Good news- I survived two weeks of spring break! About a third of the two weeks was spent on trains, buses and planes but it was totally worth it. I can now say that I've seen the majority of the European Mediterranean area, with a little bit of Africa in the mix. We started our journey with about 10 of us on a plane to Milan. Some people immediately hopped on trains but 8 of us were stuck with a 24 hour layover and nowhere to stay. Because of some sort of design show, every hotel and hostel in the greater Milan area was either booked or overpriced. So instead of dropping $200 on a hotel for one night, we decided to sleep in the airport. We explored the city for a few hours, and then headed back to our homemade beds outside of the McDonalds in Terminal 1. The bed really wasn't that bad, but the building could have done with a little heat.
The next morning we hopped on a plane to Agadir! Customs was a little ridiculous when we arrived, but we finally got our bags and found the people picking us up from our hostel. The program that we were with is called SnoworSand and they organize student trips like ours, which was a surfing weekend in a small town called Taghazout. We went straight to our hostel- Riad Imourane Auberge. It's a really cute little hostel and very close to the beach. They served us a delicious dinner and then we headed to bed early. The next morning we ate breakfast and headed to the beach at 9am. The waves were perfect for beginners so after a short lesson we all headed out to try out surfing. Only a few of us actually made it up on the board that first day but we were all either bruised or sunburned by the end of the day. My previous training in Hawaii circa 2004 was no help whatsoever. We did get a few surfing pictures though!
Around lunchtime we rode a camel down the beach, which was a pretty cool experience. Camels are deceptively tall and I was actually a little nervous being up so high. They are also very jerky and when it stood up and sat down we were launched forward and back.
That night we headed back to the hostel and hung out for a little but went to bed very early. There was quite the international crowd staying there while we were there so it was nice to chat with them for a little. They all spend weeks at a time surfing, and they told us that it generally takes about a week to really get the hang of it. The next morning we woke up and spent the morning surfing again. After, Maria, the leader of our trip, took us to the market. It was much less touristy than I expected, which is because Agadir isn't a huge tourist destination. After the market we headed to a Moroccan bath, which was similar to the Turkish bath that I went to in Istanbul. The Moroccan bath was much rougher and more intense than the Turkish bath and I definitely didn't enjoy it as much but it was part of the cultural experience.
The next day five of us took a bus to Marrakech, which is a much larger city than Agadir and more of a tourist spot. We arrived at our hostel, dropped our things off and started sightseeing. We started at Palais Bahia, which is a relatively modern Palace located in the center of Marrakech. We toured around for a little and then headed to the souks. It was much nicer than the souks in Agadir because we were in a more touristy area. We were actually shopping in the area that was bombed two weeks later by a suicide bomber. We were pretty lucky to have avoided that. We also walked around the square and checked out a mosque, and I even ran into a snake charmer!
The rest of the night in Marrakech was great, we had an authentic Moroccan dinner and then we turned in early. I really wish we could've stayed longer but we were off the next morning to Milan! I'll continue on in my next post, this one has gotten pretty long. Morocco was really one of the coolest places I've ever been and I'm so happy that I got the opportunity to go. I'm sorry this has taken me so long to post, I'll continue soon with the rest. I have a lot to update about!
The next morning we hopped on a plane to Agadir! Customs was a little ridiculous when we arrived, but we finally got our bags and found the people picking us up from our hostel. The program that we were with is called SnoworSand and they organize student trips like ours, which was a surfing weekend in a small town called Taghazout. We went straight to our hostel- Riad Imourane Auberge. It's a really cute little hostel and very close to the beach. They served us a delicious dinner and then we headed to bed early. The next morning we ate breakfast and headed to the beach at 9am. The waves were perfect for beginners so after a short lesson we all headed out to try out surfing. Only a few of us actually made it up on the board that first day but we were all either bruised or sunburned by the end of the day. My previous training in Hawaii circa 2004 was no help whatsoever. We did get a few surfing pictures though!
Around lunchtime we rode a camel down the beach, which was a pretty cool experience. Camels are deceptively tall and I was actually a little nervous being up so high. They are also very jerky and when it stood up and sat down we were launched forward and back.
That night we headed back to the hostel and hung out for a little but went to bed very early. There was quite the international crowd staying there while we were there so it was nice to chat with them for a little. They all spend weeks at a time surfing, and they told us that it generally takes about a week to really get the hang of it. The next morning we woke up and spent the morning surfing again. After, Maria, the leader of our trip, took us to the market. It was much less touristy than I expected, which is because Agadir isn't a huge tourist destination. After the market we headed to a Moroccan bath, which was similar to the Turkish bath that I went to in Istanbul. The Moroccan bath was much rougher and more intense than the Turkish bath and I definitely didn't enjoy it as much but it was part of the cultural experience.
The next day five of us took a bus to Marrakech, which is a much larger city than Agadir and more of a tourist spot. We arrived at our hostel, dropped our things off and started sightseeing. We started at Palais Bahia, which is a relatively modern Palace located in the center of Marrakech. We toured around for a little and then headed to the souks. It was much nicer than the souks in Agadir because we were in a more touristy area. We were actually shopping in the area that was bombed two weeks later by a suicide bomber. We were pretty lucky to have avoided that. We also walked around the square and checked out a mosque, and I even ran into a snake charmer!
The rest of the night in Marrakech was great, we had an authentic Moroccan dinner and then we turned in early. I really wish we could've stayed longer but we were off the next morning to Milan! I'll continue on in my next post, this one has gotten pretty long. Morocco was really one of the coolest places I've ever been and I'm so happy that I got the opportunity to go. I'm sorry this has taken me so long to post, I'll continue soon with the rest. I have a lot to update about!
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