My travel to Morocco

During last Halloween holidays I travelled to Morocco. It wasn’t what can be said a traveller experience, as I travelled in a group and everything was arranged. But I enjoyed it a lot, and although it was mainly for fun, there were also opportunities to enrich our understanding and knowledge about  a different culture.

First of all, it is surprising how easily we can change continent, culture and lifestyle in a few hours, in just crossing in 45 minutes the Strait of Gibraltar. Without realizing it, you get involved in a different world, with its particular way of life, pace and habits. Haven’t been there before, in my prejudiced, I was afraid about all these new things. But once you are there all these fears promptly disappeared, as I came to realize that people’s life there is essentially the same than ours.

After having left the bustling city of Tanger, we reached to Chaouen, in the Rift Mountains. It is a well preserved city, with an ancient Medina which seems to have been taken from a fairy tale, with its picturesque houses and doors painted in blue. The city was founded in the fifteen century by the people who was dropped from the Kingdom of Granada, so that you can get the impression of being in whatever village of Las Alpujarras.

Next stage was Asilah, a touristy point in the Atlantic coast. It is famous for its glistening medina peering into the ocean. It became celebrated in the wake of a National Geographic photography. In contrast, Larache is not a touristy city, although conserves much of the colonial architecture, as it was the capital of the Spanish Protectorado. However, I enjoyed the visit, because there we could see the Moroccan real life, and how they struggle to improve their standard of living, which falls far short of the ideal.

Last stop was in Tetuan, a city strongly connected with Spain. In fact, we visited the Hospital Español, a four hectares area in the heart of the city which, much  to my surprise, remains under Spanish sovereignty, whenever it was used with social purposes. Thus, it has a school with the Spanish learning approach, a training centre, and a nursery managed by two aged Spanish nuns. There we handed out clothes and materials to the children, in a heartbreaking and unforgettable experience. Then We finished the day in the haunting Medina, designated as a world heritage by UNESCO. There, you are taken away to other time, in the middle of  winding streets full of stalls, mosques, craftsmen,  smells, people and things to a bygone era.