Marrakech, Morocco!

Finally getting to the last few parts of our trip to Europe and Morocco. This is definitely my FAVORITE time of the whole trip so I hope you enjoy looking through our photos.

 Read part one-Itinerary for Spain, Portugal, and Morocco HERE.

Read part two- Barcelona HERE.

Read part three-Madrid and Toledo HERE.

Read part four-Lisbon and Sintra HERE.

Read part five-Salema, Portugal HERE.

We flew from Lisbon, Portugal down to Marrakech, Morocco. We learned that the travel time through the country was quite long so we wanted to start farther down and kinda move our way up since we were flying out of Casablanca. We were happy we did it that way although if we could go back, we would NOT have flown out of Casablanca. We didn't really find anything interesting worth visiting there so we would have preferred to spend more time in other places.

Marrakech is AMAZING. It was my favorite city in Morocco. It was our first stop and it was completely amazing from start to finish. We arrived and because this was such a foreign place to us, we decided to have our Riad provide our transportation to our Riad. We are so happy we did this. Our driver was there to pick us up, was very friendly, and took us straight to where we were staying. We stayed at the Riad Khabia. It was a nice place, the owner gave us a detailed map of places to go, including restaurants which was definitely essential for our time there. Every moment we saw him he was helpful. They offer mint tea any time you want it and provided breakfast for us every morning. We ate on the roof which was a special and wonderful way to start our days. 

This was our breakfast view.

Enjoy scrolling through our photos from our time there then I'll share a few recommendations at the end. I wasn't so good at taking notes for Morocco sadly....But I'll do my best.

In Marrakech, my favorite thing for certain was the shopping/bargaining. I have always LOVED Moroccan textiles and it was at the top of my list when we had decided to go to Morocco. In Marrakech, there is a fixed price market called Ensemble Artisinal that our Riad owner recommended we go to to get a good idea of what prices we could get in the actual market. The prices at this market were a Moroccan price. If you see anything you like there, don't hesitate to buy. I had to go back haha because I loved a few items I had seen there.

The Souks are A MUST! You will get approached and haggled often. We kinda tried to ignore those who offered to show us places to go. They wanted money. We got pleasantly lost through the many narrow streets. We enjoyed fresh orange juice for 40 cents a glass. We picked random restaurants and were rarely let down by the food. Everything was magical, affordable, and unique. We visited Medersa Ben Youssef which is an old, amazing university. It is in the middle of the Souk. The Saadian Tombs were interesting to see (very crowded.) We also saw the Jewish Quarters (Mellah) which was where the best of the Moroccan spices were sold. Also one of the (if not the) oldest gates in the world called Bab Agnaou. It was built in the 12th century. We of course needed photos of this! hah. Oh Marrakesh left a hole in my heart for the love I had for it. It is a place I hope to visit one day.

Our favorite restaurant was Cafe Terrasse Palais El Badia. We would have eaten there repeatedly! They had a wonderful atmosphere and the food was super good and affordable.

Let me know if you have any questions. Unfortunately I don't remember well the restaurants we ate at but we LOVED the food in Morocco. The spices can't be mimicked. They're unlike anything we ever tasted. 

From Marrakech we headed on a three-day DESERT TOUR all the way to Fez. That will have to be saved for another day of course because of the abundance of photos I have.....

To be continued....