Morocco

Amazing trip. These are the words that come to mind looking back over our trip to Morocco. Great country, great weather and most importantly great company of 7 wonderful people (I include myself, cuz hey, self-love Y'all).

We started off in Agadir (thanks Wizzair for launching direct flights from Vilnius!) where after 10 Moroccan minutes (translation-1.5 hours) we finally got our rental cars and were off to our Airbnb. Once there, we received a friendly welcome and were accompanied to experience some Morrocan cuisine in the local restaurant. Naturally, we ordered a tagine and some other local dishes to try accompanied with a well-deserved glass of wine, ordering which proved to be more simple than expected.

The next day we decided to head to the beach to see the ocean. The bravest co-travelers even succeeded to go for a swim. Mind you it was morning and not too warm outside, but this didn't stop us from enjoying the water and sunshine. After the swim, and a short stop at the supermarket we continued our journey with a visit to Paradise Valley - a lovely valley in the mountains with a short hiking trail and mountain pools.

Before reaching our destination, we stopped to marvel at the mountain landscape that was unveiling itself and ended up meeting a lovely man who makes honey and other goods. We took a short rest with some local tea - Morrocan whiskey, as it is commonly referred to as. A friend even bought some cactus and Argan honey!

The valley itself was lovely to walk through. My ever-growing need to go hiking in the mountains was satisfied by the short walk. When we came to the end, my fellow traveling friends proved that they are truly fearless when it comes to cold water. The icy pools were no match for them. Some even took a leap of faith jumping off the cliffs.

Marrakech was our next destination where we decided to spend the whole following day to see the city and take a rest from continuous driving. After a shaky start with not being able to go to the Laurent gardens and being slightly scammed by some locals that had us follow them to places that are 'must visits' 'open once in 15 days' and so on we were finally back on track by midday. Our spirits were raised by the local market where we bought some much-needed souvenirs and a lovely dinner on a terrace overlooking an old town square.

5 am the next day we set out to the desert, where we were to spend new years. It was a full day drive, but we wanted to see some more so managed to choose some pretty cool spots to visit on the way. These included Atlas movie studios, a road with many castles and Gorges du Dades with incredible views of the mountainous region. A long drive followed our visits, but it wasn't without its very own adventures. Firstly, we had separated from part of our group and without phone signal could not get in touch until we were back on the highway. Secondly,  there seemed to be police checks every 20km or so and not seeing one of them almost had us pay a fine. Luckily, half of us are students and our car was pretty crappy and beaten up so the police let us off with a warning. All turned out well in the end and we managed to get reunited with our friends at the desert hotel.

The next morning we were sitting on camels and making our way to the middle of the desert where we would spend new years night. This proved to be a great experience. The camel ride, sandboarding off the tallest dunes and relaxing in the sun were felt to have been much needed after nonstop active time in the days prior.

We greeted the new year (or I should say 3 new years since we celebrated the Lithuanian, Spanish and Moroccan one every hour from 10pm) around the fire with songs and games with a few Spanish people who had come to the desert with us. We were also accompanied by our guide who would not leave us be even when he was not particularly wanted. I guess tourists can get up to no good when unwatched in the desert and his presence wasn't overly distracting anyway. However, he was pretty darn dedicated as he even walked up the dune with us at 2am, when we were waiting for the stars (sadly it was cloudy and we could not see them well...) and tried to help pull us down the hill when we expected to slide down on a mattress.

The next few days were mostly spent on the road by car and then train to Tangier. However, we did have a quick look at the Hasan mosque in Casablanca and walk by the ocean before the train ride.

After a quick stop in Tangier for the last night where we met some lovely travelers and played cards against humanity, we were off to the airport. Our journey to Vienna was about to begin. Yes, yes, nonstop travel yet again.