Morocco is NOT What we Expected | Our True First Impressions

well welcome to Morocco we are in Africa that's right we have finally arrived and this week we're starting to make our way down the coast stopping in ancient wall towns gorging on all the gorgeous food we can get our gobs around we're diving into some of Morocco's famous medinas for a taste of local life and we also pay a visit to the largest mosque in Africa we hope you enjoy coming along with us it just feels crazy that we just hopped on a ferry and went to a different continent right absolutely it's not sunken yet the culture feels so different we've got no idea what's going on we got off the ferry and made a beeline for the coast and arrived at one of the first towns that we did a little bit of research about this place is called asila and and yeah we've just come in to explore and we don't know what happens at what times of day in Morocco it seems like everything's kind of just setting up right yeah it's like it's almost one o'clock yeah exactly so I don't know we've got a lot of stuff to learn but we are very very excited to be here [Music] I have no idea but I saw someone else getting it and it looked and smelled delicious so I thought well might as well give it a try and it's burning my hand it's so hot it's delicious let's check it out what it is yeah chickpeas yeah it's like soft in the middle and then like crispy on the top almost like a bit of cheese um so yeah our first bit of Moroccan street food right what's it work out [Music] is well known for its heart and in fact each year they give the rules a Fresh coat of white paint and invite artists from all over the world to come and create new murals [Music] town is surrounded by fortified walls which date back to the 15th century when they were built by the Portuguese and Incredibly they're still completely intact one of the main reasons why we've been really looking forward to coming to Morocco is to try the food if are you gonna make a joke about [Laughter] me you can take the lass out of Yorkshire you know having stray animals all around us while we're eating you can't Concentra and having a dinner because she's just like oh pets we had a pretty chill day yesterday and afterwards I had a look around the Medina and had some lunch we went back and just chilled out at the campsite this morning we are heading out to somewhere that I've read does a really good Moroccan breakfast no idea what that is um but it sounds good this is our first experience of breakfast in Morocco really quite excited about it it looks great right it looks amazing 80s raring to get going I think she's hungry yeah we've just gone for a selection of a few different things and yeah it looks really good there's not really much point in eating in the van because that breakfast was absolutely amazing it was like a feast it was huge there was so much food and it came to three pounds it's just ridiculous well we stayed in town and had lunch not that it's particularly far away it's like I don't know what would you say a 10 minutes yeah to the campsite um but we thought we'd get lunch while we were in there because Jay remembered that he'd read that it's couscous Fridays and it's Friday today um I think it's a bit like we have like fish Fridays in the UK um so a lot of restaurants only serve couscous on a Friday like it's a specialty so that's what you had it is yeah it was good no it was really good no I don't like couscous usually I've never had a couscous that I have liked I don't think actually and this was a completely different flavor to what I expected and I've just Googled all about it and it's flavored with this uh clarified butter or fermented butter here which gives it like this kind of cheesy flavor it was really really delicious we actually loved it so much here that we decided to spend Christmas in asila and so it took a few days of downtime just to relax and explore the town outside of the old walls [Music] we are finally leaving the campsite yes we've been here how long just under a week six days yeah it's not that long actually no we're just settling into Morocco you know absolutely yeah and a great place to do it as well [Music] yeah now I have a question for you friends what is the capital of Morocco did you say Marrakesh I bet you did if you said Marrakesh you were wrong and if you said Casablanca you were wrong he said Fez you were wrong it is in fact a place called rabbat and I must admit I did not know that until last week we have just rocked up in Rabat now we don't really know a great deal about it but from just having driven through it for the past 10 minutes it looks pretty incredible it seems like a real mixture of the ancient and brand new because there are some really old buildings and some fantastically new structures as well that had just been built we are really excited to go out and explore so we're going to head out and do that now the place that we are parked at is just a standard car park um it's got security there and it closes overnight although they did say it's fine for us to stay there during the night so we've got to be back by 10 o'clock because that's when they close the gates and I'm assuming we would get locked out and not be able to get back in because the van's locked in so so yeah that's where we are part it seems great um it's right next to the Medina and a restaurant that we just went to that we were recommended by a friend of James brother who he's been a loads of time so he's given us loads of good recommendations and he was good right it was really good yes delicious foods the actual building itself was beautiful the decorations and stuff and a really nice atmosphere [Music] so we've had an excellent day shopping this afternoon yes it's been really fun actually the market here is incredible and not as busy or as happily yeah that's because I was gonna try and find the right word for it not as hastily as we expected because we've read a fair amount about Morocco and particularly about the Medina's a lot of people just say that you get hassled to death we didn't at all no we didn't we were able to look and choose what we wanted and obviously people wanted to sell you things but very friendly and not pushy it was fine we had a really peaceful night's sleep last night to say we're right in the city center next to the Medina just didn't really hear anything at all um heard the guard outside of the guard dog now and again checking on things and but yeah it just felt really safe and yeah had a cracking night's sleep and this morning we are heading out into the Medina again to find some breakfast well it's quarter to 11 but it kind of seems like everything's only just getting settled right yes there's a few places that are properly open but most places are just swinging their doors open and getting their stuff out so yeah we might have to wait a bit for breakfast I'm not entirely sure I'm going to ask the name in a minute but there's some sort of a flatbread here looks great and it's still hot oh wow well I just asked the lady at the store who sold them to us what they were she said the Crepes a little bit embarrassing she also laughed at me but I'm gonna try it now anyway it's delicious as far as we know it we're really enjoying wandering through the market today and we came down this exact part of it yesterday and it just wasn't here all of these food stores and stuff were not anywhere to be seen so it must change in different parts during the day and I reckon the the fruit and vegetables and the meat and everything that we can see today must be kind of early morning stuff because we were here later in the day last night so we're gonna carry on having a little walk see what we can find to buy and um where we end up we weren't too hopeful that we would like Rabat because being the capital city and a major port as well we wrongly assumed that it might be a bit rough around the edges and too busy for us in reality it's a really cool modern city full of life and we ended up loving it plus mommy Aziz does a mean fade and beard trim for just one pound 59. [Music] ages just woke up it's safe where did she must go to sleep and wake up in a new destination um but yeah she's already just absolutely besotted by the chickens that are out there so I reckon she's probably gonna try and catch one later she really wants to leave here that's for sure we've only just got into the market here and we've already stopped at one of the first stores it's got all these amazing Sweet Treats on so we are trying some of those and I'm gonna take some with us you're gonna have to um brush your teeth I know they're super sweet and I think you poured sugar onto them as well he's just giving us a load of tasters and they're absolutely delicious so I'm looking forward to having these lately do they look amazing yes I've not seen these anywhere either these look like Habaneros yeah Scotch bonnets so something we've noticed they do here in Morocco is that you just put all your fruit and veggies in the same bag and they just weigh it and that's one all the same price yeah Jay have you seen they've got Sprouts yeah I know we could have made a Christmas dinner [Music] we are out with our new friends today away with the Steiners hello I'll let you guys introduce yourselves we're a traveling family we have been backpacking around the whole world around Asia in the Middle East for four years now and we have recently just started van life in Europe and Morocco so we just arrived in Morocco about two weeks ago and pulled up next to this white stealth looking she used yeah of and we've been sort of like yeah a bit of a convoy down the coast yeah it's awesome to meet you guys and thanks for outing today if you're not familiar with these guys yet then we'd highly recommend you check out their Awesome YouTube channel they've been to tons of really interesting places and they're an absolutely lovely family plus they make really immersive videos that make you feel like you're there with them on their travels these guys discovered this Market the other day they heard about it from the people at the campsite that we're staying on and um they said it was really cool and it is proper local it's not touristy in this lightest and um it's got tons of fresh produce so we're I'm like in heaven here just picking up stuff to cook with and um they're going to take us to this donut shop that they found the other day so I'm really excited to try those [Music] we thought we'd come to the end of the market but this place is absolutely vast and across the road and there's a whole nother section it just goes on forever I know you said you weren't gonna cook that much because is so affordable to eat out yeah but this fruit of veg is just like amazing right yeah I just want to buy everything it just looks incredible and it just smells amazing it's like perfectly ripe oh yeah love it [Music] it's really good very sweet a ton of sugar in it but yeah it's very nice well unfortunately we got to the donut place and it was closed we don't know why but um it was just all shut up it was the only place in the market that was closed however yeah it was a real shame but we went and found a really cool place that did mint tea so we stood there and had a few of those and just had another one through the market and it is absolutely fantastic really enjoyed it the concert that we're on has a restaurant attached to it and they do takeaway to jeans so we've got ourselves wood tonight and we're just gonna sit outside the bath and enjoy it wow that's good it looks really good well after nearly a week we are leaving the campsite that we've been at it's been amazing right it's been really good just a relaxing week basically exactly what we needed but we're ready to get back on the move again and see some sight we are heading down to Casablanca today to the big city um we are going to do some exploring there but just as excited as going to a new place is we are going with our new friends we're going to be meeting away with the Steiners there and exploring Casablanca with them [Music] we've parked up right next to the mosque that we are going to visit it's like basically on the next street right yeah it's in this Shadow it was 50. Durham to park there for the night it's just like in a guarded car park looks safe so yeah fingers crossed that's gonna be okay we're gonna actually go to the mosque in the morning though right yeah we had a quick look this afternoon and it was just really busy there was loads of queues loads of tourists there and I had a read and a blog post that basically said that in the afternoon a load of tour buses turn up and that's when it's most busy so because we're parked just outside it we may as well take advantage of that and go first thing in the morning yeah yeah no it sounds like a good idea and um right now we are going to try and find the Medina which we looked on the map it needs like 45 minutes walk away um but it looks like it's through like loads of like interesting alleys and streets and stuff so yeah we're heading down there now and we're gonna have a little explore well we thought it was quite a walk away but it's actually not we've walked like five minutes and we're already in it I think it's just that big um that when we kind of Googled where it was it showed us the center but yeah we've just got into the edge of it and yeah it looks great [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] so this keeps happening everywhere all over Morocco that everyone thinks he's from here he was just talking to those guys back there they were like you look like you're from Marrakech one of the things that has been so welcoming about Morocco so far is the hospitality we've had we just sat down for a mint tea Cafe and one of the other guys there bought it for us who showed us how to pour it how it's drunk and stuff and in the end he paid for it as well he wouldn't let us pay so just incredible hospitality the next morning we were up bright and early Before Sunrise to get ready for our trip to the Hassan the second mosque just straight away the scale of this place is absolutely huge right just absolutely mesmerizing like I've been for a run this morning down the down the front down the Promenade and just like running back with that like in the foreground it's just like it actually made me feel a little bit emotional like it just looks so beautiful in Sunrise incredible the size of this mosque really can't be emphasized enough it can fit a whopping 20 000 worshipers inside 80 000 outside plus the balcony holds five thousand so one hundred and five thousand in total 99 of the materials used in its construction were Source from within Morocco which makes it even more special it's easy to see why this is casablanca's most famous landmark and we'd highly recommend visiting if you're in Morocco laughs foreign [Music] the second mosque and it was incredible just absolutely beautiful inside the craftsmanship that went into making it all was just unbelievable it took 10 000 Craftsmen working in shifts 24 hours a day six years to build it I mean six years is incredibly short time to to build something on that scale it is but you can yeah you can see where all the work went in absolutely beautiful the tour was was pretty good it was quite short and not in too much detail but I enjoyed it anyway and just being inside that building made it all worthwhile I think my favorite thing that we learned was that the roof opens yeah how does the roof open she said it opens in three seconds and shots in two seconds and they have it open in the summer like it's not just like a gimmick that they don't use like they do actually use it so they don't have aircon yeah that's incredible right it is yeah [Music] thank you [Music] we've just made a quick stop off then at a place called ulidia I think it's called something like that anyway um and it's supposed to be famous for its oysters Seafood in general but in particular oysters now I'm not even sure that I really like oysters I think I've only had them like once or twice so I'm not sure whether we will get any or not but we're just having a walk into town now from the campsite that we're staying at anyway and we're gonna see about some lunch [Music] foreign [Music] tables and chairs and stuff set up and they've got barbecue set up here as well and they've got boxes of fish that they're freshly caught today and that they are cleaning and preparing to put on a barbecue for us to have for lunch absolutely amazing thank you I'm really excited about this does it look good and what a setting is just absolutely incredible I know [Music] so included in the price which was 200 Dirham for a big fish and salads and bread I think comes mint tea as well which is pretty cool wow look at that [Music] good that is really delicious yeah you're gonna love it straight in oh man this is amazing it's so good isn't it [Music] all right we have just walked past an oyster stand and it looks great right it looks good yeah there's some guys there that look like they're really enjoying them and they look like they know what they're doing they look like oyster fans so we're gonna get in there do you want a nice stir I don't know yeah go for it okay okay I'll do it yes please yes please okay here we go it's good yeah yeah it's good you're only meant to chew them once I think but okay I gave it a good choose just to test really tasty it's like properly Salty Sea foodie okay that's delicious I don't know what this one is looks like some sort of a clam it's good completely different texture yeah this is quite chewy okay and the juice is running down my beard it's good yeah it's good it's just like Ceviche yeah no it's a similar kind of thing right yeah true but you don't get much fresher than that yeah yeah no problem yeah it's nice yeah no that's nice yeah it's not what I expected no yeah it's delicious [Music] uh welcome thank you okay you don't look so sure about that You Gotta Get It Down not for you no it's two it's very fishy oh why are you fishing in Michigan [Laughter] [Music] we've just taken a very short trip a bit further down the coast it was about an hour's drive this morning to a town called Safi which we've heard a lot of good things about and we were planning on spending a few days here however the parking spot that we looked up on park for night which had decent reviews and is right in the city center we've just arrived and the guards here have said that we actually can't stay the night I don't know why it's a little bit annoying because there is a campsite here but it's half an hour outside of the city center and it's got terrible reviews so we are just going to explore Safi for the afternoon and go and grab some lunch and then see where we are if we can travel a bit further down the coast or stay somewhere else around here this seems to be the place to come and get Ceramics then there's just like Pottery everywhere like we got into the market and we've not even found like the usual like fruit and vegetables yet there was like a few stands with like clothing and shoes and stuff like that and then it just started Pottery Pottery Pottery Pottery part yeah I don't know it's like a bit of a different Market than what we've what we've seen so far so we found a really cool little restaurant in the Medina I'm so excited to try it we just walked past it and they're literally just like frying up the sardines there on the side in the hot oil and it just looks incredible they look great yeah I'm so excited I mean they just gave you a little taste to like entice Us in they did it tasted real good okay we weren't exactly sure what we ordered but it looked amazing I know we were like oh we don't we're just gonna get like one or two it's gonna be a whole Feast turns out it's a whole feast look at this I've got no idea how much food we've ordered or how many courses are coming but we've just been given some more sardines but these are like filleted butterflied I think and then they're stuffed with I don't know what [Music] I've just tried one and it is absolutely incredible this is amazing food you know a place is good when there is a queue like that outside here and I'm telling you these guys have not stopped since we got here it's just been absolutely jam-packed and you can see why absolutely delicious what we thought we were done but I know we literally just got up to pay and then one of the guys brought over something else I know I did what it is like off the barbecue barbecue fish and it looks like it's kind of minced up with I don't know onions garlic herbs spices it looks amazing I'm absolutely stop them a bit down oh that's good yeah yeah you're gonna love this Safi has been a bit of a funny one we'd actually planned on spending two or three days here because we'd read that there was quite a lot to explore but obviously the parking situation put paid to that and then when we did get going um my first impressions weren't actually that great it's a bit of an industrial town and while there's kind of some older stuff around that looks quite interesting like the city walls and the Portuguese forts um it didn't look like it was somewhere that we would actually spend two or three days however at the end of it all it's been a really really fun visit we really love the Medina here completely different from any of the other ones that we've been to and a little bit sad to be leaving but we do have to go because we can't stay here so we're going to head on a little bit further down the coast probably only about half an hour to a little spot that we have found on part of the night and that's where we're going to leave it this week friends we hope you enjoyed it if you did then please give it a big thumbs up and drop us a comment down below this is obviously our first video in Morocco and we'd love to know your thoughts on it if you're new around here then we would love you to subscribe and don't forget to hit that little bell button while you're there so you get notified every time we post a new video next week we're carrying on down the coast and we're on a bit of a mission to try and find someone who can help us with a few bits and pieces that we want to do on the van catch you then thanks [Music]

Channel: The Whole World or Nothing

Views: 167,489

Keywords: vanlife family, vanlife morocco, full time vanlife, full time travel, travel family, travel with a toddler, vanlife with a toddler, living in a van, vanlife inspiration, exploring morocco, moroccan roadtrip, vanlife reality, self built campervan, sprinter conversion, morocco coast, morocco parkups, northern morocco, morocco by campervan, morocco scenery, travel morocco, morocco medinas, morocco life

Id: FA_GjDKta94

Length: 27min 6sec (1626 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 15 2023