Morocco

I visited Tangier and Chefchaouen in March 2023 and it was one of the most incredible trips of my life. This was soon after the country reopened to tourism post-COVID and the excitement amongst locals to welcome tourists made for some really special interactions and a deeper connection than I’d experienced before.

I was stunned by the landscape, particularly on the way to and in Chefchaouen, the blue city. Although I was on an organised tour, the highlights of the trip all came from going off the beaten path, exploring and connecting with locals, who made the trip the memorable experience it was.

One particular highlight was a traditional Moroccan meal I had on my first evening. My friend and I opted out of the organised group dinner to find something ourselves. Without any WiFi or data, we wandered around the winding streets of Tangier, looking for something vegetarian-friendly (but not salad – we had many warnings about veggies washed in the water that our tummies weren’t used to).

A man standing in one of the alleys asked us if we were looking for somewhere to eat, and we said yes. He told us to follow him – and I know this is goes against everything we’re told as children, but we followed him! The streets were populated enough that we felt reassured, and there was 2 of us so we gave him the benefit of the doubt. And I am so, so glad we did!

He led us to a restaurant nearby, with no tourists in sight. Inside, it was beautifully decorated and we had the whole upstairs to ourselves. There was no menu, the restaurant owner simply offered us a traditional meal (vegetarian for me). We had no idea what or how much to expect, but the food was DELICIOUS and it kept on coming, until we were stuffed and delirious.

My veggie tajine (course 3 of 5 )

This meal ended up being one of the highlights of the trip, and no other food we had in Morocco came close to how delicious it was. We hadn’t agreed a price before eating (not sensible in retrospect) but instead of taking advantage of us, the restaurant owner charged us a fair price (around €15 for 5 courses and drinks). Morocco has a lot of bad press surrounding tourist scams, but in my personal experience, everyone was nothing but kind and inviting.