Northern Morocco – The Final Leg
We spent a couple of nights in a lovely campsite in Ifrane where we parked between cherry trees laden with blossom.
After relaxing amongst the cherry blossom in Camping Amizagh in Ifrane we headed into the Ifrane National Forest where we found a beautiful park-up amongst the trees, took out our chairs and spent a few hours watching the antics of the cheeky resident macaques who were completely unbothered by our presence.
We also enjoyed a lovely walk through the cedar forest. It really is very different to anywhere else we have been in Morocco and felt like a different country.
We were heading towards Fes but on the way we stopped off at the small town of Bhalil. This is an interesting little town which is famous for its troglodyte houses dating back to the 4th century.
The town is sited on a steep hill and many of the houses are built into the rockface of the hillside. We visited a private dwelling as well as a small guesthouse and the owners were very happy to show us round, even offering us tea and the use of their bathroom if needed. They didn’t ask for any money but we gave then 20MAD (about £1.50), which seems to be the going rate at other traditional houses we have visited.
As we turned another corner we bumped into a friendly shopkeeper who was in the process of refurbishing his cave house with the intention of setting it up as a guesthouse from next year. He happily showed us what he had done so far and we spent some time chatting to him and learning more about the town. He even told us where we could find a local woman who would show us how to make Jellaba buttons out of thread.
This is a skill that the local women learnt from Jewish settlers centuries ago.
After our little pitstop in Bhalil we set off towards the more well known town of Fes. This is one of the biggest cities in Morocco with over 1 million residents and is famous for its labyrinthine walled old city which has over 9,000 pedestrian alleyways.
We parked up at a big car park underneath the walls to the city with a fair few other motorhomes. It actually proved a good place to stay and we had a couple of quiet nights there for only 40 MAD (£3) per day.
From the car park you can climb up a steep hill to enter the city at the Upper end and then walk back down through the city to return to the car park or you can take a taxi (or in our case a converted Docker) up to the famous Bab Boujloud (Blue) Gate.
Fes is the oldest imperial city in Morocco and the interior of the walled city is a sprawling choatic maze. Once you venture beyond the main thoroughfare and its tourist focus the amazing energy of the city really sucks you in and you can wander its alleys for hours.
Fes feels a bit like how I imagine Marrakech was 20 years ago before all the mass tourism. It just has a more authentic feel to it.
Hidden in the alleys are the tanneries that Fes is famous for. They have a reputation of being really smelly but we didn’t find them particularly bad, possibly because we weren’t there are a particularly hot time of year.
The tanneries are still in operation today and it was fascinating watching the men at work with the hides in the chemical and dye baths.
We actually visited two tanneries, a smaller one and the biggest and most famous one in Fes. Both were similar with their brightly coloured dye pits and really only differed in scale.
Next up we explored the El Glaoui Palace, which is a little off the beaten track but well worth a visit. It is mostly unrestored and is managed by a live-in guardian (and his dog). It only costs 25 MAD to visit and the deserted tiled rooms are really impressive.
The palace was built in 1860 and was originally the palace of Haj Omar Tazi, the Moroccan Finance Minister. In 1907 however the palace was seized by the Glaoui family, the same family that we had learned about much earlier in our trip in the Sahara. This building was actually the first in Morocco to be equipped with central heating and electricity.
In complete contrast to this faded and deserted palace we also visited the Bou Inania Madrasa which is situated right off the main tourist thoroughfare of the city. This on the other hand was very busy with tourists.
The Madrasa (Islamic school) was built in 1350 and is the only Madrasa in Morocco that also functioned as a Mosque. It is widely considered to be the highpoint of Marinid architecture.
Not yet done with Madrasas, we also visited the Al Attarine Madrasa which is situated near the main tannery. This was built in 1323 and takes its name from the nearby spice and perfume souk.
This Madrasa had been well restored and is covered in intricate carvings.
Those were just the main highlights for us but there is plenty to see and do in Fes, in fact it was definitely our favourite city in Morocco. There is so much to see and absorb – it is a real attack on the senses – in a good way!
From this incredible city we carried on heading North, aiming for an overnight stop we had heard about at a vineyard! We were both intrigued to taste some wine produced in such a strict Muslim country like Morocco.
The Hacienda des Cignoges vineyard is run by a French/Moroccan couple and we had called ahead to arrange for a meal at their house as part of our overnight stay amongst the vines.
We had a lovely bottle of Moroccan red wine which hugely exceeded our expectations and a fantastic home cooked Tagine which was so much better than any of the tagines we have had in restaurants on this trip. All in all it was a great evening and we were really pleased that we decided to stop in and visit this vineyard.
After leaving the Hacienda we continued on our way towards the town of Meknes. This town, while large, is practically sedate in comparison to Fes but there are still interesting sites to visit including an old quarter with lots of alleys to lose yourself within.
The main thing to see in Meknes though, apart from the big gates and walls of the city, is the Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail, which as well as being free, is a beautiful site with some exquisite tiling.
We also visited the music museum which was surprisingly interesting, although we really chose to visit the museum because it is housed inside the impressive Dar Jamai Palace. The museum featured music from all corners of Morocco throughout history and a large collection of ancient instruments.
We stayed the night in a guarded parking lot just outside the city walls in Meknes. It definitely wasn’t quiet and we did not sleep very well but it was convenient.
Although we enjoyed our visit to Meknes, the main reason we had come to this area was to visit the Volubilis Roman ruins. Volubilis was founded around the 3rd century BC and was the capital of the kingdom of Mauretania. It became a Roman city around the 1st century AD and expanded rapidly after this time.
The Romans were expelled in 285 AD and the city was populated until the 11th century when the seat of power for the region was relocated to Fes.
At Volubolis there are the remains of several buildings including a triumphal arch as well as lots of surviving mosaics.
We had a great time here and it is definitely worth a couple of hours to wander round – although go early in the day as there is no shade.
Ever since we started planning our trip to Morocco, the city of Chefchaouen (known as the blue city), was high on the list of places we wanted to visit and this was going to be our last destination in Morocco before heading back towards Tangiers for our ferry back to Spain.
Chefchaouen is built on a steep hillside. There is a campsite right at the top of the city so our plan was to take in all the sites while walking down through the city and then catch a taxi back up at the end of the day.
The campsite is not the nicest or even the cheapest but it is the only one around, although not in the most salubrious of locations. We’d only been there for about 5 minutes when a guy outside the fence offered to sell me some hash. In fact this was the only town in Morocco where I was offered drugs and it happened a lot!
The reason that the city is so well known is that most of the buildings are painted blue and it looks amazing as you walk around the many alleys and pedestrian streets. The blue colour was apparently a result of Jewish settlers mixing indigo with whitewash in order to differentiate from the Green of the Islamic quarters.
We spent several hours wandering around the streets, taking a lot of photos – trying to avoid the Instagram models – and stopping off for a lovely lunch at a café in one of the alleys.
From Chefchaouen we drove back towards Tangiers and spent the night before the ferry back at the same campsite (Tahadart Camping in Asilah) where we had spent our first night in Morocco three months earlier and what a difference! In February we had arrived in a filthy storm, half the campsite (and Northern Morocco) was under water and we couldn’t see anything. So it was a complete surprise for us on our second visit when we saw a beautiful huge sandy beach right across the road from the campsite!
The next day our drive to the ferry terminal was straightforward enough but of course the ferry was delayed. It seems that is to be expected. It took a while to get through customs, mostly because we were diverted to the queue to be x-rayed (they have a big portable machine on a truck which can x-ray about five vehicles at a time as it drives past with a big boom over the top) but eventually we made it aboard and arrived back in Spain, only 2.5 hours later than expected.
We feel like we had a real adventure in Morocco. It is an absolute blast travelling around Morocco in a motorhome and I have no doubt that we will return again one day to explore the rest of the country.