Chokran Maroc

Once upon a time two best friends decided to go on an adventure. What started as a city trip to the amazing Marrakech, became a discovery of a whole new world. From eating the best food on Djema-El-Fna to freezing our butts of in the snowy Atlas Mountains to a wonderful night under the stars in the Sahara Desert.

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Marrakech

From Eindhoven Airport we flew into Marrakech in not too many hours. After searching some information about the airport we found out that it was easiest to take a local bus into city centre and so we did. The bus dropped us off at Djemaa-El-Fna from where we took a taxi to our riad.

Marrakech has an old town and a new town. In newer part of the city there are plenty of good looking hotels where you can stay but we decided to stay in a traditional riad which was in the older part of the city. I would definitely recommend to stay in a riad in the older part of the city to get that true Moroccan experience.

On our first day we decided to use the hop-on-hop-off bus to discover the main parts of the city. Marrakech has plenty of beautiful things to see; the Koutoubia Mosque, El Badi Palace, Djemaa-El-Fna and many more.

Djemaa-El-Fna

This square or market place is located in the old part of the city. Here you can find market stands and very good food courts during the evening. It is definitely recommendable to visit this square at night and taste some great food and enjoy the great atmosphere. Beware though, this square is also a perfect place for pickpocketing since it’s always filled with heaps of people. From Djemaa-El-Fna you can stroll into the famous souks where you can find the best souvenirs to bring home with you.

Despite the fact that Marrakech is a whole new world with its typical atmosphere, it’s also a very very busy city. After two days of walking around this place we decided to look elsewhere and booked ourselves a 3 day trip to the Sahara Desert. This was just a-maaaze-balls! From Marrakech we drove through the super duper cold Atlas Mountains where we spent the night in a tiny hotel with no heaters. A few days before, snow fell down for the first time in ages so the people weren’t really prepared for it. In our room we found three of the thickest blankets per person and besides that we decided to sleep with all our clothes on because that's how cold it was. The Atlas Mountains really look amazing. Driving these roads made me stare outside the window non-stop. It’s so amazing to see such diversity in the landscapes because early in the morning of our second day on this trip we drove towards the Dades Valley. Again, something totally different! Huge rock formations arose left and right and I felt even smaller than I usually do. Enjoying our lunch in this incredible scenery we headed towards the Sahara Desert. We stopped in a small village called Merzouga from where we drove our camels into a B-E-A-UTIFUL sunset. Oh My Goodness, this was definitely a once in a lifetime experience. Everywhere you looked you could see sand dunes rising up. The sand is so typical with its orange color. The camel ride hurt my legs in places we cannot discuss, but I would definitely recommend anyone to ride a camel into a Sahara sunset!

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As evening fell over the desert, we set foot on our camp for the night. A true Berber camp in the middle of the desert, again...O M G so awesome! A typical Moroccan dinner was served and afterwards we took a walk in the dark. This was unreal; sand everywhere and when we looked up a crystal clear sky filled with bright shining stars. It is at moments like these when you feel that we take just a tiny part in this big universe. It makes me humble and grateful to be able to see and experience things like this...

Essaouira

After this 3 day trip we headed towards Essaouira near the coast. How did we find out about this place? I googled 'Marrakech beach' and found out that Essaouira was a coastal town only an hour bus ride away from Marrakech. Essaouira also has an old city surrounded by ancient city walls, it is so nice to walk around this place. There are market stands left and right, a nice beach and a harbor where fresh fish can be bought and eaten. We've spent only one night in this town but the best part was surfing Moroccan waves in the morning. I'm a big fan of watersports so I was beyond stoked to test my skills in a new country. For those of you who might wanna give it a shot; do so. Essaouira has nice and calm waves perfect for any type of surfer; beginner or not. A side note; get out of the water once your feet become numb. I was so stoked that after a while I couldn't feel my frozen feet anymore, that water is not tropically hot!

On that same day we took a bus back to Marrakech from where we would fly back that evening.

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Oh Morocco, what started as an in between semester city trip became a discovery of a whole new world. A beautiful culture, amazing and diverse scenery and landscapes and very good food. In one week we had not seen just a city but also the Atlas Mountains, Dades Valley, Sahara Desert and coastal Essaouira.

After this trip I could only say this: 'There is always more to see than meets the eye. Go beyond. Always.'