Author: Ella

Ali pulled his Toyota Land Cruiser up to the hotel at 8am sharp. We loaded up, strapped in and then his “cousin” called. She’d left her wallet in the car. No way she could be without it for the next 10 days. Who could blame her? We detoured, did a quick handover and THEN we…

Here is our tentative route for today. And just because it looks cool and I forgot to post with yesterday’s entry. The Fes train station. You can see Grubb on the right, sort of.

Up relatively early, we went downstairs for breakfast to find our young Hassan (the staffer who has attended us for breakfast and dinners), sound asleep on a sofa, all lights off, no one in the office.  Uh oh. We cleared our throats to wake Hassan up. He popped up, sprang into action, and in 15 minutes…

Breakfast, I guess it happens everyday but for someone who doesn’t usually eat this morning meal, I’ve been chowing down. I’ll spare you the details today but here are a couple of photos of our view whilest dining. The Riad manager spent some time with us after breakfast helping to organize our day. We wanted…

Monday. Oct 25. All the staff at our Riad are young and super friendly. Hanna, who seems in charge, said they are trying to make this an unforgettable experience. Great so far! I’m lounging on a sofa in this sitting area as I write. Breakfast: traditional Moroccan pancakes, sweetbread, homemade yogurt, cheese omelet. Coffee.  Dinner:…

Sunday. We started the morning with a Moroccan breakfast  (included with our room). Three kinds of bread. One a flat round made with semolina, one a sweet bread – like a light pound cake, and the final a thin round, looks like a bagel but flatter, almost cracker-like bread. An array of  jams, marmalade, and butter..Fresh squeezed…

On the train, one of the women told us “Casablanca, it is nothing”, with a flick of her wrist as one would do to shoo a fly. “Fes is the real Morocco.”  Keep that in the back of your mind and let’s see what unfolds. I mentioned there were four women in our compartment. All young…

Boy, for a travel day, the adventure expanded exponentially. Is it easy to take a train in Morocco? Sure. Quick taxi to the new Casa Voyeuger station in Casablanca, trains clearly listed on the big airport style display…well, anyway, there was no confusion. We got on the train, shared a first class compartment with 4…

After a refreshingly good night’s sleep, we went down to the breakfast buffet this morning. What a huge selection. Moroccan specialities along with some European standards. I wanted to try the famous Moroccan mint tea. Normally super sweet (I’ve heard), I took the no sugar choice. Delightful. Then off to Casablanca’s Medina (ancient market). A…

Our flights were thankfully unremarkable. Touch down in Casablanca and then the slow movement through passport control. We were overly confident that finding an ATM to withdraw a wad of Moroccan Dirham would be a snap. Not so much. I was vaguely surprised to see a Bank of Africa ATM.  “Unusual “, I thought. Until my…

We arrived in the crazy (so described by the locals) city of Casablanca this morning. As the sun was rising, our aircraft was descending into the Mohammed V airport located about 20 miles from Casablanca. And that my friends, is all I’ve got in me today. I promise tomorrow Grubb and I will regale you…

Here is a map and our itinerary. We are moving around more quickly than is usual for us – but hey – change is good.

October 19 – November 10. We explore Morocco. It’s our first time there and the first time on the continent of Africa.