We left Marrakech with a vow (from me, at least) to return to spend more time there.
Josh and I chuckled as we walked from our riad to our meeting spot with our driver, at this little stand with all the bread. As I said, they do love their bread:
Our final day was our drive to Casablanca.
It took about 3 hours to get there, and of course, we all slept.
Poor Josh is a little squished in the back seat. Although not as squished as me sitting beside him, lol.
As soon as we got to Casablanca we raced to catch the noon tour of the famous Hassan II mosque.
It is the largest mosque in Africa and the only one where non-Muslims are allowed to enter during tour times.
And it is absolutely incredible. And can you believe it only took 6 years to build (with 10,000 workers mind you).
Where the prayers take place:
Where the washing takes place:
It is massive and just so beautiful.
Look at the scale!
I loved learning about the rituals and process of what happens in the mosque.
So beautiful to learn how different people worship. We are different, yet we are the same.
After taking a bunch of pictures, we quickly found our accomodations and settled in.
We decided to walk along the water front and found a really cute restaurant, where we had some seafood.
We had a leisurely lunch, and talked about the highlights of our trip.
Best hotels/riads: Dar Hicham for overall ambience and great rooftop; Chez Pierre (for the beautiful landscape and great kids room); Dar RocMarra for the amazing parent room. We all agreed Dar Finn had a fabulous rooftop, and Dar Charmaa had a great pool and outdoors! We pretty much had great accomodations!
Best Meals: We had a great chicken tagine and fries on our way to Fez. We loved our dinners in Chefchaouen (pretty much all our meals there). Chez Pierre had some great French food too! I loved breakfast in the Sahara. Dar Rocmarra was a great homemade Moroccan dinner. Best couscous was our first meal in Rabbat. Best mint tea was Dar Hicham.
Best thin moments: Being in the desert and walking with the sheep in the Middle Atlas Mountains.
Best activity: Camel riding (highlight for so many things!), Fez tour – we saw so much! Hiking to the Spanish fort in Chefchaouen and sitting on the wall overlooking the city.
Best overall days: Chefchaouen, Fez, Desert, Middle atlas mountains walking to nomad cave.
After lunch we headed back and all rested. We spent some time watching some kids play soccer in the middle of the street – with cars having to go around them – it was hilarious! We all took a nap, looked at our photos and read.
We were all stuffed from our late lunch so we just went to a local cafe and had ice cream for dinner. Nice way to end our trip.
What an incredible trip it was! Loved every minute of it. One day we would love to explore southern Morocco – including Marrakech again as we really only scratched the surface.
Overall, another incredible trip!
