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Morocco: A Destination for Every Sense

Morocco has been on my travel list for a very long time.

Not the “that might be nice someday” list.

The real list.

And I’m not even sure I can point to one thing that originally put it there.

Maybe that’s part of the attraction.

I want to get thoroughly lost in a medina. I want to see the Atlas Mountains. I want to stand beside the Atlantic and then travel far enough inland that the landscape turns to desert.

And yes, I want to sit somewhere with a glass of mint tea and absolutely nowhere I need to be for the next hour.

The more I’ve researched Morocco, the longer that list has become.

That’s usually a good sign.

More Than One Morocco

One of the things I hadn’t fully appreciated until I started digging deeper was just how much the landscape changes.

I’d always associated Morocco with the Sahara and its old cities.

That’s a very incomplete picture.

There’s an Atlantic coastline with fishing ports, beaches and old fortified towns. There are mountain roads climbing through the Atlas, green valleys and villages tucked into landscapes that look nothing like the Morocco I’d originally pictured.

And then, eventually, there is the desert.

That’s one of the journeys I’d particularly like to make.

Not fly into the closest place, take the obligatory camel photograph and leave.

I want to experience the transition.

I’d like to watch the cities give way to mountains, see the vegetation change, follow the roads through smaller communities and eventually reach that moment when the landscape becomes unmistakably desert.

For me, getting there would be part of the experience.

It usually is.

A Place That Rewards Curiosity

I have a fairly strong suspicion that Morocco and my tendency to wander would either get along beautifully or get me completely lost.

Possibly – probably both.

The medinas certainly don’t appear designed for someone determined to follow a perfectly efficient route.

Good.

I’d rather turn a corner and discover a bakery, a tiny shop or someone working on something I don’t immediately recognize.

That’s when I start asking questions.

What are they making?

How long does that take?

What is that smell?

And, inevitably:

Where exactly am I now?

Some of my favorite travel experiences have happened because I wasn’t quite where I intended to be.

Morocco seems capable of providing plenty of those opportunities.

I Could Spend Far Too Long Watching the Artisans

This could become a problem.

Give me someone actually making something by hand and I will stand there watching.

Morocco gives me plenty of possibilities.

Textiles. Ceramics. Wood carving. Leatherwork. Metalwork. Mosaics.

I’ve seen photographs of Moroccan lanterns, rugs and tilework for years, but looking at a finished piece isn’t the same as understanding how it got there.

That’s what interests me.

How long does it take to create one of those intricate mosaic patterns? How does someone learn to work leather or carve cedar? How many steps happened before that rug ended up hanging in a shop?

I suspect I’d come home with far too many photographs of people’s hands.

And probably something I absolutely did not have room for in my suitcase.

Then There’s the Food

This portion of Morocco requires very little persuasion.

I’m already in.

Tagine may be one of the foods most associated with the country, but it didn’t take much research to realize stopping there would be a serious mistake.

Bread alone could keep me occupied.

Then there are couscous dishes, pastries, olives, preserved lemons and combinations of spices that make me want to know what is cooking before I can even see it.

That’s one of the things I love about food when I travel.

Sometimes you smell dinner before you know what dinner is.

Markets make that even more interesting.

Cumin, cinnamon and other spices piled into displays. Fresh herbs. Fruit. Bread. Something cooking nearby that wasn’t part of the plan but suddenly seems necessary.

I’m quite capable of abandoning an itinerary for lunch.

I’ve done it before and I will continue to do it again and again.

About That Mint Tea

Moroccan mint tea appears everywhere in photographs and travel stories.

It would be easy to treat it as another item on the Morocco checklist.

Drink mint tea. Done.

That’s exactly what I don’t want to do.

What interests me is the ritual around it. The preparation. The pouring. The conversation that happens while you’re drinking it.

Those everyday customs often tell me more about a place than the attraction I was supposedly there to see.

I don’t need to become an expert on Moroccan tea.

I’d simply like the opportunity to sit down, accept the glass and pay attention.

And preferably not be looking at my watch.

Morocco Has a Soundtrack Too

When I think about Morocco, my first thoughts are very visual.

Colorful markets. Tilework. Mountains. Desert.

But travel doesn’t work that way once you’re actually there.

Places have sounds.

I’d expect the medinas to have plenty of them. Conversations. Shopkeepers. Footsteps. Food being prepared. Music. People going about a normal day while visitors like me are trying to take everything in at once.

Then there’s the Atlantic.

Completely different soundtrack.

And eventually I’d like to hear almost nothing at all.

That’s one of the reasons the Sahara appeals to me.

I want to know what that kind of quiet actually sounds like.

Maybe that’s a strange thing to say.

But anyone who has stood somewhere truly remote probably understands exactly what I mean.

The Sahara Is Definitely on the List

There is no pretending otherwise.

I want to see it.

But I’m less interested in checking Sahara Desert off a list than I am in experiencing what happens as the day changes there.

I want to see what the light does to the dunes.

I’d like to watch the temperature change as the sun disappears.

And if I’m lucky enough to have a clear night, I want to look up.

I’ve seen spectacular night skies in remote places before. Once you’re far enough away from city lights, you remember how many stars are actually there.

The Sahara seems like a pretty spectacular place to be reminded.

I’d probably stay outside too long.

That’s okay.

And I Haven’t Forgotten the Atlantic

The coast is one of the pieces of Morocco I overlooked for years.

My mental version of the country was dominated by Marrakesh, Fez, the Atlas Mountains and Sahara images.

Then I started looking at Essaouira.

Ocean. Ramparts. Fishing boats. Blue details against pale buildings.

Well, now I need to go there too.

This is the recurring problem with travel research.

Essaouira especially appeals to me because it seems to offer a completely different pace from the places I usually associate with Morocco.

I’d want time to walk the harbor, explore the streets and simply be near the water.