We were warned. Casablanca….um…no…can’t think of anything much. Maybe the big mosque? Yeah. The husband agreed. These were locals on their way home after a weekend in Seville. No Casablanca may not be the most beautiful or interesting city in Morocco. Well I can now vouch for that. We did go to the big mosque and it was big, and impressive and we paid for a tour and it was good. We agreed we were pleased we had done it.

But a taxi drive in Casablanca…now that is a memorable travel experience. We had three and they were all totally manic. Drivers are blind to road markings and simply drive two three of four abreast despite there being lines clearly marking out two lanes. A random chat to a friend out the window, an aggressive bark at a fellow driver, blasting the driver who might take an extra millisecond to move at the lights, ducking and diving through the traffic but most important challenging oneself to the minimal distance one can put between one vehicle and any other road user be it truck, car, motor bike or even a pedestrian or two. The total contempt for any road rules was clearly demonstrate by a group of animated young people, probably in their late teens early twenties, chatting as they were walking around a three lane round-about, in the centre lane!!! I was too anxious to actually take a photo.

‘The Best of Morocco’, the Intrepid tour was to start in Casablanca and finish in Marrakesh. We were introduced to our tour leader, Achraf, and the other participants at the hotel and briefed on protocols, expectations and general information. There were eleven of us – ranging in age from late twenties to early eighties and seven of us either practicing or retired teachers.

Our tour began in earnest with a TGV trip to Tangier where we got to walk around the Medina and Kasbah then find Café Hafa for its remarkable location and a bite to eat. The view was stunning and we had coffee and a Moroccan crepe- a type of buckwheat pancake with a hint of honey. We were both hungry so we ate it.

Chefchaouen was a two and a half hour bus drive where we would have a two night stay. The countryside was surprising. We travelled through mainly a dry mountainous region with the main economical activity being agriculture. According to our guide 50% of Morocco is mountainous, 25% is flat and the other 25% is desert. Well, I didn’t know that. I also discovered that Morocco was the sixth largest producer of olive oil.

Soon after our arrival in the Blue City, Achraf took the group up the mountain to a viewing point for sunset.

John knows his limitations but encouraged me so I ventured almost a third of the way with Christine until we decided we had had enough and just sat and enjoyed the moment. We were joined by another traveller, a young woman from Adelaide who also considered the trek a bit much and happily joined our company. She was delightful. Later, we all met at Triana restaurant for a meal together. We even got to have a glass of beer and wine.