Whew! I’m BACK!!! It was a crazy long time to be away in Morocco and we did so much over the 10 days of our trip that it’s hard to keep track of it all! We went with two other families on what I like to call a “trip of a lifetime.” And it was very much a trip. We were not vacationing, we were moving and grooving and pushing beyond our comfort zones daily!

I am very impressed with my kids as they took it all in stride and were such troopers. We covered A LOT as we drove from city to city and experienced first hand the sites and cultures of Morocco. Over the 10 days we traveled by car, tram, ferry, bus, train, camel, foot, taxi and 4×4. I counted that we stayed in seven different places ranging from hotels, to tents, to an overnight train! It was not a trip for the faint of heart! 🙂

I’m going to share about our trip in three parts over the next few Fridays, I of course took hundreds of pictures so this will be a show case of only some of my faves! (Hang with me as this will be a longer post.)

Morocco Trip Day #1

We drove the six plus hour drive from Lisbon, Portugal, through Spain, to the small British overseas territory of Gibraltar.

After settling into our hotel, we took the tram ride to the top of Gibraltar and got to see the monkeys!

At the top of this site there are several wild monkeys walking, climbing and hopping around.

I should mention right now that most animals freak me out. These monkeys were no exception. And then this happened.

This is not me, thank the Lord! This poor lady was so calm, if that monkey had leaped on me I would have gone all sorts of crazy!!!

We had a great dinner in Gibraltar and then headed to our hotel for a night of sleep!

Day #2

We got up early and rushed off in four taxis to the ferry station. We were somewhat uncoordinated but ended up getting all 14 of us on the ferry despite a few mishaps.

A short two hours later we pulled up to the Tangier port in Morocco!

Our guide Omar was NOWHERE to be found. (Not the least bit unsettling when you are traveling with 14 people and you do not speak Arabic.) But he made his way to us an hour or so later and all was fine. Apparently there are two different ports.

And then we were off on a bus ride through northern Morocco.

This is Omar.

Everyone should have an Omar when they travel through Africa.

We drove for several hours to the city of Chefchaouen. Also know as the blue city. We stayed in a lovely hotel and were welcomed with mint tea.

A Moroccan tradition that means hospitality.

This was the charming entrance to our hotel.

We loved this city in Morocco and enjoyed taking it in. We even got to an experience a cool hike that lead us to this view…

We wrapped up day #2 with a dinner out and experienced our first Tangine.

Day #3

After enjoying a lovely breakfast with homemade donuts, we took off for our next destination in Morocco, Fez.

On our drive to Fez we stopped to tour some Roman ruins.

Then we arrived at Fez and our porter came to pick up our bags and push them to our hotel. Poor guy, although I think he liked us A LOT because we didn’t have any grasp yet of the money conversion and we tipped him really well. So really he was a lucky guy!

The outside of the hotel was questionable, but the inside was absolutely beautiful.

My favorite hotel of our entire trip!

I loved the roof top terrace.

Look at these views…

We hired a “guide” to walk us to a restaurant for dinner because Fez has @ 9000 narrow streets (yes you read that correctly) so having a guide is essential to prevent getting lost in the maze! We ate at a great restaurant called Cafe Clock, on their beautiful terrace.

Day #4

The next day we got up early to tour the city of Fez.

What an experience. Busy, crowded, tiny streets and not to mention donkeys every where you turn.

We got to tour a mosque and learn more about the Muslim faith. We also could usually hear the calls of prayer throughout the day.

Then we were taken to an old tannery in the middle of the city. (If you are curious about it you should google it.) Let me just say I was thankful that they handed us mint to smell when we walked in as the smell was well…smelly.