Morocco: Introduction

Last year for my birthday, I decided to get out-of-town to celebrate my entering the 30s. 

As I had earlier required a visa in only ONE occasion in all my travels, I made the mistake of booking the trip before getting a tourist visa. When I was imformed the process would take a month by the embassy, I had a bad feeling I may have to flush the air tickets and hotel vouchers down the drain. It certainly looked that way until the day before our travelling date.

I received a call from the embassy at 14:00 while I was in Helsinki! To top up the adrenalin rush, the embassy was closing at 17:00. So I had 3 hours to fly from Helsinki to Copenhagen and get from the airport to the Moroccon Embassy in Hellerup. I still cannot fathom how it was done. I vaguely remember my boss who sped me to the embassy in record time while I got my boyfriend to wait at the embassy to prevent them from closing. Poor guy. I bet he felt as useful as a paper weight during those 30 minutes or so.

After a whole fortnight of stressful wait to see if I could get a visa, I finally arrived in Rabat to kickstart our 10 days trip.

Arriving about mid day in the administrative hub, Rabat, we picked up our car and headed inwards east towards Fés.

This was a drive around trip with stops we have chosen. We were to spend two nights and a day in Fés. And then head south, with stops at Cascades d'Ouzoud, Quartzazate, Erfoud (the edge of the Sahara) and then head north through Marrakech.

We had earlier downloaded a Garmin GPS map for Morocco. Even though it is not as detailed as other European countries, I cannot express enough how much this has helped us. In the following posts, I will share with you pictures of what to expect to see driving from one place to another in Morocco. As much as we were in awe of Morocco's endless changing landscapes and nature, we also sometimes felt lost in the middle of nowhere with no mobile phone connection or anyone to ask for directions. In some places, we also had to avoid local hustlers who tried to sell us various quartz stones.

Looking back, I would say Morocco has so much to offer that it is hard to recommend a specific route or programme. But I would recommend driving like we did, seeing places way outside the imperial cities.

So are you ready to go to Fés?