Morocco
Our trip to Morocco was with a gadventures tour group of 8, Mike and Rachael USA, Brian Canada and Ari Mexico on their honeymoon, and Tony and Lynette England, our tour guide was Yassine who was from the high Atlas region in Morocco, but now lives in Marrakech. Breakfasts were included in our trip, at the various accommodation stops and usually included, flat bread, fried thin crumpet like pancakes, jams, honey, boiled eggs and portions of creamed cheese OJ, coffee and sweet mint tea, therefore I will not list each breakfast.
We also endured many days of 40+ degrees heat, including 1 day in Marrakech when it was 51 degrees, it was a dry heat, with zero humidity, and we tried our best to avoid strenuous activities in the heat of the day, so with heaps of water, some air con in hotel rooms and swimming pools in others we survived.
Our trip also coincided with the Islamic Ramadan period, (where the faithful abstain from all fluids and food for all daylight hours), which meant that many cafes, restaurants and bars were either closed for the entire 29-30 days, or only opened after 8 pm (dark) to serve food and very few, sold alcoholic drinks. Therefore all lunches except two, 1 at Ait Benhaddou, where we had a 3 course Moroccan meal, and 1 at Essouirra where we had a very expensive grilled fresh seafood lunch. We mainly enjoyed a picnic on the side of the road, usually with fresh baked flat bread or baguettes with tuna, cheese, tomato and whatever fresh fruit we could buy at the local souk (market) in regional morocco, and at supermarkets in the bigger cities. There was a wide variety of good quality, and well priced fruit available including grapes, dates, figs, stone fruit of all types, bananas, apples and oranges, therefore I will not list lunches.
As a consequence, of Ramadan, very little alcohol was sampled during the 14 days, in fact only 1 type of beer was tried which Flag Speciale a Moroccan beer alcohol 5.2%, and in came in small stubbies about 280mls. It is a lager, and when served cold quite an enjoyable ale, rating 7.5.
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| Flag Speciale Rare Moroccan Beer |
Day 6
D: Casablanca, had our initial tour group meeting, then a group dinner, where I tried a rather bland legume (pumpkin) soup, rating 6.0, and followed by a Chicken and almond tangine dish served with crusty bread, a nice dish, could have had a bit more spice, rating 7.5.
Day 7 Casablanca to Meknes
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| Chicken and Almond Tagine |
D: Soup with chickpea, pasta and vegetable, very bland no spices or real flavour, rating 5.5, followed by a beef with rice and carrots stew, again very little flavour or spice, rating 6.0.
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| Moroccan Soup |
Week 17 Day 1 Meknes to Fez
D: ½ rotisserie chicken with seasoned rice stuffing and chips, fresh bread, and a soft drink, a typical Aussie style meal I could get in Cairns, and one of two western meals in Morocco,rating 7.0, cost $A5 per person with soft drinks.
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| Rotisserie Chicken with Seasoned Rice Stuffing |
Day 2 Fez
D: Vegetable pasta tomato and spicey, most tasty soup to date, eaten at a street stall next to our hotel, served with bread, rating 7.5
Day 3 Fez to Erg Chebbi (Sahara)
D: A Moroccan style salad for starters, tomato, cucumber, canned beetroot, olives, boiled carrots and potatoes, canned corn, a bit disappointing but we were in the Sahara. Rating 6.5, followed by a Chicken and Vegetable cous cous dish, served with flat bread, a more tasty dish, rating7.5.
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| Chicken and Vegetable Cous Cous |
We took a sunset camel ride to a Berber camp about 1 hour and 20 minutes from Erg Chebbi, where we were served a rice and vegetable soup, rating 6.5, followed by a beef onion, tomato and baby pea stew, which was quite tasty, accompanied by flat bread, rating 7.5.
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| Saharan Feast |
A very bland pumpkin soup to start, rating 6.0, followed by Tagine Kefta, which is beef meatballs in a rich tomato and onion sauce, and has an egg broken and cooked over the top, served with flat bread, again a more tasty dish, rating 7.5.
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| Kefta Tagine |
Day 6 Ait Benhaddou
L: Tried a 3 course Moroccan meal for lunch because it was to be the only hot lunch available in regional Morocco. A salad of tomatoes, cucumber, red onions, olives, carrots and dressing, rating 7.0, followed by what I rated the most tasty tagine in Morocco, Turkey was the meat, with saffron, cumin, coriander, onions, garlic, carrots potatoes and olives, very delicious, rating 8.5.
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| Turkey and Vegetable Tagine Number 1 Moroccan Meal |
D: Undertook a Tagine cooking class, chicken with saffron, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper, onion garlic, ginger powder, carrots, potatoes, olives and prunes, I added extra spices and some chilli, so it had a bit of bite. Alas, all my efforts were in vain as the chef who was supposed to keep an eye on fluid levels as it cooked did not add enough water and the tangine was very dry with virtually no sauce/gravy, served with flat bread, rating 7.5. Could have been much better, the flavour was there just no juices…
Day 7 Imil in the high Atlas Mountains
D: Vegetable soup, quite tasty rating 7.5, followed by a very tasty lamb and vegetable tagine, of course with customary flat bread, and a plate of deliciously fresh and sweet honey dew melon and local grapes, rating 7.5.
Week18 Day 1 Essouirra by the sea
D: Went to a restaurant hoping to get some fresh seafood for a change from the tagine diet, however was disappointed, as they had only fish tagine on the menu. A quick alternate choice was pepper steak with potatoes, and beans, cooked nicely, a good change meal, rating 7.5. The reason we picked this restaurant was that it was given a high recommendation on Trip Advisor. Thankfully we got in early because within 20mins of us sitting down there was already a huge line up waiting to get in.
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| Pepper Steak and Vegetabes |
Followed by a freshly made nutella crepe, very delicious, rating 8.0
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| Nutella Crepe |
Day 2 Essouirra
L: Went to fresh seafood dining area, where you select the seafood you want, it is then cleaned, and prepared over an open fire grill. The selection included Prawns, sardines, sole, sea bass, and john dory, a fresh salad of tomato, onion and capsicum and fresh bread, and a small serve of ordinary chips were eventually provided (after repeated requests). The seafood was very fresh and tasty and the char grill gave it extra flavour, there was ample supply, and the only negative was the exorbitant cost, rating 8.0.
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| The Selected Catch of the Day |
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| Cooked to Perfection |
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| Disappointing Stall #26 |
Day 3 Marrakech
D: Went to the medina, for a guided tour and a tour of the souk (market), where there was every product known to man available at a price. We opted to stay in the medina for dinner, and proceeded to check out the options. Or rather should I say, be checked out as potential customers, there are at least 50 stalls, all with 2 or 3 touts harassing you to eat at their stall, should have known from that experience dinner would be problematic. After lots of badgering we chose stall #26, and proceeded to look at menu, and place orders, should have been more alert there was flat bread and a tomato relish already on the tables, we later learned these were additions to the bill, I ordered calamari, and chicken skewers, both had been pre-cooked elsewhere and simply reheated for the diner (victim), the calamari would have been better suited to a tyre or tube role, it was so chewy and tough, and the chicken cubes were like a flavourless pieces of foam, very disappointing, rating 5.0, but I can say I have eaten in the Marrakech medina food stalls, and the real bonus was, despite the misgivings of 1 of our tour colleagues, none of us got an upset stomach from the experience.
Day 4 Marrakech
D: Back to a street restaurant for our last tour dinner where I had Chicken citrus tagine, which was a tagine with all the standard extras and some preserved lemon for the citrus flavour, served with flat bread, a nice meal to end the Morocco tour, rating 7.5.
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| Lamb and Vegetables Tagine |
Day 5 Marrakech to Barcelona
L: Served chicken and rice on Royal Maroc airlines, just a meal, rating 6.0.
OTHER FOOD HIGHLIGHTS
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| Fresh Seafood Catch |
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| Fresh Breads |
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| Olives Anyone |
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| Moroccan Sweet Mint Tea |
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| Moroccan "Souk"; Fresh Fruit and Veg Market |
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| Fresh fruit and Moroccan Pastry |
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