The Other London: The Morocco of my Dreams

Friday, November 22, 2013

The Morocco of my Dreams

For as long as I can remember, I've looked forward to one day traveling to Morocco. Exotic sounding cities, like Marrakesh and Casablanca, medinas filled with strange treasures, vast desert landscapes, perfumed breezes and starry night skies. When I was a young girl, these were the things that came to mind when I thought of Morocco. A wonderful, magical place, worlds away from the other London in not-so-exotic southwestern Ontario.

I had such a strong pre-determined idea of what Morocco would be like that I was pretty sure it wouldn't live up to my expectations. Of course it didn't at first…and then it surpassed them.

When we arrived in Tangier my first impression of Morocco was that it isn't an easy place to figure out. The confusion starts with simply getting around. Transportation options are seemingly limitless in Morocco. From the moment we landed we were bombarded by choices - do we go by train, bus, taxi or even camel, donkey or horse? For each mode of transportation there might be multiple hiring options, stations and routes to take. Costs can vary considerably, even when comparing similar options. As far as a first introduction to a country goes, it was all pretty disorienting.

Gladly, our first stop in laid-back Chefchaouen gave us a chance to get acclimatized to our new surroundings. We became comfortable with getting lost in the medina and enjoyed waking up to the sound of prayers being broadcast across the city and hillsides at sunrise. Staying in Chefchaouen was a nice way to get to know Morocco in a reasonably sized city where life moves at a comfortable pace. Lovely, as a vacation experience goes, but I learned life in Chefchaouen is not par for the course for the rest of Morocco.

Gritty Fez swung a little to far in the other direction, elevating my understanding of the term 'an assault to the senses' to a whole new level. With it's maze-like medina filled with a chaotic mix of colours, sounds, smells and opportunistic salesmen, I found it to be an overwhelming experience at first. As the days went by however, our ability to navigate the narrow alleys and to negotiate a good price with the stall keepers grew and with it our confidence that we might finally be starting to get a handle on the ins and outs of traveling in Morocco.

Some people say the desert can be a lonely place, but by the time we arrived at the edge of the Sahara, I was actually ready for a little quiet isolation. The three days we spent in Erg Chebbi with our Berber guides was without a doubt one of the highlights of our trip. You can read more about our desert trek here.

Of all the places we visited in Morocco, I was most concerned Marrakesh would not live up to my expectations. In my childhood mind's eye, Marrakesh was Morocco. Incidentally, I learned while we were here that 'Morocco' is derived from 'Marrakesh'.

As it turns out, I was on our second day in Marrakesh that I realized I had fallen in love with Morocco. I realized I was enraptured by the music, the art and craftwork, the flavours, smells and the people who are kind and generous and very well meaning at heart. Unfortunately, we're now heading off on the next leg of our journey but I hope to be back. I'm looking forward to returning one day to get lost in the medina, explore the desert, fall asleep under starry skies to the sound of music - in short, to revisit the Morocco of my dreams.