Of all of the African countries listed on my bucket list, Morocco was at the top of my list. I had been looking forward to visiting Morocco for a very long time. Due to the timing of my trip, I ended up traveling solo, which I never mind doing. Overall, it was a good trip but not quite as I expected. I am not sure what I imagined it would be like. Well, that is not true. I have spent quite a bit of time in Spain, and for some reason I expected Morocco to feel similar to Spain. The Moors from North Africa impacted Spanish culture. Arab and Berber Muslims who crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and conquered parts of present-day Spain influenced Spanish language, culture, and dance.
I cannot tell you how much I LOVE Spain. My dream is to retire in Seville! But, this is a post about Morocco. Morocco is not the Spain of North Africa, as I thought. Outside of some architecture aspects, it is quite different in almost all respects. I will start by saying that I am glad I took this trip. There were a lot of great highlights. However, even though I have lived in Africa and I have visited Arab countries, I was still not prepared for my cultural experience in Morocco. While I never really felt unsafe, sometimes being solo complicated my travels. My travel to Morocco was filled with surprises. Here are the good, bad, and the ugly things I wish I knew before my trip to Morocco.
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Old world feel,
I’m going to start off with what I loved most about Morocco…its old world feel and the food! Traveling through Morocco almost makes you feel like you have stepped back in time. A time when the community helped and served each other to accomplish the most basic things in life. The donkey is still the main form of transportation for many Moroccans. You will definitely see a lot of donkeys or mules used to move people and goods in the medinas, especially since a lot of streets are too narrow for cars. Also, do you remember the last time you got your meat from the butcher? Probably not, since for most Americans that time has long since passed. In Morocco, you notice that:
- You can drop off your bread dough at the baker and he will bake it for you.
- Chickens are usually bought alive because they have to be slaughtered based in Islamic law. Butchers take care of that for you.
- Got fresh ground meat? Someone will grind it for you while you wait.
- Most dresses are handmaid.
- Someone will make you fresh philo dough for all of your pastillas, desserts and meat dishes.
Moroccan Food
Morocco food was a highlight for me. However, I will say up front that I though Moroccan food was pretty much the same everywhere I went, but I still loved it. I ate a lot of lamb, beef, or chicken tagine. Tagine is a Maghrebi dish which is named after the earthenware pot in which it is cooked. Inside of that wonderful pot, Moroccans prepare an aromatic stew. When properly cooked, the meat is super tender and flavorful. I never had a tagine dish that was not fresh, hot and delicious.
One dish I wish I had discovered earlier in my trip is pastilla. It is a wonderful meat pie based on a sweet and savory combination. The filling, which usually consists of pigeon or chicken, is enclosed in several layers of an extremely thin dough called warkaor warqa (sheet of paper, in Arabic). If you get the opportunity, you can see ladies making the dough in the market. Do not leave Morocco without eating this dish!
Do not forget to drink my three favorite beverages in Morocco; mint tea, fresh orange juice, and red wine. They make mint tea with Chinese gunpowder green tea and spearmints. Moroccans drink this tea with LOTS of sugar. They will usually add in the sugar for you, so let them know if you are like me and do not like super sweet tea. I drank this tea all the time while I was in Morocco.
Moroccans also are famous for their fresh orange juice. You will never buy orange juice out of the supermarket again once you have a taste of Moroccan OJ. Some say it is the best in the world. Best place to get it in the markets or medinas, but I am sure you can also get it at restaurants.
Finally, you must try Moroccan wine. Unlike many Muslim countries, you can drink in Morocco. Thank goodness, because the red wine is quite good. You can buy wine and alcohol in most major supermarkets and restaurants.
Take a cooking class. Taking a cooking class on every continent is on my bucket list. Up to this point, I had not taken a class in Africa. Since Morocco has fantastic food, I had to do it.We cooked a few of Morocco’s traditional dishes like tagine, salads, and “Msemen,” which is a folded Moroccan crepe. Of course, like most cooking classes, we had a feast after we prepared all of our dishes. I booked my class through Viator.com and took the Farmhouse Cooking Class from Marrakech. I enjoyed the experience and learned a lot about cooking Moroccan food.
Do a food tour. Finally, I did a Tasting Trail by Night food tour in Fez through Plan-it Fez. Food tours are a must for me on my trips because you either discover mom and pop restaurants you would have never otherwise found or you get to discover new cuisine. This food tour was a stretch for me. I am an adventurous eater, but you will not catch me eating bugs or brain. Bugs were not on the menu during my tour, but brain was. However, my guide did not pressure me to eat it. I did, however, enjoy snail soup, beef tongue and cheek, and preserved meat. Preserved meat is kind of weird, which is preserved in salt and fat, but it tasted way better than I expected. I also tasted about 12 different types of Moroccan honey, which is a must.
• You might also enjoy: Thailand Food Tour: A Taste of Bangkok
Avoid Scams and Rip Offs
Now that I have spent time telling you about all of the yummy food to eat in Morocco, let me address one of my biggest pet peeves about this country. Let me start by saying that nothing in Morocco is free!! Moroccans are kind people, but they want to be paid for that kindness. I hated worrying about being taking advantage of as a foreigner for the entire duration of my trip, which was 10 days. By the time I arrived in Morocco, I had already traveled to over 30 countries. I am very much aware that in many developing countries, negotiating and bargaining is a way of life. I get it! But, it really wore me down on this trip. Here are a few of my thoughts to help endure what you will encounter and help you avoid scams and rip offs while in Morocco.
• Research the cost of cab fare. Take some time before you plan to hop into a taxi to do some research. I found a great website called MoroccoCab that can assist you. Always negotiate your cab fare before you get in the vehicle! I learned this from the moment I stepped out of the airport. Before I had arrived in Marrakech, I had done some research about how much I should pay for a cab ride from the airport to the hotel.
Several of the cab drivers wanted to charge me double the normal fare. Once I found someone willing to take what I knew to be a fair price, it turned out he was not even the driver. He haled what I had hope to be a legit cab. When I get into the car, the driver asks me how much do I want to pay. When I quote him the price, he claimed “that is the day price.” I had to fight with the drive to get him to accept what I knew to be the appropriate fare.
•Be clear about your destinations. As I have said, Moroccans are nice and they are proud of their beautiful country. Cab drivers will want to show you their city as they drive you to your originally stated destination. Be mindful that if you choose to be “shown” around, the negotiated price you agreed to when you got in the vehicle is now out the window. However, you will not find that out until you have arrived at your final destination and the driver quotes you a new price two to three times higher than the original price.
I am not suggesting that you do not take advantage of a local driving you around to unscheduled destinations, but I would recommend that you immediately renegotiate the price. I will note, that even though I made it clear that I did not want to be driven around, my driver disrespected my wishes, and then tried to charge me almost four times the originally negotiated price. Lucky for me I had enough French to argue with the driver.
• Do not use unofficial tour guides. This is easier to fall victim to than you think, especially in big market places like Jemaa el-Fnaa and tourist sites. It will be very clear to Moroccans that you are a foreigner. Someone may approach you, start walking along side you, and strike up what seems to be an innocent conversation. They will ask you questions like, “where are you from?” and “how long have you been here?” They will seem very impressed that you have traveled such a long way just to visit Morocco.
Then they may ask you something like, “have you been to the best pottery shop in Marrakech? It has the best pottery in town and is very affordable.” It may even be more innocent, such as a Moroccan pointing to different locations of interests. Do not fall into any of these traps. Do not let anyone guide you anywhere unless you are committed to paying them for their service. A few things to help you avoid this trap are to:
- Have a plan and stick to your plan. Go over your plan before you leave your hotel.
- Look like you know where you are going as it may help you to draw less attention.
- Ultimately, be polite, but say no thank you and keep walking!
• Know what you are paying for. Morocco has great olive and argan oil and saffron. However it is not all real. Many places mix the oil with vegetable oil and god knows what they use to trick you into believing that you are buying saffron. Best bet is to do your research before purchasing. Separately, I swear by using official tour guides as the best way to see Morocco. However, there were a few times when the tour guide rushed us through our trip so that they could take us to their “friend’s” shop to buy stuff. This annoyed me. I do not like to pay for something and then be forced to do something completely different than expected.
• I have a reservation! After spending A LOT of time researching hotels in Fez, I found just the one I wanted, in the exact area I wanted. When I arrived at the hotel, to my surprise, they told me they had moved me to another hotel. They did not move me to a dump, but it was completely outside of the part of town I wanted to stay in. I tried to stay positive about the entire situation, but in the end, it was still annoying.
Is this Clean?…
I am a true believer in trying to conform and appreciate the culture, customs, and norms of any country I visit. I think taking this attitude makes for a more enjoyable trip. However, I really had to practice this philosophy during my trip to Morocco, particularly when it came to cleanliness regarding food preparation. You name it, I saw it in Morocco. I will say that I still ate everything and I never once got sick!
• I do not think there was ever a time when I did not see people using bare hands to touch my food. The yummy, homemade bread you can get with meals sometimes is placed on dirty counters or tables to be cut before being served. I usually saw people touching the bread I planned to eat.
• I ate in at least two restaurants where dead animals or dead animal heads hung within a few feet of my table. The food was great and was prepared right in front of me, but I feel like the smell of those animals stayed with me for days.
• You will regularly see people cough without covering their mouths no matter who is near them. I more than once saw people sneeze all over food counters.
• Since Moroccans use donkeys and mules for transportation, you will see them all throughout the medina in Fez. That also means you will be walking through a lot of excrements.
• The Fez medina is a maze and is very tight. There are great food stalls and I highly recommend you do a food tour in Fez. However, I did see quite a few people step on their counters to get from behind their stalls, the same stalls where they place food. Remember the donkeys?
• As people cooked meat dishes, I on occasion saw them place the cooked meat on the same plate they had just used for raw meat without washing the plate first.