Ideas and reading resources for trip to Morocco?

[Tony M]

I'm thinking of doing a trip to Morocco with my wife and daughter (17 years old) this year and want to plan it so all our goals are satisfied. My goal is for it to be a photography holiday that encompasses scenery, historical, religious and cultural places and street life. The goals of my wife and daughter are mostly culture, markets/shopping and maybe the beach, and of course very nice hotels.

I need to read about Morocco and wondered if anyone can recommend good books or Internet resources. Apart from books like The Rough Guide etc that give lots of detail on trains, accommodation, etc, I'd also like to see more photos and text describing the places.

And of course I'd like to know your views on where to visit.

Tony

[Shadowman]

I always start every trip with a visit to this website.

http://www.frommers.com/destinations/morocco/

[Tony M]

Thanks John; it looks good, with lots of information that is well organised.

Tony

[Catalina]

Which cities of Morocco are you going to visit? we went there last year, my husband, daughter, sons and I.
We visited Marrakesh and Fes.
The children went out for a night to sleep in the desert.That night, they say it is unforgettable. They rode in camels,saw the milky way, walked trough the dunes at night and a guide prepare for them Moroccan food which by the way is delicious.
Marrakesh is a more touristic city. Fes is an ancient city with a bigger market place ( La medina) and they sell more magnificent objects, like rugs (hand made),objects of silver and cooper, elegant artisanal fabrics, articles of leather etc.You can see a big oven where they cook their daily bread, mules on the streets of the medina and roosters too ( country roosters are cheaper than those of the city)
You cannot enter in the palaces where the king lives. Everyone whom we knew adored the king and the princess.Better not talk bad about the monarchy.
I took a blouse with a little bit of cleavage and some people gave me a no no look on the streets.
Over all people is very charming, they speak several languages Spanish, English ,Arabic, and the mother tongue are the most common and obvious, French which is widespread.
The prohibition that make you be discrete with your clothes does not include the feet, you can wear a nice pair of sandals.

To plan the voyage in advance we used trip advisor, which has nice tips. For example going to the atlas mountains you need something to protect the camera from the water because you walk trough the creek.

If you want to ask more you can write to me at catalinaisazadet@gmail.com

Have a nice vacations in Marruecos, itis the arab world...its exotic and unforgetable






Taking pictures was a little bit of problem because people ask for money when you take a picture of them.(For example at the saqueare, the people who sell water, live for posing to photographers. It was advised to us not to take pictures of the ladies that dress covered from head to toe, they even wear sunglasses so you can not take pic. of their eyes.

But if you go to the atlas mountains, there is plenty of opportunity to take pictures of the great landscape (cristal water running in the desert) and you can see Berber women carrying loads of grass for their house animals.

We saw the children learning arabic in the medrazaor mederza(kind of Sunday School but I was shy taking the camera and interrumpting the class with flashes.

[shreds]

Morocco is a big country, so very difficult to cover everything.

However, most towns have markets (Souks) which are a photographers delight. (Perhaps less so for your wife and daughter who may receive unwanted attentions). A lot of vendors will get upset if you try and photographs them or their colleagues, (you are 'stealing their soul'), but strangely a lot of them are prepared to sell their soul for ready cash, but once you do, everyone in the market will want to be photographed! Take a flash/strobe with you, the heat of the day makes for massive contrasts and whilst not good for photography, the insides of some buildings are very interesting but may need lighting a little as might portraits.

The bigger towns and cities will be used to foreigners and everything will be negotiable. If you are staying in one place, you will probably discover lots of guys who want to be your 'guide.' This is a double edged sword, they may rip you off, but will be able to do better deals on everything from food to clothes and gifts than you ever could unless you are a Moroccan speaker.

Most towns are typically Moorish, such as Tangiers, but places like Agadir are predominantly tourist towns (still with their Souk) but very clean and rebuilt after the disastrous earthquake of 1960. The villages around are worth exploring though. Marrakesh is probably the one to visit for its architecture and culture. Never been to Rabat.

If you know where to go, there are some outstanding tailors….just take a roll of your chosen fabric with enough material for two suits, and you should be able to barter a 'free' suit in exchange for the remaining cloth. Oh yes, everything, absolutely everything is 'barter able' so be prepared to haggle. Probably to around 40-60% of the price quoted…depends on how good you are!

If you have time, do get up into the Atlas mountains, absolutely stunning and so picturesque, but be aware that the temperature drops rapidly as you get higher, so take a coat. The more rural, generally the more friendly and people have time for you, but ensure the female members of your family cover up as a respect to their culture. They might stone you otherwise.

Watch your wallet and camera gear…..all the time…... but enjoy and have fun!

[Tony M]

Thanks Catalina and Ian.

I haven't decided where to go yet, so I'm open to anything right now.

I've read about the need for women to dress conservatively and to cover their skin. I'm also aware of the security issues, confidence tricksters and the like.

The overnight stay in the desert sounds fantastic. I doubt my wife will want to do it but hopefully my daughter will.

Sounds like photographing people may be a challenge though. If I meet an interesting person I wouldn't mind buying a bit of his or her soul if it meant some nice portraits.

Tony

[shreds]

The beaches at places like Agadir are phenomenal and uncrowded.

Don't forget that you may get offered two camels for your wife, and probably double that for your daughter!!

You meanwhile are only good for your camera (tape over the brand) and your wallet. (Really no different to any big city).

Being arabic, alcohol is theoretically banned outside hotels and tourist bars (believe that if you will), but do try and find the old men sitting outside drinking 'Moroccan Whisky' - basically a mint tea concoction that probably takes about twenty minutes of 'mashing' and pouring into another 'kettle' and back again. Don't be in a rush to drink, if you are offered one, but if you can gain their trust, a fabulous opportunity to see their culture and break down barriers (always handy for a photographer). If you have reached this point with these 'elders,' getting your interesting photos should be child's play, but never assume.

[Manfred M]

First of all, a couple of thoughts on travel books; they all tend to aim at a different audience and travel style. Fodors tend to be aimed at the middle class traveller looking for good food and accomodation, Michelin at people who are planning to drive and Lonely Planet at the backpacker who is looking for places off and on the beaten path.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/

There are a couple of good websites. Tripadvisor is considered to be one of the most up to date and best;

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/

Virtual Tourist is a good one to ask other travellers; the advice there though can be excellent and there can be some less good stuff, as the opinions reflect the experiences of the specific respondant. I've gotten some great advice there, but you do have to sign up.

http://www.virtualtourist.com/

[Catalina]

I forgot to tell you that guides must be approved by the ministry of tourism and have an official identification.

If you move around morocco by train, buy first class tickets, there is air conditioning and it is really cheap.

I liked the scenery from Marrakesh to Fes.

When they notice that you are a tourist they offer guides for you. My Husband and i did this, but we repented, he only took us to those pricey stores in the medina and pricey restaurants. My children (27,25,23) hated the day of shopping, but in my own oppinion do as people does wherever they go, the place of commerce was really interesting even if we were not going to buy it was interesting see people working on their crafts.
If you plan to buy a rug, I reccommend Fes, those are made by the cooperative of widows and separated woman and run by the government.
We bought pottery (you can photograph people working) and they send it to Colombia. It did not break and arrived just 15 days after us. So we didn't have to carry pottery through Spain and Portugal.

Cordially,
Catalina

[Mike Buckley]

My comments are based on two weeks of travel to Morocco in May 1990, so keep in mind that some things may have changed since then. Even though my wife and I have done considerable traveling in the 24 years since then, Morocco still remains one of our favorite, most memorable travel destinations.

If you want to go in the south where few tourists go, consider the Dades Gorge and Todra Gorge, which are sort of like America's Zion Canyon but also including many kasbahs. Absolutely spectacular! Similarly, drive north using the old road in the Anti Atlas mountains but only if you enjoy serious mountain driving where sometimes the road is (or at least was) one lane with no room for two vehicles to pass if one of them is a large bus or truck.

We did not go to Tangier because everything we read about it indicated that it had the characteristics of a European city as much as a Moroccan city. That aspect might be interesting to you but we were hoping to see as much of the "pure" Morocco as any tourist can see on their first trip there (and we think we accomplished that, especially in the southern rural areas).

Be sure to visit a tannery where the people soak their leather goods in outdoor vats. The workers stand in the vats and work the leather with their feet much like people used to stomp wine grapes.

Otherwise, it will be pretty easy for you to determine which cities you want to visit.

There will be nominal fees paid to "guards" at places such as tanneries and parking lots if you travel on your own. It's part of the culture and, at least in the case of the parking lots, does provide an element of safety.

The guide book said that the medina in Fes required a guide to prevent becoming lost. After having been there with a guide and having been to many smaller medinas without a guide, we went a second time to the medina in Fes without one. We got lost and hired a guide inside the medina to get us back to our car outside the medina. Moral of the story: If you go in that medina without a guide, make note of the gate that you enter so you can at least hire a guide to get you back to that gate if you get lost.

There are two kinds of guides: official guides trained and sanctioned by the government and all of the other guides. The latter guides are extremely aggressive, so much so that they would drive next to us in the adjacent lane soliciting our business from their own vehicle, usually a motor scooter. The official guides will cost more than the other guides. However, the other guides depend on commissions they receive from the shops that you buy products in. We told one of our guides that we were not planning on buying anything but he said he would be our guide for the day anyhow. He dumped us at noon because he was not earning any commissions.

When you visit a shop, it's considered rude to spend a lot of time asking about how things are made, reviewing different options, and the like, if you don't have any intention of buying. That's not to say that you should feel compelled to buy if you don't find something that meets your needs, but don't use the shop as you would use a museum. Despite that every shopkeeper will tell you that it's fine to just look, they do so only with the intention of getting you to buy something. We had a couple experiences when we didn't buy that the shopkeeper got mad at us, especially in the rural areas where they have fewer tourists entering their shops.

When a stranger invites you into their home, it is always with the intention of eventually taking you to at least one shop, usually a shop owned by a relative, so they can earn commissions on all of your purchases. Even so, we had some remarkable experiences visiting with locals in their homes.

The customs regarding attitudes toward women, exposed skin and the like are much more relaxed in the major cities than in the rural areas.

We experienced every kind of treatment by the locals. One extreme was a gas station attendant near the edge of the Sahara desert that erroneously tried to convince us that our gas tank had a leak and needed to be replaced. The other extreme was a service station attendant who repaired our flat tire and absolutely refused to accept payment and thanked us for visiting his country.

Hope this helps and I wonder how much has changed in the nearly quarter century since we visited!

[Tony M]

The beaches at places like Agadir are phenomenal and uncrowded.
Don't forget that you may get offered two camels for your wife, and probably double that for your daughter!!
You meanwhile are only good for your camera (tape over the brand) and your wallet. (Really no different to any big city).

Hmmm, that sounds interesting... (Thank goodness they don't frequent this forum!)

Manfred, Cataline and Mike: thanks for your helpful information.

From all your comments, this holiday could be quite exciting. I'm looking forward to experiencing an Islamic culture, and maybe test driving some camels.

Tony

[Val Mansfield]

We were there in 2011, our second trip. Photos at https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/1...41543372299121

Val

[rpcrowe]

I am a terrible linguist but there are three words I like to learn wherever I go:

Hello, Please, Thank You

These have been beneficial wherever I have traveled.

As far as shopping goes, there are only two phrases you need to learn:

How Much? and Too Much!

[Jable]

Ir you can, don't miss the blue village of Uarzazate, southeast of Marrakech. It's a village close the mountains, very beautiful, all the narrow streets painted in white and blue. And the people over there, is very quiet, and not so much over the tourist.
Great place for pictures!

[Tony M]

We were there in 2011, our second trip. Photos at https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/1...41543372299121

Thanks Val, they're interesting. The camel's head in the Medina of Fes was unexpected! Are they dying cloth in this photo?

Ir you can, don't miss the blue village of Uarzazate, southeast of Marrakech. It's a village close the mountains, very beautiful, all the narrow streets painted in white and blue. And the people over there, is very quiet, and not so much over the tourist.
Great place for pictures!

It looks interesting Pedro; I'll keep it in mind, although my holiday may end up being quite short, at least the first visit will be; I'm sure I'll want to go back for longer.

Richard, I'll be dusting off my school French and also relying on my daughter, whose French is more recent. And my wife is the expert in bartering!

Tony

[Val Mansfield]

Tony,

I believe that was a tannery. They give you a "bouquet" to hold to the nose to counter the smells!

I suspect that the camel head belonged to the four feet seen in another photo.

Enjoy your trip

Val

[Mike Buckley]

Val is correct that the scene is a tannery. When I was at a tannery 23 years ago, the first part of the process involved putting the leather on a huge wooden wheel for a purpose that I don't remember. I only remember that the skins were soaked in the urine of cattle before putting the skins on the wheel. The workers used the vats in Val's photo to dye the leather. They did so by standing in the vats and stomping the leather in the dye.

At least that's my understanding and memory from 23 years ago.