So, June 2019, I went to Morocco. You might guess it already, but yes, I did it alone! 2 weeks backpacking on myself again).
Lots of my friends and family were worried about safety. Because it is a different culture. But I wasn't afraid. I just take the jump on solo-travelling every time and I never regret it!
So I had a heap flight from Brussels to Marrakech. If you go a little outside Europe, Ryanair still can provide cheap flights. YAY!
To give you a clear idea of what I did, how I travelled, I will tell you my story day by day.
Day 1:
I arrived in Marrakech. After checking in in my hostel, I started wandering around. I felt pretty confident on the streets. Lots of locals offered me help. I thought they were nice, but they always asked for money. That was a weird start. The Medina is very nice to walk around. Markets, food,... everything.
By wandering around, I also booked a tour for my second day.
Day 2:
I went on a tour to Ouzoud waterfalls. I could make a deal on it, and didn't even pay 20 euro's for it. We went with a small buss. It as a group of Italians, a couple, another solo traveller and me.
When we arrived, we got our own guide. He walked with us and told us a lot of things about the area. Ones arrived at the waterfalls, we could have a swim. After the swim, we went to a nice restaurant with local food.
This was a great day.
By the evening, I also got invited at some locals for celebrating Ramadam with them.
Great hospitality for the first 2 days.
Day 3:
On day 3 I left Marrakech and went to Taghazout. It is a surf paradise. It was a long day with a bus trip and a cab ride. I checked in at a hostel called ''Sunside Surf House''. It was a hostel were some young adults worked. A good atmosphere and a turtle walking around.
After a long trip towards this small but nice place, I just spend some time on the beach.
Day 4:
I took some surf lessons. That was so amazing. The first time on a surfboard, and within the hours, I was handling some small waves. Never expected this.
One of the guys from my hostel took me to the skatepark. We watched sunset here. Afterwards I was invited for a BBQ with some other guest of the hostel. There is so much hospitality here!
Day 5:
As I always try to walk my distances, today I felt like going for a run. Even when travelling, I try to eat good and keep on being sportive.
As Morocco can be very hot, I spend the other part of the day on the beach getting some color.
Day 6:
I left Taghazout and hitchhiked to Essaouira. Some people called me crazy, others brave. But I had a nice experience on this. My hostel was in the Medina. That was so lovely. It's like you directly step into the real life. All those small streets make you get lost quickly, but I really loved it.
Day 7:
Today was hiking day. Around 20 km, away from Essaouira. It felt like I was going to end up in some middle of nowhere. An escape from crowded city centres is what I love most. Altought the city centre was nice.
In the evening, we grabbed some food with some people of our hostel. One of this people is still a close contact. Thanks to him, I even started on writing this
blog.Along the road, we make so many friends. Some stay in our lives for some times. I met some of my better friends on the way.
Day 8:
On the go with the bus towards Tangier. Where I would spend some time with one of these better friends. I met her online like 4 years ago. We met on this online Girls Travel group on Facebook. We
swapped postcards already, followed each others travels and so on.
Day 9:
Bouchra took me around in Tangier. She showed me some nice places, took me into the Medina. I felt so blessed for spending time with her.
Day 10:
Bouchra took me to soma small village you can easely reach by taking a shared cab. Tha village is called Assillah. Not so big, but worth seeing. Small, picturesque, cute and it has a beach!
Today I left my Airbnb to stay with a girl from couchsurfing. But I still stay in Tangier.
Day 11:
Wandering around, spending some time with Fouzia. And by the end of the day, we decided to feed some streetcats. We bought bags of food and gave some to every cat we found. This felt so good to do.
Day 12:
Spending some time on the beach altought it was kind of cold. I created a lazy day. But Fouzia and I bought food again for this streetcats.
Day 13:
I left Tangier heading to Fez. My hostel was in the Medina again. Going from Essaouira to Tangier and then Fez, was big difference. Going from traditional to modern and western back to traditional.
I bought some sausages and fish, and gave it to the streetcats again. It felt right and some locals thanked me.
They said thank you because they acknowkledge the problem but don't have the financials to take care of those little ones. When they have left overs in resaturants, it goes to the cats and dogs. So they really do try, but they can't give more.
Day 14:
I hiked outside of Fes and had some nice views on the city. When walking back, I came across a place where they were drying some leather. For me, that was very confronting. Because I am vegetarian/vegan myself, it was weird to see. And it smelled badly.
I really can say I enjoyed my travel in Morocco. I met so much amazing people, I had a great time and it also opened my eyes in some way. You can see the authentic, but also some parts are hard. The slums are full of dirt, people with not enough money, kids begging for the sausages I bought for the cats,...
Often when we travel, we go to the touristic places to enjoy our time. To relax and escape from reality. But if you go beyond the touristic, you also can see a totally different reality. It might be not yours, but it deffinately is someones reality.
I always ask people to buy from locals, to suport local farmers. You really can make a difference.
And for you it may look like something small, but for them it can be someting big.
NOTE: Especially in Marrakech, but also ANY other touristic place: always watch out for scammers. In Marrakech you can find a lot of them, so be warned.
