Montreal to Marrakech Meetup

I AM a ✨Wanderer✨! From a young age, I have ALWAYS been interested in other places, distant lands, the different ways of life in various areas of the world and how different places feel.

Maybe my desire to wander came from my mom who I would also identify as a wanderer. Maybe it came from my desire to ‘find my place’ in a life experience where I have come from so many different “parts” that it’s been difficult to classify or identify myself as just one. Whatever the reason, I know that wandering brings me alive, fills my cup, consistently illuminates new awareness and understandings of myself and the world, and constantly results in ✨magic✨ in my sphere!

So, when our friend J-Rodg contacted us to tell us she had unexpected vacation coming up in just over a week and wanted to bring us on an adventure if we were game, of course I jumped!! Unfortunately B-Rod didn’t have the flexibility to make it work, so . . . . . Girls Trip!!! 😝

The one and only stipulation for this adventure was that I had to make my own way to meet her in Montreal for a specific date. Because I wanted to guarantee that I’d be on time, I started making my way to Montreal a bit early and figured I could spend a short time wandering that city as well.

Our meet up was in Montreal with our intended destination of Marrakech in Morocco. The Marrakech portion was very loosely planned, and while there, and last minute we added another place in Morocco to wander. So this particular adventure turned out to have three parts which ended up having three very different themes/feelings to them.

Part 1: Montreal

It’s been many years since I’ve spent time in Montreal, and I knew I wouldn’t have a lot of time there. So, my intention was simply to wander around, but I also had a “great if it happens, but no biggie if not” list of three classic Montreal things: eat poutine, go to the Notre-Dame Basilica and have a bagel.

From the moment I landed in Montreal, things just felt . . . . . off.

After I left security, I was walking behind a guy walking a dog in the airport. The dog stopped suddenly, squatted and took a 💩 right in the middle of the busy concrete jungle of the airport. (“Interesting” coincidence . . . . on my way back through Montreal on the way home, after we left the plane and stepped into the airport, we walked past a detection dog who had also just taken a 💩 in the busy concrete jungle airport!)

This pretty much summed up the vibe I got from Montreal this time. Not to say that Montreal’s a “bad” city and I’d never go again. I actually would visit the city again. I just know and have worked enough with wandering and energy to understand that not all places will feel right all the time. It could be a place thing, a timing thing, a me thing, a sometimes thing, a forever thing or simply a mismatch of various energies, but for whatever reason Montreal just felt off for me this particular time.

Still, despite the weather (I did get some sunshine, but it was rainy for the most part), I did enjoy wandering around the old part of the city AND I checked off all the things from my list!

Checking things off “the list”

My highlight was DEFINITELY the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal. This place took my breath away and left me in awe which, for various reasons, I honestly didn’t expect. I had to simply sit for a while and take it all in. I could have sat there for hours and would go back to Montreal just to be in the energy of that place!

Part 1’s overall theme . . . . Montreal = a weird “off” energy

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Finally the time arrived to meet J-Rodg and begin our adventure together!

Part 2: Marrakech

When J-Rodg proposed the adventure, she had a couple places she was interested in going to. Marrakech was the one that stood out for me as it is a place that I have always wanted to visit. She looked into the ease and possibility of getting us there and once she was fairly confident we could make it happen, a few days before we left we booked a place to stay.

Because her airline only flew into Casablanca our first order of business . . . figure out trains to Marrakech!

We knew we wanted to stay in a riad which is “a building with rooms and common areas around a central courtyard . . . [that] have existed in Morocco for centuries.” Because we had booked so last minute, we ended up in a riad outside of the medina (more opportunity to figure out local transport!) Ours didn’t look like much on the outside, but was colourful and warm on the inside.

We didn’t actually mind being out of the medina and in a more local neighbourhood, our room was comfortable and the staff was mostly friendly. What confused us a bit was how we were kind of left to ourselves completely even when we asked for specific help with certain matters. There were a few times we were uncertain about things and simply stood there saying . . . . huh.

Medina

Being in the Medina was one of the major draws for us originally going to Marrakech. I had told J-Rodg about my recent-ish discovery of free walking tours, found one and off we went!

There are different souks (markets) within the medina (walled inner, often ancient, part of the city). Ismael took us to a few souks including one that focused on leather goods.

Around the medina

We were both pleasantly surprised that a couple of our expectations around the medina hadn’t been met! We had both anticipated it to be crazy busy with tons of people. Though it was busy and crowded at points in certain areas, it was nothing like what we had both envisioned it would be. We also weren’t hounded by sellers quite as much as we expected which was refreshing.

It also surprised us that at the end of the day, after the tour and wandering around on our own, we didn’t feel the pull to go back to the medina. We had thought that we would go back to wander and explore a few times throughout our stay, but that one day seemed to satisfy our curiosity and interest . . . . huh!

Ait Ben Haddou

I had seen a picture of Ait Ben Haddou and thought it looked interesting. When a friend recommended we go and J-Rodg was game, we decided since we had such a short time, we’d simply take the easy route and go with a tour in order to travel the 3+ hours to get here.

It was definitely a cool place, we got to see and experience being in the Atlas Mountains and the scenery along the way was stunning!

It wasn’t until we decided to go to Ait Ben Haddou that I discovered that it had been used as a place for filming a part of Game of Thrones. So for an GOT watchers out there, Ait Ben Haddou is “Yunkai: one of the great cities in Slavers Bay, that Daenerys lays siege to”

I also discovered that Ait Ben Haddou had been used to film scenes for Gladiator (the Russel Crowe movie). This I found out through people on our tour. The thing I was reminded about tours, this time around, is that not only can the tour guide make or break the excursion, but the people you are thrown together with for the day can also do the same.

On this particular day we were grouped with a van that was mostly filled with young Italian guys . . . . who were constantly late . . . . and often loud and boisterous . . . . and not necessarily considerate of others on the tour who weren’t in their group . . . . and were OBSESSED with Gladiator.

I strive to be grateful for the little things in life. On that particular day, I was grateful for the opportunity to get to this site in Morocco, AND I was grateful to have noise cancelling ear buds!!

Gardens

J-Rodg stated that she never tires of gardens, so as Marrakech has a few, we visited a couple. We found ourselves at the Secret Garden and Majorelle Garden. Not only were they beautiful, colourful and cheery, but they also tended to have little spots where you could tuck yourself in and find some moments of peace.

Hammam

Of course, I had to go for a scrub down in a place that is known for scrub downs! No matter how many times or in how many countries I go for a naked exfoliation, it is still a bit nerve wracking going in when you’re not quite sure of the order or rule of things. Luckily this particular hammam had women that would grab me by the hand and lead me to the next stage/step in the process. I left feeling lighter, cleaner and grateful for the sisterhood spanning cultures that has (and scrubs) each other’s backs!

Food

It had been a very long journey to get to our first night in Marrakech, so we opted to eat at our riad. This proved to be the most underwhelming and overpriced meal we had during our whole trip. It was also our first introduction to tagine. Tagine is a staple in Moroccan food and has been referred to as a stew like dish cooked in cookware which is also called tagine. The top was always taken off right away, so I never did get a picture of the conical shape.

The next morning at breakfast we were talking to a French couple staying at our riad. Without mentioning our meal the previous night, they told us about a really good restaurant find they had made close to our place.

We ended up there TWICE! It was possibly some of the best eats I had while in Morocco AND it was super cheap . . . . . huh!

We had the chicken pastilla BOTH TIMES!! Who knew that a chicken pie with phyllo dough, chicken, almonds, icing sugar and cinnamon would not only work but be a taste sensation!!!! huh!

My sampling of Moroccan salads and the fruit were also highlights of my eats in Marrakech.

Part 2’s overall theme . . . . Marrakech = huh (said with a different emphasis or punctuation mark depending on the context and/or situation we found ourselves in)

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Just before we left J-Rodg’s work schedule had changed slightly which ended up giving us a few more days than we expected. While we were in Marrakech, I kept hearing about this little town on the coast with a cool vibe. We decided to check it out and spend our last couple of days there.

Part 3: Essaouira

We hopped a bus in Marrakech and three hours later we arrived to this cool little town. Once again we stayed in a riad which didn’t seem like much on the outside, but on the inside it was colourful, comfortable AND this time the people were sooooooo warm, friendly and welcoming. We were also excited about the deck area from which we could see the ocean!

In Essaouira we simply just chilled out! It was smaller and easier to navigate, and people were more laid back than in Marrakech. It was very easy to just wander and relax here.

There were a few things Essaouira had an abundance of . . . .

Seagulls

Cats

They were everywhere and were free to roam, wander and go absolutely anywhere they wanted.

Sand

Wind

Essaouira is heaven for wind and kite surfers because wind blows here most of the time! It’s known as the “Windy City of Africa” and definitely lived up to this name while we were there!

Once again, It wasn’t until we decided to go to Essaouira that I discovered that it had also been used as a place for filming some of Game of Thrones. This was Astapor or Slaver’s Bay, home of the unsullied. Does it look familiar GOT watchers?

We tried a few new eats in Essaouira and all were very yummy!

On our last day, within a few hours before we were set to leave the city to make the long trek back to Casablanca, J-Rodg and I were sitting at a random place for tea. I was simply watching the world go by when I noticed someone a few tables down. Could it be that I knew this person? But I thought she was currently walking the Camino in Spain. It was so uncanny, I had to go up and talk to her to chat and verify my suspicions.

Turns out that it was in fact her!! The crazier part is she is someone I know from an online community, so this was our first time meeting in person. Crazier, crazier part is she is from Vancouver, so we only live a few hours away!! How truly ✨magical✨ and amazing is that?!

Part 3’s overall theme . . . . Essaouira = most things are better in Essaouira 😆

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I had always wanted to wander to Morocco and am grateful for the chance to get to do so. There are many things I enjoyed, but I particularly loved the different colours and textures everywhere in the country.

Thanks so much for the good times J-Rodg!