I want to thank you for a wonderful “Experience” we had in Morocco and congratulate the entire team to put together a great trip for us. From my first phone call to Kit, who customized the trip us, to the last day dinner at Rick’s Café, everything was arranged to our satisfaction. I want to thank Ruth for patiently answering all my questions and the travel documents your team provided is thoroughly put together and helpful for travelers.
We enjoyed all the Riads we stayed. Some are more opulent than others and we had great suites in all of them and all of the Riads provided great personal service. The most beautiful Riad we stayed was Riad Fez with that incredible Lobby center court. The most architecturally interesting is Lena Riad and Spa at ChefChauon with a stunning indoor pool! The tent at Sahara defiantly fits for a nomad king and we spent a memorable starry night. We were upgraded to a suits and it was a nice touch at Dades Valley. The best service and most personable staff were at Le Maison Arab in Marrakesh and we had the best meals there too. Our last night at Le Doge hotel was short and sweet. We had to leave early to catch the flight and did not have time to enjoy this wonderful boutique hotel. We were impressed with the manager personally came to greet us when arrived and said goodbye to us early in the morning and made sure the taxi was there for the airport. We were being pampered for 12 days with great accommodations and great services.
Day one when we met our young driver, Mohamed Lazziz. He was friendly and personal, very personal. After spending our first day together, we realized the driver of this trip is almost like our like our life line in Morocco. He was not only our driver to drive us from places to place, he took us to good lunch stops, getting water, snack and made sure we were not over charged by the vendors. He helped us tip the bathroom ladies when we were short on small change. He made sure our hotels were ready to check in when we arrived. He took us to additional sites that were not on itinerary when time permitted. We spent a very close 12 days together; we talked about everything on the trip, from family, politics, to religions or whatever came to mind. He explained some history and culture of Morocco along the way. He wanted to make sure we were comfortable, happy. My husband has a knee injury prior to the trip, he has some difficulty walk up and down hills and steps. Mohamed made sure he was comfortable and took time to walk with us to see as much as possible. He wanted us to experience the best of his country. We taught him some more English terms (his English is very good) and he taught us about Morocco. We really get to know him. He is a great son to his parents and family and a devoted citizen to his country. It says a lot about him.
Our locals guides were from good to excellent. They all speak good English with knowledge of the cities we visited. We enjoyed this old man named Abu -Salem in Chefchaouen the best. He was funny and engaging. I am a docent at museums. I know to engage your visitor is an important quality. We laughed and joked as we walked around the village. He pointed out a lot of the good photo ops to me that I would miss. He taught us to say, ” take it easy or slow” in Arabic which came handy few time during the trip. Unfortunately I was not feeling well when we were in Fez, we had to cut the tour short but the guide was very knowledge and courteous. I wished we could spend more time with him. I felt better at dinner time and we went to a very unique ‘Family Restaurant”. The owner has a great keen sense of business. He turned his own living room (the house is inside Fez Medina) to a restaurant and his mother and wife are the cooks. The living room ceiling is stunning with beautiful painted pattern and carving. All the guests there chatted with each other like friends. It was a very warm and welcome atmosphere like you are a personal guest of a house.
Our camel handler was a nice Berber man with pretty good photography skill. I was surprised I handed him my Nikon and he used it like a pro and took few good pictures of us. Perhaps he has much on-site training of photography☺ A visit to Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou was definitely another highlight. Our guide there was actually in the movie of “Gladiator”!
Tour in Marrakesh was informative and the size of the Medina is much easy to handle (than Fez). We had a fun day visiting Majorelle Garden and roaming around the souks in Marrakesh by ourselves. The collection of Berber Museum in Majorelle Garden is exquisite. Yes, we got lost in the Medina in Marrakesh but because of that, we ran into a very local market scene which was an eye opener for the noise, the crowd and smell of the spices. We ended with a lunch at a very French garden restaurant somewhere in the middle of Marrakesh☺ Our last couple days in Essaouira was relaxing. It is a very small town with a small Medina that no one will ever get lost in. This town is known for Wind surfing and it did live up to its name with pretty strong wind when we were there.
Our dinner at Rick’s Café did the final touch of the trip. It is a commercialized place but it is still an iconic place to spend our last dinner and properly said Goodbye to Morocco with a toast of “Here is looking at you kid!”.
We thoroughly enjoyed our trip and got to know Morocco and amazed at its diverse people groups, cultures and landscape from beach to high mountains to the mesmerizing desert. Morocco Tours/Experience it! Tours made this trip pleasant and memorable. I don’t know if we could ever find another tour agency to live up to your standard. Our sincere “Thank You” to all of you. It is an Experience we won’t forget.
Yvonne & Al (USA), April 2014