10 Things to do in Morocco
1. Camp & Watch the Sunrise at the Sahara Desert
Watching the warm colors of the sun rising above the sand dunes in Merzouga is one of the most beautiful sunrises I’ve ever seen in my life. It actually reminded me of the opening scene of the Lion King movie with the song ‘Circle of Life’ playing in the background. Yeah, the whole image of the monkey raising Simba in the air was on my mind. (Who else cried when Mufasa died? Raise your hands! Gosh, spoiler alert. Okay, moving on.)
2. Bargain & Eat at the Marrakech Market
Bargain, bargain and get some good stuff! You can get some seriously good items for such cheap prices. Do the whole walking away strategy. I always thought that bargaining half the price was the best but actually a lot of vendors multiply their prices by 4 or even ’til 10. They start so high!
My favorite part of Marrakech is the food market! Since a lot of them are selling similar items, they have to fight over customers. It’s kind of fun when a lot of waiters come up to you at the same time and try to win you over. They all have numbers, no names. I’m talking about the restaurants, booths and even the carts. So if one comes up to you and you say that you’ll come back later. They’ll say something like, “Don’t forget number 10. Come back at number 10.”
3. Wander Around the Blue Washed Town: Chefchaouen
I felt like I was walking on a living painting the whole time with all the different shades of blue on the surface. They say the color blue symbolizes sky and heaven. (In Rabat, a local told me that the color keeps the mosquitos away.)
You’d feel safe in this town because you can see little kids wandering around and running at night without any adults supervising them. The only problem I had was that it was just hard to find your way back home. (Thank God for MapsMe app!) The whole place felt like a maze which had some dead ends, but it’s definitely an adventure to walk around.
4. Try the Snail Soup
In my opinion, the snail soup wasn’t so satisfying for me but I had to try it. It was very cheap anyway. It was 5 dirhams (50 cents) for the small bowl and 10 dirhams (a dollar) for the larger bowl.
5. Find Goats Climbing Trees
I was so amazed when I saw these group of goats balancing on top of tree branches when we were driving by. Apparently, the owners take their goats to an Argan tree. The goats will then climb the tree to eat the skin/fruit of Argan then they spit out its seed. The owners keep these seeds and use them as the main ingredient to make Argan oil.
Argan oil is a very popular product in Morocco for the hair and skin. (In other countries, we simply call it Moroccan oil.)
6. Use the Sahara Desert as your Playground
Go Quad biking and sand boarding! OMG. So. Much. Fun. Renting the Quadbike was 500 dirhams (55 dollars). Worth it! Sand boarding is usually free to rent if you camp by the desert.
7. Pretend you’re in a ‘Game of Thrones’ Episode
To all the GOT fans, give me a high five! You might have seen the scene where Daenerys was being carried by her people (basically crowdsurfing in slow motion) as they were chanting “Mhysa”(meaning mother). That scene was the bomb! It was also shot in Morocco! I love how the place looks brown and ancient with the clay formed houses.
8. Stop by the Fish Market
Another ‘Game of Thrones’ location you’d want to visit is Essouria. In the show, it’s called Astapor: Home of the Unsullied. As I was here, I noticed so many kids jumping in the water on and on. That looked so much fun compared to kids now that are drawn to their iPads.
The fish is fresh, of course, and they usually sell out fast so come early. Yum.
9. Explore Ouzoud Falls
This place was remarkably so beautiful. I feel like I’m in a Tomb Raider scene here haha.
It’s very simple to get down to the the falls. A guide walked with us to the wrong way (the arrow with an ‘X’ on the photo). He purposely took us there so that we won’t have any idea how to get down and pay him to be our guide. He said it was ‘too complicated’ for us to find our way on our own.
There was actually one easy way. Before entering the alley, turn left and keep going, and you will hit some stairs that will take you down in just 10-15 minutes. Voila.
10. Visit the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca
Hassan II Mosque is the largest mosque in Morocco so if you’d visit a mosque, choose this one!
THE END.
