I have always wanted to go to Morocco but because of visa stuff I couldn’t make it during my two years traveling. Once I got to the UK and had a permit to live there, I knew one of the first things to do was to get a Moroccan visa and go to Morocco.

The visa process was super easy: gather the papers for the application, drop them off at the consulate, pay the £20, and return 3 weeks later to pick up the passport… so much easier than having to fly to Guatemala!

I had been so busy with work and school that I had put zero thought to my Morocco trip. The night before I had nothing ready other than an empty hamper and a tumble dryer with all of my belongings. People kept asking if I was ready… I kept saying “No” and it wasn’t just procrastinating, it was more fear!

Anyway, friday night about midnight I decided to pack my bags. The packing was easy since I literally only have 6 pieces of clothing so I dumped everything in and called it a day!

I woke up early and kept myself busy until it was time to go to the airport. When I opened the door I saw it was pouring outside so I ran downstairs and grabbed my waterproof hiking shoes and then I was on my way to Gatwick Airport.

Getting to airports in London take as much time as the flight to your destination, sometimes even longer! I was a little nervous about the train since it was raining and trains go crazy when a little rain comes down but luckily I made to Gatwick no problem!

Once in, I had a whole row to myself… time to go to sleep.

After only 3 hours I was already in Fez, Morocco!!!!

The most nerve-racking thing for me is when I arrive to a new country and I have to deal with taxi drivers. I love it when there is a booth and a fixed price and you know you are safe. Well… not in Fes! I had to go outside and try to get a taxi that wanted to overcharge me, then I found a couple and we decided to share so we got into a taxi just to have the other taxi drivers pull me out and say I needed to go in a different taxi. By then the price had come down to the regular 150MAD but they wanted me to go alone and pay by myself instead of sharing it with two people. We all decided to get off and walk away to the parking lot where more taxis were parked. Long story short, we got another driver to take us for 150MAD and I made it to my beautiful riad (a Moroccan traditional house) at 1am.

I stayed at Riad Verus, a super cozy hostel located in the Medina.

 For $12/ night the riad had an included breakfast... not too bad.

Ahmed being a good Moroccan and serving us tea!

As I was alone I asked two Canadian girls (who I later learned were Maddy and Marina!) if I could join them for the walk in the medina (the old city.)


Welcome to Fez!!!... and here the grand entrance:

The blue gate, the entrance to the medina.

From the famous blue gate, one gets lost in the endless alleys of the medina in between the millions of souks (marketplace.)  Each souk has a name and sells different products like clothes, sweets, hardware stuff, leather goods, metal work etc.

Danny- not a canadian!- buying 5 pastries for $4!

All over the medina we found carts with nougat and candied nuts. The sellers had a little plate for people to try them so we had our share of sugar for the day within minutes of walking into the medina!




This guy below spends his day cutting big chunks of nougat...

Marina trying some candy!

All of the things on the wall are puffs!

The girls were trying to buy some christmas gifts so I went in with them and in one store I asked the guy if we could go up to the terrace to see the view. Although the way there seemed a little sketchy with him opening little doors in dark rooms, once we got to the terrace we had a great view of Fez and the small tannery down the road.

The terrace

Animal skins hanging!

Fez from the terrace

Morocco reminds me a lot of turkey and Iran, it really has a middle eastern influence more than an African one.
On the street we could find lots of nuts, dates, figs, pomegranate, and dried fruits which reminded me so much of my trip to Iran!

Look at all the pictures of the king on the nut stall!

One thing that is different here is the tea! they put a lot of mint in it and apparently mint is very important in Morocco and as I walked I saw many carts selling mint and other fresh spices!

Mint tea and Moroccan pastries

Fruit stand

dead chickens on his shoulders!

So many places selling oils, spices, herbs, and teas:









Super skilled men do the writing on tombs' plaques!

Pottery anybody?
So many beautifully painted dishes, pots, tagine plates, cups...




While in the medina there is NO WAY you are not getting lost, everything looks the same and different at the same time! No two streets are parallel, if you take the first right instead of the second you might as well end up in the other side of town.

We always went with the flow and discovered thing by just being lost:

Beware of donkeys... their owners ask you for money!

The guy in charge of the door telling the tourists to back off!

Another thing that I find very very VERY interesting in Muslim countries is the harassment towards women. How is it possible that people that claim to be "so religious" can be so awful towards women? Why are men who claim to pray to Allah five + times a day have not learn the basics of being a decent human being?
As we walked the streets of the medina we heard men say to us:

And my ultimate favorite (which was meant to be an insult after we didn't give the guy who followed us for a while a tip): "Nice Ass"

Back to the crazy medina...




One of my favourite shops in the whole medina was the one that sold only old tapes! The guy selling them was super nice! I couldn't help but wonder who still buys tapes!

What a collection!

Shoe shopping anybody?

I loved Place Serrafine, as you enter you hear the banging from men pounding on copper and brass and making pots, pans, buckets, incense burners, teapots, trays, sugar boxes, lamps, and anything that their imagination can create out of metal!

Handmande lamps

Copper shop

Carpets were also everywhere! and we got dragged into a shop where the owner couldn't help himself from showing us carpets although we kept on saying we wouldn't buy any!