missadventuring
Guest
I'm happy to report that Morocco is now my favorite all-time ride. Being a woman and solo in Morocco was a complete non-issue. Moroccans were completely blown away when I took off my helmet -- many grinned or laughed out loud, and gave me the thumbs up. I met some really fine UKGSers on the road, too. Here are my reports from the Alps to the Atlas journey, which began and ended in Austria.
Thanks very much (Tim!) for the information on this forum for Morocco travel. The knowledgebase is all very very good and valid, and I have some additions for places to stay.
I took the ALGECIRAS to TANGIERS ferry there and didn't find Algeciras (in Spain) a hassle at all, though people have told me that I just got lucky. I rarely believe that, as attitude is 99% of an experience. At borders I usually just slow myself down about 500% and try to take in what's happening with the police, border guards and touts, and never let myself get rushed. For example, I'd just renewed my passport (American) and the police had never seen the new version. One policeman told me seriously that I couldn't get in because the other guy thought it was faked. About five or six of them leisurely passed it around, paged through it, talked, laughed, drank tea. I just let them, sitting there enjoying all the activity around me, and eventually he let me know he was joking. I mimed being really relieved, and they told me (in English) what the next steps would be. On the way back I went from TANGIERS to TARIFA, which is a great little windsurfing town just 15km down the road from Algeciras, with nice scenery. I got on the autoroute and skipped the in-town traffic along the Algeciras coast, which can be intense. But if you want to stock up on European goods do stop by one of the mega shopping centers there before you cross. You don't need to buy your ferry ticket before you get to the port, by the way. Just buy it when you get there.
I bought a SIM card for my phone when I got into Tangiers (from a small stand at the Grand Souk) but it helped me more with peace of mind than actual contact or hotel reservations as I just wandered and found places to sleep when I got tired - for between 1500 and 2500 D. There are phone stands everywhere and the attendant will help you make the call. I had my computer and iPhone with me so used Skype more than the cell phone. It was rare that I couldn't find a connection. Also used Twitter to send micro-updates so that friends and family always knew where I was. (By the way, bring your old cell phones - they're a good trade for stuff there.)
I stayed at the Hotel Magellan, 150D/night with a garage at 20D/night. If you exit the port you'll immediately see a white and blue hotel called Hotel Bairitz on the right. Turn up the incredibly potholed, trash-infested alleyway next to it and wind left and right to find Hotel Magellan. (Tell Abdul I sent you
. It's quiet, clean, cheap, and an easy walk to everything: port, madina, nouvelle village, and the garage is secure. Abdul speaks English, French, and Spanish.
I found the roads much better than I expected and traffic much much much more polite than in places like China or India. Such as people generally stick to their own side of the road, and don't knock you over if you're sitting still reading a map and they think you're in their way. Unleaded gas is readily available. I chose to detour for a couple of off-road experiences in the Atlas Mountains and the Erg Chebi Desert - but if I wanted a straight, paved route from here to there, it was available. Any level of rider will be happy here. For example, I met two Russian couples on shiny new Suzuki Boulevard M109s riding around with white sneakers and rhinestone-studded t-shirts who were sticking to the very new and modern highways, and also the extreme opposite--guys on GS Adventures who looked like kids just out of mud puddles who'd been bashing around in the mountains and deserts.
It's a cash economy. Even when "credit cards taken" is proudly displayed, phone lines are likely not to work to process it. So keep cash on hand. ATM machines are everywhere. And people will take Euros, if you find yourself out of D's.
Tipping is a big part of the economy here, among locals, too. Give gas station attendants a Dirham or two - sometimes they'll round up and give you change that includes their tip. A photo is worth a Dirham or two as well. Same for kids who lead to you a hotel or out of a covered marketplace. (Avoid the men who want to be your friend and practice your English. They will never leave you alone if you acknowledge them more than a couple of polite no thank yous.)
Here is my little soapbox: Please please please do not hand out money or candy or anything to children. In some tourist areas, mostly the ones frequented by Spanish tourists, the kids will literally climb on you demanding Euros. Its insulting and demeaning for all. If you must do something, please find a school or organization/NGO in town or better yet, donate after researching the area - once you get home.
When off the bike in cities like Tangiers and Fes it helps a lot if you dress normally in long slacks and shirt as opposed to white shorts and shoes and backpacks turned to the front. When you dress appropriately you're more likely to be quoted local prices, too, probably because there are a lot of expats in Morocco. If you look like a tourist you'll be followed around by touts who want to be your friend. I understand that you can hire guides for 300D or so a day, but I never found the need. Personally I like wandering and being a bit lost - especially in the madina (marketplace) in Tangiers, which is easy to navigate. Go downhill and you're at the port, go uphill and you're at the new town or the English church. Tangiers is an excellent excellent place to spend a few first days to get your bearings. When people asked if I was lost I replied, "Yes, but happily," with a smile, and got a smile in return. Fes madina is huge but very easy to navigate as it's built on a grid.
In my 3 weeks there I sick one time from restaurant food. I took a SteriPEN ultraviolet water purifier along so I would contribute less to plastic water bottle pollution. The food is great, but I quickly got tired of tagines and ate street food most of the time. Savory chickpea cakes are sold in the street, little hole-in-the-wall restaurants also have their specialties--egg and grilled red pepper sandwiches was a favorite. Kabobs. I learned to watch for teenaged-boys making a beeline for a shop and usually found they were heading for good, cheap food.
They have the most wonderful cafe au lait and pancakes spread with honey for breakfast. Another favorite was the multi-flavored glasses of yogurt available at refrigerated snack stands. All kinds of fruit, but I loved the green one: avocado and ground almonds. I was surprised that the food is more bland than spicy, though mixtures can be interesting. The best places to eat lunch are the truck/bus stops along the secondary roads. You know you're there when you're going through a town with trucks/buses parked an a lot of steamy cooking activity going on by the roadside. The food is very very fresh and good. Tip the guy in the orange vest who helps you park your bikes a couple of D's or more if the traffic is really heavy. Your meal will probably cost a ridiculously low 10 or 20 D.
I loved stopping for fresh-squeezed orange juice (3-5D) and watermelon, plums, apricots, figs, peanuts, dates, and other fruits, during the day. Hand them 5D and indicate you want this and that. They'll fill a bag with what 5D gets you.
Everywhere in Morocco towns men in orange vests "help" you park. Please do tip them. Unemployment is a huge problem here, and any little service is respected and rewarded even by relatively poor locals. Waiters get 10%. Let young men shine your boots. 5 or 10 D, depending on the size of the town.
If someone is really bugging you, you can go to a shopkeeper, vendors, or a policeman on the street and just tell them. I only had to do this just one time, and it was amazingly effective. When shopping, you can ask women around you their advice. Sometimes you'll get really great help in bargaining. I bought a bunch of pointy-toed slippers to bring home as gifts in Tangiers, with the help of a French-speaking Moroccan woman in modern clothing and a fully veiled woman with the most amazing sparkling eyes. They helped me get a good bargain on a bunch of them and I'll never forget the fun, lengthy process. Everybody walked away happy and with a story. But this is probably unique to being a woman traveler - it's likely that it's not kosher for women in Morocco to talk with strange men.
The terrain was much more extremely hot and cold than I had imagined. I was caught in rain, snow, and hail in the Atlas, and 112F degree dry heat in the Erg Chebi desert. If I had it to do over again I'd come in April/May and not May/June, when the desert is just too hot for camel rides. Also, I missed the wildflowers rampant in the Atlas in the spring. Four-season gear is definitely necessary. It's nice to be able to escape into the mountains, just a few hours ride, for a very Alpine experience, complete with pine-scented forests, after an experience in the hot dry desert. Take DEET and a mosquito net if you'll be sleeping outdoors by the gorges (Todra, for example) because there are mosquitoes. And in the desert, biting flies or bedbugs or something. I didn't feel these little critters until late the next day when welts rose on my skin.
Regarding security. Whenever I left the bike for a while to explore a small town or marketplace I'd park it right in front of a fruit stand or snack bar, buy something, and then ask if the bike was okay. They'd say yes and I'd hand over a 5D tip, and wander away content that all was secure. I never had even a tiny little thing stolen.
In my opinion, traveling in Morocco is a very easy introduction to solo travel and adventure travel. It's friendly, cheap, and easy to navigate. The adventure factor is up to you. I turned up dirt roads all the time to find tiny villages and was invited for tea and long conversations in languages I didn't understand (Arab, Berber). Playing with kids, letting them sit on the bike, looking at coins, clothes. It was extremely satisfying. As a woman, I was able to navigate both worlds. Leaving some small money to the family was accepted--I found that if I laughingly put it into a child's pocket, it was much more readily accepted.
In Tangiers the languages are Spanish, English, French, in that order. In many larger cities English is common, French is second. The Moroccans are very willing to communicate in sign language, and often they'll find someone to translate.
I met other bikers on the road, but more often than not they were going the opposite direction. Also, with my sidecar, I was going slower than the average machine. But I stopped whenever I saw bikes at a cafe and talked with the (always) guys, mostly from GB but a lot of Spanish.
Oh - regarding alcohol. If you love a drink after a long day's riding, you may want to bring your own bottle when going off the main track. You can ask your hotelier/restaurateur to get beer or wine for you, and they'll run out or send someone, but in the smallest places they simply won't have it.
My favorite experiences were riding random small roads in the Middle Atlas (though that's where I was caught in an electrical rain/snow/hailstorm) and staying 15km off the road at a Kasbah hotel with pool at the Erg Chebi Desert. Tangiers was my favorite city, relaxed and used to tourists and expats, with a fabulous madina. Fes was the prettiest city/madina, with lots of Brit outposts like Cafe Clock and terrace restaurants where you can sit and watch the world go by from the rooftops.
What I didn't like was the coast (though a friend who went to Essoaria loved it). It was too windy and there are too many big tourist resorts going up. I could also give the marketplace at Marrakesh a skip--it was so so so touristic, and everyone demanded money for any small photo and tout hassles seemed extreme after Tangiers and Fes.
My favorite thing was to stop at small-town marketplaces when I saw them happening as I passed by--crowded weekly or monthly events with no tourists at all.
I hope you go!
Carla
Thanks very much (Tim!) for the information on this forum for Morocco travel. The knowledgebase is all very very good and valid, and I have some additions for places to stay.
I took the ALGECIRAS to TANGIERS ferry there and didn't find Algeciras (in Spain) a hassle at all, though people have told me that I just got lucky. I rarely believe that, as attitude is 99% of an experience. At borders I usually just slow myself down about 500% and try to take in what's happening with the police, border guards and touts, and never let myself get rushed. For example, I'd just renewed my passport (American) and the police had never seen the new version. One policeman told me seriously that I couldn't get in because the other guy thought it was faked. About five or six of them leisurely passed it around, paged through it, talked, laughed, drank tea. I just let them, sitting there enjoying all the activity around me, and eventually he let me know he was joking. I mimed being really relieved, and they told me (in English) what the next steps would be. On the way back I went from TANGIERS to TARIFA, which is a great little windsurfing town just 15km down the road from Algeciras, with nice scenery. I got on the autoroute and skipped the in-town traffic along the Algeciras coast, which can be intense. But if you want to stock up on European goods do stop by one of the mega shopping centers there before you cross. You don't need to buy your ferry ticket before you get to the port, by the way. Just buy it when you get there.
I bought a SIM card for my phone when I got into Tangiers (from a small stand at the Grand Souk) but it helped me more with peace of mind than actual contact or hotel reservations as I just wandered and found places to sleep when I got tired - for between 1500 and 2500 D. There are phone stands everywhere and the attendant will help you make the call. I had my computer and iPhone with me so used Skype more than the cell phone. It was rare that I couldn't find a connection. Also used Twitter to send micro-updates so that friends and family always knew where I was. (By the way, bring your old cell phones - they're a good trade for stuff there.)
I stayed at the Hotel Magellan, 150D/night with a garage at 20D/night. If you exit the port you'll immediately see a white and blue hotel called Hotel Bairitz on the right. Turn up the incredibly potholed, trash-infested alleyway next to it and wind left and right to find Hotel Magellan. (Tell Abdul I sent you
. It's quiet, clean, cheap, and an easy walk to everything: port, madina, nouvelle village, and the garage is secure. Abdul speaks English, French, and Spanish.I found the roads much better than I expected and traffic much much much more polite than in places like China or India. Such as people generally stick to their own side of the road, and don't knock you over if you're sitting still reading a map and they think you're in their way. Unleaded gas is readily available. I chose to detour for a couple of off-road experiences in the Atlas Mountains and the Erg Chebi Desert - but if I wanted a straight, paved route from here to there, it was available. Any level of rider will be happy here. For example, I met two Russian couples on shiny new Suzuki Boulevard M109s riding around with white sneakers and rhinestone-studded t-shirts who were sticking to the very new and modern highways, and also the extreme opposite--guys on GS Adventures who looked like kids just out of mud puddles who'd been bashing around in the mountains and deserts.
It's a cash economy. Even when "credit cards taken" is proudly displayed, phone lines are likely not to work to process it. So keep cash on hand. ATM machines are everywhere. And people will take Euros, if you find yourself out of D's.
Tipping is a big part of the economy here, among locals, too. Give gas station attendants a Dirham or two - sometimes they'll round up and give you change that includes their tip. A photo is worth a Dirham or two as well. Same for kids who lead to you a hotel or out of a covered marketplace. (Avoid the men who want to be your friend and practice your English. They will never leave you alone if you acknowledge them more than a couple of polite no thank yous.)
Here is my little soapbox: Please please please do not hand out money or candy or anything to children. In some tourist areas, mostly the ones frequented by Spanish tourists, the kids will literally climb on you demanding Euros. Its insulting and demeaning for all. If you must do something, please find a school or organization/NGO in town or better yet, donate after researching the area - once you get home.
When off the bike in cities like Tangiers and Fes it helps a lot if you dress normally in long slacks and shirt as opposed to white shorts and shoes and backpacks turned to the front. When you dress appropriately you're more likely to be quoted local prices, too, probably because there are a lot of expats in Morocco. If you look like a tourist you'll be followed around by touts who want to be your friend. I understand that you can hire guides for 300D or so a day, but I never found the need. Personally I like wandering and being a bit lost - especially in the madina (marketplace) in Tangiers, which is easy to navigate. Go downhill and you're at the port, go uphill and you're at the new town or the English church. Tangiers is an excellent excellent place to spend a few first days to get your bearings. When people asked if I was lost I replied, "Yes, but happily," with a smile, and got a smile in return. Fes madina is huge but very easy to navigate as it's built on a grid.
In my 3 weeks there I sick one time from restaurant food. I took a SteriPEN ultraviolet water purifier along so I would contribute less to plastic water bottle pollution. The food is great, but I quickly got tired of tagines and ate street food most of the time. Savory chickpea cakes are sold in the street, little hole-in-the-wall restaurants also have their specialties--egg and grilled red pepper sandwiches was a favorite. Kabobs. I learned to watch for teenaged-boys making a beeline for a shop and usually found they were heading for good, cheap food.
They have the most wonderful cafe au lait and pancakes spread with honey for breakfast. Another favorite was the multi-flavored glasses of yogurt available at refrigerated snack stands. All kinds of fruit, but I loved the green one: avocado and ground almonds. I was surprised that the food is more bland than spicy, though mixtures can be interesting. The best places to eat lunch are the truck/bus stops along the secondary roads. You know you're there when you're going through a town with trucks/buses parked an a lot of steamy cooking activity going on by the roadside. The food is very very fresh and good. Tip the guy in the orange vest who helps you park your bikes a couple of D's or more if the traffic is really heavy. Your meal will probably cost a ridiculously low 10 or 20 D.
I loved stopping for fresh-squeezed orange juice (3-5D) and watermelon, plums, apricots, figs, peanuts, dates, and other fruits, during the day. Hand them 5D and indicate you want this and that. They'll fill a bag with what 5D gets you.
Everywhere in Morocco towns men in orange vests "help" you park. Please do tip them. Unemployment is a huge problem here, and any little service is respected and rewarded even by relatively poor locals. Waiters get 10%. Let young men shine your boots. 5 or 10 D, depending on the size of the town.
If someone is really bugging you, you can go to a shopkeeper, vendors, or a policeman on the street and just tell them. I only had to do this just one time, and it was amazingly effective. When shopping, you can ask women around you their advice. Sometimes you'll get really great help in bargaining. I bought a bunch of pointy-toed slippers to bring home as gifts in Tangiers, with the help of a French-speaking Moroccan woman in modern clothing and a fully veiled woman with the most amazing sparkling eyes. They helped me get a good bargain on a bunch of them and I'll never forget the fun, lengthy process. Everybody walked away happy and with a story. But this is probably unique to being a woman traveler - it's likely that it's not kosher for women in Morocco to talk with strange men.
The terrain was much more extremely hot and cold than I had imagined. I was caught in rain, snow, and hail in the Atlas, and 112F degree dry heat in the Erg Chebi desert. If I had it to do over again I'd come in April/May and not May/June, when the desert is just too hot for camel rides. Also, I missed the wildflowers rampant in the Atlas in the spring. Four-season gear is definitely necessary. It's nice to be able to escape into the mountains, just a few hours ride, for a very Alpine experience, complete with pine-scented forests, after an experience in the hot dry desert. Take DEET and a mosquito net if you'll be sleeping outdoors by the gorges (Todra, for example) because there are mosquitoes. And in the desert, biting flies or bedbugs or something. I didn't feel these little critters until late the next day when welts rose on my skin.
Regarding security. Whenever I left the bike for a while to explore a small town or marketplace I'd park it right in front of a fruit stand or snack bar, buy something, and then ask if the bike was okay. They'd say yes and I'd hand over a 5D tip, and wander away content that all was secure. I never had even a tiny little thing stolen.
In my opinion, traveling in Morocco is a very easy introduction to solo travel and adventure travel. It's friendly, cheap, and easy to navigate. The adventure factor is up to you. I turned up dirt roads all the time to find tiny villages and was invited for tea and long conversations in languages I didn't understand (Arab, Berber). Playing with kids, letting them sit on the bike, looking at coins, clothes. It was extremely satisfying. As a woman, I was able to navigate both worlds. Leaving some small money to the family was accepted--I found that if I laughingly put it into a child's pocket, it was much more readily accepted.
In Tangiers the languages are Spanish, English, French, in that order. In many larger cities English is common, French is second. The Moroccans are very willing to communicate in sign language, and often they'll find someone to translate.
I met other bikers on the road, but more often than not they were going the opposite direction. Also, with my sidecar, I was going slower than the average machine. But I stopped whenever I saw bikes at a cafe and talked with the (always) guys, mostly from GB but a lot of Spanish.
Oh - regarding alcohol. If you love a drink after a long day's riding, you may want to bring your own bottle when going off the main track. You can ask your hotelier/restaurateur to get beer or wine for you, and they'll run out or send someone, but in the smallest places they simply won't have it.
My favorite experiences were riding random small roads in the Middle Atlas (though that's where I was caught in an electrical rain/snow/hailstorm) and staying 15km off the road at a Kasbah hotel with pool at the Erg Chebi Desert. Tangiers was my favorite city, relaxed and used to tourists and expats, with a fabulous madina. Fes was the prettiest city/madina, with lots of Brit outposts like Cafe Clock and terrace restaurants where you can sit and watch the world go by from the rooftops.
What I didn't like was the coast (though a friend who went to Essoaria loved it). It was too windy and there are too many big tourist resorts going up. I could also give the marketplace at Marrakesh a skip--it was so so so touristic, and everyone demanded money for any small photo and tout hassles seemed extreme after Tangiers and Fes.
My favorite thing was to stop at small-town marketplaces when I saw them happening as I passed by--crowded weekly or monthly events with no tourists at all.
I hope you go!
Carla
