Travel Diary: Morocco Part II

Annnnnndddddd we’re back for Morocco Part II (I told you I’d get here)!

If you missed it, HERE is Part I where we go to the Blue City!

I’m not going to lie though, I got halfway through and realized that I just have to have a Morocco Part III (*cue the automated ‘cheer’ sounds*).

There is just too dang much to share with you, so let’s just jump in!

Day 3: Marrakech

Incase you didn’t know, Morocco is at the tip top of Africa on the East side. And reeeeaaallllyyy close is Spain. And also, if you didn’t know, there was a period of time in which Morocco was ruled by France. All of that said, Morocco has a lot of French, Spanish, and African influence.

Why do I tell you this? Because you can see this influence everywhere, thats why.

Including at one of my favorite hotels of the whole dang voyage. I love anything and everything Spanish and this had a ton of Spanish influence. I’m also part fish so I’m pretty sure the pool is what sold me.

For those of you who are curious, this is the Le Méridien N’Fis in Marrakech.

What did we do in Marrakech you ask? Well, everything. Literally.

But first, shopping. We spent a full day and a half exploring The Medina, which was a mile walk from our hotel.

When you think ‘classic bazaar’ this is it. This place had everything you could imagine (and more). Walls and secret rooms full of shoes, pillows-galore, enough rugs to fill all the castles owned by Queen Elizabeth x10, and every size tagine imaginable.

And the lanterns, oh the lanterns. Fun fact: this was the only souvenir that I had already planned on getting before I left.

Another fun fact: instead of getting just a lantern, I pretty much furnished my whole house… I got pillowcases, a lantern, some purses, a blanket (to start).

But don’t be alarmed, we all did. See look, one of my friends bought a rug (she was the brave one)…I would have, but you know, ran out of room in my suitcase. Moroccan rugs shops are super well known for their incredible service and beautiful selection… can’t say I disagree.

With all that shopping, we needed food (shocker right). We ended up going to Nomad, a trendier Moroccan rooftop restaurant. LUCKILY they could get all eight of us in.

The food was great (I got roasted chicken, but I ate it before I took a picture, I know its a crime) and the atmosphere was equally as awesome…

They even gave us free straw hats!!

I did remember to take a picture of my ice-cream, though. Turns out Moroccans like to be daring with their ice-cream, so I was too. This is Hibiscus-Lavender.

After food, we somehow ended up at an Argan oil factory. I don’t want to go into specifics (basically, a man asked one of my friends if we wanted to go see an Argan oil factor. We said yes, then somehow we were walking down allies with a strange man. But don’t worry, it was safe… I never said we made good decisions all the time). In all seriousness, we did end up going and it was somewhere reliable, one of our friends had been and we looked it up. This was awesome and I highly recommend going to see how Argan oil is made and getting some.

Anyway, we spent a lot of time exploring The Medina and turns out, Marrakech is a nightlife place, not a day time place. When we were finishing, this is how the square looked (which was practically empty when we arrived a mere eight hours before).

Here’s a quick glimpse…turns out I won’t have a career in steady-filming…but this video gets the point across.

Once we got back to the hotel, we were famished. We split up and all tried a few different restaurants from the plethora across the street. Somehow, we ended up at Paul, a French café.

If you don’t know, my dad’s name is Paul. If you know him, you know it is his world and we are all just living in it, so it is fitting he had his own restaurant.

Remember how I said there was French influence? That might be why I’m on crepe #4 in 3 days.

I sent pictures of my food and my dad’s restaurant to my family… here’s a quick glimpse of what it is like to live at the Larson household (or rather, the Larson Zoo).