Disappearing Morocco

Marrakech to Fez October 27 & November 4, 2024

Experience it now before it is gone tomorrow and the souks have been replaced by supermarkets.

©Aussies In Morocco Tours™

In this 9-days/8-nights tour we focus on Old Morocco – what is disappearing and what has been revived.

A Group tour of 4 people plus Cara, driver and local guides

OR

A Group tour of 6-8 people plus Cara, driver and guide accompanying us, on tour.

A private tour version is also available at any time.

Price and payment deadline are in the table at the conclusion of this itinerary.

Marrakech – High Atlas Mountains – Marrakech

October 27 – 29

DAY 1 – October 27: Marrakech (Sunday)

Meals: Dinner (D)

Arrive Marrakech. Airport pickup. Dinner at our centrally positioned riad – we especially look to book those displaying traditional artisanal work in their interior designs, for this tour.

DAY 2 – October 28: Marrakech (Monday)

Meals: Breakfast (B) & D

Morning tour of the medina. An optional afternoon visit to Le Jardin Majorelle. Return to the riad for a bit of quiet time and then join our guided night-market tour for dinner.

Day 3 – October 29: Marrakech – High Atlas Mts – Marrakech (Tuesday)

Meals: B L & D

Disappearing Morocco theme today: village life, antiques, oral storytelling.

We take a day trip to the High Atlas Mountains to see the way of life in Berber villages and check out antiques and other old things for sale at village markets. We will stop for lunch at some picturesque location. Then back to Marrakech for the evening and dinner at our riad, followed by some storytelling (in English of course), a once dying art traditional to Marrakech, that is however now seeing some revival.

Agdz

October 30 – 31, 2024

Day 4 – October 30: Agdz (Wednesday)

Meals: B & D

Disappearing Morocco theme today: traditional accommodation and the rise of modern accommodation to replace it.

Travel south to Agdz. On the way, visit Ait Ben Haddou an ancient hillside town that has UNESCO world heritage classification. Stay in an ancient Kasbah, Kasbah des Caids. Listen to a performance of traditional music after dinner.

If Kasbah des Caids is unavailable we will stay at equivalent accommodation in the region.

Day 5 – October 31: Agdz – Tamgroute, Zagora – Agdz (Thursday)

Meals: B L & D

Disappearing Morocco theme today: artisanal skills and slow-food cuisine.

Day trip to the village of Tamgrout in Zagora to see an ancient style of green pottery that is still being made, traditional silver Berber jewellery skills and the desert! Lunch with a local family, or enjoy a Berber pizza or a barbeque cooked by our guide! When visiting Zagora, we can show you the old Jewish neighbourhood if the group is interested, the underground community that lives there to escape the heat, as well as the Koranic Museum and its ancient manuscripts; adjacent to a mosaic-embellished mausoleum.

For those of you who prefer it, you can instead spend the day at the Kasbah, taking a look around and participate in a cooking class (check you are interested in the style they are offering on the day). One of the disappearing styles of cuisine is slow-food cooking. It remains popular in many parts of Morocco (for now), but it is less adapted to the more frenetic lifestyles of Morocco’s rising middle class that is concentrated in particular around Casablanca and Rabat.

Ouarzazate – Fez

November 1 – 3, 2024

Day 6 – November 1: Ouarzazate (Friday)

Meals: B L & D

Disappearing Morocco theme today: the nomadic lifestyle.

Today we will be visiting the nomads off-road for a tea and to eat Friday couscous lunch outdoors. More and more nomads are settling in villages so their children can be educated, so it is a way of life that is disappearing in Morocco. 

Please dress modestly for our lunch with the nomads, out of respect for them particularly the older members of the family. This means no shorts, short skirts, décolletage and preferably no bare arms.

In the evening we will stay in 5 star luxury of Oz Palace at Ouarzazate, or equivalent.

Day 7 – November 2: Ouarzazate (Saturday)

Meals: B & D

Disappearing Morocco theme today: The artisanal skills in the decorative elements of traditional riads.

Fly from Ouarzazate to Casablanca and drive about 3.5 hours to Fez. Stay at a traditional riad. Enjoy dinner at the riad or close by.

Day 8 – November 3: Fez (Sunday)

Meals: B L & D

Disappearing Morocco theme today: artisanal skills and old recipes no longer regularly cooked.

Go back to medieval times with a tour of the medina visiting various artisans whose skills are no longer being passed onto the younger generation.  Examples are a man in his nineties making objects out of animal bone and a master leather-worker who started his career as a youth in the tanneries at Fez; everything with him is handmade even the glue. Details of these artisans are here. Enjoy a late lunch in a home in the medina to sample some traditional recipes.  This lunch will be our last official meal together on this tour, with only a light dinner back at the riad for those who want it and of course breakfast tomorrow for those not departing too early. 

Day 9 – November 4: Departure (Monday)

Meals: B

After breakfast, airport drop-off at either Fez airport or train station or drive from Fez back to Casablanca (about 3.5 hours) where the tour ends at Casablanca airport.

Please note that quoted prices do not include drinks, meals not specified to be covered, airfares to and from Morocco or within Morocco, tips and personal expenses or anything else not specified as included. If we don’t specify something is covered by the tour fee, best to assume that it isn’t.  

We now do cover venue entry fees on some tours, such as this one, to maximise group cohesion.

For the flight from Ouarzazate to Casablanca group participants will all need to be on the same flight; so participants will need to touch base with us about this to ensure coordination.

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