Morocco in Movies – Miles to Go

I finally made it to Morocco – a trip I have wanted to take for years. Morocco has always stirred up images in my mind of marketplaces filled with spice merchants and exotic entertainers, hilltop casbahs, djellabas (robes with pointed hoods), colorful tagine pots and, of course, camels.

The main source of many of these images of Morocco is probably from movies I have seen over the years. I am a big classic movie fan, especially classic film noir. In the Alfred Hitchcock movie The Man Who Knew Too Much, Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day are an American couple who take a fateful trip to Marrakech (their son is kidnapped after they are told a secret by a dying man and they must find their son while trying to stop an assassination). The movie was filmed on location with scenes of the Djemaa El Fna (Marrakech’s iconic market), the towering La Koutoubia Mosque minaret and the luxurious La Mamounia Hotel. I watched this movie again after my trip and confirmed that, thankfully, not much has changed in the medina since the 1950s.

Marrakech

Marrakech is magical and I understand why it is considered the tourism capital of Morocco. Most of the buildings in the city are some shade of rose/pink/salmon and they blend perfectly with the surrounding landscape. I loved exploring the city – highlights were shopping the souks for a brass lamp, strolling through the Jardin Majorelle (gorgeous gardens and residence once owned by Yves Saint Laurent), learning about local culture at the Berber Museum, marveling at a collection of sculptural dresses by Noureddine Amir (Moroccan fashion designer) at the Yves Saint Laurent Museum, navigating the expansive El Badi Palace and soaking in the chaos that is Djemaa El Fna.

The food in Morocco was excellent. The Moroccan diet is very healthy – lots of vegetables and stewed/grilled meats. Dessert was typically simple orange slices sprinkled with cinnamon, and the mint tea was always plentiful. I tried several different delicious tagines, but the standout dish for me was the pigeon pastilla (or b’stilla). I have previously eaten this dish with chicken at different Spanish restaurants, but the pigeon gave it a much richer taste. I also had my first bite of camel, in burger form, at the Clock Café in Marrakech. It was dryer than ground buffalo but had a really interesting flavor.

Marrakech lays in the shadow of the Atlas Mountains and in March they were still snow-capped. One day I hired a guide to drive me out near the mountains to see the small Berber villages that dot the Ourika Valley. After stopping at a local market and an argan oil cooperative run by women, I enjoyed a short hike alongside a goat herder. It was nice to get out of the busy Marrakech medina and into the crisp mountain air. The best part of that day was eating a leisurely lunch on the backyard patio of a home with breathtaking views of the Atlas Mountains.

I wish I could share with you some of the gorgeous pictures I took of Marrakech and the Atlas Mountains/Ourika Valley, but I erased them during my trip. Yes – ALL of them. More on that total travel fail in my next post.

Zagora

My time in Morocco was too short to do a full-out trip through the Sahara Desert, but after researching different excursions from Marrakech, I found a 2-day, 1-night trip to Zagora where the sand dunes of the Sahara begin. The trip involved more drive time than actual sight-seeing, but being a West Texas girl, I had no problem with the 9-hour drive (each way). The long drive with my guide, Idir, allowed me to see many different Moroccan landscapes: over the High Atlas Mountains topped with pine trees, through cactus filled hills, across the shrub-covered Anti-Atlas Mountains (or Little Atlas), alongside a 200 km oasis of palm trees (the Draa Valley) and ending in the vegetation-less Sahara. When we arrived outside of Zagora, my helpful camel guide, Hamid, got me up on my camel and we were off on our one hour+ journey to the camp.

The camp exceeded all of my expectations – a complete glamping experience. The friendly camp staff greeted us with mint tea and cookies and then escorted us to our tents to freshen up before dinner. There were other private tour groups staying there, so it was nice to mingle with other travelers. We dined in a large candlelit tent and then enjoyed a campfire and Berber music under the stars. The next morning, many of us got up early to watch the spectacular sunrise over the Sahara. Hamid doubled as a photographer (and a mighty good one at that – the picture of me on this blog’s home page was taken by Hamid) as he led me and my camel posse back to the road to meet Idir.

On our return to Marrakech, Idir and I stopped outside of Morocco’s version of Hollywood, Ouarzazate (aka Ouallywood), to tour Ait Benhaddou, an imposing fortified city on an old caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech. In addition to being a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Ait Benhaddou has been used in the filming of numerous Hollywood movies (Gladiator, The Jewel of the Nile, Babel, Prince of Persia, The Mummy). A climb to the top of this mud brick city provided great views of the surrounding area and I imagined what it would look like filled with movie crews, costumed actors and over the top sets. The climb also made me extremely thankful it was March – that place, although impressive, was already hotter than a brick oven.

Casablanca

One of my favorite classic movies is Casablanca. Humphrey Bogart plays the mysterious Rick Blaine, a nightclub owner in French-controlled Casablanca during World War II. The beautiful Ingrid Bergman plays Ilsa, Rick’s former love interest who resurfaces in Casablanca with her fugitive Nazi-resister husband. Trouble ensues, hearts are broken and iconic catch-phrases are born (Here’s Looking at You Kid). I knew the movie had not been filmed on location, but by going to Casablanca I was hoping to capture some of that old Hollywood glamour at Rick’s Café (a Casablanca tribute restaurant/bar), see some art deco architecture, and end my trip with a relaxing day at the beach. Even though a cool front and cloud cover completely ruined my beach day, all was not lost. I was still able to see some beautiful architecture, including the Hassan II Mosque, and enjoy a memorable dinner at Rick’s Café. However, if I had to do it over again, I would likely have skipped Casablanca and taken a longer Sahara trip that ended in Fez.

Although my trip to Morocco was a short one, it gave me a very good introduction to the country. There are just SO many other places I would like to see there (Chefchaouen, Fez, Merzouga)! It is definitely a place I plan to revisit.

Even though it was amazing, this trip was not exactly my smoothest. Stay tuned for my next post on tips and lessons I learned this time out.