Since it was Ramadan in Qatar, we expected that no alcohol would be served at the airport (also we didn’t know if we would get in the lounge since Hamad Airport (one of the best in the world) has only one and it’s not great). So we started our tradition of red wine already at home during packing. Only later did we find out how many things we had forgotten to pack.

Ultimately, we managed to get into the lounge, but only for about 30 minutes before we had to go to the gate. And yes, they serve alcohol even during Ramadan. Thanks to the bottle of wine from home and a glass at the airport, we slept like babies on the first leg of our flight to Abu Dhabi. We also tried to get in the lounge there, but it was even busier than Doha.

Day 1: Finding a parking in Marrakesh

We landed in Casablanca after a 8-hour flight and had to go change some money at the airport. The rate wasn’t the best (but it wasn’t bad either) but we needed cash since we found out that the road tolls on the way to Marrakesh can only be paid by Moroccan dirhams. We brought euros with us this time since that looked like the best currency to go for other than dirhams. The rate was in general 10 dirhams for 1 euro. We then went to find our car rental place. We booked one of the cheapest ones so we had to wait for a bit for the shuttle bus but after that, everything went fast.

We were on the highway south towards Marrakesh just after 9 am and reached it in about 2 and a half hours. We only stopped at the edge to go to a grocery store to buy water and continued to Jardin Majorelle. There we found free street parking but couldn’t see the gardens since you need a ticket ahead of time and there wasn’t even an office to chance our luck on the spot. We used free WiFi by the entrance to book tickets for 3 days from now when we would get back from the mountains.

We then continued to the city and our accommodation, just making a quick stop at the Taha exchange near the gardens (I found that it should have better rates than the exchanges in the old town…it did).

We thought, we would be at our place too early for checking but we didn’t have the slightest idea what was ahead of us. We didn’t do enough research into the parking situation in the Medina (Old Town) and stupidly tried to find a way all the way to our riad (traditional style of houses built with an inner courtyard and garden). We got actually really close at one point but the only parking was paid. We were sure we would get scammed out of a lot of many so we tried to drive all the way to the other side of the Medina. We found out later that that access would be good but unfortunately, there was a market going on and we couldn’t take any of the turns towards our place.

We parked at a main road parking lot to think what to do but we didn’t even turn the engine off and there was a fella asking for money. In the end, we gave him 5 dirhams to let us be but he wanted more. We decided to try one more route but as it’s our luck, it was the worst of them all. It was even busier than the rest of the town and led us straight to the old town with streets that could barely fit a tricycle. On top of that, a local fella wanted to help us through and told us it was possible but he just wanted money and after about 20 meters we had to call it quits and turn around (probably the hardest thing). We also paid him 20 dirhams for this to get rid of him.

We then drove back to the previous parking lot but found out we couldn’t leave the car there overnight. At this point, we had to give up and went back to the entrance to the Medina where we saw a 24/7 parking lot and just accepted whatever we had to pay. To our surprise, they only asked for 3 euros for a day! After that we only had about 1.5 km to walk to our Riad which wasn’t that bad as we could see the park of the old city we wouldn’t otherwise visited.

The Riad Chennaoui where we stayed looked nice but we didn’t linger for too long and we were on our way exploring the city. Unfortunately, because it was still Ramadan, a lot of the sites closed early so we could only see them from the outside (which is not great because of the massive walls around them). We went first to the Bahia Palace and then around the 16th century (now mostly just ruins) El Badi Palace. We continued through the Tinsmiths Square towards the Moulay al-Yazid Mosque and Saadian Tombs. Here we stopped for our first street food, a grilled eggplant and pepper (later we found out, it should have also come with fish and chips but he didn’t have it ready yet…we felt like a couple of idiots). We also got a local (absolutely amazing) square pancake called Msemen (or M’lawi). We then ate it all on a bench in a park.

The tower of the Koutoubia Mosque is visible on the approach to the old town and it’s one of the few sites that our nicely seen from the outside. Next to it are also ruins of the old mosque, which has many pillars and a nice garden/park. We then walked only about 5 minutes to the main square in Marrakesh, the Jemaa el-Fnaa. It was just before sundown so we could see the food stalls setting up while we walked around.

The Jemaa el-Fnaa Square is definitely a must-visit, but expect a lot of people trying to drag you into their restaurants or shops to buy something. Even worse…they have snakes! There are people with pet cobras and other snakes for photos which for me is my worst nightmare! We walked around briefly and stopped for our first Moroccan tea at one of the rooftop cafés.

We then continued through the souqs of the old town and its narrow streets towards the Madrasa Ben Youssef. Madrasa means school or place of study in Arabic and this building is a 16th-century college, the largest one of its time in Northern Africa. It has been named after the adjacent Ben Youssef Mosque. On the way, we tried local sweets, looked into some shops, and checked what to get for dinner. We circled back to the Jemaa el-Fnaa square and because we really craved a beer, we tried to find someplace that would serve it. But all the places looked kind of fancy and we weren’t sure if we would get absolutely ripped off, so we gave up and went to find some food. Clare spotted a small place in one of the streets near the square with decent prices and we were too tired and hungry to walk around anymore. They were out of everything we wanted at first so we settled for chicken and prune tagine and chicken pastilla. Both local meals that you can find almost everywhere, especially the tagine.

Note: Tagine is a mixture of meat and vegetables baked in a ceramic (or metal) conical pot. It makes everything nice and juicy, plus we loved the burned and crispy stuff on the bottom. Pastilla is very strange but we liked it. It’s a meat mixture in a pastry, which would not be weird, but it’s covered in powdered sugar and cinnamon. It’s both sour and sweet but not too sweet to ruin the taste of the meat.

Tagine is a mixture of meat and vegetables baked in a ceramic (or metal) conical pot. It makes everything nice and juicy, plus we loved the burned and crispy stuff on the bottom.
Pastilla is very strange but we liked it. It’s a meat mixture in a pastry, which would not be weird, but it’s covered in powdered sugar and cinnamon. It’s both sour and sweet but not too sweet to ruin the taste of the meat.

We enjoyed both our meals but wouldn’t mind if they were bigger. We paid 120 dirhams for both with a can of Coke. After dinner, we were ready to go lay down and we also had to get our packs ready for tomorrow’s adventure so we headed back to our riad and bought some snacks and water along the way.

Day 2: Toubkal Refugio

We had an early morning start because we changed our plans slightly and instead of getting picked up and dropped off in Marrakesh and parking our car here for 2 days we arranged that we would drive to Imlil on our own. Because of this, we missed the included breakfast (I still can’t get over it). We finished some packing and walked to our car through the almost abandoned morning alleys of the Medina.

Imlil is a little village at the foot of the Atlas Mountains about an hour and a half from Marrakesh. That’s where we arranged to meet our guide for the Mount Toubkal summit trek. This was our main goal on our trip to Morocco, to summit the highest mountain of Morocco, the Atlas Mountains, and Northern Africa.

It took us a bit longer to get there as we were looking for a shop to buy water and something for breakfast. Everything was still closed because of Ramadan but we managed to get a coffee just before Imlil and ended by buying cream cheese, peanut butter, nuts, and bread from a shop for breakfast.

We met our guide Abdulrahman in front of the Toubkal Refuge Hotel in Imlil and ate our breakfast inside. We booked our tour through Mount Toubkal Expeditions and Adventures and paid 130 euros each on the spot. They checked if we had everything necessary for the climb and we ended up renting a pair of crampons for 10 euros since I lost mine and there was still a lot of snow at the top of the mountain. We left around 11 am and drove about 3 km to the top of the village and the trailhead where we started our trek. Just before we left we ripped a door handle of our rental car but that was an issue for later.

The hike started gradually along the valley with a bit of hopping over stones covered with an excess of irrigation water running through the terraces around us. In about 20 minutes we reached the Toubkal National Park checkpoint where we had to register (don’t forget passports!). After another 40 minutes of gradual incline, we reached a village called Sidi Chamharouch. There is a large white stone in the middle of this village that some people use as a shrine. Here we were surprised by an amazing lunch (for Clare still the best food we had in Morocco). Even better we didn’t even expect to have any food until dinner. The communication with Toubkal expeditions was perfect but we weren’t 100% sure about the itinerary….the food, I mean.

After the meal, we headed further up the hill. This part was steeper but never too much but it was a constant incline. We only stopped once at a small kiosk because our guide needed a break. It wasn’t that he would be out of shape but he couldn’t eat or drink since there were still 2 days of the Holy Month of Ramadan left. Just a bit after our stop, we could see the Toubkal Refuge buildings. We finished the hike with slightly cloudy weather but the majority was during a blue-sky day. It took us 3:25 (not including the lunch stop) to reach the Refuge in 9 km with 1225 m of elevation gain.

We put on some more clothes as it got quickly cold up when the sun hid behind the peaks, bought two bottles of Coke for 40 dirhams, and went for a short walk up the hill to see the Toubkal peak since it’s otherwise hidden by the Imouzzer (3966 m) summit. In the Refugio, we got popcorn and tea and spent the rest of the evening getting our stuff ready for the morning summit. We slept in a room with about 15 bunk beds. Blankets and pillows are provided for free but we brought our sleeping bags anyway just in case.

Dinner was shared at a table and it consisted of a nice vegetable soup and a big chicken tagine with potatoes and bread.

I haven’t mentioned it yet, everything is served with flat wheat bread (Khubz in Arabic) in Morocco. We haven’t eaten so much bread in a long time.

We went to bed early as we had our alarm set to 3 am to be ready for the 4 am start of the climb to the summit.

Day 3: At the top of the mountain but I wish the way down was better

The night was warm and we didn’t need our sleeping bags in the end. We were up before 3 am since some people were getting ready earlier than us. We were ready to go but it took a little bit longer for breakfast so we were eating at 4 am instead of leaving. We got some coffee and bread with jam and honey into us and were set to go.

We had crampons on from the start since the snow was all around the hut and on the trail we could see from the refugio the other day. We could see some people (their lights) already all the way up the part visible from the refuge and a big group about 20 minutes ahead of us but there was no rush. Abdulrahman was actually very good and yesterday was fully committed to our pace up the hill and he kept a similar speed today. Right from the start, we were overtaking groups of people when we could.

After we traversed the large section of snow we could see from the hut we continued steeply up and had our first break after an hour or so. But only for a minute or two. We were both good but I could feel I wouldn’t be able to keep pace with Clare and Abdulrahman if we continued like this. We were still overtaking people but I had to take more short breaks to catch my breath and was happy when we caught up with some group because that always meant we would have to slow down for a bit. When we reached the saddle (Tizi n’Toubkal) between the Toubkal Peak and Toubkal Western Peak, I had to take a longer break.

We didn’t stay for long since we were exposed to the wind a bit but we were lucky the weather was great and even though it was cold it wasn’t too bad. The only thing that suffered was my toes since I had only regular hiking shoes because I couldn’t get anything better in my size.

We continued after about 5 minutes and didn’t stop until the summit which was about 20-30 minutes away. I still needed my short breaks. We reached the metal structure marking the summit of Mount Toubkal at 4167 meters just under two and a half hours (not bad for not doing any proper cardio). Here we took some photos and found a spot to sit and enjoy the view.

It was also the time to do something I should have done a long time ago, and what better place to do it than on the top of a mountain, to ask Clare if she would marry me. And she said YES! (after saying “that’s class”, “oh, cracker ring” and other Irish things, of course).

Next was the way down. It was pretty steep in some sections on the way up and I couldn’t see myself getting down without the crampons so I kept them on even though I knew they didn’t agree with my knee. It didn’t take long and I could start feeling a small “twitch” on the side of my knee. I walked slowly and in different ways to prolong the inevitable but couldn’t stop it. Some parts were just too steep and my knee was getting jammed. By the time we got to the hut (in 2 hours), I could feel the swelling on the inner side of my kneecap and knew it would be a hard walk the next 9 km to the car.

While we got some rest and collected our stuff we left in the Refugio, I iced my knew and took some more painkillers. It didn’t help much but at least something. We left the Toubkal Refuge after about half an hour and I was in agony from the start. But since we successfully summited, Clare said yes to my proposal, the weather was beautiful, we were surrounded by mountains, and I was on a good dose of painkillers I was able to walk at a steady pace without keeping us too much behind. It took us about 2 hours to reach the same village with the large white stone. Here we were surprised again by lunch. This time by delicious barber eggs (fried eggs with veg in tagine dish…this time my favorite food of the trip) with bread and salad.

The last hour down was the same painful journey as before but we made it and that’s what counts (I would rather crawl down than be carried on a mule like a sack of potatoes). We said goodbye to Abdulrahman and thanked him for taking care of us and keeping a challenging pace up the mountain. We got in the car and Clare drove us back to Marrakesh.

Here we faced the same issues with parking like 2 days ago since we had a different riad booked this time. We tried two parking lots that we thought could work but they were both trying to get their hand in and were asking too much. In the end, we parked behind the Koutoubia Mosque where there is a paid parking lot. We thought we would have to pay about 12 euros for the night but we were pleasantly surprised the next day when we were leaving. We had to walk just about a kilometer to our accommodation Sindi Sud.

We got showered, rested for a bit, messaged our families since we were back on WiFi, and did some research about places to go and have a drink. Since my knee was bad, we settled for a nearby rooftop restaurant and bar. We got a bottle of red wine and some chips. The place was too nice for us so we then got a large shawarma and a double burger on the street for 70 dirhams. We tried to get something sweet but the only place we found was closed so we headed to our place and had some leftover snacks from the trek while watching The Big Bang Theory.

Day 4: Palace and gardens in Marrakesh and on the road trip we go

We slept for a long time to make up for the early morning the other day but had our alarm set to 7 am since we needed to be ready to go out right after breakfast. We had breakfast on the terrace/rooftop of the riad at 8 am with bread, various jams, and Msemen. We also got a proper coffee, the first one on our trip.

We left just before 9 am and headed to the Bahia Palace. We only had time to visit one site in Marrakesh properly and chose this place since it looked like it would have the most to offer. We didn’t even make it halfway there and my knee was already killing me. Nevertheless, we continued and were greeted by a long line by the gate even though they had written that the Palece should open at 9 am. It was the first day of Eid al Fitr so no one knew when the place would actually open. I asked people at the gate and they said soon but a local fella at a stand nearby said they would open at 11. We didn’t want to stand in a line waiting so we walked further into the old town to the Jewish quarter. It was quiet at this time of the day but we found a small square where we sat down and got another coffee. I needed to rest my knee for a bit and take some painkillers.

We then continued walking and went by the gate to the palace to find out that it did actually open. Everyone was already in so there was no line to enter which was great and we paid 100 dirhams each for a ticket. This 19th-century palace used to be home to the Grand Vizier Si Musa and his son Ba Ahmed and with its decorations and inner riads belongs to the nicest buildings in Marrakesh. The Palace was later converted into the residence of the French resident-general during the French Protectorate in Morocco.

We spent about an hour walking through the labyrinth of the Bahia Palace before we headed back to our accommodation. On the way out, there was at least 50 meters 50-meter-long line, and people were not allowed to enter since the rooms of the palace could get crowded. We needed to get back around 11 so we had enough time to get our stuff and walk to our car since we had tickets booked for the gardens Jardin Majorelle. We got to our rental around half eleven and expected to pay about 120 dirhams for parking based on the sign. We were nicely surprised when we got quoted only half of that and quickly drove away in case he made a mistake.

After we found parking near the gardens, we had a break for a coffee just around the corner. For being a Café right by the most visited sight in the town, we only paid 30 dirhams for two lattes, which was quite good.

When parking near any site or city center, there will be men running around in high-vis jackets posing as parking assistants. Often they even have lanyards with their names and "Parking guard" on them. But if you look closely (and watch how they operate) you will quickly discover that they appointed themselves for this job. In 50% of cases, they are actually really nice and will help you and we gave them some money. The other half are rude and claim that it's a paid parking and want a handout.

There are separate queues for different times based on your ticket and it works well. We only had to wait for an extra 5ish minutes before we were let in. However, it is good to be there early since if you are anywhere by the end of the queue it can take up to half an hour to get in. The gardens were beautiful and it was nice to walk around them. There were many places to take photos and they had some boards/exhibitions where they talked about the different plants and their impact on life and customs in Morocco. I would say to go and visit the gardens, but in my opinion, they were not worth the price and the hype.

We left around 2 pm and this was the last thing we wanted to do in Marrakesh. We now headed southeast on N9 towards Ouarzazate. The drive was nice, slowly climbing up through the Atlas mountains. Just before we reached the Tizi n’Tichka pass at 2260m, we stopped for lunch. We got Berber omelet (not as good as during the hike but decent) and traditional cuscus. We sometimes have cuscus at home but the way it was served here seemed very dry to us so this was the only time we tried it on our trip. We then started our descent into the valley and by around 6 pm arrived at our accommodation, Maison D’hotes Dar Zara.

Dar Zara was just a family house on the side of the road but with everything we needed. We were greeted by a pot of tea and biscuits and the owner offered us homecooked dinner for an extra 150 MAD. We chilled for a bit, got a shower, and cleaned the car. For dinner, we had delicious chicken tagine with salad and fruit as dessert. We went to sleep early because we were still tired from the mountain, possibly got a light sunstroke, and Clare was driving the whole time because of my knee.

Day 5: Historical ksars of Morocco

We were up at 7 am with breakfast scheduled for 8. We got eggs, jams, honey and fruit with coffee. All with homemade bread. We were on our way just before 9 to go visit the UNESCO heritage site Aït Benhaddou which was about 35 minutes drive away. There was a shortcut from the main road but it looked like 6 km on a dirt path so we rather kept our Kia Picanto safe on the main road.

We arrived early enough to be there before all the tourist buses and vans from Marrakesh so we had the site pretty much to ourselves. On the walk to the village, we had to promise two local sellers that we would come look at their stuff on the way back.

Aït Benhaddou is a historic ksar (a fortified village) built by the river Ounila in the same name valley. This gave this 17th-century village a strategic position along the former caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakesh. The entrance to the village is free but certain parts work as museums and have some extra displays that are paid (usually 1 to 2 Euros). We, of course, made a mistake and entered through one of the museums for 20 dirhams each (but at least we got a chance to climb one of the village towers).

One thing we noticed right at the start was a gate that seemed restored (by this time broken a lot again) but it was restored just with plaster. It was just supposed to be looking like new from one side. But in a bit, we understood why. Aït Benhaddou is often used as a site for historical movies and this gate was just a leftover installation from one of them. We actually saw advertisements for different movies on many corners when we walked through the streets of the Ksar. A few examples would be Gladiator, The Mummy, or Lawrence of Arabia. It was also used in Game of Thrones and it’s planned to be one of the sites in the new Christopher Nolan’s movie The Odyssey.

When we were done walking around (and my knee was in pieces), we headed down and actually walked the same way back by the shops. We wanted to buy, or at least check, something for our collection at home. We already asked a fella in the village but couldn’t get a price that we liked. But right at the first shop, we found an old small wooden window shutter that we liked. Eventually, we were able to get the guy down to 200 dirhams from his original 600. Just on the way by the other shop, we had to stop to look at his stuff and we even asked about some prices but it was too much so we didn’t buy anything. This was of course met with “You promised. You are bad tourists!”. We promised to look, not to buy, sir!

There are many ksars along the river but we saw that there should be one more nearby so we continued driving a bit further into the valley until we reached a village called Tamdakhte and here we found Kasbah du Glaoui.

We went for a quick visit but right away were approached by a guy that wanted to be our guide but we pretended that we didn’t speak English and got rid of him (almost…we had to pay 20 dirhams entrance to the Ksar). We were the only people there which was kind of cool. We then stopped for a coffee at a small family stand near our car.

Our next stop was the city of Ouarzazate, about 40 minutes back on the main road. On the way, you can see a few artificial fortresses/buildings in the desert that are part of the cinema studio complex in the town. We could also visit a tour that would take us around the studios but we skipped it. We parked right by the Taourirt Kasbah in the city center but didn’t go in. Instead, we walked the narrow streets around and by the old synagogue. We only spent a wee bit of time in the town and continued on our way with just a quick stop to buy more water, ice cream, and super glue so we could fix the broken handle on our rental car.

Another 30-40 minutes out of the town lays a town called Skoura, and just before the town stands Kasbah Amridil. This was a well-preserved Kasbah. It was large with two entrances and later we found out that each entrance is paid individually since they operate as two separate museums. The entrance was 40 dirhams per person + an additional amount for a guide. There were many rooms to walk around and the place was filled with old stuff such as farming equipment or tools.

We spent there about an hour and then tried to go to another two kasbahs nearby that we saw on the map just to take a quick photo from outside. However, after driving for about 15 minutes we got to a dried creek that we needed to cross and our Kia Picanto wasn’t up to that task so we turned around and back on the main road.

By now it was close to 4 pm and we had 150 km and about 2 hours to drive to our hotel for the night. Clare drove the whole way and we arrived at Tinghir just after 6 pm. The town was full of people attending the market and we also saw a football game. We left the stop at the town for tomorrow and headed about 10 km out of the town towards the Todgha Gorge where we booked our hotel. We got there just before sunset and since there wasn’t anything around except hotels we got dinner from our accommodation. It was a local take on tagine with small pieces/minced beef, veg, olives, and eggs. We also got bean soup and of course bread and fruit for dessert.

Later, we ate some sweet snacks in the room and I went to fix the door handle so we didn’t get charged something ridiculous when we returned the car. The handle clicked back in without an issue and it worked but I could see that there was a small piece of the plastic broken. That’s why we bought the super glue to help it stay in place and also to not lose it along the way.

Day 6: Berber pizza and Merzouga, the edge of the Sahara desert

We started the day with breakfast at the hotel rooftop which was surprisingly cold at around 7:45 am. The breakfast was nice but nowhere near the “fabulous” rating on Booking.com. We packed our stuff and left after our second coffee. First, we had to pay 200 dirhams for the dinner which we found kind of high but it was what it was (plus, 20 for the second coffee).

It was only about a 5-minute drive to the start of the Todgha Gorge. We stopped just at the start of it and saw several places offering climbing in the gorge. We walked the length of the canyon, which is only about a kilometer, and saw a few people climbing and some others getting set up. On the other side of the gorge was a big parking lot full of overlanders and on the way back we saw a group of 4 other campers from Europe.

We drove then back towards Tinghir and stopped a few times to take photos of the old abandoned villages that were along the riverbed. The river that curved the Todgha Gorge turned this whole place into an oasis with loads of green palm trees so settlements were being built here for centuries. We tried to walk through the “jungle” and to one of the villages but we couldn’t find the path and gave up. We ended up just taking photos from the viewpoints along the road and got a coffee.

Often at road intersections and viewpoints, we saw old cars parked with their booths open and solar panels and were wondering why someone left it there like that. Later we discovered that inside the car was a large coffee machine. You find these all around Morocco.

We made a quick stop at the town center and walked around the alleys before we got back to the car and continued further into the desert.

It took about 2 hours to reach Erfoud (or Arfud) where we stopped for coffee and to give Clare some break because she was driving all the time since Marrakesh to save my knee. Along the way, we saw Khettaras, the Moroccan ancient irrigation system. But at that time we didn’t know what it was and didn’t know if we had time to stop so we skipped it (in hindsight, we could have stopped and they looked pretty cool and interesting).

We still had some time before we had to be in Merzouga so we stopped at Rissani, a town about 30 km from Erfoud. Here we walked through the local market and stopped for Berber pizza. It was the busiest place around and we were told it would take 30 minutes for the food to be ready. We had time so we stayed but in the end, it took an hour and we were getting pissed. But it was all well worth it because the pizza was really good. It was like a calzone with meat, egg, and some veg and herbs inside. It was nothing special but we liked it and would get it again but haven’t had the chance.

After, we had to rush to Merzouga to be there at 4 pm as arranged. First, we just had to deal with one of the “parking people” who didn’t like that we only gave him 5 dirhams and wanted 20 (a reminder that parking is free and he just appointed himself to this position). We booked a stay in the Sahara desert just outside of Merzouga. We met with our host in the Camel House hotel. We just had to wake him up first from his nap. He then treated us to a pot of tea and cookies and we went to get our stuff ready for the night since we could only take a small backpack each.

Note: The majority of camps in the Merzouga area have good prices online, but 99% of them don’t include transportation to the camp. Then they most likely use some of the money from the transportation fee to cover the discounted camp cost. We paid 25 euros each for a round trip on a camel.

Just after 4:30 pm, we met with a fella that took us to the edge of the desert where we hopped on two camels. This was a great, but also very strange, experience. The ride took an hour and it was beautiful but I couldn’t stop thinking that we look like two ballbags riding the dunes. It also wasn’t very comfortable, especially for Clare, since her seat shifted out of its position and was hard as stone. But it also felt really traditional and it was a nice way how to get to the camp that was in the middle of the dunes away from people.

We really liked the camp because we were the only ones there and we couldn’t see or hear anyone else or any other campsites. We walked up the highest dune nearby and spent our time taking photos of the sunset. We got another pot of tea with olives and nuts which was a nice gesture. Right after the sunset, the dinner was ready and we had it in the communal tent. We got chicken tagine with salad, rice, bread, and fruit.

After dinner, we went outside and were laying on cushions in the middle of the camps watching the stars. Then a fire was made and the two Mohammeds (the host and the camel walker) even played some music on drums and Qraqebs (hand cymbals). They weren’t very musical but it was nice. Our host then left back to the town on his 4×4 and we stayed by the fire and talked to Mohammed. We went to bed around 10 pm and set an alarm to go stargazing later when the moon set down. The stars looked amazing but unfortunately, the Milky Way was just on the horizon so we couldn’t get a nice photo but we still took some since we got up.

Day 7: Long long drive to Casablanca

We woke up just before sunrise and walked up to the nearby dune to watch it and take some photos. After that, we were back on the camels and on the way back to the town. The morning ride was more enjoyable and very peaceful. We said goodbye to Mohammed, the camel minder, and walked back to the hotel where we had probably the best breakfast of the whole trip to Morocco. We paid for the campground and Mohammed (the host) was very happy with the extra tip which we felt was well deserved after all the food we got, the fire, and the music.

After we checked in for our flight, the only thing remaining was to make the long journey back to Casablanca. We left around 8:30 am and based on Maps we had about 9 hours of driving ahead of us. We took our first break about 3 hours in to get a coffee from one of the parked cars and to swap for driving.

We stopped for longer in a town called Zaida where we got some lunch. We first stopped at a gas station that had a restaurant but they only sold combo meals and not cheap. We then drove more into the town and found out that there were 4 different BBQ places next to each other. We got what locals call Tacos, which was basically an Arabic shwarma. It was nice and only cost us 30 dirhams each. Clare then drove until we reached the Oum Er’rabi River Dam where we stopped at a viewpoint and got another coffee (the cheapest on our journey for only 7 dirhams).

I then took over and in about an hour, we reached the A4 highway that led us all the way to the airport. We stopped for petrol an hour before Casablanca and swapped for the last time. Clare then got us to our booked apartment just by the airport. We just dropped our stuff there and headed to return the rental. It was only about 10 minutes away and they were done with the checkup quickly. They even released our deposit on the spot which I don’t think ever happened to us before and makes me wonder why the other companies can’t do it this fast…

There was a bit of a communication issue with the shuttle bus driver where we wanted to be dropped off because they didn’t get why we didn’t want to be dropped all the way at the terminal. But that got all sorted and we just had to walk for about 20 minutes to our place. We didn’t go in and instead headed to find something to eat. Unfortunately, there weren’t many places open. A few cafes that didn’t have any food, two corner stores, and one bakery. But then we found a pizza place around the corner and happily got two takeaway pizzas. While we were waiting, we also walked back to the bakery to get something sweet.

After dinner in the apartment, we got a shower, packed our bags for the morning, and went to bed. It was close to midnight and we had to wake up around 5 am to get to the airport.

Day 8: Way home

We got up and made coffee and Clare managed to book a taxi using the Careem app. However, the app showed the price as 50 MAD but the driver was very quick to send a message that no one would take us to the airport for less than 150 MAD! Our Plan B was to just go outside and find someone on the street to take us but we tried the app a few more times and eventually an older fella picked it up and we agreed on 100 dirhams. The airport was literally behind the corner but there were no sidewalks and a fence separated us from the road to it, so Mapy said it would take over an hour to get there by walking.

The check-in was super quick and since we no longer have lounge access, we just chilled for a bit in the check-in area. I went to get us two coffees which cost 44 dirhams and we had exactly 45 left.