Morocco during Ramadan

We spent two weeks touring Morocco during Ramadan. This was a fantastic learning experience for our family! Prior to this experience, I must say I knew very little about Ramadan. I knew the basic facts: Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset for the month. But I’ve never been close to anyone who participates in this and I’ve never really thought about how that works. For example, I didn't really ever think about the fact that Ramadan months differ each year, so fasting during the winter might be a little easier in the Northern Hemisphere than fasting during the summer. I also didn't really know when people do eat and how much, or if they change their schedules very much. When planning our trip to Morocco, we knew that we would be visiting during Ramadan and I read a bit about it and how it would affect our tourist experience.

There are certainly pros and cons to going during Ramadan. We went because it was the timing that worked out with our Schengen visa requirement to spend some time outside the EU area. But what we ended up getting was a much deeper respect for the discipline of Muslims, and greater empathy for this fasting practice. I’m so glad we went during Ramadan because we will now always appreciate this practice.

Keep in mind that Morocco is slightly bigger than California (111% size) with a similar population (~38 million). Also, Jason's aunt Cynthia joined us a few days before Morocco, in Seville, Spain.

On the ferry from Spain to Morocco

The Blue City of Chefchaouen (4 nights)

We got the ferry from Algeciras, Spain to the port at Tanger Med and then had a taxi take us to Chefchaouen. The blue city was awesome. It was a calm, beautiful town of about 30,000 people in the mountains. We stayed at a traditional riad (home) in the heart of the medina (old town). We had time to chill out here and get oriented to the medina lifestyle and shopping at the local markets. We also had some time to hike / run in the nearby mountains. The different colours of blue, getting lost and finding our way around, and finding all the creative and amazing blue doors was really fun.

It was here that we got our heads around Ramadan life and the schedule, at least in Morocco. Many people seem to be up and eating before sunrise and after sunset, and then sleep a lot during the day. We heard this from multiple hosts and drivers. However, we were surprised at about 3:00am to hear the banging of a parading drum that woke folks up to remind them to make a meal and feast before sunrise at 5:15am. At about 4:30am there was a loud and long call to prayer (I think this is called the adhan). Other calls happened throughout the day as well, not necessarily coinciding with the start of each prayer interval. In the morning, many people seemed to go back to sleep after sunrise. So not many shops, stalls, or food places were open before 10:30am at the earliest. Restaurants were open for lunch so, as a tourist, it was easy to get lunch between 11am-4pm. The shops and markets were also open during these times to get groceries, However, street food stalls and snack stands were not often open. Things started to close down by about 5pm and everyone went home to prepare the evening feast. The celebratory call to prayer at sunset was something to behold from the rooftop terraces around the city. Almost everyone is home with family feasting between 6:45pm-8pm and then restaurants open up again for tourists to eat dinner. The shops and markets were quite small so we were creative with our meals, and got into a routine of going out for a larger lunch in the early afternoon. 

All in all, we loved Chefchaouen and this first experience of Moroccon culture. People were very friendly and welcoming. The hospitality and general willingness to help was wonderful. Not once on our whole trip did we feel unsafe or unwelcome. Also, there were a LOT of stray cats everywhere, which was a highlight for our youngest traveler in particular.

Our AirBnb was this cool traditional home

So many beautiful blue doors!

Shopping at the stalls in the medina

The view back to town from the Spanish mosque

Hiking in the mountains above town

Shopping at the local market (1kg of strawberries for <$1.50)

Fes, Morocco (3 nights)

We had our same taxi driver take us to Fes, Morocco and stayed for 3 nights. It was a challenge figuring out how to get to our lodging inside the walled old city, so we had some extra time in traffic in our taxi figuring it out. We stayed in the heart of the medina, which was much more plain in colour with its beige walls everywhere instead of everything blue. But it’s the largest pedestrian-only old town in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage site because of this. We again had some challenges finding grocery stalls that were open when we wanted food, and again ended up going out for a larger lunch at a restaurant most days. These lunches were long and lesiurely, sometimes 2 hours! It was really fun walking around the streets trying not to get too lost. Watching the sunset call to prayer from our rooftop terrace was very special.

We also toured the old tannery, where you can watch the workers down in the depths of the dye pots prepare the animal hide, dye it the colour of the day, and dry it out. After seeing all of this and enjoying the beauty and the hard work and the sad fate of the animals, I doubt any of us will ever buy anything leather ever again. Throughout the market, there was something very special about seeing items come from such hard work and skill in front of our eyes: watching blacksmiths hammer copper pots, cobblers make their shoes, or the leather workers create a yellow leather jacket!

Early morning Fes during Ramadan - nothing is open yet!

Man polishes the inside of a new copper mug

Man polishes the copper pot being made beside him

mosque minaret

Spices and teas for sale

Freshly dyed yarn for sale

Olives with Aunt Cynthia

Metalwork shop

Yellow was the colour of the day at the tannery

Person works to dye the leather at the tannery with huge dye pots

This person working in the pink dye pot

All the dye pots

C and J are eating our favorite thing: pastilla (kind of like a chicken or veggie pie)

4 day tour from Fes to Marrakech with two nights in the Sahara desert on a camel trek

The camel trek in the desert was FANTASTIC. We wrote a different blog just about this part of the trip.

The Berber Flag

Marrakech (3 nights)

We got to Marrakech, quite tired after spending some time in the desert and the long driving associated with that. Unfortunately, the first AirBnb we stayed in was quite dated and smelled terrible. After one night we decided to move and found ourselves a much more comfortable place instead. We enjoyed walking around the medina and seeing the stalls of the souks, but this city has motorbikes and cars in the medina which definitely felt more hectic. There were also way more tourists everywhere.

My favorite moment in this city was hearing some other tourists from the UK tell their guide: “We arrived yesterday and we got…SO LOST…SO. LOST.”

We saw the Bahai palace (which we enjoyed), the tombs (which we didn’t really enjoy), and the plazas and shops here and there. Aunt Cynthia was kind enough to treat us to a hammam experience, and it was fun to see how the hot water / scrubbing / massage experience compared with our Turkey hammam experience. It was a lovely way to re-energize!

We waited in line for 30 min to see this tomb

A tortoise hanging out at the tombs

Our luggage in a cart, trying to find our second Air Bnb

Who is taller: Rachel or Aunt Cynthia?

Exploring the streets

Entering the hammam

Lantern shopping

Casablanca (1 night before flying out)

Cynthia flew out of Marrakech but our flights lined up much better from Casablanca. So we took the train (about 2.5 hours). We were excited to find an empty compartment and took it, but before long four men in suits joined us and there was some confusion as they packed in their stuff. We wondered if they were Moroccan FBI agents or Men in Black or what. 

But after a while one of them informed us that we were actually sitting in their seats, which is why four of them were awkwardly standing in the narrow hallway outside the compartment! Whoops. We didn't realize we had assigned seats. Someone helped us find our way to our seats, so then we shared a compartment with some other people who were friendly enough.

From the train station, we boarded a local bus to the water and had a quick look at the city and the Hassan II mosque, which is right on the ocean and really is amazingly large with a HUGE minaret (second-tallest in the world). We spend the night near the airport, and in the morning we boarded a plane to Barcelona!

Thanks Morocco!