Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with morocco

Maroc...

Muirwylde — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 02:45:24 -0800

Three weeks in Morocco with a new sweetheart...give us the perfect itinerary! Based on your experience, what do you feel is the best month to visit? We are adventurous, experienced and independent. I'm interested in perfume; the Rose Festival in June might be a pivot point. We both love food, cultural and coastal experiences...oh and trance / house / dance experiences... Should we follow the coast with forays inland? We like the offbeat, unusual, edgy and eclectic stuff. Give us the perfect itinerary. Budget travel to a point with two or three big splurges. We've read the books...more interested in your unique experiences and 'the not to be missed.' Beyond the general like the Medina in Marrakech to that specific hilltop, neighbourhood, valley, alley, village, festival, little shop or cafe we shouldn't miss. Have at it, mefites!

Romance in Marrakesh

heartofglass — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:07:17 -0800

Please help me plan a romantic, unforgettable birthday holiday in Marrakesh! I am going to Marrakech with my boyfriend later this month to celebrate his birthday. I was hoping to get some ideas from the hive mind on hotels, things to see and do and places to eat that are a bit off the beaten track, romantic and preferably not too expensive? Any ideas appreciated!!

NGOs in Francophone Africa?

totalbs247 — Sun, 24 May 2009 08:43:00 -0800

I'm looking for a human rights NGO to work for in the Francophone world. My preference is for a Francophone Arab country, but I'm open to any option that would be a good work experience. Does anyone have experience or other knowledge of NGOs they would recommend? I'm about to graduate from Harvard Law School. I was supposed to go to a law firm this fall, but because of the economy, they want to defer my employment until January 2011. In exchange, they will pay for me to work for a non-profit until then.

I'd like to get involved in human rights work anyway, so I'm very excited about this possibility. I have studied and worked a bit with human rights issues, so it would not be completely new to me. I am fluent in French and might be interested in starting to learn Arabic (thus the preference). I am very healthy, am fully vaccinated, and have spent several months in developing countries; I would prefer a higher quality of life (e.g. Tunisia), but can deal with whatever.

I have looked at Human Rights Internet and the FIDH network, but it's hard to get a good sense of the organizations online. I really appreciate any information or recommendations anyone can give.

American on Atlas Blue?

jckll — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 07:10:04 -0800

Booking a ticket on a low-cost European Airline (Atlas Blue) that "only takes European Credit Cards?" I'm going to be in Morocco for about a week in April. I'm trying to book my flight out of Marrakech on Atlas Blue. Several of my (and my traveling companion's) credit cards were rejected on Atlas Blue's website and a rep at their UK call center informed me that they don't accept American credit cards. Only European cards.

His advice was to have a friend with a European card book it for me. Great.

So what do I do? I don't have a European card, nor do I know anyone who does...

Visiting Morocco: where to buy foody souvenirs, and whether or not to visit Essaouira.

mdonley — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 09:46:10 -0800

I have two questions about my 11-day trip to Morocco (Marrakech, Essaouira, Meknes, and Fes) starting next week. 1) Is Essaouira worth the journey to and from Marrakech if I'm mainly headed north, or would it be better to have more time in Meknes and Fes?

2) I'm interested in buying some small, inexpensive souvenirs but want to shop somewhere like an artisans' collective with prix fixe/set prices. I'm particularly interested in food: ras al hanout, harissa, argan oil, dates/nuts, couscous...and maybe some cool leather slipper type things. Any other products, especially culinary, that I should check out?

Thank you!

A rocking riad in Marrakech?

meerkatty — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:57:25 -0800

Recommend a riad in Marrakech? Heading to Marrakech for a long weekend and would love a personal recommendation of a riad in the medina. There will be 6 of us traveling together and we're pretty chilled out people.

Are you great at reading horrible handwriting? Your expertise is needed!

mwachs — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 07:35:20 -0800

Are you great at reading horrible handwriting? Your expertise is needed! Last year, I met one the most kind men I had ever come across while traveling through Europe. Unfortunately he gave me his address while rushing for a train and the handwriting of the street is pretty impossible for me to read. Can you decipher it? And if you happen to live in either Alicante, Spain or Rabat, Morocco, perhaps you know him? His name is Idrissi Hafid.

Learning French in North and West Africa

iamck — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 21:32:26 -0800

I want to learn French in Morocco/Mauritania/Mali - I need suggestions of a place to live... I have a certain sum of money, my job ends in two weeks, and I'm flying to Spain/Morocco. I would like to travel south through Mauritania and into Mali - but I speak no French. Any suggestions along that route - a smallish but not metropolis city, French speaking - where I can hole up for awhile, rent a very basic (read:cheap) room with a French speaking family and learn via immersion? (I speak Portuguese, self taught in said manner).

Advice for traveling alone in Morocco?

farishta — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 15:46:27 -0800

Advice about traveling alone in Morocco and Madrid, or about solo travel more generally? In about a week I'll fly to Marrakech, where I have four nights booked at a Riad. I have another flight booked ten days later from Tangier to Madrid, where I'll spend another five days before returning to England. Other than that I have no concrete plans. I'll most likely train from Marrakech to Tangier, perhaps through Casablanca, but I am more than welcome to any suggestions about how to spend ten days in Morocco along this route. Should I take the Marrakech/Tangier train overnight? Are there any must-visit spots nearby? Should I go to a bullfight in Madrid, and if so, how and where? I've read the standard resources (guide books, wikitravel, previous AskMes), and my only vague worry concerns the fact that I will be traveling solo.

Does anyone have any general (or Morocco/Madrid-specific) advice about traveling alone? What and how much reading material should I bring? Are there any good tricks for staying sane for two weeks of solo travel? Any particular dangers for a 23 year old male to avoid? I'll likely be staying at hostels, where I'll meet people for short excursions, but I'm more concerned about having no one at hand to constantly bounce ideas off of, ask questions, consult, etc.

Thanks in advance!

How can I prove to my paranoid father that Morocco is a safe enough place for a family vacation?

slowcat — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 06:11:47 -0800

Help me prove to my paranoid father that Morocco is a tolerably safe family vacation destination. I'm studying abroad in southern Spain for the semester, and my mom and I want to take the whole crew (2 parents, me, an 18 year old, a 14 year old, and a 10 year old) to Morocco when my family comes to visit me in June. My father, however, is somewhat paranoid about traveling in a North African Muslim country - especially since we have a Jewish last name. It doesn't help that the American consulate in Casablanca was bombed last year, and that kidnappings are apparently a substantial risk in neighboring Algeria. However, he told me that if I can prove to his satisfaction that it's safe enough for the whole family, we can go. I've checked the U.S. State Dept. website, which was not terribly helpful - it listed general travel advisories and warnings to avoid obviously American establishments, but no information immediately useful to tourists. Does anyone have any information about

1) Which Moroccan destinations are safest for American tourists, but still interesting
2) General advice about the safety of traveling as a large, potentially obnoxious American family in Morocco
3) Experience as a Jewish or apparently Jewish person traveling in Morocco

Thanks!

What to do in Morocco without breaking the bank?

booknerd — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 09:37:48 -0800

3 weeks in Morocco on a budget. Help me make the most of my annual vacation! I work full-time and I'm finishing my MLIS this month. My 23rd birthday is at the end of the month, and I've got three weeks to spend in Morocco and surrounding areas, but not very much money saved up. Leaving from California on Thanksgiving, returning mid-December, and I'm flying into/out of Marrakech. Travelling solo (single Jewish chick) but I'll be meeting up with my darker-complexioned gay male friend at some point and splitting accommodations. I've got around $600 saved up, and I'm hoping to some how accrue a bit more, either in savings or graduation/birthday gift money, before I leave. The original plan was to travel north and take a ferry into Spain, but I'm not sure if I'll have enough for all of the related transportation expenses at this point. I really don't want to stay in a hostel and I'll have luggage (not so into backpacking), so I'm hoping we can get some sort of decent private room. I want to try to stay within a budget, but I really have rather expensive taste.

I'd appreciate any suggested itineraries, logistical advice, suggestions on what to pack/wear/buy and advice on things to do in/around Marrakech on a budget. I'd like to visit libraries and museums, take a trip into the desert, and take a lot of photographs. I'm also a bit of a foodie (but vegetarian) so suggestions on that front would also be appreciated. For example, I'd love to take a cooking class, but my up-in-the-air plans and limited budget might make that difficult. Thanks for the help!

Name this french film.

The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 09:52:29 -0800

Name-that-french-film-filter: set in the 60's or 70's, bank robbers, morocco. I saw this film about a year ago, but my best guess would be that it was made in the 60's or 70's. It's shot in black and white, and my best recollection of the plot goes like this: a girl meets a guy who is well-off, they get together. Then, we find out that he (he had accomplices, I think) is a bank robber, a robin hood type, and one of his robberies has gone sour. Someone has been killed, I think. They run away with the money to morocco (he is moroccan), and she gets stranded there. she eventually gets back to france, where her boyfriend has been caught, and sentenced.
any ideas?

Thank you for the coffee, monsieur. I shall miss that when I leave Casablanca.

miss lynnster — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 21:59:53 -0800

Not going any time soon, but considering exploring Morocco within the year. Why? Ummm, I have no idea. So tell me about your best & worst experiences there. Best places to stay, best memories, worst memories, things not to miss, things to avoid, impressions of the country, the people, the food, the land, etc. Enlighten me. Inspire me to actually consider this. Or not. At this point I can read, write & speak very poor "supermarket Arabic" so I can communicate in MSA a bit... no intellectual discussions, but basic important stuff. Not sure I'd want to travel in Morocco solo or in an all-female group, have you done that? I may possibly meet m/f friends from Egypt there. Honestly not sure yet though, just toying with the idea really.

Bonus question: Since I may be traveling with Egyptians, I'm also curious how Moroccans feel about them, if anyone knows. I'm always interested in whether or not there are inherent tensions between different nationalities other than what I know about (God knows I'm painfully aware of what people think of my nationality already).

do i visit the tourist nightmare or a backwater colony?

thinkingwoman — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 20:07:29 -0800

taking the ferry from spain to morocco: should i go to tangiers or melilla? i'm visiting family in almeria but will also be traveling near gibraltar, so i have two options for getting over to morocco: almeria to melilla and gibraltar to tangiers. however, i'll only have a couple of days, so i really won't be able to go to fez or marrakech or any of the real must-sees. (yep, i asked about spain a few weeks ago. now i want to focus on morocco.)

i hear tangiers is both beautiful and awful. i hear melilla is kind of a backwater, although it has some good architecture.

anyone have any insights that will help me decide? hotel/hostel recommendations would also be greatly appreciated.

i am an american female, traveling alone. unless i meet up with some trustworty fellow-travelers, i'm content to stay in after dark and get an early start sightseeing in the morning.

18 days in spain

thinkingwoman — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 13:17:25 -0800

planning an 18-day trip to almeria, spain, in late july. help me plan an itinerary! my mom is going to visit family in almeria, but i plan to use almeria as a base to explore other places, too. i definitely want to go to granada for 2-3 days and morocco for 4-5.

1. is it reasonable to try to get to marrakech in this timeframe? i will take the ferry over from spain (from either almeria or gibraltar, depending on the family's schedule), but i don't know anything about morocco's internal transit system. i always assumed marrakech was the one must-see place, but i'd take fez, too.

2. where else in southern span should i visit? is it reasonable to make a jaunt over to barcelona? seville? cordoba? i have heard gibraltar is a dump and am happy to miss it (unless i decide to catch the morocco ferry over there).

3. any recommendations (hotel/transit/sights) would be most appreciated! i'm a single american female, competent in spanish, barely functional in french.

Voice mail for Meditel in Morocco

bright77blue — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 13:13:27 -0800

I am visiting Morocco soon, and already have a Meditel card for my phone. As I do not speak French, can someone help me with setting up voice mail? Or does anyone have English instructions for the VM system?

I'm not gay cheap, but my boyfriend is

hermitosis — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 14:08:09 -0800

Morocco on the cheap? The BF and I are planning to travel to Morocco next year as our first big trip together. I'd like to begin planning and saving in advance, but have no idea what kind of financial goal to shoot for, which makes saving difficult.

How cheaply can two people stay there under modestly comfortable circumstances? A sanitary room that we would not be sharing with other people, preferably with its own bathroom, with a modicum of privacy is what I consider to be modestly comfortable.

If spending was mainly confined to housing, sustenance, transportation, and sightseeing costs, with a minimal emphasis on shopping, how much money should two people be armed with before they leave? I'm imagining a four or five day trip, but don't have the slightest idea what our costs would be like per day.

Any other personal recommendations or sites would be useful, even hints on airfare. I've read the other Morocco posts and would love to hear more. We don't mind roughing it a bit, but the whole point is to enjoy the trip, and each other.

Thanks a lot, crew!

MENA blogs

trey — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 19:21:31 -0800

I'm looking for great blogs about the Middle East and the Maghreb. I would like viewpoints from all over but am especially interested in Morocco and Lebanon. I would prefer intelligently written/academic material about the region.

Making the most of layovers

thebabelfish — Tue, 02 May 2006 15:57:34 -0800

In general, how long must a layover at an airport be to be able to leave the airport, see the city (even for a short amount of time), and get back without missing your connecting flight? I'm travelling to Morocco at the end of August. One of the cheapest flights has two layovers, both ~4 hours long, at Madrid and Paris. I'd LOVE to be able to see these cities during a layover if possible. Is 4 hours long enough?

Before I pick my flight (all of the choices return to PHL at the same time), I want to know if I should try to get one with a longish layover so I can dive into the city for an hour (even just the outskirts) or if I should just try to minimize layover time.

I don't have any experience travelling by air, so this is all new to me.

Literature involving Morocco

Ufez Jones — Mon, 06 Jun 2005 16:10:09 -0800

I've got a couple of friends that are getting married shortly and then taking off to Morocco for a couple of years early this Fall. Given the unique nature of the first few years of their marraige, they don't have a conventional registry. I'd like to get them a couple of books that are either set in Morocco or deal with Moroccan people elsewhere. Fiction would be best as I'm sure they're getting very well versed in the history and current culture of the country. Any era in history or locale is fine.

Morocco

hazyjane — Thu, 05 May 2005 05:51:57 -0800

My boss just told me I'll be going to Casablanca, Morocco for two weeks to work, flying out on Saturday. This is a big suprise, and I could use some advice. A few specific questions: what should I wear to the office (I'm thinking pantsuits and heels)? What about on weekends? Where should I go for the two weekends I'll have there? How can I keep the touts from hassleing me too much (I didn't have much luck with that in India)? Can I wander around safely by myself (small, naive-looking female). How much should I pay for a rug? Anything else I should know? Thanks in advance!

(Travel) health insurance for a Moroccan visiting the US?

Gooney — Thu, 03 Feb 2005 11:16:45 -0800

My boyfriend wants to have his mother from Morocco come visit us in the US. She has some health problems including Diabetes.

Does anyone have any information about how we can get some health insurance for her while she is here visiting just in case we need for some reason seek medical assistance during her stay?

What are Moroccan drug laws and how are they practised?

klue — Sat, 18 Dec 2004 03:31:31 -0800

A friend of mine is going to Morocco and I'm somewhat concerned about what's going to happen if he gets caught smoking marijuana. Does anyone know Moroccan drug laws, or even better, how it's practiced?