I Spent A Few Days In Morocco and I’ve Got To Say, African Countries Can Look Really Good

My mom decided to retire and start a PhD in Ben Guerir in Morocco at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, known from here on as UM6P—the initialism for its French name Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique. Given that, I decided to go to Morocco for a few days in December. Here’s how it went.

Note: US$1 ~ 10Dhs and 1Dhs ~ $0.10

Also note: Medina here means “old city”, typically walled.

Visas

Morocco requires a visa of course. Doing it in SA is frustrating but thankfully it’s easier with a US visa since you can just get it online. Given that, I decided to renew my visa. Between the embassy closing over thanksgiving and then switching to a whole new reservation system, things took much longer than I hoped. I didn’t expect much since they said it would take at least two weeks but I was told to insist on asking even though the website is incredibly clear not to.

I eventually got my passport back with my visa and I quickly applied for the Morocco visa, opting to pay for 1 day processing instead of the cheaper 3 day one. After a lot of cryptic error messages in French, the payment seemed to have gone through since the screen turned green which sounds good, right?

Two hours later, I got my visa after paying US$110. I got to say, they’re pretty efficient. With the visa, it’s time to get to Morocco.

Getting To Ben Guerir

My cousin took me to the airport. I tried to get a few things on my way there, like the Colcom Country Style Sausage my mom likes, but it wasn’t in any of the shops I passed through.

The flight to Doha was nice enough. Mostly fell asleep and the flight attendants couldn’t wake me up so no breakfast. I arrived in the morning and headed to my sister’s apartment. I took a breather before I went onto explore Doha for the day. It was National Day in Qatar so the places were very busy. Sadly I didn’t catch any of the events.

I started by cruising the City Center Mall where I got lost a lot. There I got lunch at Texas Chicken which was decent though lacked any form spice. After that I headed on the metro which was incredibly packed to Lusail. I thought there would be a tram but there was going to be a soccer game later on that day. I took the train again and went to Mshireb just to see what was around. Tired, I headed back to my sister’s apartment.

We had Thai food and caught up before we got ready to go to the airport. We then used Royal Air Maroc to get to Marrakesh. I mostly watched House M.D and slept. The service was alright, though I kept getting the wrong order. I must say, the lamb tajine was incredible though a bit cold.

Eventually we landed and headed to immigration. They told us to go to an office to get our visa verified. We were lead to an office which I think said “entry prohibited” in French and sure enough we got shouted at in French for doing what we were told to do. Anyways, we verified our visas and went back in line. Interestingly they asked “what is your job”. I had said “computer professional” on the application, but it’s interesting they asked.

I noticed that my bag wasn’t there which was a bummer since I only had 1 change of clothes. Eventually we got out but not before I got a “free” SIM card from Inwi. They tried to get me to buy a 400Dhs package with 40GB which I didn’t need but I settled on a 100Dhs one with 10GB data. Turns out it costs 20Dhs to activate the sim which is whatever except they asked for US dollars instead of my card. I gave them a 20 and they gave me back 50Dhs which didn’t sound right. Whatever, I hope they enjoyed their $3. It isn’t really a rip off, you just need to be assertive.

I wanted to take a train but my sister ordered a taxi instead. It’s about 2.5 hours to get to Ben Guerir and I spent most of the time looking at the scenery. I also noticed the driver watching YouTube videos while driving which seems to be a requirement for driving in Morocco as I’ll soon discover.

Distracted brain rot driving aside, we eventually made it to the Hilton on campus. After dropping our bags, I took a short walk around before catching up with my mom who showed us around. We went to see her room but they wouldn’t let me in. We waited a bit before we went for lunch with at the hospitality school.

I got some risotto, a patê along with some oysters and honestly it wasn’t my taste. I enjoyed the risotto though I didn’t expect it to be al dente.

After that we waited for supper where we met up with some other Zimbos my mom met to get some communal Moroccan food in the city center. More specifically we got a Tajin and some delicious beef. Fun experience.

After that I needed some clothes so we headed to the market. I didn’t find any though I got a cool Kaftan which is incredibly warm. After that, I used my shitty French to help the Zimbos buy meat. After that we headed back to the hotel and crashed.

Day 2: Marrakesh

We decided to go to Marrakesh and we took a ride with my mom’s friend who was heading to Marrakesh for the holiday break. More great scenery and an ieresting discussion on how the road system works¹, we reached Marrakesh. At first glance I was trying to think what city this place resembled and I stumbled upon an unusual answer―Marrakesh, something completley unique to any city I’ve been to with the red clay buildings. She dropped us off near the Yves Saint Laurent Museum which was in a nice quiet street, Rue Yves Saint Laurent.

A cobblestone road with people walking on it with a lot of pretty

We decided just to go to the gardens since it didn’t sound like there’s anything interesting in the museum so we opted to go to Le Jardin Majorelle―the Majorelle Garden. We had to wait for our time but once we got in, I’ve got to say that it’s incredibly beautiful. There should be public parks like this everywhere.

There was also the Berber Museum which was interesting as you got to learn a bit about Berber culture.

After that, we decided to head off to head off towards the Medina. The taxi driver took us somewhere else, probably to a spice shop where they get a kickback. Typical tourist scam, but we eventually got a ride to go to a mall where I could get some clothes since I didn’t have my suitcase.

Once I got those, we headed to the Medina to catch a rooftop view and while it couldn’t take us to sunset, it still gave us a great view while we sipped on some freshly squeezed juice.

We then went to the Rooftop Garden Restaurant & Sushi Bar at the Nobu Hotel since it had a great sunset view and it was part of Nobu hotel which my mom and sister enjoyed eating at in Doha. I took a look at the menu and the prices were insane, Jesus Christ. While I wasn’t paying, it was painful to know my sister would. I decided to order the Red Oasis drink for 120Dhs which had strawberry, raspberry, lemon, cranberry juice and strawberry syrup and I got to say that it was the best cocktail I’ve ever had.

It was time to order and I settled for a burger for 300Dhs. Given that this was a fancy restaurant, I expected a very fancy burger with a toasted potato sesame brioche bun, thick juicy patty, well browned and with melty cheese on it, topped with sauces and garnishes² served with fancy fries—it wasn’t.

It was basically McDonalds, which is fine except for the fact that McDonalds costs about 5× less, well about 4.61× less when I went to the McDonalds at Rabat Agdal. I then tried some of the lamb my mom got and it was very well cooked but had no flavor. Might as well have gotten another tagine but that’s what I get for not playing an active roll in planning.

It was now time to head back and we would have taken a train but it would only depart much later so we opted for an InDrive instead. I didn’t know it had a City-to-City feature so we placed an order at the suggested price of 204Dhs. My mom and sister suggested the woman who was at that price point but once we started messaging she suggested we pay 500Dhs instead. Not what was on the app but whatever. I don’t want to write prose for this, but the 1 hour ride was like this:

• The plate on the InDrive differed from the car that showed up,
• We had to walk 5 minutes from the restaurant since she was scared of being busted by either the cops or taxi drivers, and
• she was driving while having a fucking video FaceTime call on her lap—not even a mount. I guess it’s part of the driving test in Morocco to be fully distracted?

In all, we made it in one piece and that was that. Later she messaged me asking to leave a rating and honestly all of what I said deserved a 3, especially since the app asked if the driver asked for extra to which I said no. Given that we didn’t get our organs harvested or sold into slavery, five stars seem appropriate.

Anyways, time to sleep.

Day 3: Exploring Ben Guerir On My Own

My sister was checking out so we had one last breakfast before seeing her off. My mom and I then walked to the campus supermarket which wasn’t a lot looking back but was painful before walking back and trying to get a taxi to the place my mom would housesit. It’s hard to get taxi’s on campus but with the help of the guards we got one eventually. At the villa I helped my mom set up Netflix so she could watch Carry On, a movie which made me lose Whamageddon. I thought I would get away with it since it was just the initial 🎶du nu nu nu nu🎶 but then I heard 🎶Last Christmas, I gave you my heart🎶.

Damnit.

Defeated, I decided to head back to the center city and try some food. After trying to explain to the taxi driver where I wanted to go in my shitty French, another passanger joined on and was able to figure out where I wanted to go, which turned out to be the right place.

First I got a mixed plate of Moroccan BBQ for 25Dhs and the meat was alright though the dish was cold overall.

I then got some lamb from the guy over. After trying to say I want a quarter of a kilo rather than four kilos in my shitty French (quarte de kilo not quatre kilo), we figured it out and I got 250g of tasty lamb for 6.25Dhs that was incredible.

Now finished, I decided to check out the supermarket Marjane for a few things. It’s very…supermarket-y. I decided to chill on a bench for a bit until my mom asked me to bring some food which I did from the restaurant above. I tried to ask if they had anything which whole grain bread which I couldn’t translate so I used a phone and it’s called le pain complet and they didn’t have it. I got a shawarma for my mom and a cordon bleu taco and headed home. As for my meal, while it wasn’t pork for obvious reasons, it tasted pretty good.

I then messed around and went to bed ahead of my early train ride.

Day 4: Visiting the Capital Rabat

I’ll skip the part about the train ride since that’ll be on the train’s post, but I got in an hour later than I planned because I got to the station late. I eventually got out and started looking for a place to eat. They all said pas encore meaning they weren’t ready yet, same with the money changing places. A bit of aimless walking around later I decided to get some McDonalds before continuing on to the museum of Bank Al-Maghrib, Morocco’s Central Bank. It cost 20Dhs and while the art is pretty cool, I pretty much speed run the place.

After that I headed off to the Rabat Medina and soaked in the many sights and sounds of all the vendors and food stalls. I got myself some savory Msemen, a flat bread of sorts, before trying to make my way out of the place. I eventually popped out somewhere after passing many tech shops and I vowed to return to get a power bank. I then had to find an ATM which was a struggle to find one that would take my Omari Visa card but I eventually found one which worked. Though using the provided exchange rate over your bank is a terrible idea, it was the only way the card would work.

With my stacks, I continued onto the lighthouse by taxi. From there I took a walk along the beach basking in the sights and sounds. Did you know they have a cemetery overlooking the ocean? Must be nice to have an ocean view. I would have walked to the ocean view point but it was too far so I opted to walk up this fortress thing.

Said fortress thing is called Kasbah des Oudayas. It’s entirely free and provides a great ocean of the ocean and the other side of Rabat. Very quiet and blue place—people even live there! As I was walking though, I noticed some guy giving samples of fried foods. I took one and the guy asked for 10Dhs. Whatever.

Soon enough I was done and I headed down to explore the garden just outside the Kasbah. No more pictures since my phone ran out of battery but it was very beautiful. Given that my phone had no battey, I had to go back to the place where I saw them earlier in the day. I went back to the Rabat Medina and got seriously lost. I did pick up some tasty balaklava along the way though. I also got a fried seafood platter for 60Dhs which was pretty good though I ended up sharing a bunch of it with the cat who, like Fredo kept saying “give me peace”.

I kept getting lost until I found a way to a main street of sort to get a taxi. I ran up to the limits of my shitty french and ended up somewhere… I walked back to another part of the Medina with tech shops where I got a 10,000mAh power bank for 170Dhs. More than expected and it wasn’t the kind I wanted but the guy through in a shitty cable I needed anyway. I left the phone to charge before I looked for a t-shirt my mom needed before it was time to head to the train station.

Before the train left, I went to McDonalds which was as good as Nobu but cost far less. I was short on time so I had to rush to buy a ticket. The ticket desk was packed so I had to use my card which I was trying to avoid. Eventually, I got the ticket and rushed down on to the high speed train on the segment that wasn’t high speed―it was even slower than the section between Ben Guerir and Casablanca!

I got back, took a taxi and went to bed before heading back the next day.

Day 5: Heading Home

I packed up my backpack to the brim (remember, no suitcase) and headed out to the train station, dropping my mom off at the supermarket. Again, train things in the train post but I switched over to the airport at the Casa Oasis station that was rather small. Once I got to the airport, there was a long line to check bags before entering the airport. After some issues checking in, I went to security and immigration who took forever. I then noticed that none of the shops take Morrocan Dirhams which is a bit of a problem since it’s illegal to leave with them³. I then found a restaurant to eat the excess money with a shitty sandwich, leaving the rest for my yet-to-post money collection.

8 hours with my fat ass in a middle seat later, I reached Doha where I had an 8 hour layover which I spent in a lounge. Nothing remarkable, but I’ve got to say that the food was really good. Between the soup and the savoury goodness of the cognee, it made me ignore the limited food selection. Soon enough it was time to leave so I took a shower and rushed to the gate, passing by to get snacks for my coworkers.

Yet another 8 hours in a middle seat along with a knotted stomatch from all that lounge food later, I got back home. I saw the e-gates they installed which are pretty neat⁴ though I could only see 2. After a long wait, I

Concluding Thoughts

• A lot of African countries can do better. Not that Morocco is perfect, but they seem to be doing a good job.
• The trains are awesome! I do wish I went high speed, but that’s only on the Tangier segment.
• Speaking of Tangier, I should have a better plan for Morocco so I can see and experience more next time.
• $110 for a single entry visa is a rip off.
• I didn’t realize how useful my shitty french is.
• The Moroccans have an incredible sense of style, both in terms of clothes and buildings.
• I need to finish writing about the Vietnam trip from June 2024 and the Philly Trip from late 2023!

P.S. Read about my experience with Morocco’s trains.