Morocco

I spent the briefest amount of time in Morocco (only three days). I was visiting a friend in Spain and we spontaneously decided to go to Fez. I was traveling with a male so I can’t give very accurate advice on female solo traveling in Morocco. However, at the time I had purple hair and I did receive a lot of unwanted attention. Without my friend the situation certainly would have been even more draining.

We arrived at the airport in Fez and took a taxi to the Medina (old city). We stayed at Dar El Yasmine, a phenomenal place in which we rented a private room. Upon arriving we were welcomed with sugary mint tea. The place offered a delicious breakfast spread with pita bread, cheese, yogurt and olives.

As we explored the old city we were taken in by the architecture. The old city is a fortress with over​ 9,000​ winding allies and roads. A young local boy insisted on taking us on a tour. We told him “no” many times, but he insisted and said we could pay him whatever we like. Eventually we agreed, which ended up being bittersweet. He showed us more than we would have seen just wandering around, but he kept taking us into shops where the owner would beg us to buy things: carpets, leather purses, etc. After a very awkward encounter at a carpet store, we freed ourselves of our unwanted tour guide and stopped in a cafe for some tea. We happened to be in Morocco during Ramadan so finding tea, coffee, alcohol, and even food during the day was quite difficult. We did enjoy some delectable couscous brought to us in extravagant tajines.

The next day we took a day trip to ​Chefchaouen​, the Blue City. It was a four-hour drive, which allowed us to see some of the Moroccan landscape. I specifically remember taking a rest stop near a huge lake in the middle of the desert.

In ​Chefchaouen ​we discovered that the bottom half of buildings are painted blue, which our driver told us was in order to keep the mosquitos away. I was captivated as we walked around the blue streets. Once again, shop owners persistently begged us to take a look in their shops. We learned the only way to cope was to ignore them completely. Somehow, we found a back way out of the city and ended up in a forest where we hiked a bit before taking the four-hour journey back to Fez.

Though technically in Africa, Morocco feels more like the Middle East. While walking around Fez we saw mosques and heard ​prayer calls​. Many men wore robes. Also, you don’t have to know Arabic to get by in Morocco; French will do. English was also manageable, though speaking English immediately labels you as a tourist. I guess with purple hair I didn’t have much chance of avoiding that. I had a great time in Morocco but I’m glad that I went with a male companion