Being a wedding photographer in Greece is really interesting and challenging. But some times can also be very demanding and exhausting. Sometimes we feel that 24 hours per day and 7 days per week is really not enough time to do all we have to do. As a result , the more the wedding season goes on, the more we catch ourselves seeking winter.. Stay home, play with our kids, have a cup of coffee with good friends.. And right when we feel that our body and soul have rested enough, that’s the perfect time to start talking about our next journey ! Oh, we love this moment.. when we take a blank piece of paper and write down all the destinations we have added to our bucket list. The procedure is so familiar to us. It takes us just 3 thoughts.
First thought : Near or Far? – Hmm…far
Second thought : Which Continent ? – Asia or Africa
Last thought : Asia or Africa ? – …. difficult decision ….Africa , we guess
And that’s it ! The moment we make our decision , the same moment we mentally transfer our bodies in the new destination ! So, Morroco! Always wanted to go to Morroco. Not that far, but still out of the “safety” of Europe. Different Continent, different culture, language, climate, religion. We booked our trip 3 months ahead and from that moment we started reading. The more we read the more we were anxious about what we were going to face there.
The day we left for the airport we were more than excited.
First stop : Fez. This city is not the most touristic in Morroco and that was the reason that made us add it to our trip. We stayed in a traditional Riad inside the Medina, decorated with the traditional Moroccan style. We visited the famous tanneries and the beautiful madrasas. While walking we ate delicious cookies and drunk mint tea. It is unbelievable how many colors this city has. After 2 days in Fez we started a trip to Marrakech. The distance is long and the roads not very big. We drove a lot through the small villages in the countryside. We saw the houses built with clay and we learned that kids have to walk about 4-5 km everyday, to go to school. We ate hot Tajine , which is the traditional Moroccan food. At the end of the first day trip we finally arrived to Merzouga where our camel man picked us and drove us (camel ride) to our desert camp. For more than an hour on the camel we reached our desert camp between the dunes of Sahara. That night was one of the coldest nights of our lives. We woke up in the middle of the night and we stood there just staring the sky. A sky full of stars above our heads , that turned the night into day, surrounded by the absolute silence. Never again have we ever felt so tiny. Few hours later, in the middle of Sahara, we witnessed the best sunrise of our lives. Extremely cold and exhausted but it sooo, so worth it. With our good guides , Ali and Ibrahim, we continued our journey to Marrakech. Stopped in an open market in Rissani village. Surrounded by locals , we looked so weird there. In that market you could find herbs, meat, goats, vegetables and all the spices you could ever imagine. We bought some beautiful things in a very low price. We drove through wild canyons and took pictures of so many beautiful villages and kasbah. The color of the clay was everywhere . One thing that impressed us a lot , was the Moroccan men, dressed even nowadays, with the known turban and Djellaba. That same winter coat they wore many centuries back. As for the women, they were dressed conservatively with scarfs, long flowing robes and black veils.
After a long 3-day journey through Morroco and having seen the famous Ait Ben Haddou , the snowy Atlas Mountains and the beautiful Ouarzazate, we finally reached Marrakech. Our amazing guides never let us down. Always by our side ready to offer us their very best ! After we said goodbye to these two incredible men, we went to our new Riad . How many things can you see in just 1 1/2 day in Marrakech ?? Well, we strolled through the Old city, bought some souvenirs from the Djemaa el fna, went to the Majorelle Jardin and to the Palais El Badii. After a big-big day we returned to our Riad to get ready for the next day’s flights back.
With our luggage full of colorful scarfs, pottery canes and leather bags and our souls flooded with images, feelings and smells we said goodbye to this amazing country. So , goodbye Morroco. So many things to remember.. so many memories to cherish.. however, the warmth and the pure smile of the locals will be the greatest things of all.. this that we will tell our kids about
