made a bad decision walking there ourselves and got lucky not running into any problems. That same vibe continued the next day as we went sightseeing.
Our first spot was The Jardin Jnan Sbil and it was beautiful and serene. A pink rose always reminds me of my Grandma’s roses so that brightened my morning, but shortly thereafter the catcalling began but this time unexpectedly by a gardener. We moved on to the Bab Bou Jeloud (Blue Gate) to explore the medina and head to the tannery but ran into similar problems as the night before. Without actual maps or guidance from the usually reliable Google Maps, we had a heck of a time locating the tannery and locals could sense that. As various nicknames were used to get our attention, we were constantly told to go the wrong direction and after enough frustration gave up altogether. (more on that to come in the same future blog referenced above) We made the best of it by shopping on the way back and finding a little pouf making shop, which turned things around. The shop owner was very kind, told us how they’re made and Lucy ended up buying a couple so we considered the day a success. We headed back to our amazing riad (Riad Eleganza) to recover a bit from the morning madness before driving back to Rabat.
Wednesday, Thursday & Friday September 7–9: Work
After being offline for desert adventures, the rest of the week was for seriously buckling down and catching up on work. Aside from listening to an excerpt from our favorite budding novelist, Kim, and some lackluster dinners, that pretty much sums it up!
Saturday, September 10: Salé, Sunset & Seeing Rabat
Friday afternoon I was lucky enough to have my boyfriend come visit me in my Morocco life. I booked Riad Marlinea so he could experience authentic Morocco instead of my modern apartment in Agdal and it was the perfect launch point for sightseeing in Rabat. We saw more in 2 days than I had the few weeks I’ve been here! From the fortressed walls & blue hues of the Kasbah les Oudaias to watching sunset from Plages de Rabat, Rabat was growing on me quickly.
Sunday, September 11: Boat Trip, Beach Day & More
Because Salé is on the other side of the river from Rabat, we either had to walk a huge bridge to get across or take a boat. Since taking a little row boat across is way more fun, we obviously took that approach and it was a pretty fun 5 minutes for only 5 dirham! We then strolled through the medina, played at the beach for a few hours and checked out the Hassan Tower and Mausoleum of Mohammed V.
