First Impressions: Morocco

Three days in Morocco that feels like three weeks. Forget about relaxing and decompressing: this is full-contact travel.

She said:

• This place isn’t for the meek. It is bustling and frankly overwhelming at times with someone at every turn contriving ways to induce you to part with your dirham (although if absolutely necessary I am certain they’d settle for your dollars). The sooner you accept this fact the better prepared you are to manage it.
• Morocco is very different from Europe. While there are some strong French influences (French is the 2nd language) the approach and overall feel of Fez and Rabat are very different.
• The architecture is splendid and quite enchanting. If you can break away from the madness of bartering for a bit, you’ll be able to soak in the beauty and singularity of the Andalusian and Arab esthetic.

He Said:

• Moroccan homes can be breathtaking. Riads (inner courtyard with central garden) and Dars (courtyard without garden) sometimes have central atriums as hgh as 40 feet surrounding rooms on all sides.
• The Medina of Fes is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. More than 250,000 people in a walled city with donkeys as the only mode of transportation. Not a tourist district, but a self-contained community.
• Five times a day the call to prayer beckoning from the minarets adds another piece of the exotic. We are most definitely not in Kansas anymore.