The tour begins- Morocco part 3

I like to backpack and travel cheap. My sister likes tours. I will admit that there are certain things that are really nice about tours, like a lot less thinking and figuring things out, but there are things that annoy me, like huge groups, annoying people, inflexibility, and higher costs. I also hate being brought to a million tourist trap shops. April likes them because she likes to shop.

For this trip I found a tour company that actually looked pretty good- small groups and a bit of a backpacker feel to it. The company is called G Adventures, or I heard it referred to as Gap Adventures as well. (https://www.gadventures.com) I actually really like the company. They were very organized and I liked all the preparation stuff they had for us. You have an account on their website that gives lots of information. Several people I met had been one multiple tours with the company. 

We ended up with a really great group for the trip. There were only 13 of us, which was nice. We had a family from Boston- mom, dad, and two girls ages 16 and 18- six single women- me and my sister, two girls from Canada, a girl from Ireland, and an Aussie/American girl- a man from England, and an Indian brother and sister- she lives in Delhi and he lives in London. Everyone was pretty laid back and chill. We all got along really well so that made the trip very enjoyable. 

I wasn't sure about our guide at first. The first night when we were just meeting he was hard to understand and it seemed that he was having a hard time understanding us, but after a day or two we had kinda got used to each other and it worked. It also helped that we had local guides at each of our stops. I liked that- it was nice to change things up a bit. 

A funny side note: On the first day Said (our guide) was telling us that if we wanted, we could go to a fancy dinner that night was belly dancers and a magician. He said something about how the magician had some really good drugs for us..... or at least that's what we ALL heard. The whole bus went, "What?!" and then we realized what he had said was really good JOKES, it just sounded like drugs to all of us. There was something another time when he used the word "jokes" or "joke" and again everyone thought he said drugs. Then it became a little joke for us, but I don't think poor Said ever figured out what we were all laughing at. 

So our first day of travel took us to Meknes, 5th largest city in Morocco, known for its olives, wine, and mint. Then on to Volubilis, an ancient roman city dating back to the 3rd century BC. From there we went on to Fes where we had a traditional Moroccan dinner with music and entertainment – belly dancers. For most of the drive we were on the EXACT same roads that April and I took to Chefchaouen. The ones before it became no roads and we began to worry if we were going to make it. 

It was all beautiful and amazing. I had to be careful not to post a million pictures of doors and mosaics. I sure took a million. Here are some from that first day of the tour: 

one of the gates of Meknes

I kept referring to these guys as druids, but I'm not sure that's correct.
I was thinking of the sand people in Star Wars, but now that I
Google that I see they were not called druids. Oh well.
I just like the pointy hood coat. I think it's funny/cute.

Old horse stables for the king. 

KITTY! He totally posed for me and he totally blended in with the colors. 

I think this was a mausoleum..

druid shop keeper texting on his phone

you had to pay to take any pictures of anyone cool looking

sundail

This is blurry but I was trying to get a shot of this couple without them noticing.
They looked so American Gothic getting their pictures taken. 

Kitties all snuggled together. 

Lots of kitties. 

This was a little shop you walked through to get through the wall. 

Kitty and ruins. 

We ate lunch at this little cafe in the shadow of the ruins. 

Mosaics at Volubilis.

Kitty at Volubilis that demanded April to pet him/her. 

Fancy dinner in a beautiful old home. 

City of Fes at night from the roof of the restaurant. 

The magician getting ready to do a "drug"

I was pleased to see that all the belly dancers actually had bellies. 

This was to show us what they do in a traditional wedding ceremony.
The bride and bridesmaids get carried around in these things.