We like concrete, we like streets and we like the surroundings; we like to see panoramas changing outside of our window. We like to stop wherever we like, loose track of time, but still using it well. We like an origin, Tangeri, a destination, Marrakech, and try to discover everything in between.

The Tetouan of Medina is alive, real, authentic.

Real, this is all real. You can feel the cultural difference immediately, a very far away culture from our own. Our start of the journey can be defined as a clash with a culture that is very different from ours. We trust people that offer us help and allow us to discover places we wouldn’t go to otherwise. We hear stories from people that were born and raised here and they learnt to understand and explain the town they’ve been living in for all of their lives.

Blue. This is what you expect, this is what you find. A lot of blue in Chefchaouen. It’s a little town that feels touristy and unique, there are a lot of souks made for visitors, a lot of carpets exhibitions, spices and powder colours that seem unnatural and even studied. We look for alternative streets, something unusual, streets that are less common and frequented. We lose ourselves in blue streets with blue doors, blue vases. Rumors say that were Jews escaping from Spain to paint everything in cobalt blue, as the sky; someone else tells a different story, that it’s to repel insects to come into town. At the surroundings of Chefchaouen we find what seems to be authentic. Who knows if towners know they live in one of the most unique places in the world, who knows what they’ll say when they see no blue houses, no blue doors, no blue vases.

We are in the middle of a storm, too late to enter but we bribe a guard to let us in Volubilis, the most important Ancient Roman Archaeological Site of Morocco. The rest of a magnifique Imperial town lay on a hill, it seems each step we take forward we almost walk in history. The roman cathedral is majestic; it has remains of high columns that allow us to imagine its structure; the sun is setting behind our backs and it makes everything even more intense.

We arrive in Moulay Driss that is already pitch dark, we leave our car rapidly and we start searching for the riad we booked for the night. During Ramadam Month this is the time when the fasting stops and people can eat, drink and get some energy for the next day, together with families.  A lot of people are on the streets and look at us intrigued: tourism in this holy city started 10 years ago and probably they are still not used to it. With some difficulties we find Dar Zerhoune where we’ll have a memorable night of sleep, but before we have to enjoy the most authentic, homemade, simple and satisfying dinner of the whole trip. 

We easily get used to the breakfast served on the terrace of the riad, but at the same time we’ll be amazed by it each time. The ritual is symbolic of how welcoming Moroccan are and keeps the same traits in each place.

• quantity -- we never left hungry and often we found ourselves in real difficulty to eat everything that was on the plate

• quality -- different kinds of bread, jellies, honey, cheeses, olives, fresh fruits -- these were the products offered to us. We were amazed by these tastes that were so simple to seem almost new again.

• esthetic -- colorful ceramics, symmetric arrangements, gradient colors; everything was thought and our eyes were pleased every meal.

The city is discovered on foot, we move through the narrow and mazy streets. The city is full of hills and descents and it’s pretty hard to navigate through them in such hot days. We reach the terraces on the upper part of town, the panorama is dominated by the Minaret and the Mausoleum that are decorated with bright green tiles.

The cities, small or big, are a mess. Traffic is a common theme, and the drivers are reckless. It’s a stream of cars, mopeds and animals always moving, at one point you have to catch your breath and try to swim through the current. There are a lot of unwritten rules, behaviours and habits that are still unknown to us. We understood one thing: to park your car you need to find a spot and stop there, someone will appear out of nowhere. You can try to pretend nothing happened or fake you are not understanding what’s happening, at the end, either way, you are gonna end up paying. We arrived in Meknes and we were so used to this that we easily deal with it.