Morocco

Day 1:  Arrive Casablanca, Morocco / Rabat
Arrive in Casablanca, a gleaming white city on the north coast.*  Morocco’s international personality mixes with European influences.  Upon arrival you will be met by your driver and guide who will escort you to Rabat where you will enjoy lunch at a local restaurant.  Set like a jewel amid magnificent surroundings, Rabat is endowed with long beaches of golden sand, lush gardens and courtyards, the noble Mamora cork oak forest and the Royal Golf Dar-Es-Salam, one of the most beautiful courses in the world.  Villa Mandarine – Deluxe Room (L,D)

* Important Note:  Itinerary requires that you arrive by noon in order to reach Rabat.

Day 2:  Rabat / Meknes / Fes
This morning your overland drive via rural countryside first visits the city of Rabat.  Your sights include the Hassan Tower, Mohammed V Mausoleum and the Casbahs of Oudayas.  Continue on to Meknes for a typical Moroccan lunch en route and afternoon tour visiting Bab El Mansour (gate), Moulay Ismail Stables and Dar El Beida (haras).  Late afternoon continue to Fes and check into your hotel.  Fes has been Morocco’s cultural and religious center for 1,200 years.  Riad Maison Bleue – Suite (B,L,D)

Day 3:  Fes
The exciting, fascinating and two thousand year old Imperial City of Fes is surrounded by nine miles of ramparts situated in a narrow valley, strategically positioned on the old caravan crossroads, which once connected the one-time Saharan empires with the Atlantic and Mediterranean trading routes to Europe.  Fes was once, after Mecca and Medina, held to be one of the holiest cities in the Islamic world.  Moroccans say that Marrakech, Rabat and Casablanca live in the present, but that Fes certainly lives in the past.  No surprises here, for European chroniclers of the Middle Ages wrote with awe of this city that for several centuries was the most civilized Western outpost of the Semitic world.  With its two hundred mosques and holy shrines, Fes contains more places of worship than any other city in Morocco.  At its peak, early in the thirteenth century, Fes el-Bali alone boasted almost eight hundred mosques and mausoleums for its 125,000 inhabitants.  With ancient ramparts set against a dramatic backdrop of the not-too-distant Middle Atlas Mountains.  Your guide will take you to the bustling maze of alleyways through the fascinating medina and souks offering every possible combination of beautiful pottery, Berber carpets, Fassi brassware, Jewish-originated silverware, traditional and modern jewelry, beautiful leather goods all amidst the pungent aromas of spices, herbs and oils.  First you will visit the impressive Dar el Makhzen and stop briefly at the Royal Palace with its magnificent seven bronze gates.  From here, walk through the Mellah with its intense atmosphere and fine examples of Mauro-Hispanic architecture.  Drive to the Borj Sud to take in the panoramic views of the Medina.  Then begin your walking tour of the labyrinth of the ancient Fes Medina.  Here, you will see the Bou Inania Mosque and Medersa and the Maimonides’ clock.  Walk by the colorful es-Sabbaghine with its Street of the Dyers and see the brass workers at es-Saffarine.  You will see the exterior of the impressive al-Quarawiyyin Mosque and University and the el-Atterine Medersa passing the aromas of the Souq el-Atterine area of spices and groceries.  Continue to the delightful el-Nejjarine Square with its fountain and caravanserai, stopping nearby for a light lunch.  You will then go to the renowned Tanneries on the bank of the Oued Fes.  Afterwards you will see the potteries, perfumes and beauty products at the Souq el-Henna.  Leaving the Medina from the Bab Boujloud, you tour the magnificent ramparts with its beautiful ‘Babs’ as you make your way to the 16th-century Saadien watchtower at the North Borj.  Finally you will visit the Dar Batha Museum with its collection of carpets and woodwork.  Riad Maison Bleue – Suite (B,L,D)

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 evening with its beautiful High Atlas Mountain backdrop.  Riad Villa Des Orangers – Deluxe Room with Terrace (B,L,D)

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, has long been a crossroads of cultures, and souks where medieval craft guilds still operate according to their old traditions.  Lunch overlooking the Djmaa El Fnaa Square, usually jammed with street theater of acrobats, fire eaters, snake charmers, sword swallowers, and assorted other performers.  Later, 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, housed the Islamic equivalent of a monastery.  The 11th-century Almoravid Dynasty Koubba and the Marrakech Museum of Contemporary Art are also here.  As you move through the labyrinth of narrow alleyways, take in the renowned colorful and aromatic Souqs of Marrakech.  Finish your guided visit in the Djmaa el Fnaa Square and return to your riad.  Riad Villa Des Orangers – Deluxe Room with Terrace (B,L)

Day 6:  Marrakech / Imlil-Aroumd-Imlil / Marrakech
Today you depart by car from Marrakech and drive south across the Haouz Plain with its olive-groves and citrus-tree orchards, to the Berber village of Imlil, which is set in the upper foothills of the Western High Atlas Mountains.  As you start to ascend into the High Atlas valleys, you pass through the Berber town of Tahanaoute before winding your way up past the Moulay Brahim Gorges and into the high valleys.  Pass under the little town of Zaouiat Moulay Brahim perched on a cliff overlooking the Oued River and proceed past small, irrigated plots along the river, some of which are centuries old.  On the narrow valley road running alongside a stream, wind your way up past the Berber villages of Imi Ourghlad, Tinifine, Aguerssioual and Taddart, carved out of the mountainside.  Pass by Kasbah Tamadot, an elegant desert retreat perched on a cliff.  At the village of Imlil, you stop for a refreshing glass of mint tea, before setting out a few miles south to the Berber village of Aroumd, passing the hardy Berber hamlets of Taourirt, Targa and  Imoula.  The Western High Atlas peaks nearby include Jbels Aguelzim, Aksoual, and Adrar Adj.  Stop at Aroumd, a rather singular village in the Assif Ait Mizane Valley, built on a large moraine spur overlooking ancient irrigated terraced fields of barley, corn and vegetables, and surrounded by almond and walnut trees.  Later return to your riad in Marrakech.  Villa Des Orangers – Deluxe Rooms with Terrace (B,L)

Day 7:  Marrakech / Casablanca
Enjoy a leisurely breakfast before you are privately transferred to Casablanca and your hotel.  You will have an afternoon city tour, which will include the interior of the famous Hassan II Mosque, the Corniche, the Central Market and the New Medina Habous Quarter.  Hotel & Spa Le Doge – Passion Suite (B)

Day 8:  Casablanca / Depart
Today you will be transferred to Casablanca’s Mohammed V Airport for your departing flight.  (B)