traveling.. food for my soul: October 2013

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Travel Info : Morocco

For the full itinerary of my trip to Morocco, please see traveling.. food for my soul: morocco (ritaaza.blogspot.com)

Casablanca

How to get there?

From the airport to the city: train (around 40 minutes).

First class: 60 dirham

Second class: 40 dirham

at the aeroport train station

Where I stayed:

Ibis Moussafir Casa Voyageurs Hotel

Located near the train station.

Fes

How to get there?

Train: 4-hour from casablanca.

First class: 165dh/person. There’re compartments in the first class, each for 6 persons.

You can check the train schedule here: www.oncf.ma

train from casablanca to fes - first class

Where I stayed:

Riad Verus

www.riadverus.com

room at riad verus

Petit taxi (red) from the train station to the riad (at the medina): 40dh

Interesting spots:

1. The medina: traveling.. food for my soul: A day in the medina at Fez, Morocco (ritaaza.blogspot.com)

2. View from near Tombeaux Des Merinides

for the complete pictures of Fes, Morocco, please click traveling.. food for my soul: Fes, Morocco (ritaaza.blogspot.com)

Desert Tour 3D/2N:

www.saharaservices.info

Start from Fes, finish at Marrakech.

Day 1. From Fes – Ifrane – lunch at Midelt – Merzouga – 1.5 hours of camel ride to the tent at the desert (Erg Chebbi) – spend the night at the tent with skies full of stars (the camel ride was from 7pm-8.30pm. it was in mid august, it gets dark around 8.15-8.30pm). For pictures of the desert, please see traveling.. food for my soul: Erg Chebbi, Morocco - part of Sahara Desert (ritaaza.blogspot.com)

For pictures of the journey from fes to merzouga, please click traveling.. food for my soul: on the way to Merzouga from Fes, Morocco (ritaaza.blogspot.com)

in front of the tent at the desert

Day 2. Morning camel ride from the tent to the hotel in Merzouga (8am-9.30am) – toudra gorges – lunch at inass restaurant – dades gorges – night at hotel kasbah de valley.

For pictures of the journey from Merzouga to Dades Gorges, please click traveling.. food for my soul: on the way from Merzouga to Dades Gorges, Morocco (ritaaza.blogspot.com)

kasbah de valley

Day 3. Dades gorges – Ourzazate – Marrakech. Arrived at marrakech at around 7pm. Pit stops: Atlas Corporation Studios: 50dh/person and Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou.

For pictures of the journey from Dades Gorges to Marrakech, please click traveling.. food for my soul: on the way from Dades Gorges to Marrakech, Morocco (ritaaza.blogspot.com)

And for pictures of Ait Ben Haddou, please click traveling.. food for my soul: Ait Ben Haddou - Morocco (ritaaza.blogspot.com)

Marrakech

Where I stayed:

Equity Point

www.equity-point.com

no air con in the 3-person room

Petit taxi (beige color) price:

- From djemaa to the train station 20dh

- From the train station to jardine majorelle 10dh

Train from Marrakech to Casa Voyageur, casablanca: 140dh/person, first class.

Please click here for pictures of marrakech.

Casa Voyageur

What to do?

1. Watch djemaa al fna transforms into food stalls, sit at the rooftop cafe and enjoy the hectic view. Then, join the crowd and try some interesting food. Beware, u might be asked for money if u take photos of the entertainers at djemaa.

2. Jardine Majorelle: price 50dh for the garden, 25dh for the museum. Click here for the pictures.

3. Ensemble Artisanal: sells Morrocan clothes, bags, shoes, scarfs, and other souvenirs.

4. Gueliz: the modern part of the town

5. Hop on hop off bus. Starts near djemaa: 145dh/person

at the top of the hop on hop off bus

Other info:

1. We visited Morocco on mid august. It was very hot, the heat peaks at 4 to 7pm. Even the wind is hot.

2. It’s convenient to travel by train to other cities.

3. For citizens of indonesia: no visa needed.

4. Morrocan dirham is a restricted currency. Keep the receipt from the money changer. They will ask for the receipt when u change back your dirham to the original currency.

5. I used Qatar Airways with transit in doha. On my way back home to jakarta, my baggage was left in Doha, they didn’t put it on the plane to jakarta. It was very frustrating.

for morocco travel stories, please click here and here

Friday, October 25, 2013

morocco

Morocco Trip

10-16 August 2013

Rita. Adiani. Yadhi

Day 1

We arrived at casablanca airport on a saturday afternoon. Took a train to the town and stayed at ibis which is just nearby the exit of the train station. Didn’t have time to explore casablanca coz we’re taking the train to fes early next morning.

Day 2

Time to go to fes! Took the 6.15am train. Arrived at fes around 10.15am and went straight to the riad at the medina by petit taxi. Then, we went on a walking tour around the medina (check the full story here). After that, we took petit taxi to somewhere near Tombeaux Des Merinides to see the panoramic view of Fes. After that we went to Carrefour : )

the view of fes

Day 3

It’s time to go on a 3-day tour from Fes to Marrakech with Sahara Services. Tonight we’re gonna spend the night at the desert (Erg Chebbi). Yay!

The driver picked us up at Riad Verus on time. His name is Mohamed. And because he really doesn’t want to remember our names, he called us Fatima, Aisyah and Mustafa :D

with our driver

So we begin our long ride to the town of Merzouga, where we will begin the desert tour. The first pit stop is ifrane, a nice town with fresh air, apparently it’s a ski resort. Then, we stopped for lunch at Midelt. Later in the day, we made a pit stop at a fossilized plant marble place. There’s a shop of course, and after we listened to the explanation about the fossilized plant, we just walked straight through the shop without buying anything. Ha!

ifrane

We arrived at Merzouga at around 6.30pm. Then we hop on our camels, and went for a 1.5-hour journey to the desert. It was a painful-yet-memorable ride :D

at the desert

We had dinner under the starry sky and spent the night at the tent : )

Day 4

We woke up around 6am. To see the sun rises and to take as many pictures as possible before we head back. It was a beautiful morning.

morning at the desert

It was 8am when we started our journey back. The guides warned us that it would be really hot if we don’t depart at 8am. Of course, it’s summer! And it’s the desert!

Bye bye desert. It was amazing... and unforgettable (especially the sores, haha)

We had our showers at the hotel and got back on the road with our driver (Mohamed) at around 11am. We’re heading to Dades Valley.

The pit stop was at Toudra Gorges, and we went for a short trekking with a guide. We went to his place to drink some tea.. and to be offered some carpets (Gosh, they never stop).

We spent the night at Kasbah de la Valle at Dades Valley.

Day 5

Time to head to Marrakech. We stopped by at Atlas Corporation Studios where they made some Hollywood movies. Then we had lunch at Ouarzazate. After lunch we went up to the hill to see Kasbah Ait Benhaddou, it was a total of 1 hour walk. Thank God we didn’t use any guide. No need to use a guide.

atlas corporation studios

Kasbah Ait Benhaddou

We arrived at Marrakech around 7pm, it’s the end of our tour with Mohamed. It was very hot in marrakech. Even the wind was hot! It was like standing forever near a flaming stove! Apparently, the heat peaks at 4-7pm, around 40 something degree celcius. Yaiks!

We got to Marrakech just in time to see the djemaa al fna transforms into food stalls. We took a seat at a rooftop cafe and watch the crowd. And then, we joined the crowd : )

djemaa al fna

Day 6

Time to explore Marrakech. First we went to the train station to buy some tickets for tomorrow. Then we went to Jardine Majorelle. And then we walked to cafe 16 at Gueliz. And then we didn’t want to go anywhere because it’s very hot! Haha..

Jardine Majorelle

Gueliz

We went by taxi to ensemble artisanal at Muhamed V street. They sell souvenirs. After that, we walked back to djema, had some KFC, and went on a hop on hop off bus (coz it’s too hot to walk).

At around 6.30pm, we stroll around the souks near djema. And we had dinner at djema.

Day 7

This is my last day. My 2 friends still have 4 more days left. So I’ll be traveling home alone today. I felt a little bit sad. Just a little bit, because the main interest for me is the desert, and we’ve already done it. Furthermore, it was too hot to walk around any town.

We got on a 11am train from Marrakech to Casablanca. My friends are going to Fes, we’re on the same train and I got off at Casablanca. Then I got on another train to the airport. It was a smooth train journey, no delays (on day 1, the train from the airport to the town delayed for half an hour and it stopped somewhere along the way, the total journey was 1.5 hours. It was supposed to be only a 40-minute journey.)

It was a very long journey back to jakarta for me. 3-hour train from Marrakech to Casablanca, 40-minutes train to the airport, 3-hour wait at the airport, 7.5 hours flight from Casablanca to Doha, 2.5 hours wait at Doha International Airport, 8 hours flight from Doha to Jakarta, and 1 hour wait for my luggage at Jakarta Airport. The luggage that never came. When I arrived at Jakarta, my luggage was still somewhere in Doha.

Oh sh*t! They left my luggage at Doha!

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For Morocco travel info, please click here