Africa:Morocco
Morocco Highlights
Tour Highlights:
- Tour the fabled city of Casablanca with its old & new medinas during your Morocco active vacations.
- Travel to the Imperial cities of Rabat & Meknes to see their graceful Moorish palaces, mosques, gardens & bazaars.
- Spend a full day delving into Fez, capital of Morocco for more than 400 years, & home to the oldest & largest medieval city in the world.
- Relish a leisurely, three-night visit to Marrakech, & explore the town square of Jamaâ El Fna with its crowd of storytellers, musicians & the beautiful Koutoubia Mosque.
- Journey across the Atlas Mountains, viewing traditional villages, forests, farmlands & resorts.
Day 1: Arrive Casablanca, Morocco
Fly into Casablanca, a gleaming white city on the north coast where Morocco’s international personality mixes with European influences. Originally a Carthaginian stronghold, it is now the second-largest city in Africa, after Cairo. You are escorted to your hotel, one of the country’s most luxurious, where after check in you shall be taken on a visit of the Central Market, the King’s palace precinct, the Habous ‘New Medina and back via Art Deco buildings to your hotel. See how easily old and new coexist here as people in traditional dress walk through the old and new Medinas, while others in stylish Western dress drive around in their latest-model cars. Royal Mansour Meridien - Superior Room
Day 2: Casablanca/Rabat/Meknes/Volubilis/Fes
Departure for the Imperial Cities of Rabat and Fes, which showcase some of the finest Islamic architecture in Africa. Before you leave the city, you will visit the remarkable Hassan II Mosque. On arrival at Rabat, take in the Chellah Necropolis, the Mohammed V Mausoleum, the Hassan Tower and the Kasbah Des Oudayas in Rabat. We continue on to the Imperial Cities of Meknes and Fes. At Meknes (whose Medina is a UNESCO World Heritage Site), we shall visit the easily most beautiful Bab, or gateway, in all of the Maghreb -the Bab Mansour. From here to the El Heri es-Souani - the granary of huge vaulted structures and stables built by Moulay Ismail’s soldiers next to a pool fed by underground channels that brought fresh water all the way from the distant Middle Atlas Mountains; the Moulay Ismail Mausoleum and the Place el-Hedim. We leave Meknes for to the wonderful Roman ruins at Volubilis, the Volubilis of really ancient olive presses, mansions, incredible mosaics, monumental arches and Corinthian columns where you’ll have a real sense of Roman lifestyle and of that of a subsequent medieval Berber town 2nd century B.C. Roman ruins of Volubilis which was later to become the capital city of the Sultan Idriss I in 788.We stop for lunch overlooking the ruins and the sacred hilltop city of Moulay Idriss before continuing on to the Imperial City of Fes. Fes boasts the oldest university of the country. Dinner this evening is in our delightful Riad Dar Anebar - Junior Suite (B,L,D)
Day 3: Fes
After breakfast we make for the impressive Dar el Makhzen and a 15 minute stop at the Royal Palace with its magnificent seven bronze gates. From here you walk to and through the Mellah with its intense atmosphere and fine examples of Mauro-Hispanic architecture. You now drive to the Borj Sud, here to take in the panoramic view of the Medina to continue by stepping back in time in the Medina, an Escheresque maze of tiny lanes and covered bazaars enclosed by magnificent ramparts; the exteriors of the el-Attarine Medersa and illustrious Qaraouiyyine Mosque; the Bou Inania Mosque; the colourful es-Sabbaghine with its Street of the Dyers; the brass and copper workers at es-Saffarine passing the aromas of the Souq el-Atterine area of spices and groceries to the delightful el-Nejjarine Square with its fountain and caravanserail, stopping nearby for a light lunch. On now to the renowned Tanneries on the bank of the Oued Fes and thence on to the potteries, perfumes and beauty products at the Souq el-Henna. Leaving the Medina from the magnificent Bab Boujloud, you tour the magnificent ramparts with its beautiful ‘Babs’ as you make your way up to the 16th century Saâdien watchtower at the North Borj overlooking the city and the Dar Batha Museum with its collection of carpets, weaponry and woodwork to arrive back at your Riad Dar Anebar - Junior Suite (B,L)
Day 4: Fes/Atlas Mountains/Marrakech
Take in the contrasting views of Morocco as you spend the day crossing the Middle Atlas Mountains to the rose-red caravan city of Marrakech. Pass through Middle Atlas Mountains forests of cedar and Holm-oak - perchance to feed some of the resident Barbary Apes - pasturelands, traditional villages, and mountain resorts. Arrive in Marrakech in the early afternoon with its beautiful High Atlas Mountain backdrop. Riad Dar Les Cigognes - Deluxe Room (B,L)
Day 5: Marrakech
Today’s exciting program reveals the highlights and back streets of Marrakech. Tour the ramparts, the Majorelle Gardens of the now-deceased Yves Saint Laurent and the Koutoubia Mosque in a horse-drawn carriage. Marrakech, the old walled city, long a crossroads of cultures and souks where medieval craft guilds still operate according to their old traditions. Lunch overlooking the Djmaâ El Fnaâ Square when it is jammed with an ongoing street theater of acrobats, fire eaters, snake charmers, sword swallowers, and assorted other performers, later to visit the Kasbah, the Mellah (Jewish Quarter) and the Palaces of El Badii and El Bahia and the Medina with its ancient monuments and museums, the14th century Ben Youssef Medersa - one of the most beautiful buildings in Marrakech that housed the Islamic equivalent of a monastery; the 11th century Almoravid Dynasty Koubba and the Marrakech Museum of Contemporary Art and on through the labyrinth of narrow alleyways making up the renowned cool, colourful and aromatic Souqs of Marrakech - the Dyers’ Souq being the last to be visited - finishing our guided visit in the Djmaâ el Fnaâ Square to return to our Riad Dar Les Cigognes - Deluxe Room (B,L)
Day 6: Marrakech
The day is at leisure to shop or explore on your own. Stake out a café table to observe the street life or join an optional excursion. Riad Dar Les Cigognes - Deluxe Room (B)
Day 7: Marrakech or Casablanca / Depart
After breakfast, you are transferred either to the airport of Marrakech or Casablanca in time for your departure flight. Arrive home later today, reflecting on the vitality and cultural richness of Morocco. (B)
Rates/Departures:
Morocco Highlights | Double | Single Supplement | Comments |
| Jan 01 - Dec 15, 2010 | $3990 | $1250 | Please call for Holiday Supplements. |
Rates are for land arrangements only. Airfares are not included unless specifically mentioned in inclusions and can be quoted separately. Rates are per person, in US dollars, and based on two people sharing a room. Valid Jan. 01 – Dec. 21, 2010, unless otherwise noted. The single supplements indicated are based on a single room supplement after the two passenger minimum is met. For solo travelers, additional supplements will apply.