2024 SMDC Morocco Trip & Mediterranean Cruise

In February, we went to Morocco for a 10-day land tour. It was organized by P&D Travel (Europa Holiday). Morocco is a destination we have checked into several times previously. Thanks to Ben Ou’s coordination with P&D Travel. The itinerary was as the following:

2/26/2024 - Travel from Houston to Morocco 

2/27/2024 - Arrive Casablanca

2/28/2024 - Visit Casablanca and then visit Rabat 

2/29/2024 - Asilah, then Tangier

3/1/2024 - Tetouan then to the blue city Chefchaouen

3/2/2024 - Travel to Fez

3/3/2024 - Travel to Ifrane, then Erfoud, then Merzouga (Sahara Desert campsite) 

3/4/2024 - Sahara Desert Sunrise, Todra Gorge and Ouarzazate

3/5/2024 - Altas Movie Studio, Ait Benhaddou, then travel to Marrakech

3/6/2024 - Jardin Majorelle, Bahia Palace, El Base Palace and back to Casablanca 

3/7/2024 - Left Morocco and flew to Barcelona

After the land tour, we flew to Barcelona. We did a 1 day self guided tour to see many  attractions in Barcelona, and then we embarked onto the Sun Princess for a 10 days Mediterranean and Greek Islands cruise.

3/9/2024 - Barcelona, Spain (Embarked onto Sun Princess)
3/10/2024 - Dock at Palma de Mallorca, Spain; Self walking tour of Palma
3/11/2024 - At Sea
3/12/2024 - Dock at Messina, Sicily, Italy; Self walking tour of Messina
3/13/2024 - At Sea
3/14/2024 - Dock at Athens (Piraeus), Greece; Self walking tour of Athens
3/15/2024 - Dock at Kusadasi, Turkey; Self walking tour of Kusadasi
3/16/2024 - Dock at Chania, Crete, Greece (original itinerary was Santorini, Greece); Joined Princess excursion to visit Rethymnon

3/17/2024 - At Sea
3/18/2024 - Dock at Naples, Italy;  Private Amalfi Tour to visit Sorrento, Positano, and Amalfi / Capri, Anacapri and Blue Grotto Day Trip

3/19/2024 - Dock at Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy; De-embarked Sun Princess; Flew back to Houston

Princess changed the scheduled stop at Santorini on the day we embarked. This was the 2nd time in 2 years for us that Princess changed the most favorable port at the last minute (they skipped Lofoten, Norway port in 2023).

Highlight photos from these two trips are:

Feb 26, 2024 - Travel from Houston to Casablanca, Morocco

Most of people took United Airlines to Lisbon and then changed to Iberia Airline flight to Casablanca. 

Fei and Tony took American Airlines flight from Houston to Dallas, then to Madrid, Spain. Then, they changed to Iberia Airlines flight to Casablanca. Their Iberia flight was a full flight with no service at all. You have to pay for even a soft drink. The air travel is less glamorous when you travel on some of these foreign airlines, sad....

Feb 27, 2024 - Arriving Casablanca

Casablanca airport is new to us and we witnessed pretty strange procedures for getting out of the terminal. After we went thru custom, got our luggages, they will X-ray your luggages again (right before you get out of the airport lobby). And some travelers just went thru without following the X-ray procedures, and we still don’t understand their process even after we got out. Then, we had a hard time finding our tour leader due to crowds just outside the airport. Wendy Wu was our tour leader, and she was very nice and professional. 

We had the 1st impression of Casablanca’s traffic, which was crowded and very disorganized. People walking across the street and other cars just squeezed in front of you from all directions. Luckily, we were not the one doing the driving.

Hours later, we all met at the hotel lobby (all 5 couples) and had a very nice dinner in the hotel.

Feb 28, 2024 - Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca and then visit Rabat

Our first stop was visiting Hassan II Mosque in the morning. It is a fine example of pure Moroccan architecture, and it is the only one in the city that non-Muslims may visit. This mosque is famous for its exquisite and intricate Islamic architecture, which is a blend of traditional Moroccan and modern styles. The mosque can accommodate up to 25,000 worshippers at a time. It is the largest mosque in Morocco and the third largest mosque in the world, after Masjid Al-Haram (Grand Mosque) in Mecca and Al-Masjid Al-Nabawi (Prophet's Mosque) in Medina.

Completed in 1993, Hassan II Mosque was designed by the French architect Michel Pinseau and built by Bouygues. The mosque is built on a promontory (a port of a plateau, overlooking lowland) looking out to the Atlantic Ocean. The floor is made from glass, so the ocean below can be viewed and worshippers can pray over the sea. Unfortunately, this wonderful feature is primarily intended for royal use and is not accessible to visitors. The walls are of hand-crafted marble. The roof of the Mosque is retractable so that it can be opened for worshippers to see the stars at night. With the exceptions of the imported white granite columns and glass chandeliers from Murano, near Venice, nearly all the materials are from Morocco.

The idea to build the Hassan II Mosque was first conceived in 1984. They began building in 1989, and incredibly finished just 6 years later in 1993. Hassan II Mosque boasts electric heated floors for when it gets chilly in winter. As well as possibly the most impressive technical feature, a vast electric sliding roof. The roof opens in just 3 seconds and shuts in only 2 and was installed instead of air conditioning for hotter days when the mosque is full. 1/3 of the Hassan II mosque is actually over the Atlantic sea, a feature inspired by a verse in the Qur’an which says “the throne of God was upon the water”.

The tour guide showed us the Prayer Hall and the Ablution Hall. The Hassan Mosque claims to have the tallest minaret in any mosque in the world. The minaret is also topped with a light that faces east toward Mecca illuminating the path to the most holy of Islamic cities.

Then, we traveled to Rabat which is Morocco’s capital. On the way we stopped by a seafood restaurant near Plateforme du Sémaphore (Semaphore Platform) which is located in Kasbah des Oudaïas right at the end of Rue Jamaa. It is an open place above the river and there is an impressive view over it.

Then, we visited nearby Kasbah od the Udayas located on a hill at the mouth of the Bou Regreg opposite Salé, and adjacent to the Medina quarter of Rabat. It is listed, along with other sites in Rabat, as an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We stopped at the Mausoleum of Mohammed V. Mohammed V died in 1961. Construction of his mausoleum was commissioned by Hassan II. The mausoleum stands on an elevated platform at the southeastern corner of the esplanade.

Sultan Mohamed V ruled over Morocco for two terms. The first was from the year 1927 to 1953 and again from 1957 to the year 1961. He is remembered and noted for his efforts in the fight for Morocco’s independence. Both his sons, King Hassan II and Prince Abdallah, were buried alongside him. The Mausoleum of Mohamed V is located in the Yacoub Al Mansour Square and stands across from the Hassan Tower, another building that was commission by King Hassan II.

Hassan Tower is the minaret of an incomplete mosque, if completed, would have been the largest in the western Muslim world. The minaret was left standing at a height of 44 meters. The rest of the mosque was also left incomplete, with only the beginnings of several walls and 348 columns being constructed. The tower, along with the remains of the mosque and the modern Mausoleum of Mohammed V, forms an important historical and tourist complex in Rabat. We had free time for photos in the Yacoub Al Mansour Square.

Afterwards we checked into our hotel and we had a nice dinner at the hotel.

Feb 29, 2024 - Travel to Asilah, then Tangier

Asilah is a fortified town on the northwest tip of the Atlantic coast of Morocco. Asilah features deserted, quiet beaches and a relaxing atmosphere. The town has Mediterranean-influenced buildings, including whitewashed houses with blue accents on walls and doors. The array of houses decorated with paintings highlights the island's reputation as an artists' hangout place.

We saw painted wall by artists and by local students. It was interesting.

We had lunch at Casa Garcia in Asilah. After lunch we visited the nearby Hercules Caves. Our tour guide tried to take shadow photos for us, however, it did not turn out as expected due to lighting issue. But seeing the cave was pretty interesting. Later, we got some photos by the ocean.

Then, we traveled to Cap Spartel near Tangier to view the meeting point of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean. It was a clear day and we did see the coast of Spain from there.

We traveled to the center of Tangier. After we checked into the hotel, we had time to kill. So some of us walked down to the nearby beach to enjoy the ocean and beach. Jerry and Sophia even did some horseback riding on the beach.

On our way back, we did shopping and purchased Argant Oil based on Wendy’s recommendation. Then, we had dinner at the hotel.

Mar 1, 2024 - Tetouan then to the blue city Chefchaouen

Tetouan is a city with Hispano-Moorish footmarks. Its Medina is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. 

First, we walked to the Michouar's Square and took some photos in front of the Tétouan Archaeological Museum.

Then, we got more photos outside the fence of the Royal Palace of Tétouan. The Palace is still active as King Mohammed VI has been known to visit during the summer. It is not open to visitors. Then, we walked around the palace to see some of the nearby areas.

Later, we drove to Chefchaouen which is a city in the Rif Mountains of northwest Morocco. It’s known for the striking, blue-washed buildings of its old town. The most popular theory of the blue city is that after WWII, when the Jewish community in the area grew as people fled Nazi persecution, blue was painted on the walls, floors and steps as a religiousthe practice, to represent the color of the sky and connect the city to heaven and God.

Due to the number of tourists in the Chefchaouen Old Medina, they restrict the number of cars driving up to the Old Medina, therefore, we had to get off the van and walked up to the hill to our hotel. It was uphill but easy walk. The hotel did send a car to pick up our luggages. The Old Medina is restricted to foot traffic only.

After we checked into the Hôtel Parador, Wendy led us to wandering around in Old Medina. First we got to the Plaza Uta el-Hamman which is full of restaurants and they all have staff peddling customers with their menus. Most of them knew few Chinese sentences and kept trying to apply them to us. It felt like that we walked into a tourist trap. However, Wendy managed to guide us around without too much unpleasant experiences. 

We had many opportunities to take photos in front of the blue building and in the blue alley. It was very interesting.

Then, Wendy gave us free time to do shopping. Quite a few of us bought local Moroccan jackets.

Then, we had our dinner at Restaurant Morisco on the Plaza Uta el-Hamman.

Mar 2, 2024 - Travel to Fez

After we got up in the morning, we followed Wendy’s recommendation to wandering around the Old Medina by ourselves for more photos. Since it was in the early morning, we were able to take many nice photos with blue surrounding without other tourists.

Then, we have to walk downhill and out of the Old Medina to meet our driver at the parking lot. It was again a pleasant walk with fresh air in the morning and with blue color surroundings. Just nice!

On our way leaving Chefchaouen, we stoped just outside of the town at a high spot for photo opportunities.

Then, we were on our way to Fez which is primarily known for its Fez El Bali Walled Medina, vibrant bazaar and old-world atmosphere. The Medina is home to religious schools such as the 14th-century Bou Inania and Al Attarine, both decorated with elaborate cedar carvings and ornate tile work.

After we arrived Fez, we went to Jinding Chinese Restaurant first. We were surprised by such good tasting Chinese food. After lunch, we visited Great Mosque of Fes el-Jdid for photos in the square in front of it.

Then, we went to a hill top to view the whole Medina from the top.

Medina is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Wendy told us that even she can not lead us and walk through this ancient maze-like quarters of the Medina. The local guide took us wondering through narrow alleys and did not give us much time to visit the stores along the way. Until he led us to the leather tanneries, he gave us brief descriptions of the tanneries, then he tried to help the shop to sell their leather goods. I believe he was focused on making sell for kickback from the merchant. He also mis-guided us by letting us stay longer for more sells; and it got Wendy extremely mad.

Then, we quickly got out of the bazaar and checked into Hôtel Palais Medina & SPA Fès.

Our dinner was at Palais la Medina with traditional Moroccan food and dance. It was fun however, a little too tourist-like.

Mar 3, 2024 - Travel to Ifrane, then Erfoud, then Merzouga (Sahara Desert Cap site)

On the way, we had lunch at Le Chameniz inside the Le Chameniz hotel in Ifrane. 

Then, we drove to Erfoud, changed to 4 wheel drive jeeps to Merzouga. Merzouga is a small Moroccan town in the Sahara Desert, near the Algerian border. It’s known as a gateway to Erg Chebbi, a huge expanse of sand dunes north of town (Erg is large seas of dunes formed by wind-blown sand).

We checked into a Caravanserai Luxury Desert Camp.

Each tent has double beds (one of the tent has 3 beds for a large family) and a private bathroom with a shower. We were told that all tents have heater and wi-fi, however, none of them works.

The Sahara desert sand dunes are just next to our camp. We all rushed out to the top of the sand dunes for photos and viewing the sunset.

Then, we had dinner in their dinning room and the food were surprisingly good. After dinner, they also hosted a camp fire with music next to our tents.

After the camp fire, we followed Wendy’s recommendation to do stargazing on top of the sand dunes. Due to remote location of this camp, we had seen more stars than we had ever seen before. It was an eventfully and exciting evening.