From Manitowoc to Morocco: My journey to this exotic and wonderful country, part one
Editor's note: Reporter Patti Zarling spent 14 days in Morocco Feb, 8-22. The following is part one of her experience.
I was sitting on the couch on a gray day in March 2023 when my phone pinged a message from my friend Jude.
“Have you ever wanted to go to Morocco?”
“Morocco?” I thought, quickly tapping the North African country into a Google search.
“Why?” I pinged back.
Turns out a friend of Jude’s sent her info on a “Colors of Morocco” trip offered through Collette Travel Agency and the former University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Department of Continuing Education. Did I want to go?
To be honest, I hesitated. But after sleeping on the idea, I was fully on board. If life drops the opportunity to ride a camel and sleep in the Sahara Desert, who am I to say no?
A year later, I was on a flight from O'Hare to France and then from France to Casablanca.
A year after deciding to join the adventure, on Feb. 8, 2024, it was time to board an Air France flight from Chicago O’Hare International Airport to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in France, and finally to the Mohammed V International Airport in Casablanca, Morocco.
We were part of a group of 22 from Oshkosh, Appleton, Green Bay and Manitowoc. That group oddly included three Tammys, two Debbies and two Pattis. We all bonded, and we all had at least some traveling under our belts.
I was intrigued to visit a part of the world about which I knew so little. I’d read the culture was a mix of Arab, African and European influences — a Muslim country that’s more conservative than the West, but progressive compared to other Arab countries. I knew we couldn’t drink the tap water and should dress modestly.
It was obvious as we rode a bus from the airport to Rabat, the Moroccan capital, that it’s an ambitious country. We saw road crews, construction machinery and buildings emerging from piles of dirt, everywhere. I saw palm and olive trees, goats and donkeys.
We weren't in Wisconsin anymore.
Nory, our tour guide, made the trip special with his love and passion for the country.
Our tour guide, Nory, told us the country is making the move from depending on agriculture to focusing on building both the tourism and tech industries.
Morocco is an Arab country, and its leadership seems forward-thinking on matters of culture and business.
Nory thanked us for choosing to visit Morocco rather than Italy or other more traditional trips abroad. He called it charity wrapped in dignity — lending a hand to shop owners, restaurants, hotels and their employees by spending tourism dollars there.
Nory made our trip special. He grew up in a small village in the Atlas Mountains, one of eight kids. His father ran a successful bakery until it failed, and the family lived on little.
Nory’s dream was to be a mountain-climbing guide, but his family lacked the funds to pay the people he needed to to get ahead, he said.
He tried for a decade to win the lottery, which would allow him to go to the U.S., but he married and moved to the Netherlands instead.
He now serves as a tour guide for Collette — giving tours only in Morocco, he said, because he understands the country and its history and culture.
Nory speaks Arabic, which is the country’s official language, Berber language and English. His love and passion for the country was apparent throughout our stay.
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A visit to the Mausoleum of Mohammed V offered a glimpse of the Moroccan people's love and respect for this king.
We kicked off our Rabat tour with a visit to the Mausoleum of Mohammed V.
Mohammed V was a sultan who helped secure Moroccan independence from French colonialism in 1956. He served as king from 1957 until he died in 1961.
His grandson, Mohammed VI, has served as king since 1999. In 2011, he sought to curb a growing pro-democracy protest movement — part of the Arab Spring — by reforming the country’s constitution to give women more rights and the prime minister more power.
The mausoleum is ornate and the mosaic tilework beautiful. It is flanked by guards on horses, and we weren’t supposed to speak within the sanctuary. Moroccans love and respect this king.
Tagine and pastilla were among the unique Moroccan dishes I tried.
Our day in Rabat concluded in a welcome dinner, with a taste of many Moroccan dishes. That included tagine, which we ate a lot of during our stay. The word "tagine" is used for both the food and the vessel in which it is cooked. It’s a stew, slow cooked in a clay pot, often with chicken or meat, vegetables, spices and fruit.
We ate a lot of chicken, fresh veggies and couscous on our journey. I’m sure we probably had goat at some point, and a few folks tried camel burger (camels are expensive and typically not used for food). I still miss the fresh oranges and giant strawberries served with every meal.
We also observed a Moroccan tea ceremony, in which men in traditional Berber robes hold trays of glasses behind their backs and pour tea over their shoulders. Very entertaining, if not practical.
Moroccans drink a ton of mint tea, and we did, too. Very tasty, and I am now drinking more tea at home!
The most unique Moroccan dish for me was the pastilla, which is basically a pastry stuffed with chicken and seasoned with cinnamon. It’s served warm and topped with powdered sugar. It was tasty, if unexpected. I’d say Moroccan spices generally were more sweet and less hot than I expected.
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Touring a ninth-century medina, a well-preserved Roman ruins and a small country town.
We also visited a kasbah in Rabat, which is a walled-in area of a medina. A "medina" (which means "city" or "town" in Arabic) is usually used to describe a historic old town composed of narrow, winding streets and alleys, walled in and accessed by gates.
We’d experience a much larger medina a few days later in the historical city of Fes. There, we took a tour of a ninth-century medina and the stalls of the ancient market. The walls on either side of the medina were tight and winding. The market was filled with stalls selling everything from fresh oranges to clothing to silver. I always felt safe, although we were told not to engage with people who approached wanting to sell us trinkets — they’d keep on following if you didn’t shut it down.
On a warm, sunny day, we visited Volubilis, a well-preserved Roman ruins. After, we climbed on our bus and traveled to a small country town of Meknes, where we parked and then walked through the narrow streets of this colorful town to eat lunch at a local family’s home. They spoke little English, but served an abundance of tagine, olive and other vegetable salads, fresh bread and fresh fruit.
On the way back to the bus, I marveled at the site of people in traditional garb conducting their business of the day. Donkeys loaded with wares for sale, water and other items stood quietly in the cobblestone streets.
The best part of travel for me is seeing the completely different ways of life and cultures so different from our own. The world is so much bigger than our little slice of northeastern Wisconsin.
Stay tuned for part two of my amazing time in Morocco.
Contact reporter Patti Zarling at [email protected] or call 920-606-2575. Follow her on X @PGPattiZarling or on Instagram @PGPatti.
This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: 15 days in Morocco: Mohammed V mausoleum, Fes, Casablanca, Volubilis
