I just celebrated my 30th birthday last month. I wanted to go somewhere exotic and decided to plan a trip to Egypt. Since Morocco is on the way, that became part of the itinerary as well.
We spent a few days in Marrakech and Casablanca, Morocco. Morocco reminded me of the movie Aladdin. The people were friendly but always quick to ask for a tip, weather by giving you directions or offering to take your picture. I enjoyed the mixture of French and Arabic. I was able to practice my French while enjoying Moroccan crepes.
I have heard that it may be uncomfortable traveling to Morocco as a woman. I quickly learned why. My sister and I couldn’t walk on the streets or in the bazaar for even one minute without a man coming up to us to chat. “Where are you from?” “Wow you are so beautiful!” “What is your name?” “What language do you speak” etc. We were honestly greeted by hundreds of men all day with “hello”, even some passing by on their moped would whisper “nice!” in our ear as they drove by.
It got to a point that we hired a guide just to pretty much be our body guard.
My favorite part of Morocco was staying at this gorgeous Riad in Marrakech. A Riad in an Andalusian home where there is a courtyard in the middle.
My second favorite part was visiting the Hassan II mosque in Casablanca. It was absolutely breath taking!
Prior to going to Egypt, a lot of people asked me if I was afraid. I answered no because these days it’s even scary living in the USA. Plus, I learned that what you see on TV isn’t necessary true. I am so glad I didn’t allow fear to prevent me from visiting Egypt because it was such an amazing experience!
Our first day we visited the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. We rode on camels and explored the majestic world wonder in awe. We visited the Egyptian Museum where we were able to see King Tut’s treasures and royal mummies.
We also traveled to Abu Simbel to see the gorgeous temple and were mesmerized by the hieroglyphics inside. We then went to Luxor which was my favorite city in Egypt. Our hotel was on the Nile River and we visited the Valley of Kings, where there were dozens of tombs we got to explore.
I loved learning about ancient Egypt and seeing the relics in real life. It was really fascinating.
Interestingly, all of the Egyptians we spoke to made it clear that they would love to live in the USA if they had the opportunity to. It seemed that a lot of the Egyptians are struggling financially, especially those in the tourism industry. I honestly felt safe the entire time I was there, and hope that this post will inspire others to visit Egypt as well.
Awesome post. I also went to Morocco for my 30th this January. It was an amazing trip and will definitely go back to explore some of the parts I didn’t get to go.
Hello
Did you work as NP in Morocco? Was it a locum ? What was the salary and the duration of the assignment? Did you see patients? How was it? I thought you have to be a doctor to practice there.
No just visited