"The Best Way to Experience Morocco" - Seeing Morocco Your Way, with Dan & Cierra

(Cold Open)
Dan: [00:00:00] I never felt like I was on a tour with a tour company. I always felt like I had flown to Morocco, linked up with a long lost friend, and spent the entire time going around the country with one of my best friends.

Azdean: In today's episode, I will be talking with Daniel and Cierra McPherson. They just came back from 10 11 day tour. We're going to hear about their visit to Morocco. [00:01:00] Cierra, Daniel, welcome to Destination Morocco podcast. Thank you. Can you tell us a little bit about yourselves, please? 

Cierra: Yeah, so Daniel and I are married.

We have seven children. We live on a farm with sheep and pigs and goats and chickens and turkeys. We love to travel, and Morocco has always been on the list, so we finally were able to make it happen. 

Dan: Nice. We travel pretty extensively, both inside of the United States, where we live, and also outside of the United States.

At this point, I've been to every continent but Antarctica, and a little bit over 60 different countries. So traveling's how we spend our free time. We really enjoy it. Morocco was really high on our list. So we're very, very pleased with not only the opportunity we had to go, but also the experience once we were there.

Azdean: I'm so glad to hear that. Thank you. What was your first impression of Morocco? 

Dan: Our first impression of Morocco was meeting our tour guide Ilyas, [00:02:00] and I can't think of a better reception than that. We got off the plane, we had been communicating with him, and he said look for a yellow hat, and we walked out and there was this big yellow sun hat.

We could see him 50 meters away easily. Walked over and he had a huge smile. Absolutely one of the best parts of our entire trip was the time we were able to spend with him. And then shortly after that, we were able to meet our driver and we jokingly said that he had the best smile in Morocco because he was always super warm and friendly.

So our initial experience with Morocco was fantastic. From there, we did a quick tour around Casablanca. We had been traveling, but Ilya still wanted to show us a few of the sites that would have been really nice to see during that time of day based on the lighting. So we did a quick tour and saw some of the sites there in Casablanca before we went back to our accommodations for the evening.

Cierra: And we got some street food. 

Dan: Oh nice. 

Cierra: That was our first food in Morocco. Beans and chickpeas. Yeah. And this man had a [00:03:00] giant pot of them and he put it in a newspaper. And it was the most delicious street food we've ever had. 

Dan: Yeah. So Cierra is a very accomplished cook. She cooks constantly. She has a real talent for it.

We are absolute foodies. And so we love eating everything we can, trying new things when we travel. And so we're really looking forward to Morocco and trying the cuisine. It, from beginning to end was amazing, whether it was local street food or nicer establishments. We didn't ever have a meal that we didn't think was anything other than top notch or spectacular.

And I'm sure a lot of that can be attributed to Ilyas ability to know wherever we were, to know the best places to eat. He seemed to know everybody in each of the restaurants we went to. And that made it a really fun experience. 

Azdean: I'm so glad to hear that. You're absolutely right. He establishes those relationships, and in Morocco, I say it many, many times, if you want to go somewhere, even [00:04:00] eating, you know, breakfast, you know, spending maybe 10, maybe, you know, 20 bucks, whatever, you have to know somebody.

That's one of the best ways to get a really, really good experience. So, Ciara, how did you feel about, you know, the same thing that Daniel just had said about the food? 

Cierra: Moroccan food has always been one of my favorite cuisines. And one of the reasons why I wanted to go to Morocco, I was amazed at how incredible every meal was and the appetizers.

I didn't realize that the appetizers were going to be twice the amount of the actual meal and the bread, they have bread with every single meal and it's amazing bread that's cooked on one of those stoves, brick ovens. 

Dan: Really simple things like, I don't think I'll ever appreciate American orange juice or dates ever again.

Cause there's so much better in Morocco. You pointed out that it really helps to have somebody local. And I just want to touch on that if it's [00:05:00] okay for a second. Oh, absolutely. Yes, please. Like I mentioned, I've traveled a lot and I am almost exclusively the type of person who will plan my own trips. So I figure out the accommodations, where I'm going to stay, tours, all of that.

And I've done everything from, you know, backpacking across Europe type trips to a little bit more luxurious, but I really am a do it yourselfer. There's been a few countries and a few occasions where I felt like in order to really get to know the country and the people, I would want to have somebody who is local and who is from there, and Morocco is one of those countries that we decided to take that approach, and it was without a doubt the right decision for us.

I don't know how somebody could possibly get to know the culture, the people, the sites, at a level that would anywhere approach what we experienced without somebody who was local guiding them and helping them, whether it's the small things of just navigating some of the cities or the larger things or giving historical context.

Yeah, yeah. The Medina's you'll get lost in a Medina for sure. If you don't have somebody to help you, [00:06:00] but even if somebody's a do it yourself, or I would very strongly recommend for a visit to Morocco that they engage in the services of a professional and maybe even taking that one step further, we are pretty exhaustive in our research.

And we looked at a number of companies that provide those kinds of services. And I don't feel that a company based out of China or out of Spain could provide the quality of experience that a local company made up of local people who have lived there their whole lives could provide. I would say if there's one decision that made our entire trip what it was, it was choosing the right partner to help us see the country and it was everything we wanted.

Cierra: We would recommend Destination of Morocco to all of our friends and family. 

Azdean: Thank you. 

Cierra: It wouldn't have been as amazing of an experience without all of the help and all of the things that you guys did to make our trip wonderful and not stressful at all. It was just amazing. 

Azdean: Thank you. Thank you so much.

We really, really appreciate that from all of us, from the team, from me, from my family and everybody else, we [00:07:00] really, really enjoyed hosting you. We enjoyed having you as guests and showing you around and thank you for the opportunity that you have given us to share our culture with you. When Cierra reached out to us, it was kind of a squeeze time for the booking.

She showed me an itinerary and I knew that itinerary was almost impossible. So I'm glad that you have reached out and I'm so glad that we put together a really, really quick itinerary for you. 

Cierra: Yeah. So our experience, we wanted to focus on history and culture and food. You and I talked about that and you were just really able to create an itinerary that fit everything that we wanted it to.

There wasn't a dull moment in Morocco. So it was just, it was perfect. It couldn't have been better. 

Azdean: Thank you. Thank you. 

Dan: Yeah. When we go to a country, we like to see the little hole in the walls and the way people actually live and things like that. And we gave you a very tall order with our itinerary, which was we booked [00:08:00] just a few weeks before we actually took our trip.

And we said what we wanted to experience. And we also gave you an idea of how long of days we were willing to do and things like that. You're able to put together an itinerary that we're able to see the lion's share of the country in 11 days, Abdul, our driver and Ilyas, our guide were such sports because we did long days, early mornings till late evenings.

We saw a huge amount of the country. And I know that you also have packages that are a lot more relaxing and leisurely. It really impressed us how you're able to put together exactly what we wanted on short notice. You were able to ask very probing questions to Cierra about what we're looking for. And based on that, give us what we wanted as opposed to what a lot of other companies do, which is just a canned package that they load, you know, 30 people on a bus and everybody gets the same thing.

Yes. 

Azdean: Absolutely. Absolutely. Now, when you landed in Casablanca, Ilyas, normally he will take you to the hotel and go over the itinerary and then you'll go back and do the mosque visit. How was the [00:09:00] Casablanca mosque? 

Cierra: We showed up to the mosque. It is gorgeous. It's 10 acres. Everything is handcrafted and they flew in people, all these different artists to create.

And then from my understanding, it's one of or the only mosque in the country that you can visit if you're non Muslim. 

Azdean: I think there's two of them and the Casablanca one is the most popular, yes. 

Cierra: Okay, so this is built on the ocean, and our tour guide was a gentleman who was elderly, and he had lost his sight, but he was so excited about the mosque, his brother him through the mosque, like this, which steps to take.

And he knew in his heart exactly which room we were in. He was able to describe to us every detail of the mosque. And he's like, and then look at this wall over here. This is my favorite wall. And I'm like, you can't see the whole. And then there was [00:10:00] some writing on the wall. I just said, I wonder what that says.

And he was able to recite it word for word what it said without being able to read it. He made sure to point out all of the beautiful details of the cedar wood and the marble. It was just really wonderful to share in him with his excitement and his joy of the mosque and how much he held it close to his heart.

And he was able to recite it all from memory. 

Azdean: Yes. How was it for you, Daniel? I know that you have been to a lot of countries and you have seen cathedrals and churches and everything in between. Comparing the mosque to everything else that you have seen, what's that comparison like, please? 

Dan: Yeah, great question.

I love seeing architecture, whether it's ancient architecture or medieval. I've always enjoyed that. And so I've seen a lot of cathedrals. I've spent a lot of time like in the Vatican or some beautiful cathedrals in Prague and other areas. The mosque, when we visited it, I [00:11:00] knew it would be beautiful, but I was absolutely blown away by its beauty.

It was by far one of the most incredible, if not the most incredible building I've ever been in. Every part of it was breathtaking. And that experience in the mosque also really highlights what a good job Ilyas did for us as his guests. So when we arrived in Casablanca, he wanted us to try and get into the mosque early in the morning.

So before we went back to our hotel, he actually took us to the mosque so that we could see the outside grounds and we could see them in the setting sun. And it was beautiful. There weren't many people there. So because we went after the crowds had left, we were able to get great pictures of Cierra and I out in front of the mosque.

The lighting was perfect and everything. And part of the reason he did that was so that we could go to the mosque early in the morning. Him knowing the tour guide and the tour guide having a relationship with the people who were responsible for allowing entry into the mosque. They were able to arrange for us to get into the mosque about 15 minutes before [00:12:00] anybody else.

So unlike a lot of tours, when you'd be in there and it'd be full of people and every picture you get, somebody's in it. We literally started our tour, just Cierra, I, Ilyas, and the local guide who was bringing us through the mosque. We were able to get pictures of everything we wanted without anybody else being there.

It was quiet. It was peaceful. It was. And a absolutely incredible experience. And that is an experience we never would have had if we had tried to put the trip together on our own. 

Azdean: I totally agree. The guide is actually, his name is Khalil. We work with him and because of Ilyas, you're absolutely right.

Some people, it just takes them by surprise when he started pointing to stuff and say, on this side, you're going to see this. It was like, what, what did you just say? You cannot see. And you know, anyway, so he's incredible. Yeah. 

Dan: Yeah. And I just want to point out, it's not Ilyas alone, it's Destination Morocco because I feel like.

Destination Morocco has cultivated relationships over decades with the people in each of these areas, the people who own the restaurants, you can tell when a company [00:13:00] treats other companies and other individuals and people well by the reception that you get. To be able to visit a country as amazing as Morocco and piggyback on the relationships that have been built over decades with a tour services of the caliber that you guys are, was really nice.

It was really, really nice. 

Azdean: Really appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. So, and then from Casablanca, you went to Rabat. How was the visit for you in Rabat? It was a quick visit, right? 

Dan: Yeah, it was a quick visit. That was a really interesting city. I feel like the amount of time we spent there was good.

I don't think that there was a single place we visited. I wouldn't have wanted to have spent more time, but it was the right amount of time with our itinerary to be able to see the things that we really wanted to, without feeling like we had missed anything, but it's an amazing city and it's so beautiful being set on the ocean like it is.

Azdean: And also the sites that you have visited, they're all close to each other. So it was kind of really convenient. Your next stop was Chefshahouen. How was the blue city for you, Cierra and Daniel, please? 

Cierra: That's what [00:14:00] Ilyas so eloquently said is the Instagram city. It is stunningly gorgeous. 

Dan: It's magical.

Cierra: Yeah. So I was wearing a blue shirt and Ilyas looked at me, he said, you need to change your shirt because the city is blue. And so I put on an orange dress and I got the most beautiful pictures 

Dan: with 

Cierra: the contrast. 

Dan: Yeah. I'm typically not the Instagram husband that likes to spend a lot of time taking pictures, but I was all over it for that city.

Yeah. I was walking around like crazy. Go sit here. Do this. This is awesome, right? So like we got this great picture after dark when the sun goes down and the lights are on the city and it's just blue. It is incredible. We got this picture. It's one of my favorites. It's Cierra. She's sitting on a blue porch in an orange dress.

They had hung a bunch of colored flowers and things on the blue wall and it was beautiful. Our accommodations. Every night were different. They were all amazing. None of them disappointed, but in [00:15:00] Chefshouen, we were on an upper floor. So at night we were able to look out and see the city. And then in the morning for breakfast, we went up on the roof and they brought breakfast to us up on the roof.

We're early risers, so we're able to watch the sun come up and start to illuminate the city and sat there and drank coffee and it was quiet and you can hear the occasional animal out in the distance. It was, and when I say magical, like the whole trip was amazing. If I were to pick a couple of areas where I'd spend more time, absolutely.

That would be one of them. I would love to have spent another day or even two there. It's that nice. It's a wonderful city. And I think you'd be remiss if you didn't visit it. Definitely. In the evening, there's a square there and they had performers from all across Africa performing all kinds of traditional song and dance and the crowds were there.

That was a really cool cultural experience because it wasn't just Moroccan. It was very, very, very diverse. 

Cierra: Yeah, they were doing like fire dancing and hula hoops and traditional African dances. 

Azdean: [00:16:00] That's downtown. That's really, really nice. So did you get a chance to experience any of the local Chefchaouen cuisine?

Cierra: Well, in the Medinas, you walk through the streets and then they also do donkeys and motorcycles, but not in Chefchaouen. I don't think they have motorcycles in Chefchaouen, but they do in Fez. Oh my goodness, do they in Fez? And then as you're walking, there's all these beautiful doors. You don't know what's behind the door.

It could be like a little small closet or it could be like a mansion behind the door. And so when we went to dinner in Chefchaouen, We were walking along and then Ilyas stopped and turned and he was like, this is it. And he just walked in one of the doors. And I was like, uh, and it was the restaurant. And they took us to the top of the balcony.

Dan: There were a lot of tourists who were there eating. And when we went there, Ilyas walked us through the kitchen, not through the main area that everybody goes through. He walks through the kitchen, everybody, when they see him, turns around, gives him a hug. They talk, you know, he's, [00:17:00] 

Cierra: yeah, they 

Dan: greet us the same as him.

You know, they go and sit us at a nice place and took really good care of us. It was just over and over and over shown how important those relationships are. And if I were to say a couple of takeaways from Morocco as a whole, It is a country full of very warm, very kind people. Now, you know, like any broad cross section group of people, you're going to have people on all sides of the spectrum, right?

But as a whole, Moroccans were incredibly warm, open, and friendly. Relationships, you can tell, are important to them. It was nice to experience that more closely than we would have if we didn't have somebody there helping us see what that was like. 

Azdean: I absolutely, completely agree. That's amazing. Uh, what else can you tell us about Chefchaouen?

Dan: They have the most amazing peanuts that are like boiled in honey. 

Azdean: So the next stop that you have, did you get a chance to see Volibilis, the Roman ruins? Yeah. How was it for you and how much time did you spend doing it? [00:18:00] 

Dan: One thing that was really fun about that is our local guide there lived on a farm, so we spent a third of the time talking about farming and the other two thirds of the time talking about the Roman ruins, but I really like Roman ruins.

Personally, I've tried to see them anywhere that I go. These were really, really interesting because I didn't realize what a Roman presence that there had been in Morocco. And even more than that was how impressive what they built was. So, you know, when I've gone to Rome, it's amazing when you see a fountain that they've built, but it's expected as well, right?

It's like, well, it's Rome, you know, this is amazing, but of course they're going to do this here. The thing that was so amazing about those ruins is that they had the same attention to detail, the same architecture, the same arches with the fountains, the same mosaics on the floors, the same bath houses. It was fascinating to see.

And the other thing that was really interesting was that it was in such close proximity to, and I can't remember the name of the [00:19:00] city, but it was, correct me if I'm wrong, but it's where the Arabs very first came and settled. 

Azdean: Um, Moulay Idriss Rahoum. 

Dan: Yeah. And it looks like a camel with two humps, the city.

And you can see that from the ruins. That was really interesting to see how those cultures have come together and have all kind of melded to create what Morocco is today. 

Azdean: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Did you get a chance to see the museum? 

Dan: Yeah, yeah. The museum was really interesting. Our local guide gave us plenty of time to go through that.

And when we were finished with that, as always, Ilyas was waiting for us with his yellow hat and Abdul was waiting for us with his gigantic smile. And, you know, we hopped in the van and then Abdul had this, we called it the magic van with the magic cooler because it magically was wherever you needed it to be at the exact right moment.

Like we're walking across the square in Marrakech and it, you know, it's crazy and it's busy We're like, I wonder how far we're gonna have to walk to get to the van. And it's parked right in the middle of the square, . And it's like, there it, it's, and that duals there with this 

Cierra: amazing smile, with this amazing 

Dan: smile and cold water.

It [00:20:00] was fantastic. Wonderful. So, but yeah, so we hopped in the Amazing van and the other thing that was so enjoyable is some of the places that we visited were separated by a pretty long drive. 

Azdean: Yes. 

Dan: And we didn't run out of things to talk about on the drive because. Everywhere we went, there was something to point out or talk about or an experience to share, things like that.

And it was so much fun. Just little things like when we're going to air food, we drive through this little town and Abdul, our driver says, well, this is where my mom and dad met. And this is where they were born. This is how they met. And we're driving down the road and he stops at a stand and he's like, this is where my friend sells dates.

And so we buy dates and we talked to them and we keep going. Even the drives were enjoyable. We had both made sure that we had, you know, things to listen to on our phone or whatever, because we thought that, you know, it'd be kind of a long, boring drive and it would be tired, but we were like chatty, chatty, chatty the whole time because there was so much information to absorb, even in between destinations.

Azdean: That's amazing. So your next up is [00:21:00] Fes. 

Cierra: We were talking with Ilyas about American slang or what are they called? 

Dan: Sayings like, um, 

Cierra: like a hole in the wall, like 

Dan: good night, sleep tight, you know, things like that. 

Cierra: So we were having this very long conversation and going back and forth about different, and Ilyas told us a bunch that are in Arabic that he translated for us, there was a bunch of similarities, like when you're cuckoo, like when you're crazy.

He called it, The Bird Left the Nest, The Bird Left the Nest. And so we thought that was interesting, but we were explaining to him hole in the wall. And he was like, I'm going to take you to a hole in the wall. And it was literally, A hole in the wall. 

Dan: There's literally a hole in the wall. And for those who aren't familiar, a hole in the wall is a local restaurant with amazing food that nobody knows about, but locals.

And so he said, yeah, I'm going to take you to a hole in the wall. And then he said, do you want to try eating camel? My answer to, do you want to try eating fill in the blank with [00:22:00] whatever is absolutely, I may not eat it the second time, but I'll eat anything a first time. He brings us down these narrow winding corridors and we're the only tourists there, right?

It's like pretty obvious. And there's this little restaurant and they're cooking camel, like ground camel in like a meatball shape. And they're cooking it. And then just across the alley is literally a hole that was knocked into the building. They put some tables and things in it. So we sat down. 

Cierra: They put a table, a small table in it.

Dan: Oh wow. Cause that's all 

Cierra: that was. 

Dan: So we ordered camel. 

Cierra: burgers, 

Dan: burgers, meatballs. And another couple showed up. They sat down. She was French, but he was from Morocco. He was Moroccan. I see. They live in France. So we're talking to him and he said, yeah, I'm from Morocco. Every time we come to Morocco, this is the place that we come to because it is the best food in the city.

Oh, wow. I was like, well, that just confirmed exactly what we need to hear. And it was really fun because they put all of [00:23:00] the food on the table and the two of us and Ilyas and the couple that was there at the table, we all ate communally off of the same plates and talked the entire time. 

Azdean: That's incredible.

That's incredible. You know, it's funny. We did an episode with Maxx a few months back and Angel and they had the same thing. Angel did by herself because she went with the group and Maxx, she went with Ilyas. They had a camel burger as well. So it seems like it's going to be a trend from now on, just for a lot of people to have a camel burger or meatball.

I had one. Just a tagine, but it was, I couldn't eat for a long time, so I loved it. I loved it. 

Cierra: It was actually delicious. I was a little anxious. I'm not as ambitious with food as Dan is, but it smelled amazing. So I was like, I gotta try it. 

Dan: If I had the opportunity here in the States to order one of those or a cheeseburger, there's no way I'd order a cheeseburger.

So if you do go there, you're not taking a leap of faith to try one of those. You absolutely should do that. Perfect. 

Azdean: [00:24:00] Perfect. How was Fes for you? 

Cierra: I got the best pictures in the Medina. Beautiful architecture everywhere, cedar ceilings, and they have tombstone, but it's not a tombstone, 

Dan: it's like a room.

It's the entry outside of where somebody's buried and they always make them super ornate with the mosaic and, you know, the carved plaster and things. Experiencing the Medina was really fun, and everywhere that we went, Ilyas would come with us, and then we'd have a local guide, just so that that makes sense.

But, he was originally from there, and he was able to show us where they got water when he was a child, and some of the things that have happened, you know, like, changed over time. 

Azdean: Yeah, Fes has the tanneries, it has the King's Palace, it has the Jewish Quarter, then the cemetery. The downtown is, it's the biggest, it's about 9, 000, 10, 000 different streets, so it's easily, you can easily get lost in the Medina of Fes.

Dan: We went to a place where they make tangeens. We went to a number of different places and [00:25:00] watched the artisans build things, and that was a really, really fun experience. We thoroughly enjoyed Fez. One of the experiences that we had, we went to a mosque there, and Cierra needed to use the restroom. So we asked, we told Ilyas, hey we need to use the restroom.

And he was friends with the gentleman who was responsible for taking care of the entry for going into the mosque and things like that. So where's the closest good restroom? And he said, Oh, it's right here. And he went to an area that wasn't part of the tour. Wasn't somewhere that people were ordinarily allowed, opened it up.

And when I say like restroom, it should have been part of the tour. Mosaic was incredible. Carved marble, cedar wood, everything. It was absolutely stunning. And there was nobody there and it was large. It was probably 20 meters. No, maybe not that big. It was probably 10 meters by like five meters. It was, it was pretty big.

And so we took a million pictures in there. And it was like, just one of those things where, because the two men know each other [00:26:00] and he says, Hey, can you help us out? We had an experience that again, we never would have had on our own. We would have been. You know, walking down the street and trying to find somewhere.

And it was just a lot of fun. Oh, I'm so glad to hear that. 

Cierra: It was the most beautiful restroom I've ever seen. And I almost didn't want to use it because it was so gorgeous. Yeah. 

Dan: Yeah. So just imagine, The attention to detail and the love that goes into the crafting of that type of a building, it carried into the restroom and it may seem like a little bit of a, of a weird thing, but our trip was made up of experiences like that, that we were surprised and overwhelmed consistently.

One thing that was kind of fun is we'd go into the Medina. Ilias would bring us in somewhere to go see something or do something. And then he would challenge me to find our way back out. And I would bumble through it and I might, I would eventually make it out. I might be three or four streets down from where we came in.

And he's like, ah, close enough, but you know, 

Azdean: That's impressive. 

Dan: Was fun. 

Azdean: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. 

Dan: Ilias was super good at helping us know [00:27:00] what was authentic and what was a Chinese fake. and helping us make sure that we knew that we were getting a price that was fair to the person selling it and fair to us because we want them to make a living but we also don't want to be pay more than we need to.

Of course. He was so good at helping us navigate that. He was good at helping us navigate it in a way that wasn't socially awkward. 

Azdean: Ilyas is a tour leader and tour leader is a must for us. They come with the tour. When you book a tour with us, they have to be, that stays with you 24 seven. That you will get a driver that stays with you 24 seven.

We don't say, Oh, we can pick you up at 8am and we'll finish at 8pm or whatever. No, it's, they're always available for you. One of the jobs for Ilyas, he's your protector, he's your assistant, he's your concierge. He's there for you to enhance your experience and when he says something that it's not right, he steps in and say, Hey, you know what?

That's not fair. That's too much. Can you take it for this price? And if he says no, then he'll tell you, just walk away. He's done it for a lot of clients. And the reason why we added tour leaders to our tours [00:28:00] is because we got taken advantage of. I hate that happening to us and I hate for that to happen to anybody who's traveling with us because it's just not right and it's not fair.

So that's why anybody that we work with as a tour leader, they know exactly what to do. They know exactly what to recommend. They know exactly when to step in and say, Hey, you know what? This is not a good price. If you need rugs, I know first you can find some, you can find some in Marrakech, but you know what?

Let's wait until we go to Aït Binhaddou and I'll get you the best rugs for a lot cheaper, for example. So that's, you know, thank you for mentioning that because it is very, very crucial. So talking about Fes, Fes is one of my favorite cities. I love Fes. It's incredible for me. It was the biggest, the most positive experience for me when I visited the first time.

I can't forget it It's just I love it I love it And one of the things that I loved about Fes was the riads. The riads in Fes are just something else and I know that you have stayed in Riad Ghita It's a really, really nice hotel, but I wanted to, if you would please talk a little bit about it, share your experience with the audience about the riad that you have [00:29:00] stayed in.

Cierra: Yeah. So at Riad Gita, there was a lady that was managing the building. She has two buildings. And so we ate breakfast in the main building, but we were in the other building on the very top floor. which is a lot of stairs. We decided that Morocco is the land of stairs because everywhere you go you just have to climb up all the flights of stairs.

But she took us to the other building, she showed us our room. I think we were the only ones in that entire building. 

Dan: You know, in talking about accommodations, let me touch on our accommodations just as a whole, and then I'd like to talk about those, if that's okay. We never had two nights where the accommodations were similar to any other nights.

And so we got a really broad experience of what that was like. Some of the buildings were very, very old, extremely good condition and beautiful. We stayed in one that was modern, built maybe in the last 15 years, but it was again, top notch, [00:30:00] absolutely stunning. And something that really stood out to me about the accommodations.

And I talked to Ilyas about this and he emphatically agreed with it. Is that when you go in those big groups of like 30 people or 40 people, They can't stay at those type of accommodations because those accommodations might only have three rooms or five rooms or six rooms. The really magical place that we stayed in Chefchaouen and we had breakfast on the roof.

There were three other couples there with us. That was it. 

Azdean: Oh, wow. 

Dan: It's very small. And because the private guided tours are smaller, there is a lot more latitude to really choose the best example of the accommodations in each of these places. We are really sad to leave Fez because we loved our room there, but we loved every room.

Every room was great. We flew to Morocco with an itinerary and a game plan. And we were told over and over and over again, if you want to change something, if you want more time here, if you want less time, if you want to go over there, you tell us and [00:31:00] we'll do it. And so it wasn't even like it was our itinerary.

And once the ball is rolling, It can't be changed. It was continual feedback. Are these days too long? Do we need to make them shorter? Is there somewhere you love and you want more time? I never felt like I was on a tour with a tour company. I always felt like I had flown to Morocco. Linked up with a long lost friend and spent the entire time going around the country with one of my best friends.

I never felt like it was anything other than I'm having a lot of fun with a really good friend I've known for a long time. 

Azdean: Oh, wow. Thank you so much for that. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, I don't know how, how to respond to that. Wow. That's, that's incredible. Thank you for that. Thank you. Thank you. 

Dan: We were looking through pictures and there's a picture of Cierra and I in a, the city where they filmed like gladiator and.

Yeah, where we went and saw the rugs. Yeah. So we have this picture and we're looking at, and we love the picture and we could see clear down in the background, like maybe a hundred meters or [00:32:00] 150 meters away in the background. We could see Abdul with the van parked waiting for us. And we're laughing because we're like, We didn't even know he was there.

Like we didn't even know he was there. We're doing our thing and, you know, having, having the time of our life. And sure enough, you know, he's one step ahead of us with the van wherever we need it. Yeah. It was just, it was so much fun. 

Azdean: That's incredible. So much fun. That's incredible. 

Cierra: In Fez, we went to the ceramics.

We fell in love with the owner. He was just so charismatic and so fun. Yeah. He was just a lot of fun. They allowed us to make our own pottery. Pottery Barn And we were still kind of new, uh, tipping is customary in Moroccan culture. And we wanted to make sure that we were respecting that and like trying to pay people fairly.

But we accidentally gave the guy who gave us an incredible experience with the pottery wheel. We actually gave him. 

Dan: Not enough, 

Cierra: not enough 

Dan: because we're trying to figure out what's customary. But then the other part of it is we're trying to learn a new [00:33:00] currency, right? So like you try and do the exchange in your mind and you're like, I don't know if I gave him a dollar or a thousand dollars.

Right. And this is actually a really good example of how well the tour leader, you know, how helpful it was. So the gentleman who we did the potter's wheel thing with, he was super fun. So I gave him a tip. I always like to tip well, cause I feel like people deserve that, but I got it wrong. I did the exchange rate in my head completely wrong.

Right. So I tipped him, you know, we're walking away and he was like, 

Cierra: thank you so much. And he was the guy that 

Dan: we tipped us so grateful, super grateful. He's like, thank you so much. I'm so grateful. 

Cierra: Yeah. And so we're 

Dan: walking away and Ilyas had watched and he saw how much we gave and he realized it wasn't enough.

And so without drawing any attention or anything like that, he very quietly came over and said, thank you so much. We really appreciate it. And then tips the guy again to get the tip to where it should have been. Right. The only reason that we even saw that because Ilyas wouldn't have said anything. The only reason that we even saw is I happened to look back and saw that.

And so in my mind, I always want to be doing the right thing for [00:34:00] people because relationships to me are really important. I said, Hey, did I get that off? He's like, well, I mean, it was maybe not what it should have been. And he was again, very, Did it make me feel bad or anything? You said, you know, he did this and this and this, and you gave him this amount.

And then I do the exchange rate in my head. I'm like, Oh yeah, that was apparently I can't do math. 

Azdean: I mean, the exchange, trust me. I mean, for me, I can do it now because I've done it for a long time, but sometimes it takes a little bit of practice to get it right. I want to go to Merzouga, to the desert.

Cierra: Let's go to Merzouga. 

Azdean: Okay. 

Cierra: I went to Morocco and I told Dan the only thing that he had to do for me that was exclusively my wish was ride a camel in the desert. The camels were very animated, which I was surprised to see. I've ridden a camel one other time at a zoo in Florida, but it wasn't near the experience that this was.

So we went out, we chose the most beautiful camels that we could find. 

Azdean: Nice. [00:35:00] 

Cierra: And then, and then the camel took us, it was about like a half an hour ride to the desert camp. And it's not just like a camp, it's a luxury camp. 

Azdean: Yes, yeah, 

Cierra: and the tents have showers and then you walk out into the sand and there's carpets Connecting all the fire pits together So our camel friends took us out there and then they were parked outside of the tent all night for in the morning So we got to go visit them first thing when we woke up in the morning.

We got up to see the sunrise Oh, but before we got up They were playing the drums by the campfire and they had a hookah. 

Azdean: Oh, wow. 

Cierra: It reminded me of something off of Aladdin. 

Azdean: So 

Cierra: then we went and saw the sunrise. We got to visit our camel friends and we just sat on the mountain. and watch the sunrise. And Dan was nervous about riding the camel back, so he kind of took a minute to decide if he was [00:36:00] going to.

And then he decided, this is a like once in a lifetime experience. I was 

Dan: feeling a little bit sick. That's the reason why. Oh, okay. 

Cierra: Yeah. He's like, you know what? This is a once in a lifetime experience. We really need to ride this camel back. 

Dan: I grew up in Southeastern Utah, Canyonlands Arches National Park, 

Cierra: Moab, 

Dan: Utah.

It's absolutely beautiful. The drive out to the desert camp, and I said this many, many times driving around Morocco, it felt like I was driving around my home because the topography, the climate, everything was so similar to Southeast Utah, except Southeast Utah doesn't have date trees, right? Or camels. So it was really, really interesting.

I told Ilyas, you know, over and over and over. I'm like, this feels like home. And I would pull up a picture of home And I would show it to him and it would be similar to the area we're at. But the ride out was really, really fun. And again, that's where we went through that small town where Abdul said, you know, this is where my mom and dad met and we stopped and got dates at a [00:37:00] little thing where he knew the owners of the store.

My preference is to not do the touristy thing and to really just see the culture and stuff. And so that was. Maybe one of my little pieces of apprehension about is I didn't want to feel like I was just doing a tourist thing and getting herded along with the rest of the cattle. So that's why I told Cierra, I'm like, nah, I'm not really all that interested in riding a camel.

And I was so wrong. It was so neat. Now there were other camps out there that I could see that were big and they just had huge groups of people going out there. The one we went to was really small. There was one other couple, maybe only two other couples, but no more than two additional couples. The people who worked in the camp, they were, yeah, Jamil, we spent the entire evening sitting there and talking to him and looking at the stars and asking him about what his life was like and what it's like out on the desert.

And he talked to us about how his mom is older and he's really enjoyed having the camp because it allowed him to get her a place in town. So it's a little easier for her to get around [00:38:00] and things like that. And it was once again, an amazing experience. You know, Cierra and I are like really kindred spirits.

We love doing everything together. We just have so much fun together. The trip to Morocco was just super romantic for us. It wasn't planned to be a romantic trip. It was just planned to be an adventurous, let's go eat some great food. It's a romantic country. It is. There's so many places that are special, 

Cierra: you 

Dan: know, in the desert camp was one of those for us.

We laid on the rugs and looked up at the stars. When I say look up at the stars, you haven't looked up at the stars until you've done it somewhere with no light pollution, because there's no light pollution, you know, you can see every star and of course, Ilias was right there pointing out every constellation, giving this story of every constellation.



Dan: One of my favorite experiences in Morocco and one of my favorite things that we brought home happened, and I don't want to say by chance, but it's one of those things that happened in it. And I'll tell you the [00:39:00] story, but to me, it really illustrated how amazing the country is and the people in the country.

So. There's a underground series of tunnels that were carved in order to bring water from the mountains all the way out to the desert so they could use it for agriculture and things like that. And Ilia stopped at one of these where we could actually go down inside and see what it looked like and see how it was built.

And that in and of itself was really, really cool. We had just barely left a store. We'd also left the date place and bought a bunch of dates, but we had left a store that sold fossils and I already bought kind of the fossils I wanted, right? But there was a gentleman there and what he was doing is he was working on the tunnels, he would find additional fossils.

So you had a little table, like a card table with a bunch of fossils on it. Cierra was doing something. So I just was looking at him and he was seeing if I wanted to buy any of them. And I was like, well, no, not really. You know, I'm, he was very polite. I was like, no, I'm don't really want anything. There were two I was looking out.

One of them, it was more [00:40:00] expensive. And then there was a smaller one that was less expensive. And I decided we'll buy the smaller, this less expensive one. So I purchased it from him and he's helping me wrap it up so that we can ship it. Cierra says, cause she's always kind. She says, Hey, we have these dates.

And I was like, Oh yeah, we have these dates. And so we took the dates out and I said, Hey, would you like one? And this was something that culturally I picked up on and I thought, and maybe it's not cultural, maybe it's Ilias, but I think it's the culture. And it was really cool. Ilias looked at the box of dates and picked out the best one and said, I like this one for you and gave it to the gentleman.

And the reason why that's so cool is if you look at a plate of something there, you know, a lot of times there's the best and the worst. And if you're polite, you never take the best. But if the host specifically singles out that best one and gives it to you, he's really saying, we both recognize this is the best.

And I want you to have the best of what I have. Right? So we have these dates and he says, I want you to have this one. And he gave him [00:41:00] three of them. And the gentleman was super grateful. and he walked back to his table. He got the fossil. The more expensive one came back and said, I would like you to have this as a gift.

Thank you so much. 

Cierra: I want this for you. 

Dan: Yeah. He said, I want this for you. And we were like completely blown away. It was such a cool experience. And we got in the car and Ilya said, see how a date can open up the world. And we're like, we're back to, it's like, Big, amazing mosque, and that's beautiful. But so many of the things that made us fall in love with Morocco were these little things, just little things that happened.

Azdean: That's incredible. It is cultural, and that's our Berber culture. Sometimes when you walk into a village, people will ask you, Hey, then Cierra, come get a cup of tea. And if you say no, they really do get offended. So you can go in. At least take a sip of that tea and then you can walk out. Then the next house will say the same thing to you.

So between the beginning and the end of the village, a lot of people ask you because you go into their house, they see it as a blessing. You're blessing their [00:42:00] house. It's a cultural thing. And also they'll give you whatever they have the best of. And you cannot say no. That's the culture. You cannot say 

Cierra: no.

After that, we went to Marrakech and I was just looking at all the amazing things that we did in Marrakech. 

Azdean: Yes, you stayed three days. 

Dan: Yeah, when I think of Marrakech, I think of Tangier. 

Azdean: Tangier, yes. Oh my God. 

Dan: Yeah, so we went out for that. Think of the best meat you've ever had and then make it better, that's Tangier.

Cierra: Okay, let me describe it. Cierra's 

Dan: the cook, I'm just, I'm the consumer. 

Cierra: So it's a red clay pot that they put tinfoil over the top of, and then they put it underground in a fire for like, 8 to 12 hours, and when they pull it out, it, it's like, Seriously melts in your mouth like cotton candy. It is just so tender and juicy and delicious.

And a lot of times this is made with like lamb or goat. 

Azdean: Beef. 

Cierra: Yeah. But we wanted goat. 

Azdean: Yeah. A goat is the best. Yeah. 

Cierra: [00:43:00] Goat is really good. And we feel bad because we have goats. 

Dan: Now we look at our goats and we know what they could taste like. 

Cierra: Yeah! 

Azdean: Yeah, tanjia, it's a very special dish that is connected to Marrakech as some of the dishes are connected to specific cities.

The spices are very different. They use certain type of spices and the way that it's buried under the fire, it's really, really important. I'm so glad that he got to experience that. That's one of my favorite things to actually eat is the tangerine. It's just amazing. Like you said, you know, the meat just falls apart, very soft, tender, and very juicy and flavorful.

Dan: Yeah. And, uh, what's the dish where they, they put the entire sheep down in a hole in the ground, Yeah. And so it's like a big kiln below ground and this is different than the 

Azdean: Tangia, yeah. 

Dan: So they put the entire animal below ground and then they just let it sit there and cook really, really slowly over a long period of time.

We went out and had that for lunch. And, uh, obviously all of the dish is [00:44:00] what you would expect. Just delicious. But Ilyas made sure that we also got the head. 

Azdean: Oh my god! 

Dan: Then I ate the head and there was one, only one eyeball. So I let him have it and it was actually, the head was good. It's the best part.

Now it wasn't like as good as camel. If you go to Marrakech, you don't have to eat that. Just stick with the English muffin looking bread. You'll be super happy. Yeah. 

Cierra: Chocolate croissants all day long. 

Dan: Every meal has a lot of variety. It's not. Here's your main dish and here's a side. It's here's 27 sides.

Oh, and by the way, there's also a main dish 

Azdean: and dessert. Yeah. 

Dan: Yeah. 

Azdean: That's amazing. So we're getting close to the end of the episode. I also want to talk about when I saw your pictures in Merzouga, it really inspired me, they really, really touched me. You guys look so crazy in love about each other. And I made a phone call to Sam and I said, Hey, Sam, here's what's going on.

Sam was able to put something really quick for you. For that day that you were supposed to have a relaxing day. If you can tell us [00:45:00] about your experience, please. 

Cierra: Absolutely. So the last day was a day of leisure. And instead of that, you guys so graciously organized us to get remarried in a traditional Berber way.

And it was really fun. I was more nervous for our Moroccan wedding than I was for our actual wedding. 

Azdean: Oh my goodness. 

Cierra: Which is so funny, but what happened is we went out to the desert and there they had four wheelers. Yes. That we rode out into the desert. My husband rides motorcycles, so he wanted to go way faster than the group was allowing us to.

Dan: But that's okay. I just told myself, I'm going to look at all the beauty because it's not a race. And then it became really fun. Oh wow. 

Cierra: So then after that, we had a professional photographer and a henna tattoo artist with us. They were [00:46:00] lovely people. We really enjoyed them. She did henna tattoos and she's like, anything you want, like anything you want.

And I was like, wow, like I don't want to do too much, but I got a whole arm sleeve, beautiful, and I got a little bit on my feet and then I got a Fatima hand on my hand and my husband got, why don't you talk about it? 

Dan: When we showed up, they had traditional Moroccan wedding clothes for us that we put on, which is really cool.

Cierra was getting her henna tattoos done and it was really intricate. It probably took, I don't know, an hour and a half. 

Azdean: Yeah. 

Dan: It took a long time. So while she was doing that, the sun was going down and I again, went out and I laid on a rug. They had a fire and torches and stuff like that. So the lighting was really good.

Yeah. And there were some drums and singing. I laid on the rug and I just looked at the stars and just had the best time because life in the United States often is so hectic. And to be [00:47:00] able to just stop, I just loved it and feel the wind, feel the wind on my face and feel the cool of the desert. I just loved it.

And then when Cierra was done with her henna tattoo, I went over. I didn't get something that was traditional Moroccan. I got something that was really meaningful to me. My mom's ancestry goes to the Isle of Man and my dad's goes to Scotland. The coat of the Isle of Man is three legs arrayed kind of in a star shape.

And the saying is no matter how you throw us, we land on our feet, basically. So I had that done on my forearm. And then I also had a Celtic knot done on my forearm, which represented both sides of my parents and their roots. And then Cierra and I enjoyed the evening together, had an amazing meal again. 

Cierra: We awkwardly danced.

Dan: We awkwardly danced. That was just a lot of fun. You know, usually when I finish a trip, I'm ready to go home. And I wasn't, I wasn't, I wasn't, we, yeah, if we [00:48:00] could move our kids and our animals over, we would. In fact, we started looking at places to buy in Morocco. 

Azdean: Oh my goodness. 

Dan: And, you know, we're already like trying to get all of our friends and family to go back.

There's only been at this point, I think I've only have 10 countries I've ever repeated a trip to, you know, like Switzerland, Scotland, there's a few that I've really, really loved. Morocco is so incredible. We really loved our time in Morocco. We love the people. 

Azdean: Thank you. Thank you. 

Dan: I think that Destination Morocco probably attracts people who genuinely care because that was our experience across the board with every person we interacted with. 

Azdean: Thank you. Thank you so much. We really, really appreciate that. Anything else you want to say before we say goodbyes? 

Dan: All in all, it was a wonderful experience.

We just wanted to end with, we loved it. We traveled to Morocco with very high expectations, which we don't usually do, but we thought it'd be an amazing country. Everything that we experienced exceeded those expectations.

It was a magical experience for us. 

Azdean: Oh, wow. 

Cierra: Yes. 

Azdean: Well, [00:49:00] thank you so much for that. Thank you. Thank you. So, thank you for being on the podcast. And it's been a lot of pleasure hosting you in our country. And when we help somebody, especially when I build an itinerary with my team, and when you go to Morocco, a part of me really goes with you.

It sounds kind of weird, but it does. You may not see me, may not contact you, but I'm behind you, me and Sam. I'm so glad everything turned out the way that it did. And thank you for the opportunity.

Thanks for joining us this week on the Destination Morocco podcast, our dedicated show website. DestinationMoroccoPodcast. com is where you can find all of our episodes, leave a review, find our social media links, and even register as a guest. If you have been to Morocco yourself and would love to share a story, advice, or recommendations, you're welcome to participate in our podcast.

Whether it's a 5 minute story or a full conversation, [00:50:00] we will guide you through the steps so that you can share your experience with our listeners. We will be back soon enough with new episode for you as we continue our exploration of the beautiful country of Morocco. See you then.