A Wild Adventure in Morocco

Italy to Morocco

We had a wild adventure in Morocco. When we arrived at the airport in Rome, we found that our ticket reservation to Marrakesh, Morocco had been cancelled. Begrudgingly, I paid a couple hundred dollars more for new tickets. I suppose I should have been thankful to have been able to buy tickets at all. By the time we had dealt with the tickets, we were late for the plane. We ran to the terminal, and then waited for several hours. Plane delayed. Scroll to the bottom for more on our adventure.

Casablanca to Marrakesh (with a stop over in Ouarzazate)

We finally boarded the plane and headed to Casablanca, where we would catch our connecting flight to Marrakesh. Since we were so delayed, I wasn’t sure how this was going to work out. Once we touched down in Casablanca, we were escorted onto the wet tarmac and separated into groups depending on our final destinations. Men in brown camel fur trench coats, shuttled Loretta and I to the plane heading to Marrakesh. Once on the plane, the pilot announced that we would actually be stopping in Ouarzazate first. People going to Marrakesh were not pleased.

Ouarzazate to Marrakesh

We touched down at Ouarzazate in the dark in high winds and came almost to the end of the short runway before turning around. Passengers got off the plane, and we took off again. Our landing in Marrakesh was just as nerve wrecking as the one in Ouarzazate. We were hours behind our scheduled arrival time, and I was worried that the car I had arranged to pick us up would not be there. Loretta was pregnant and I was doing my best to make things a little easier on the trip.

Thankfully, our driver was there, and delivered us to the door of our first place in the Medina of Marrakesh without issue. It was about 1am. We crawled into bed and fell asleep. We woke up and were amazed at the beautiful tile work, smells, and gorgeous place that I had found us to stay. This would be by far the best place we stayed at. After eating a breakfast of fried bread and jam, fruit, coffee, and orange juice, we ventured out into the medina (the maze of streets in the old city). We consumed a lot of orange juice and mint tea on this trip.

Marrakesh is a crazy place. It took us some time to figure out the game there. It was stressful. Although we never felt unsafe, we had several uncomfortable experiences. Thankfully, we met some kind locals, and had some positive experiences as well. By the time we left Marrakesh for Essaouira, we felt like we had figured things out.

Essaouira and a wild taxi ride from some tiny town in the middle of who nowhere

Besides for our brief trip to Essaouira, we had an epic adventure to a small town in the middle of nowhere. Our return ride back from this place was by way of a Mercedes taxi with 3 people in the front seat, and 4 in the back. The taxi driver never seemed to slow down. He swerved around busses, men riding donkeys, and groups of school children while exhaust from the diesel engine billowed through the car.

When we finally arrived back in Marrakesh, Loretta was famished and picked out a very hole in the wall place for lunch. It ended up being one of the best meals we had in Morocco. Overall, we had an incredible adventure in Morocco. I am so glad we went. It was not at all easy, but incredibly rewarding. I look forward to returning there.

Here are some pictures from our wild adventure in Morocco. Enjoy!  Click here for the Italy portion of our trip.