Morocco 2025
2025 has been very busy. We really didn’t need to have another trip, but then again our new friends from the Patagonia trip invited us to go with them to the Odyssey’s Morocco trip so why not? (Thank you MG and Dave!)
Morocco was not on my bucket list. In fact, I think I would have been challenged to find it on a world map. But it’s there and it’s a wonderful 1st world country.
My first review of the trip was … well not that positive. But as I worked on this blog and reflected on all the amazing things that we saw, it’s building on me on how good the trip really was. It was a bit of “drinking from a firehose” since we needed to fit in all the activities AND the very long time on busses to get to places. So sort of a “hurry up and wait” but the wait part was FILLED with such a variety of things to see, smell and experience. While there was not a lot of walking, it is a very intense trip. Don’t think I want to do it again, but I would recommend it to others.
Below is the first part of the trip. You can jump directly to the second part by clicking on the button:
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We let Odyssey do the travel plans and we got to fly from San Francisco to Atlanta (wait 5 hours) then fly to Paris (wait another 5 hours) then fly to Rabat in Morocco. 30 hours door to door in economy seats. We arrived – not sure we were ready to play 😉
The first evening, we met our fellow travelers – a total of 23 on the tour. Our leader, Anouar Serhane, was fantastic! We did our best to match names to people and by the end we were pretty good! And the group was GREAT!
Anouar with Barbara
Our room in Rabat. All the hotels were delightful on the trip!
The trip was mainly by bus. A big bus, but no matter how you do it when you are on a bus for 6+ hours a day it gets old. Anouar had a good plan and plenty of stops for the “Temple of Relief” and I think it is the only way to see the country.
Morocco is on the North/West corner of Africa. Most of its coast (and all that we saw) is on the Atlantic Ocean. Rabat is the capital and is an amazing clean city. I mean really clean. We saw street cleaners everywhere with palm fonds to clean the streets.
Rabat
Day 3 – October 30, 2025
(Day 1/2 travel)
Morocco is a monarchy under King Mohammed VI. It’s good to be King. There are royal palaces all over the country – even a royal golf course. Every one of them has armed guards all around the palaces.
The prior King – Hassan II – was an interesting King. I got the sense that our guide needed to be careful what was said about the Kings and the government. We got some insight, but clearly you need to be careful.
Good to have big “keyhole” entries!
Most of the cities have major streets named after the Kings. I think this street is named “Mohammed V.” The cross street near the tower is “Hassan.”
The palace in Rabat. (One of SO MANY palaces around the country)
We went to Kashah-Chellah Museum and archaeology site. This was our first encounter with storks! And cats.
There are cats everywhere. And in other places there are some (but not many) dogs. But generally only cats OR dogs, but not both.
Tourism brings out those that want to get paid to have their picture taken… our first encounter! (I took this picture from the bus!)
All the tall structures that didn’t have anti-stork protection had a stork. I don’t think we saw any babies, but clearly the nests are in use!
These two were making a real racket!
The archaeological site with a modern building in the background!
Roman ruins?
In the courtyard of the museum they had a desert tortoise. The guard said there were babies and sure enough we found one! So cute!
Next stop was a historical museum and another for modern art. I really wish we could have spent more time here. There was a display of B&W photos that looked really interesting. Morocco has a long history of “occupation.” The most recent is French, so while the main language is Arabic, the main second language is French.
Lunch was at a private home. A fancy private home, but still! We had our first meal served in a tagine.
Pam and Patty
Serving tea is an event and a show. The server pours from as high as possible into the glasses (without spilling). You could have with or without sugar.
Our host for the lunch – Sbihi
We went for a tour/walk around the old city – Kashbah Oudaya. Narrow “streets” with an interesting collection of high end and low end housing. The viewpoint Oudayas had street performers and a view of the river as it met the Atlantic Ocean.
We saw swimmers going across the river!
At parks in a number of cities were these GREAT little electric carts that could be rented. Looks like FUN! At night they were all covered in bright lights!
Mausoleum of Mohamed V
(It was closed for VIP visitors)
Hassan Tower
We ended the day with a bus ride past many of the same places and had dinner at Dinarjat in the old city.
And that concludes the first day of the real trip. We covered a lot of ground and adventures in Rabat!!
Rabat to Fez
Day 4 – October 31, 2025
Halloween
This travel day was first about 100 miles due east to Meknes for a wine tour and then nort to visit an archaeological site then the rest of the way to Fez- another 90 miles. Lots of time on the bus, but lots to see as well.
Pretty open countryside on the way. Sheep and goat. A few cattle, but not many.
This was becoming the norm – Pam taking pictures of people. This time our winery guide with Anouar.
We had lunch here – served with wine (shocking!) AND they let us buy some!
We had a brief stop in Meknes at the main square – just waiting for a fare. Then we drove north after lunch.
Roman Archaeological site of Volubilis. They are still digging so much more to be discovered.
Barbara and Anouar
The other Barb, DJ, Berny and Christine
Digital photography has come a long way!! The picture above was what it looks like after downloading, the picture to the right was after processing and fixing.
The town that looks like a camel – Fertassa (?)
Fez
Days 5-6 – November 1 & 2, 2025
Our first stop in Fez was to visit the Medina – old walled city. It is an crowded, rich texture place of artisans and booths. Food and knives. It feels mainly for the locals and not targeted at tourists, but our money is welcome!
We are staying at the Hotel Sahrai – very nice place that had a Halloween party upstairs on our first night there. Only sign of Halloween we say. AFAIK
Look at the wall in the picture above and this is that painting on the wall.
The “streets” are very narrow and we were always on the lookout for a motorcycle to get out of the way.
Cats and knives DO mix. Yes, that is a camel’s head.
Making knives while your shop is protected by a rooster. Seems right to me.
A copper workman. He is a friend of our guide and his craftsmanship is amazing.
Christine taking picture of (the other) Barb.
Need a chicken? He has chickens.
We continue the walk around the Medina and went into an interior courtyard – wow! Then we went to the rug blitz. One of many high pressure time-share sales approach to selling things in Morocco. (Not THAT bad, but it’s a mixture of education about the products and an “opportunity” to get one for yourself.) The rugs are really beautiful and some of us (Barbara) did come to get one.
No tour of Fez would be complete without a tour of the tannery. This is the assembly line processing of cowhides from initial treatment (the upper left) to final color. Something tells me this would not pass either worker safety or EPA rules anywhere else. The viewing stand was part of the ‘gift shop’ and required an interesting walk past all the items for sale.
A worker dealing with the hides.
Making bread. He was sliding the dough into the oven for cooking. Hot work.
An example of things for sale on the street
We had dinner at this site. Not a full moon, but getting there!
Another gate to another royal palace. This one is very photogenic.
We did a quick visit to the Jewish cemetary
There are cell phone towers everywhere. Most are shaped like palm trees, but some just are part of the building
Finally a picture of Jerry/Barbara
We went up to a Fez viewpoint to see the City.
Sometimes called “the pigeon hilton.”
Denise taking yet another picture of her (much older) brother Ron.
How many years? No one knows.
Next stop – Ceramics. A low-fire pottery (not porcelain), mainly wheel thrown. All hand done. Outside to make the tiles and dry in the sun. Nice view of the city!
Artists (and students) working on the pieces.
The assembly of the tables was very interesting. They work “blind” from the back side to build the pattern then pour epoxy over the pieces to create the top. A jigsaw puzzle from the back!
Shocking that items are for sale at the site!
The afternoon was “Free Time” so MG, Eric, Janet, Barbara and Jerry signed up to join Oulita for a cooking class (and lunch). She is the owner/operator of the restaurant next door and we went to her home for the class. The outdoor stove and table made for a delightful and educational show of Moroccan cooking. And it tasted GREAT. We tried to capture how to make it and I’m sure we will try it (maybe via zoom) when we get home.
Inside the real restaurant.
After the cooking class, we were able to hook up with Anouar and go to visit a park and another view of the city. Our local guide, Amit – and his fantastic sidekick Cosmos – said goodbye to us.
At the gate, a water salesman (well now a tourist photo object) was looking for tips. Hard to give him one from inside the bus.
I mentioned cats. This time with their locally provided cat-houses.
Now the view of Fez from the south side.
Fez to Sahara Desert
Day 7 – November 3, 2025
Another day of bus travel. This time 250 miles due south. It gave us an up-close and personal experience in the High Atlas Mountains. It really did provide the overview of the country as the north of the mountains and south of the mountains. We ended up in the real Sahara Desert!
At the pass we stopped briefly to see the monkeys that were begging for food.
Many black head sheep and nomad camps were visible from the bus.
We stopped about half way to the Sahara for lunch. Chicken and Camel was on the menu. Some had fruits for desert.
As we left the Atlas Mountains we saw the amazing date farms filling the valley
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Not happy with these pictures? Well there are more pictures posted online I personally think there are too many pictures at More Pictures