Do it--plan a trip with She&CO - She&CO Travel Morocco provided an excellent itinerary specific to our requests. They are knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and skilled. We highly recommend their services because of their itinerary, and the ability to... read more share their wide-ranging grasp and love of Morocco.
Travelers will be pleased with the plans the team builds for you. They integrated and adapted our interests in Moroccan history with current cultural interests. Harjar and Ali, owners of the company and our driver Said, created an excellent plan. The team is affable, gracious and good humored. Knowing and working with She&CO was a highlight for us that enhanced our cultural and learning experience. We are also foodies that totally enjoyed their food recommendations -- both for restaurants and street food. Harjar, Ali and Said exposed us to Morocco’s culinary and cultural treats. Said also knows all the best coffee stops.
Harjar and Ali were individually responsible for different cities on our tour. Said, our driver was with us the whole trip. Nonetheless, the team makes the trip efficient but enjoyable because of their attention to details. Morocco is approximately the size of California and our itinerary included two all day (5 to 7 hour) car trips.
The Riad’s selected for us were wonderful boutique hotels. We were picked up in Casablanca and driven to Rabat. The Riad Zyo was so beautiful we were tempted to crash and sleep after our overnight flight but Ali pushed us on and we toured Rabat before he left us to relax, eat and sleep. The next morning, we headed to Asilah where we toured the medina, which is enclosed by well-preserved 15th-century ramparts and gates built by colonial Portuguese. The medina is an art hub, known for its murals.
In Tangier, we explored the historic Kasbah, medina, and Tangier American Legation Museum and learned that Morocco was the first nation to officially recognizing the United States in 1777. We stayed at the Grand Hotel Villa de France, with a lovely view of the harbor and the medina. The next day we visited Cape Spartel, the Caves of Hercules and the Chateau Perdicaris and the gardens.
Tétouan is a city in northern Morocco that lies along the Martil Valley and is one of the two major ports of Morocco on the Mediterranean Sea, a few miles south of the Strait of Gibraltar. Based on our questions and interest our driver decided we needed a tour of the city. Said arranged for a guide and we were sent off exploring Tetouan’s narrow, twisting streets. The Jewish sector was very quiet and was great to discover and understand how property is handled in the medina. The King also has a large Palace in the city.
Chefchaouen is in the Rif Mountains known for the striking, blue-washed buildings of its old town. Leather and weaving workshops line its steep cobbled lanes. The red-walled Kasbah, a 15th-century fortress and dungeon, is in the main square. The city was very busy and crowded but we met Hajar and, she took us on a tour of her favorite spots that are less crowded on a busy weekend. Ali managed to get us a dinner reservation and we decided we were too tired to hike up to the Spanish Mosque for the view of the city. Our Riad, Dar Echchaouen, was wonderful and welcoming to our tired bodies.
Said our driver prompt as always, drove us to Volubilis, a well-preserved Roman ruin. Then we were off to Fez. Our Riad was Salam Fes, and fabulous. Harjar guided us and showed us so many interesting places. We also think she has a future as the Mayor of Fez—she knew everyone and if you need something she knows who to talk to and she certainly has the history down.
Merzouga is in the Sahara Desert, but first we stopped in Ifrane, truly a little Switzerland. The construction of the buildings and homes was very European like with steep sloped roofs. Apparently, Ifrane gets lots of heavy snow in the winter. The next stop was in the Cedar Forest to see the Barbary monkeys and then we drove the scenic Ziz Valley. Our lovely Riad was the Desert Villa where our room overlooked the sand dunes. We visited some nomadic communities and had excellent Berber pizza. In the late afternoon we rode our camels into the desert to enjoy the sunset and stars—except that there were none, it rained! This is our second time in a desert with rain—the locals think we are a good luck charm. The sound of the rain was lovely in our desert camp.
Traveling to Ait Ben Haddou—we stopped in the Todra Gorge for some hiking and pictures, we learned about the underground Khettara water drainage system and we visited vegetable plots shared by the locals. We stopped in Ouarzazate (location of Moroccan film studios) before spending the night at the Kasbah Isfoula that offered wonderful food. Ait Ben Haddou is an historic fortified village along the caravan route to Marrakesh. The next morning we headed on to Marrakech crossing the Tizi n’Tichka Pass in the high Atlas Mountains. The scenery in the Pass is magnificent and of course Said knew where to stop to have an amazing chicken tagine.
We toured Marrakech visiting the Koutoubia (a mosque) and Jemaa el-Fnaa (a market square). That night, we got lost in the medina after our hammam (a Moroccan Turkish bath) and our dinner during a down pour that flooded the hammam, the restaurant and our riad! What a night. For whatever reason we had put our suitcases on tables that kept all of our things dry. The rain had poured through all of the open-air spaces in each of the mentioned buildings—but the staff members in each location got busy and swept up the water and in the morning the city looked fresh and clean. Ali was joined us early as we set off to explore. The street food of the day was white beans cooked with lamb—yum, yum. The place was a local hot spot. We toured Le Jardin Majorelle and the secret garden. And, yes, the Jemaa el-Fnaa Square has a bit of everything.
Essaouria is a beach town that offers a huge selection of fish and oysters at the port. John and Ali love oysters! The port was built by the Portuguese. In Essaouria, we toured Skala de la Kasbah. Lovely city, sunsets and fabulous Thuya wood carvings. Possibly the oysters are every bit as good as Chesapeake or Apalachicola oysters. On the way to Casablanca, we stopped in Oualidia for more oysters and fish for lunch. John and Ali continued the oyster bonding.
Casablanca—the city is a busy place. The kings’ gardens are beautiful and well used by the citizens. Said pick us up and dropped us of at places to visit, strolling the Corniche was stunning and the Hassan II Mosque is beautiful and massive. Impressively built in 6 years with a cadre of architects.
She&CO put together a remarkably personalized experience for us. We visited and toured the expected sites, but She&CO adapted the tour to match our requests. Most importantly, the team shared their cultural and historical enthusiasm of Morocco, introducing us to local foods, coffees, attractions, and Moroccan tea - things that we would have never found on our own. We highly recommend any who plan to visit Morocco to consider She&CO to enhance their travel experience.
2 WEEK MOROCCAN ADVENTURE! - This is my fourth travel experience with Hajar and Ali, of She & Co. They are now family! You cannot find two better guides in Morocco, and they also employ... read more
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