Growing up, Jordan was just my favorite member of New Kids on the Block, THE boy band of the 90’s. It wasn’t until I was older and was allowed to watch Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade that a different Jordan came onto my radar, all thanks to Petra. You know those last scenes when they find the canyon of the crescent moon? The hidden tomb carved into the rock where they find the holy grail? Yeah that’s Petra and since seeing it on the movie and finding out it’s a real place it’s been on my bucket list.
So back to the story. The universe sent me some love and gave me a whole row of seats on the plane so managed a snooze and pretty much breezed through passport control and customs. Had already bought the visa online so stamp, smile and I was done. Finally stepping out in Amman, the capital of Jordan and looking to be welcomed by the big arse Travel Talk sign as per Morocco, it was more of a search and rescue mission, when I saw a random group of tourists, figured it was them, kinda learning stuff huh? While it wasn’t quite the horrendous heat that welcomed us in Marrakech, it was pretty damn warm and I didn’t put up much of a protest when somehow I ended up with the front seat of the car, sitting head on into the air con for the ride to our accommodation. First impressions of Amman, uhhhhh??? Kinda what I expected Morocco to look like, except in that case it exceeded expectations, this was right on. Not to say it wasn’t interesting, very very different to any city I’d ever been and damn damn busy!!
Checking in at the hotel, I was still having an affair with the universe and got my own room for the night even though I’d only paid to share. Noice. The briefing that night by the tour guide I have to say was pretty average, the tour guide dude which to be honest, can’t even remember his name was no Abdul from our Morocco tour, mind you, Abdul set pretty high expectations!! All briefed I was still snoting everywhere so instead of being a normal Holly and trying to make friends, I just went to bed. No beer, no gin, just the other strong stuff.
Monday morning in Amman and it was the first of many BOTB. Except this bus was kinda small, like an 80s Volkswagen van, small and probs the same age. Our tour guide, let’s name him Donnie (my second favourite NKOTB) asssured us it was only for today and we’d have a bigger bus when the rest of the group joined us… rest of the group?? Huh?? Am I missing something? Was probs searching for tissues when Donnie mentioned that last night. Anyhoo, we were off to Jerash, a world heritage UNESCO site with ancient Roman ruins and the second reason behind Petra I wanted to visit Jordan. On the way Donnie got his guide on and introduced us to Jordan, a country shaped like half a t-shirt, ruled by a king, a democracy and apparently really really safe. Don’t mind the fact it borders with Syria and Iraq, minor detail. The population is just shy of 10 million, not bad for a country 87 times SMALLER than Australia, there are also millions of refugees as you’d except given the unrest all around it. Also has Israel to the left, to the left. Yes Beyoncé. The river that runs through Jordan is creatively called the Jordan River, maybe it sounds familiar?? Yeah, that’s where Jesus was baptised, the place also has biblical ties to the angel Jacob although Donnie didn’t elaborate on that one. Alexander the Great also marched through here when conquering the entire planet. Feel some google coming on, Donnie isn’t entirely forthcoming with the endless amount of facts this nerd needs!!
Arriving at Jerash, you’re kinda underwhelmed cos it seems like google has lied about its grandeur. But then you see this…
An ancient arch built by the Roman emperor Hadrian, yep, that dude again. Built to welcome himself to the city, thats one hell of an ego! Only he was allowed through the centre arch, the soldiers had to go through the sides. A yella from Donnie and we’re through the arch and looking down on an underground cemetery, which we weren’t allowed to go in, it sat beneath these cool tiled things that had a name but once again was searching for tissues and didn’t quite hear what Donnie said it was!
A wander down the road, through a smaller arch and we’re into the Hippodrome, I’d compare it to the Thunderdome, it’s where they used to do chariot races, up and back and around seven times, 244m each time or all up?? Can’t remember, too much pseudoephedrine! Either way, looked pretty cool and by the sounds of it, damn dangerous, the cemetery makes sense now!
Through one more arch with watch towers that unfortunately was most destroyed by an earthquake and oh right, yeah I see it now. Google told no lies, this place is huge and bloody amazing!! But first the arch…
And now the site that is Jerash, the place dates back to 7500 BC, has been taken over by every man and his dog passing through and is considered the Pompeii of the East, yeah I got my google on for that one!! The curved pillars, which really take your breathe away when you see them, are called the forum and is 90m long. You can just imagine how intimidating and impressive this city would have been back in the day, the Romans sure knew how to show their might!
Our next stop was the theatre where they had plays and entertained those part of the ‘in’ crowd, don’t think the locals were allowed in.
The steps up the theatre were pretty steep and uneven, I knew I could make it to the top but getting down was gonna hurt my netball knees, but when in Rome…and the views were worth it!!
My pictures really don’t capture how massive and impressive the site is, even with a super duper wide screen camera lens I really don’t think you could capture it. There are ruins as far as the eye can see, but smack bang in the middle of a city so there’s quite the contrast between the old and the not so old. Ruins upon ruins upon ruins and I loved it!!
Now I did kinda listen to Donnie again but trying not to be a complete arse, or maybe I just will be, he really wasn’t overly engaging when he spoke, kinda like listening to my grade 9 physics teacher. I missed Abdul’s enthusiasm! What I do recall, the site was dug up for some reason, there’s still plenty underneath they haven’t quite gotten too, costs money and apparently the government have other priorities, like helping all the fleeing refugees, fair enough. What I love about the site are the columns, they are so imposing and stunning, perfectly lined up and so damn high, how the hell they got them up I have no idea, maybe it was the same aliens that did the pyramids?? Or just probs thousands of slaves, another reason for the cemetery…
So the next place was a temple with ten pillars for Artemis and maybe dedicated to Diana, the god of love?? Or was it dedicated to Artemis, I really must listen. Either way, it was built on the highest point to be closer to god. In fact, all the churches on the site face Jerusalem, how they worked it out back then who knows, certainly wasn’t using an app on their iPhone! Considering the country is now 90% Muslim, pretty impressive they got away with having churches at all. But from what I’ve learnt about this dude Hadrian, what he says goes.
I kinda wish that this place had one of those self guided tours, stick in some headphones and wander while listening to the history of the place, and blowing your nose. Can’t recall what this next place was, either I wasn’t listening or Donnie didn’t mention, probs another arch for the egotistical Hadrian to wander through…
Our last little stop on our Jerash site tour was at a water foundation dedicated to Nym… yeah a god. Maybe it was Nymphadora, or is that from Harry Potter? Didn’t quite catch the actual name but what is amazing is that the whole little city had running water, all plumbed in. Again, how the hell????
Heading out of the site, down the cardio maximus (thanks Google!), there was time for a few more selfies and snaps of the curvy column thing, really is a marvel how they got them so perfectly aligned. Wonder if you can see this place from space??
Finishing up at Jerash it was BOTB and up to Ajloun Castle, everyone knows I love me a castle!! This castle was built in 1145AD to stop the crusaders, didn’t catch if the dude Hadrian had anything to do with it… Gooogle, what say you?? Ok, so it was built on the grounds of an old monastery and was made into a fort to keep watch over peeps traveling between Damascus and Eqgypt. Coolies, apparently it’s the style of the ottomans but others have added to it to make it bigger and better, as men back then always felt a need to do. As far as castles go, it was ok. I know, I sound like a douche saying that but the castle count on this trip must be up in the twenties by now so lots to compare to and it’s pretty hard to beat the stunning castles of Scotland!!
I’ll give the castle some cred though, the views were absolutely gorgeous! Looking out over the Jordanian countryside it was a sea of green, red and white – green trees, red sand and white buildings, wait, their flag is green, red and white, might be onto something there!! Probs not but the most impressive bit was that you could see over to Jerusalem, if only I could remember which picture it was…
After enough castle time it was back into Amman, past this cool mural which included a picture of Jordan, see the half t-shirt shape???
To cap off the day there was a promise from Donnie to take us to somewhere local for dinner. Looking forward to trying some Jordanian food, you can imagine all our disappointment and blahing when the local turned out to be a shawarma joint, pretty much imagine what you’d eat at 3am after a night out and that was dinner. I mean, it always tastes good at 3am but didn’t really feel like I was trying something new. On the walk back home I did manage to actually eat something local, some kind of gooey, cheesey, honey, pistachio, I had no idea what I was eating thing. Looked like a camel but tasted pretty good, can imagine how yummy it would be if my taste buds were at full strength! At days end, hate to say it but Abdul 5, Donnie 0 but Jordan was winning in the awesome stakes!! Geez, judgey cow aren’t I!!!!!!
With a 7.30am BOTB scheduled, you’d think I would have slept in as much as I could, that’s what I do, but for some reason the idea of being near a beautiful beach and not having dipped my feet in the water was all the wake up call I needed. Packed in a jiffy and I wandered down to the beach in near darkness thinking an early morning stroll before brekkie would be just what my meatball body needed. Unfortunately about 150m from the hotel there seemed to be some shady characters lurking in the shadows. In all honesty, there probs was no lurking or shady but my mum’s voice in my head about being safe sent me packing back to the hotel. For the two seconds I was there, it was so pretty!
After a carb overload at brekkie, Kyles was keen for a beach walk thank goodness, between us we’d be able to kick the arse of any lurkers. Of course lurkers were just in my imagination, the beach was beautiful, even before sunrise and made me start to wonder that if the deserts of Morocco were as stunning as the beaches, then maybe this country had it all?? Certainly has all the meatballs…
BOTB for an upcoming 6 hours of bus time in the day, we were lucky enough to at least see the sunrise while we questioned why we weren’t smart enough to download all the Netflix shows the night before. Abdul of course provided us with some entertainment with aussie dude Liam renamed Ali Baba on account of his epic beard, and the James Spader look alike Josh renames Mohammed, none of us were really sure why on that one. Abdul also introduced some Berber/Arabic words, like Shukran, meaning thank you. For some reason it sounded like the word chocolate to me, guess you had to be there. After such a lush beach backdrop it was onto the Morocco I expected, desert for miles, but pretty desert with trees and hills, or maybe it was just countryside?? It definitely felt like a step back in time either way, people making their way around with horse and cart, possibly they were donkies, they wizzed by so fast I’m not completely sure.
With the first half of our 6 hour leg down, it was time for lunch and what better setting than the beautiful Casablanca beach. Now, leading up to the trip, I’d heard of the movie Casablanca but had heard from a few peeps that the place itself was something of a shit hole, not really worth the pit stop. But I think I’d have to disagree. Yes it was obvs set up for tourists but the beach itself was pretty gorgeous, maybe I just love all beaches and could never diss one but I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves.
After stuffing our faces with salad, cos the salads in Morocco are ginormous and yes you do stuff your face, we went for a quick wander up the foreshore with the 10 spare minutes we had then legged in back to the bus to head for the mosque which we’d heard was kinda big. Big is an understatement of the century. And to say it’s beautiful is another understatement. Don’t know how to describe it but to say it’s one of the most beautiful buildings I’ve seen in my life. Completely different to the cathedrals of the European countries, elegant design on the outside than absolute opulence on the inside. There’s something about the shape of the arches and doorways that I love, and the contrasting colours of the blues and greens set against the sandstone, just stunning and not the Morocco I expected!
Having found the previous day a dress that covers all the things while not sweating me to death, the only requirement to enter the mosque was shoes off. After sweltering outside, the cool marble floor on our feet was more than welcome. As were the bags provided to carry our stinkin shoes, someone had their thinking caps on for that one. The Mosque is actually called the Hassan II Mosque, the King who commissioned it to be the biggest and most grand building in Morocco. Cos that’s what makes a good King, have a massive building named after you, not like, taking care of your people and creating prosperity and equality for all. Anyhoo, Mr Hassan got his wish and it ended up being the largest Mosque in Africa and the third largest in the world. When it cost a whopping $600 – $800 million USD to build, you’d certainly hope so. The King didn’t have all that cashola himself so Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Dubai spotted him, he obvs didn’t listen to his mother, if you can’t afford it, you don’t need it. Besides the money thing and do you really “need” a big arse Mosque, the fact that all the building materials were sourced in Morocco is pretty impressive. Well, except the Venetian glass and white marble which came from Italy but guess they don’t have those things in Morocco. And second most impressively (that’s a word right?) is that the white marble columns are natural humidifiers, somehow the marble absorbs the humidity in the air. For reals. And third most impressively, this place fits 25,000 people inside and 85,000 outside in the square. Sure women have to use the upstairs platforms to worship but it’s a matter of custom, at lest they are allowed in. Ok, so now for the most impressive of the impressively’s (defs not a word), the roof opens!!!! I kid you not, the place has a retractable roof, just like a football or tennis stadium. So worshippers can be closer to god, no wait, so they can have all the elements present when worshipping I think? There were these water well things in there too so I think it has something to do with that. So apparently with all these impressively’s it took 6 years to build, with people work ing 24/7 in 3 shifts. That’s some epic project management! The inside though, just wow upon wow and all the impressively’s in the world!! Unfortunately in discussing the impressively’s I think I swore, probs going to hell..
So in learning some more about the Muslim religion from our Mosque tour hostess, she talked about the importance of being clean before you pray. Given they pray five times a day, that’s a lotta cleaning. I think she saw our confused faces so she explained that it’s ok to just wash your hands before praying, however if praying at this super impressive mosque, the whole bottom floor is dedicated to these water features where people can clean themselves. I know water features is NOT the right name but seriously can’t remember and no idea what to google to find out. They look a little something like this…
Back outside the Mosque we wandered through a museum but as far as museums go, eh. After a super impressive Mosque, not much could impress. That Mosque was so damn impressive it deserves a million more pics…
BOTB and Abdul got his google on again with some more tantalizing info about Moroccan customs. And I’m not being sarcastic, really love this stuff!! So the current King, Mohammed IV is newly single, hot gossip in Morocco! The goss is that he’s divorcing his wife, who has been missing from public duties of late. Hmm, single King, single Holly… yeah, not Muslim otherwise i’m sure I’d be in with a chance!?! And more impressively than the Mosque, Morocco is a democracy, well, as close as possible. The people elect the parliament and the King chooses the Prime Minister from the winning party. And most super impressively, and maybe I naively didn’t expect, theres decent equality for women in Morocco. Women are entitled to do all jobs with the exception of the call to prayer, religious thing so understandable, and females can’t be King or Prime Minister. For the King bit, if they have only daughters, then he chooses another male in the dynasty to take the reins. The King thing I get, the UK line of succession has only recently been updated to be more 21st century but the PM thing, not so sure about. Maybe in time things might change, maybe. There are plenty of other countries with lots of work to do to get to their standards, and for an African nation, I think that’s impressive. Luckily it wasn’t far to the hotel, otherwise my head would have gone into overload! Once there it was the usual checkin and poor Aleesha was defs stuck with me. A couple of coldies later we were BOTB yet again and headed for the market area of Casablanca and around the city. This was when I began to understand the blah about Casablanca, it was pretty dodgy if I’m honest!! Luckily though it’s got all the great western offerings like KFC, which made for a loo dash, all that water goes straight through ya… sorry, too much info!
Abdul once again did good and took us to a local for a dinner of, you guessed it, tagine! Yes there was pasta and other western things on the menu but when in Morocco! I sure as hell won’t be able to figure out how to cook a tagine once I get home, although really wish I could, they are kinda one pot wonders and that’s my specialty. After once again feeling like a stuffed meatball we were BOTB to the hotel where straight to bed is never an option so we gave the bar some business and ate Toblerone, those three humongous ones I somehow managed to snag in duty free on our gin fueled run for the plane. If left with me I’d be a chocolate covered meatball before too long so happy to share. It was over toblerone and gin that Josh learnt about his doppelgänger, although when I said James Spader he had no idea who he was, these young ones… of course we got our google on and a young Spader next to Josh was uncanny. If only I took a pic… here’s Josh tho, what do ya think??
Once again the 7am BOTB meant no time to play, just sleep before another long arse bus ride. BTW, a 7am BOTB is when the bus departs, before that showers and brekkie is required so I’m not quite the granny you think!!
Up and BOTB at 7am, it was onto Rabat, the capital of Morocco. To me, the name just sounds like Rabbit said real fast but I think it’s just my lack of concentration so early in the morning, my brain doesn’t function until at least 10am. Only an hourish later and we were pulling into what I’m calling the Rabat warren, the place was crazy! Four lane roundabouts and police having to direct traffic everywhere cos people were nuts. At least the officers looked damn good doing it, check this chick out:
Our first stop in the warren was the unfinished mosque and museum of King Mohammed V. You rock up to the place and it’s pretty impressive with the royal guard on horses, not sure exactly what they are protecting but certainly wouldn’t wanna mess with these dudes!
Abdul ushered us past the guard and into the mosque grounds, he didn’t need to explain what was meant by unfinished…
The plan was for the mosque to have 253 columns to represent the days of the Muslim lunar calendar, but they only made it to 80 something I think. Didn’t quite listen to everything Abdul said, too busy looking and I can’t do both so had to ask Wikipedia for some help… apparently some dude called Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur, member of the Almohad Caliphate, a Berber Muslim empirecommissioned a tower that was intended to be the largest minaret in the world along with the mosque, also intended to be the world’s largest. Again, why do men measure their worth by building the biggest something?? Anyhoo, when the dude died in 1199, construction stopped. But now I get why the guards are here, I tuned into Abdul again once he started talking about the Mausoleum of King Mohammed V, a King is buried here, makes sense. Never been so close to a King before, dead or alive. This King was so important because he kicked arse and worked hard for the independence of Morocco, he was their Nelson Mandela. This dude I would have liked. Heading to the Mausoleum, the site is stunning, even unfinished. Can hardly imagine how magnificent it would have been. The Mausoleum once again had the stern looking guards, and inside a man chanting the Quran so no talking, pictures ok but no flash. Have to say, there is something about the Arabic/Berber language I think sounds so beautiful. Especially when sung. Might have to get some Arabic music on my playlist. The Mausoleum was beautiful inside, as expected, and strangely, had a feeling of power and grace. Probs makes no sense to others but you certainly felt moved and privileged to be there.
Once exited and a million more pictures of the site later, it was a quick pit stop in the loo before it was BOTB. That was when I realised my sin. The pretty long sleeve red dress I was wearing, perfect for Florence, not so much Morocco, was lined in the bottom half, but quite see through in the top half. Faaaaark. Hadn’t even looked in the mirror properly until then, pretty sure I got ready with my eyes shut. Needless to say the colour of my face was the same as my dress. Felt like I had completely disrespected the sanctity of the Mausoleum and get why the guards looked so angry. Wish someone had told me but anyhoo. Abdul was nice enough to let me get my bag from underneath the bus to find a top for underneath the dress. Have to say I was quite sheepish for the next few hours. But mistakes happen so I put my embarrassment aside and onto the Médina of Rabat where we had another lovely tour guide join us, this time I got his name, Yusuf, just like the dude with the unfinished mosque. Yusuf was a character too, love the Moroccan sense of humour. He toured us through a place I’m gonna call a fort, looked like one but is actually a Kasbah, I know what you’re thinking.. “Rock the Kasbah, rock the Kasbah…”, that was stuck in all our heads and may have made it out loud more than once.
This Kasbah of the Udayas as Google tells me is like a keep, every Moroccan city has one. Keep, fort, same same, both have a defensive wall. And just for the record, the song Rock the Casbah by The Clash is about the ban of Western Rock music by an Arab King, kinda feel like it was written for our trip though. Must stop relying on Google for my blogs… Anyhoo, as I love a fort, I love me a Kasbah. Old bricked paths that twist and turn, so much so that we kinda got lost. About 8 of us too busy singing I think and lost sight of Abdul. Ooopsy. But being lost is fun, you walk real fast so see more. And also stop for silly pictures!!
Turns out that in a Kasbah all roads lead to the same place and we managed to find Abdul. Or he managed to find us, same same. Yusuf relieved our stress heads with a story of why cats are his best friends and have his phone number. Long story and the adrenalin was still pumping so don’t remember it all, just the punchline. Cats found a massive treasure in a house once, so now everyone loves cats. Explains why there’s a zillion of them everywhere you look. Wandering around and taking in the pretty, we emerged into a Kasbah oasis. A beautiful lush green garden surrounded by the pink walls of the Kasbah, awww, Rabat you’re so pretty!! I take back the quip about you being a warren.
Never been so relieved to be BOTB and thankful for Amy’s Dad joke as we passed by a gorgeous cemetery… How many dead people are in the cemetery? All of them!!! Haha, my kind of humour. Miss my Dad!! Heading further into Rabat, we’re told it’s the city of green. All the roofs have green tiles which is pretty but have to admit, I like the look of Marrakech better. Abdul also explains the colours of the Moroccan flag, green is the colour of the Arab, red the colour of the Berber and white means peace. Ahh, also get the colours of the cities now too. And the star on the flag has 5 points to represent the 5 pillars of Islam. May have mentioned that before but so many things in my head I’m not sure. Next stop is the Palace of the King, an alive one this time. Apparently the dude even lives here so we’re not allowed in to get our tourist on, just allowed a token snap by the gates. But have to say, as the bus drove into said gate, wowsers. The gardens and site is immaculate. Understandable given 500 people work there as Abdul the Google tells us, and is set over 5 acres, apparently there’s a Necropolis of Roman ruins in there too but we’re not royal enough to see it.
“Yallah”, let’s go!! That’s now how Abdul herds us back on the bus, don’t mind being herded though when it comes with a smile and a pat on the back as we get on the bus like his little herd of stray cats. And now, we’re bound for Chefchaouen, the blue city and source of a zillion Instagram snaps. Even has its very own Instagram alley. Literally a spot designated for the best pics for Instagram. For a city so famous, it’s name is kinda hard to say. To me it’s like Chef-shh-ow-en, but that’s in my Aussie bogan, when Abdul says the name is sounds so much more pretty! With a four hour trip ahead of us, it’s lucky Morocco is so damn pretty, and that everyone was smart enough to download from Netflix for this leg of the trip. Of course, Abdul being an awesome guide and passionate about his country downloaded his Google pages about Morocco and the blue city, which I’ll just call it cos it’s real name is too hard to spell right every time. As we’re now well and truly in outback Morocco, we’re told that there’s 25 different types of scorpions in Morocco, nice to know considering we’re due to spend two nights in the desert shortly. But relief, there’s no Cobra’s in the desert, just in the mountains. FFS, we’re literally snaking our way through the mountains on the way to be blue city (like my pun? Snaking? I know, you’re not funny if you have to explain your jokes!) More animal facts, Morocco used to have Lions, until 1964 when us humans slaughtered so many there’s none left in the wild. Damn humans. There are plenty of Camels left in the wild though, although they are camels with only one hump so called a dromedary, the ones with two humps are in Saudi. Onto my favourite subject, food!! As we already know, they love their tagines and pastilla in Morocco, and they also love their couscous and cows feet. Yeah one of them I won’t be trying. They are also keen on tea with mint although Abdul warned against drinking the “water of life” from figs, apparently one glass will knock you out for days and you won’t remember a thing. Probs not something to tell a bus full of aussies but anyway. This was when Abdul left us all speechless by telling us that as per his Muslim beliefs, he has never tried beer, wine, cigarettes or hash. Dude is clean as a whistle. I wonder if he knows about gin?? Onto more facts, cos this nerd certainly hasn’t had enough! The national sport of course is football, well, soccer if we’re talking Aussie. Second most popular, marathon running. Did not expect that! Done with the talking, we were left to enjoy the countryside and/or do our own marathons, the Netflix variety. Taking some time to look out the window rather than binge, Morocco is certainly beautiful, a countryside of donkeys, goats and olive trees but in all honesty, some parts look quite poor and run down. There is quite a lot of rubbish on the streets in some towns we pass through. But people have a simple life out here, they live off and work the land. They don’t have to worry about careers and those things we rate as first world problems. The shrink wannabe in me wonders if they are happier, I’m sure there’s a study that says so.
Nearing the blue city, Abdul gets his google on again for our intro to Chefchauoen. Just gonna spell it wrong! So the place is known for being blue, got that, but also well known for its goats cheese, olive oil and hash. Hash as in pot, but stronger and kinda illegal but ok to buy if you wanna smoke it. Not sure how that works but ok. Apparently as a dude, you’ll get offered it by every second person but the chicks not so much, it’s a respect thing. Nice to know. To say the blue city sticks out like a sore thumb is an understatement. The countryside is all red soil with green, green, green then there’s the big spot of blue on the hillside, looks a little something like this:
Pretty damn gorgeous if you ask me, I expected blue but not so blue, makes no sense at all I know but the size and blueness is more than I expected. I’ll let that one go. Jumping off the bus in Chefs (which I’ll now call it) and we’re immediately greeted by pretty rainbow stairs, guess they know how to do tourist.
It’s a short walk up the road and through the square until we’re surrounded by blue. And yes, a chorus of “I’m blue da ba dee da ba daa” started in my head and wasn’t going anywhere!! Really am showing my age! Abdul took us on a brief tour through the city, stopping at Instagram Alley for a group shot before letting us loose! Then it was blue upon blue upon blue…
There was the option of a hike up to the hill/mountain to the Spanish Church, a feat some of us preferred to save for the next day. Instead we wandered the blue city, finding the dude who for 5 bucks would let you use his blue as blue can be room for snaps. Needless to say us Insta hungry crazies took part, some good shots but I’m not much of a poser so felt like a knob!!
With sunset beckoning, we tried to grab a quick dinner then head up the hill a little ways to watch. Unfortunately our “quick” shawarmas took 40 minutes and we literally ran to a spot with a view for what was a magical sunset over the blue city. As you guessed it, there were a zillion upon zillion pictures, this place is just so pretty you almost can’t help yourself!!
Well and truly touristed out for the day, we did what aussies do best, found beer!! Of course being a massive tourist attraction, they had a pub and we swarmed like bees to honey. And once again, free food! A zillion plates of hot chips as freebies, Moroccans certainly give Italians a run for their money on feeding people!
Fed and watered we were BOTB and pretty happy so when Abdul started playing some background music it turned into a full blown karaoke session with the likes of Toto Africa (of course), Shakira, Hakuna Matata, ABBA and some Brittany and Bieber thrown in for good measure. But of course the track that got everyone Mo-rockin was Bohemian Rhapsody!
Back at the hotel we were either tired or sheepish about our singing antics, either way it was bed time and more beauty sleep ready for more Insta snaps in Chefs the next day.
Holly vs the world 