Morocco

My next travel destination was to Marrakech, Morocco. The first place we visited was a cute restaurant called Rotisserie De La Paix. We stumbled upon this hidden oasis and it was beautiful. The restaurant had an outdoor seating area surrounded with plants everywhere. They had created the perfect ambiance and the food was amazing. They even had a little ping pong table that they let us play on. 

After lunch, we headed to our Airbnb, the interior design had a mauve pink theme with a bohemian touch. It was located in what our taxi driver referred to as the “new town.”. He encouraged us to visit the “old town” where you can see more of the local culture and less of the tourist side.

The next day, we ventured into the old town, which felt like we were walking through a movie scene. Vendors on both sides of the street cooking food, random dirt bikes with locals riding down the middle of what seemed like a walk way, and donkeys pulling trailers full of food. 

In the old town, we encountered people speaking French, Arabic, or English. This multilingualism was common throughout the areas we visited, although the new town felt more catered to tourists. We visited markets that were filled with vendors selling little trinkets, spices, rugs, and a variety of handcrafted items. One memorable stop was at a shop where an older man was handcrafting hijabs using a traditional machine. Watching him work was fascinating, and we all decided to buy hijabs for our excursion later in the day. One of the workers showed us how to wear them and helped us choose designs.

Later in the afternoon, we scheduled an excursion to ride camels. The staff made it extra special by giving us hijabs to wear, and they even helped us put them on, which really made us feel like part of the experience. Riding camels with my friends felt so surreal, we made it to Morocco!

To finish off the night, we had an amazing authentic Moroccan dinner accompanied by a music and fire show. The dinner was amazing. We had fresh bread, vegetables, chicken and a simple dessert with a bowl of fruit. 

Visiting Morocco and setting foot on another continent was an incredible experience. It was amazing to be able to immerse myself in the culture and observe how life there differs from Europe and the U.S. Being able to visit different countries has given me so many different lenses to view life through.