TEN Things We LOVED About Morocco (& TWO Things we HATED)

it's been a few weeks now since we left Morocco but we are still straight up missing it so while we're back in the UK catching up with friends and family and working our way through what feels like a massive mundane life admin to-do list we thought we would take the opportunity to sit down and reminisce about all the things we loved about Morocco and a couple of things that we didn't like so much because you know ballads now if you haven't watched our Morocco series then go back and watch it now because we have spent the last three months traveling around This Magnificent country packing in as much Adventure culture and delicious food as humanly possible for us Morocco has been the best country that we've ever been to in our camper van and we would urge anyone who is on the fence about doing it just jump in with both feet and give it a go we were really apprehensive before we went but by the end we really didn't want to leave and I honestly think that if we didn't have prior commitments that we had to be back in the UK for that we'd probably still be there now anyway without further Ado let's get on with the 10 things that we absolutely loved about Morocco [Music] her mom we were completely hooked it was such a mad experience but it was completely invigorating and we just felt cleaner than we'd ever felt before these two minute van showers now are definitely not cutting it I tell you we don't feel like we're ever going to feel clean properly ever again but seriously if you are planning a trip to Morocco you need to go and visit a traditional hamam now they have them in all the hotels and kind of luxury spa kind of ones but we think the best experiences to be had are at the local himans and that's where we would recommend going that's where we went and there's just something completely freeing about being naked in a room full of complete strangers and just no one giving a damn about your insecurities or your wobbly bits or anything like that and having someone wash you it just feels really like childlike and it's just such a lovely lovely experience it probably doesn't make sense to anyone that's not experienced one before but you have to do it if you go to Morocco [Music] foreign [Music] straight for the coast and we hugged it all the way down the west and stayed in some of the most incredible particles we've ever experienced just night after night having at the beach as a view from the van doorway it was incredible I mean we knew that Morocco had great beaches but we didn't know how great they were going to be until we experienced them and I think if we come back to Morocco again in the future which I'm hoping we do we get to experience some more of them and maybe stay in the in between places that we didn't get chance to I would love to do some surfing next time we come back because I was quite jealous of people out there on the waves um it's a really good place for beginners to learn I've only done a couple of surf lessons so I think that would be a really cool experience and and also to go a bit further down so we only got down as far as City and but we heard some really good things about dakla so it'd be really good to get down that way too [Music] Moroccan food is simply put amazing now when you Google Moroccan food in the UK you get a set of results that I now know haven't been to Morocco but absolutely no resemblance to what you actually get when you're in Morocco so whilst we'd heard of stuff like tagines and tried food that claimed to be Moroccan it was nothing like the real deal so it actually took us a little bit by surprise just how delicious and varied Moroccan Cuisine is as we've already discussed when we arrived we headed straight for the coast so we learned pretty quickly just how amazing Moroccan Seafood is sardines are an absolute staple and they're done in a variety of different ways from Simply grilled to butterflied and stuffed to made into meatballs and they're all absolutely delicious Beyond sardines we tried lots of fresh fish that was straight out of the sea there was tons of shellfish prawns squids and more away from the coastal areas you'll find more slow cookers is lactose jeans there's lots of barbecue couscous on a Friday delicious soups incredible olives fantastic sweets look to be honest with you there's just so many amazing things to try that we can make a whole video on food alone now if you're a Moroccan then you don't need reminding of how amazing your Cuisine is but if you are not Moroccan and you are planning a trip or considering going then just know that you are in for a world of amazing mind-blowing flavors thank you now this one is kind of van life focused because we've had loads of messages from you guys out there to say that you're interested in coming to Morocco in a van but you're a little bit worried about how it might actually be we can sum it up in pretty much one word and that is phenomenal we've been to lots of countries that are really good for Van life like France and Spain where they've got really good setups however Morocco is literally on a different level and that is for a number of reasons but one of the main reasons is security many places that you park whether that's during the day when you're visiting attractions or at night when you're not in a campsite actually have a guard who stays there and looks after the vehicles so you can have complete peace of mind that your camper van and everything inside it is going to be completely safe now we have heard quite a few people complaining about having to pay for this but we saw it as a win-win situation because we got complete peace of mind that our van was going to be safe and also it allowed us to put a little bit of money back into the local economy which is always a good thing foreign Morocco is the friendliest country that we have ever visited hands down period we were welcomed by most people with open arms and we were treated with love and warmth wherever we went as soon as we arrived we had so many Moroccan people sending us messages offering us to come and eat with them to stay in their family home that they'd show us around their hometowns or even just some friendly helpful advice and at times it got a little bit overwhelming but it wasn't just online either we experienced this generosity and friendliness on a daily basis from virtually everybody that we met from Market sellers to random people on the streets culturally it is just completely different to what we're used to and it's one of the main reasons why we really fell in love with Morocco [Music] whilst the hospitality and generosity that we received was incredible there was always an extra special something for our daughter aiding we literally couldn't go out without someone giving her something from pieces of fruit to Chocolate sweets little souvenir trinkets to full meals in restaurants she was treated like royalty everywhere that we went and Aidy really thrived on all of the positive attention that she got and actually we saw some pretty big changes in her whilst we were in Morocco she became less wary and a lot more open and inquisitive and we think that the love that she was shown whilst we were there definitely had something to do with that [Music] the weather while we were in Morocco was absolutely perfect for us and I think if you are planning a trip there a really good time to go is over the European winter and this is going to probably sound a little bit smog but there's something extra gratifying about your people back home having their big winter coats on and the hats and the scarves and you're just there chilling out in the sunshine in the shorts enjoying yourself yeah it just makes it that little bit extra special we absolutely hate the gray cold weather which is at its worst in the UK obviously over the winter months Jay and I both know how much a positive effect of sunshine has in our moods so to have essentially skipped the whole winter season in the UK and be returning here just as it's kind of warming up a little bit it's kind of brilliant from glorious golden sand beaches to spectacular snow-capped mountains dry desert escapes and vast forests and everything in between Morocco's diversity in its Landscapes is really hard to beat now Morocco is very famous for being home to a large swave of the Sahara and that alone draws tons and tons of visitors each year and it's Little Wonder because it is absolutely unbelievable however there is so much more to Morocco's Landscapes than just desert the coastline is packed with Gorgeous beaches cute fishing towns and awesome surfing spots there are vast mountain ranges in the atlas the anti-atlas and the rift which are capped in snow for most of the Year there are forests packed with Wildlife lush green river basins surreal boulder-filled Plains basically you name it they have it here in Morocco and not only that but you can get between them in a matter of only hours so you could be surfing some of the continent's best spots in the morning and skiing in pristine know in the afternoon something synonymous with Morocco are the medinas now these are essentially the center of life of the towns and cities all up and down the country we absolutely loved spending time in them and if you've not heard of them before they're basically like the oldest part of any town or city they tend to be walled so they have these big high walls around them and inside you'll find quite a few historical sites normally but the main thing that we were always there for are the sprawling markets because they are just fascinating and generally just the Beating Heart of the City is where all the action happens of course they vary in size from place to place some of them are absolutely massive and then some of them are quite small and also the look of them can vary because in quite touristy cities a lot of the buildings have been done up and painted and then in some of the more local places the kind of as they were like hundreds of years ago and things are a bit more crumbling and they just have a general different feel about them but regardless of size and kind of of the the quality of the buildings they are just absolutely fascinating each one kind of has their own personality and it's really fascinating to travel around the country and just experience the different ones and compare them to each other so yeah we spent hours and hours wandering around these places and it was always the first place that we headed to when we got to a new place it's kind of like a full body experience in them as well so like you just walk in and the sights and the smells just completely hit you the noises just everything it's all there just kind of like laid bare and just kind of like assault you is such a brilliant experience although neither of us are religious there's something that we found really comforted and calming about here in the call to prayer ring out around the towns and cities multiple times a day and I guess we didn't really think about it until we'd left Morocco and got back to Spain and realized that we did actually really miss it and the reason for that is because before we went to Morocco we had read that a good thing to do is kind of use the opportunities throughout the day when it happens to do something for yourself um if you're not religious minded so we just used to use it as a reminder to pay attention to where we were and what was going on and just kind of really ground ourselves in the moment and that was just a really lovely thing to do and it's something that's not been happening now to be honest since we've left Morocco because we don't have that regular reminder throughout the day we found it really easy to just get swept up in the momentum of the day so to have that period of reflection where you can just properly ground yourself like four or five times a day was just really really good for our well-being and I say four or five we were never awake for the early morning one it kind of just like woke us up a little bit and then we would just go straight back to sleep again okay just for balance then because there had to be some things about Morocco that we obviously didn't like it couldn't just be all good stuff so we've picked one thing each that really annoyed us laughs overall we had an amazing time in Marrakech we had so much fun we really really enjoyed it but there was one thing that I could not get on board with and that is the exploitation of animals in Jamal Square in particular the monkeys so if you've not been there before there's basically guys that have these monkeys with um chains on them essentially so they'll have a collar around their neck and then a lead or a chain and they have them dressed up in anything from like football kits to ballerina outfits with nappies on and all kinds of ridiculous stuff and the deal is that as tourists you pay for a photograph with these animals and the thing that compounded my feelings about that was when we went to ifrin National Park and we saw these exact same monkeys the Barbara macaques in the wild there they're actually an endangered species and it's quite obvious where people are getting these monkeys from just plucking them out of the wild um it's just just really wrong in my opinion and and you can quite obviously see how distressed the animals are like they're being yanked around and like plonked on tourists and they're just treated like really not very nice and that's in public as well so I've dread to think how they're treated in in private and they're just there basically to make money from and and yeah it left me with quite a quite a bad feeling about that aspect of Marrakech just not cool [Music] there's something that doesn't agree with me about walking into a shop and absolutely nothing having a price on and I think it's probably to do with the fact that in England where I'm from pretty much everything in every single shop that you go into has a price tag on it and if you do happen to find somewhere that doesn't have price tags then it's probably a very expensive place and not the kind of place that me and Sarah belong in so I think just from that point of view it immediately makes me feel uneasy and a little bit guarded that said I really don't mind the culture of haglin I actually quite enjoy it I don't mind doing it and it's something that I completely can get along with however there are certain things that I'd just be a lot happier knowing upfront exactly what I'm going to be paying for it or at least the ballpark range that's expected and so here's the thing the majority of shops in Morocco that we went into have absolutely no prices whatsoever so whilst it's a pretty minor complaint and it's something that obviously you know we got used to towards the end of the trip I have to admit in general it is really not something that I love so there you have it our most loved and our most hated things about Morocco let us know in the comments if you have any that you agree with or disagree with and let us know as well if you've got any of your own to add don't forget to hit that Thumbs Up Button if you enjoyed this video and if you're new around here then why not consider subscribing it's absolutely free just hit that subscribe button and don't forget to hit the Bell Button as well whilst you're there so you get notified every time we post a new video catch you next time [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: The Whole World or Nothing

Views: 14,224

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, morocco parkups, morocco by campervan, morocco scenery, travel morocco, morocco medinas, morocco beaches, morocco food, morocco weather

Id: tJjKodLZvDI

Length: 15min 32sec (932 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 23 2023