Retro: Morocco, North Africa

To be honest, Morocco is not on my bucket list, not because I don't want to go there, it's because I don't know much about Africa, except for our trip to South Africa a couple of years ago. One of my buddies went Morocco for a solo Christmas trip, and the pictures that she took left a huge impression to Mr. Travel... as a result... Morocoo, here we come!

3 days, 2 cities, and a ton of pictures.

Medina and Squares

Everybody goes to Morocco visits Jemaa el-Fnaa, a public square with small merchants, street eats and entertainers. It's loud. It's chaotic. It's fully of merchants yelling at us to come over to their booth for a fresh fruit smoothie. It's a bit scary as I was walking by a street vendor only to find out he's a snake charmer.

Medina ("the old city") is a distinct city section found in a number of North African and Maltese cities, including Marrakesh. The medina is typically walled, with many narrow and maze-like streets. We constantly paused and debated which small alley we would check out.

There are many spice traders living in the alleys. What a color life they are living.

"Hustle and bustle" couldn't do the justice. You've gotta put your feet on the ground to feel the true hecticness.

Food

We've been eating GOOD along the way. From street vendors to the authentic Moroccan restaurants.

Yes, those are bees sniffing the pastries. And yes of course, we've got some!

For authentic Morocco cuisine, we tried couscous (they love it so much so name it twice : ), tagine, fresh squeeze orange juice, mint tea. But my favorite is all the vegetable spread - all cooked and served cold with bread. They are juicy, they are flavorful, and they look so vibrant!

Shrimp pil pil is Mr. Travel's favorite and we've recreated it many, many times in our own kitchen since we were back from Morocco.

More importantly, eight out of ten restaurant have a terrace. Lucky for us, most of the time there was available seating so we could enjoy a view over the meal (thanks to our jet lag and not eating at normal time!).

Sightseeing

In Casablanca we went to Hassan II Mosque by the Atlantic Ocean. Completed in 1993, it is the largest mosque in Morocco and the 13th largest in the world.

In Marrakesh we went to Koutoubia Mosque in the city.

Over a day excursion, we went to a few kasbahs, one of which was where Game of Throne was shot! Back then only Mr. Travel was a fan of GoT, now that I am watching it as well (still working on season 5), it would have been so thrilling to see those old castles with your bare eyes!

A unique trip and a start to understand North Africa. Here's to more trips to that continent!