Our First "Wild" College Spring Break

Our Itinerary

We have been fortunate enough to make spring break trips with Anna for as long as I can remember, and we usually planned them as soon as the calendar for the new school year was published.  This year, however, was going to be different, with Anna starting at university.  We spoke of planning something, but as we normally booked before the school year even began, with this being such a new experience and not knowing what might be ahead, we had to hang back and wait.  We knew when Anna's college spring break would be, which was much earlier than during her public school years.  Those spring breaks always occurred during the week leading to Easter, whereas colleges break much earlier.  Without knowing, too, if her second semester mid-term exams would be before or after the break, we were very hesitant to book any trip which might force her to miss days leading up to or following the break.

As fortune would have it, however, we came across a tour with our trusty agency Gate1 Travel to Morocco, which hit just the right days and would not put any school class in danger.  In addition, Morocco had been on our bucket list for a while, so much later than usual, we booked the trip in October.  It helped that Royal Air Maroc airlines just started non-stop flights between Dulles and Casablanca, which made the timing even better.  We would depart Dulles late on a Friday night, and return the following Friday.  That maximized our time, but also ensured no school was missed -- just in case.

As it was, Anna's only class on Friday -- a discussion session, late in the afternoon -- was cancelled, so she was able to come home Friday morning.  She pretty much packed everything at school, but this still gave her time to finalize things.  Her best friend, Charlotte, had also just returned from Tulane on her break, so they had a quick chance to see each other, get their hair and nails done, and have lunch, so it worked out well.  I met my parents early on Friday morning, as they watched Chip for us, and then K and I worked the day.  Even working the full day, we had plenty of time to have a normal supper at home and then make our way to the airport.  What had been forecast, however, as rain showers for day, had turned into a slushy snow, which only worsened after dark.  In addition to the snow, we had allowed extra time, as we knew the Royal Air Maroc flight was completely full, and we would not be able to use our TSA Pre-Check with this airline.  As it was, however, we had never seen the airport so empty.  Check-in and security were super-quick affairs, and we ended up with well over an hour to kill in the airport lounge.  It was interesting, too, as the security line was all-but nonexistent, the Customs & Border Patrol agent was chatty.  He noted we were off to Morocco, and he added that he'd visited twice and loved it.  We took this as a good omen.

When we got to our gate, we were met with a huge contingent of Virginia Tech students.  It seemed as though the entire flight was wearing Hokie gear.  They were on an organized trip through the Fulbright Foundation, and every other passenger seemed to be an American destined for vacation.  Boarding was fine, but while the weather in DC was really only a nuisance, the same storm was clobbering points north, which resulted in cascading delays.  We ended up having to sit on the tarmac for 90 minutes waiting for a corridor to open, and then another 30 minutes for de-icing.  The flight itself was only scheduled for six hours, but the delay made it a much longer night. 

Arrivals and First Impressions

We were able to make up some time in the air, but still none of us got much sleep on the flight.  Immigration was a painless affair, and we found ourselves in the sea of Hokie orange while in line.  Bags were already waiting for us after we cleared.  We were less successful, in finding our Gate1 agent as we exited.  We came across several other folks, arriving from a connecting flight through Madrid, also looking.  We ultimately found the agents outside, and about six of us loaded into a mini-bus for the 60-minute transfer from Casablanca to the capital city of Rabat, from where our tour would commence.

Upon Arrival in Casablanca

The airport in Casablanca is understandably on the outskirts of the city, so we never caught a glimpse of the urban metropolis we'd see in a week, when we returned.  Instead, the highway drive northeast to Rabat was through rolling green agricultural fields.  I was immediately struck by how different it looked than what I had expected.  In hindsight I should not have been surprised that the landscape is incredibly similar to Portugal and Spain, which are only a short distance north.  Still, the scenery was beautiful and seemed unexpected for most of the week.

I think I was the only passenger still awake as we reached the outskirts of Rabat, which were dotted by beautiful large villas and dozens of green park areas.  I had obviously not done enough reading before we left, as I had also been mistaken in thinking Rabat would be the largest city.  It is, in fact, the third largest in Morocco, with just over a million inhabitants, but it felt even smaller.  It was very tidy and was not chaotic, as so many middle eastern and north African countries can be.  It, too, had a distinctly European undertone to it.

Our hotel was located just inside the ancient city walls, and our tour manager -- Abdulrahman (or Abdou, for short) -- was waiting to meet us in the lobby.  Gate1 offers several "tiers" of tours, ranging from Value to Classic to Discovery to Signature.  All of our previous tours have been "Classic," whereas this one was Value.  Gate1 offers about four different trips to Morocco, one for each level.  The dates for this trip, and the fact that the non-stop flight from DC is not every day, meant that we booked the Value.  The only difference we saw initially was that you had multiple optional tours.  You could add various whole or half-day options, or evening excursions, during the trip, whereas those same activities were usually included in the Classic option.  We signed up for every possible option ahead of time, to maximize the trip, but we learned another difference with the Value level upon check-in, when we learned there would be 38 people on our tour.  Our previous tours had ranged from 14 to 22 people, so we didn't know what to expect with so many more people.  In the end, however, it did not matter.  The bus still had unused seats, and the three of us always had four seats designated for us.  Also, only about half the people signed up for the various add-on's, so most of the tours and activities where with far fewer people.  A downside, however, was that we had less opportunity to get to know many fellow travelers well.  Given the relative shortness of the trip, however, we agreed it was fine.  Having fewer meals included, too, meant that we had more freedom and selection at night.

We had booked triple rooms for the tour, but for three of the four hotels we'd utilize during the trip, we were assigned two separate rooms.  This gave us more room, of course, and a second bathroom, but it was kind of regrettable to not all be in the same room every night.  Rabat was one place where we had two rooms.

It was early afternoon when we got to the hotel and our rooms, so Anna and Katherine elected to power nap ahead of our welcome meeting and dinner, scheduled to kick-off at 7:00 pm.  I powered through, and after a short nap K was up and we elected to go exploring.  The hotel was right up the street from the central train station and city center, and only about a 10-minute walk from the medina -- which we would learn is the term used in Morocco for the usually fortified old city, which traditionally also houses the central souk, or shopping area.  The city center reminded us, again, of Spain and Portugal.  It was a beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon, in the 60's, and locals were congregating all down the central square and park.  We encountered no other obvious foreigners as we made our way to the medina, and even there, we only saw a couple small groups of French tourists.  Even though we were so obviously out of place, I never felt as if people were paying us any attention.  The souk through which we walked, too, was without any tourist or souvenir shops, and it was refreshing that no one was paying us any attention or beckoning us to come into their shop.  It was a night-and-day difference from Egypt, and that contradiction would continue throughout the week.

Outer Wall Surrounding Rabat, Near to our Hotel 

Rabat

Main Boulevard in Rabat

Rabat

Inside the Medina in Rabat

Sausage, anyone?

Anna was showered and waiting for us when we returned, shortly before the welcome drink and meeting, following by dinner there at the hotel.  Another difference with this tour was that many of the other guests were first-time travelers with Gate1.  In all of the previous tours, we always felt like the "new guys," as we'd routinely encounter couples who had completed dozens of trips with Gate1.  On this one, we seemed to be the most seasoned.

Dinner was fine, and had our first of many-to-come meals with Moroccan tangine and couscous.  I was beyond exhausted when we wrapped up, and was more than ready for sleep, which came quickly.

From the Ocean to the Foot of Snow-Covered Mountains

We were only spending one night in Rabat, so per our now-familiar tour routine, we had to have our bags outside our doors before breakfast.  With the time change, we were all awake and feeling good.  After breakfast, we loaded onto the bus, which as I said earlier, was more full than usual, but there were still sporadic empty seats, including an unoccupied fourth for us.  All Gate1 trips assign seats, and then rotate people every day, so everyone gets to be in different parts of the bus, interact with more people, and to keep things equitable.

K and I thought we'd seen a good bit of Rabat the previous afternoon, with our walk through the medina and city center.  We had a city tour this morning, and we never even went to those areas, as there was so much more to see.  For being the capital city, it had a very laid back and civilized feel to it.  We started at the very impressive royal palace, within a huge complex.  This was the king's (King Mohammed VI) main palace, but he was out of the country -- in France -- during our visit.  The only way we were to know, we were told, was that the fountains within the walls were all off.

Entrance to the Royal Palace in Rabat

King's "Private" Mosque within the Palace Compound

The Royal Palace

Main Entrance (We had to sneak the picture)

We continued to the Roman ruins of Chellah, which we simply beautiful, and very unexpected.  Chellah is a large area of Roman ruins, within walls, built on the banks of the river which divides Rabat.  This river first drew the Romans, who built the very impressive fortifications and city.  Now the area is more of a park, with beautiful trees, flowers, and shrubs, and a huge number of nesting storks.  It seemed as though every column and high point was occupied by an humongous stork's nest, complete with storks who paid no heed to the tourists who had invaded their privacy.  Storks, we were told, have wintered in Morocco for millennia (we would, in fact, see them in every city we visited), but for the past decade or so, most have remained year round, with Europe getting warmer thanks to climate change.

Entrance to Chellah

Chellah -- Ruins of Roman City

Chellah

Storks Nesting Everywhere!

Locals Enjoying the Sun

You Can See the Size of the Stork Nests

The Berber Language

Anna and Katherine in Chellah

Driving through the impressive diplomatic quarter, we drove to the seaside corniche and its so-called Kasbah.  This term is used in Morocco to describe, usually, the oldest and/or highest area of a fortified old city.  After walking up the steps and the gate featured in the latest Mission Impossible film (of which they were very proud), we entered a crazy labyrinth of stucco buildings all painted in blue and white.  It looked as though we had been transported to Mykonos in Greece.  I have no idea if it is true, but we were told the blue color is used as it is believed to keep away mosquitoes.  It may work, as we saw none during our entire trip.  In fact, we encountered next to no insects of any kind during our trip.  Even the flies we saw were some curious sort, who hovered in place, and never seemed to go toward people or light.  My theory is that the insects are kept in check by the millions of birds in Morocco.  As with the storks, all kinds of birds from Europe winter (or remain year-round now) in Morocco, and their singing and presence were inescapable.  Evidently Morocco has a huge tourism boom centered on birding trips.

Entrance to the Rabat Casbah -- Used in Mission Impossible V

In the Casbah

Our final stop in Rabat was the Mausoleum of King Mohammed V, who was Morocco's sultan under the French, and then king from independence in 1956 until his death in 1961.  His son, King Hassan II, who died in 1999, is also buried there.  It was quite beautiful, with a huge colonnade, which was originally supposed to be roofed over and turned into a mosque.  Mohammed died unexpectedly, so the mosque was never completed.

Royal Guard at Entrance to Mohammed V's Mausoleum

The Colonnade, which was supposed to become a mosque

Mohammed V's Tomb

Inside the Mausoleum

Mohammed V in the Center, Hassan II on the Upper Left

We made our way out of Rabat and drove eastward, away from the ocean, toward one of Morocco's four ancient capitals -- this one being Meknes.  Ironically, we just read in this month's Money magazine that Meknes was voted their number one international travel destination recommendation.  We, unfortunately, did not spend much time here, other than a nice sit-down lunch and driving tour, and I definitely would have liked to spend more time there.

Very close by, our next destination was the ruins of the Roman city of Volubilis.  It started as a Berber city in the 3rd century, grew under Carthage, and was the capital of Mauritania for a while, before the Romans came.  We had been hearing a lot about Berbers over the course of the morning.  The term Berber derived from the Roman?/Greek? term for barbarian.  Though certainly meant as an insult at the time, it is now proudly claimed by a majority of modern-day Moroccans.  We spoke about the Arab Spring uprisings of the previous decade, and it was explained that to avoid such an uprising in Morocco, the king made major concessions.  Not only did he cede a majority of his power to an elected parliament, but they said his most popular move was to official declare Berber as the second language of Morocco, after Arabic.  French had been the second language, and is still spoken by most Moroccans, but it was "officially" replaced by Berber in 2006.  Now, all road signs are supposed to (but they're far was uniform) be written in Arabic and Berber (which has it's own unique alphabet).  Signs in areas with tourists and along the highways are also written in French.  The French "protectorate" of Morocco was relatively short, only 44 years, up until 1956, but their influence is apparent everywhere, from the french words worked into Moroccan Arabic, to the food.  French boulangeries and patisseries were on most every street corner, with their names in French.

Anyway, Volubilis was destroyed by an earthquake in the mid-17th century (the same one which all but obliterated Lisbon), and was not unearthed until the late 19th century.  More than 50 percent of the city is still believed to be underground, and signs of excavation work were everywhere.  It has been declared a UNESCO world heritage site, so all of the archeological work is supervised (and underwritten) by the United Nations.

Artifact Found in Volubilis

Mosaic Floor with Head of Medusa

Map Showing Extend of Roman Empire -- Volubilis is on bottom left

Volubilis

Anna in Volubilis 

More Stork Nests

From Volubilis, we had a perfect view over to the hilltop hamlet of Moulay Idriss Zerhoun, which is famous as the city settled by Moulay Idriss in 789, who brought Islam to Morocco.

Village of Moulay Idriss Zerhoun, settled by man who introduced Islam to Morocco

It was another two-hour drive from here, along a winding two-land road up and down through incredibly green agricultural land, where every possible vegetable and fruit seemed to be growing.  We also hit our first mile-long stretches of olive orchards.  Our guide was extremely proud to report that as of 2018, Morocco had officially surpassed Spain as the number producer of both olives and olive oil in the world.  The trees were introduced by the Romans in the 3rd century, and were perfectly suited for huge areas within Morocco.

Our home for this night and next was to be the city of Fez (or Fes).  It is Morocco's second largest city, after Casablanca, with about 1.4 million people, but it never felt anywhere near that size.  Like Meknes, it was one of Morocco's four ancient capitals, and is now known as home to best examples of Moorish architecture in the entire country.  It has two incredibly beautiful old towns, or medinas.  In fact, in addition to the two old towns, there was new town, which dated to the 16th century; not very new.  I loved Fez, it was the highlight of the trip for me.

As the following day's all-day tour of Fez was optional, we had a general driving orientation tour of the city, before we reached our hotel.  On the way, the bus made a quick stop at a French supermarket, one of the view to sell alcohol in the city.  We were to learn that most of Morocco is dry.  I don't think it is by law, but most restaurants and many hotels simply don't offer alcohol.  Our hotel for the night was dry, but Gate1 worked out an arrangement whereby they would allow guests to bring their own, including to the restaurant.  I took the opportunity to buy a cheap bottle of Moroccan wine.  After figuring out how to uncork a bottle of wine without a corkscrew (use a belt buckle, if you're curious), we sampled it and agreed it wasn't even worth the $3 I had paid.

View of Fez From the South

From the balcony of our hotel, we could see the snow-covered Atlas mountains in the distance. In fact, one of Morocco's two ski resorts was located about 40 minutes south of town.  Dinner was on our own, which was fine.  We went to a very local place recommended by the guide.  We were the only ones from our group to go, and we were the only foreigners in the place, which bode well.  As with all the restaurants we visited during the trip, the menus were not in English.  Only Arabic, Berber, and French.  As in France last year, my middle-school French was again put to the test in ordering correctly.  Jet lag had definitely caught up with us by the time we walked back to the hotel, and we all crashed immediately.