13 Days The Magic Of Morocco Palaces And Kasbahs Tour From Casablanca

Arrival at the airport of Casablanca, assistance and transfer to the hotel of the circuit, overnight at the hotel.

After breakfast, visit of Casablanca: the esplanade of the Mosque Hassan II, the cornice, the prefecture and the court then departure for Rabat, classified cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO, arrival and visit of Rabat:
The esplanade of the Royal Palace, the Mohammed V mausoleum, the Hassane tower and the Kasbah of the Oudaya. Then departure for Meknes arrival and installation at the hotel and accommodation.

The painter Eugene Delacroix said of Meknes: “it is a place made for painters … the beautiful abounds … the beautiful runs the streets, I’m dizzy from everything I saw, I’m in this moment like a man who dreams. ”
After breakfast, visit of Meknes classified cultural heritage of humanity by Unesco: the famous door Bab El Mansour, the door most photographed in Morocco, bab lahdim, the granaries and the mausoleum of Mouly Ismail founder of Meknes.
Heri es-Souani granaries served as stores where the city’s food reserves were stored, as well as hay and grain intended to feed the sovereign’s twelve thousand horses. The 7-meter-thick walls and an underground network of pipes maintained a cool and constant temperature inside the reserves. To feed the pipes, norias powered by mules or horses raised the water tanks 40 m deep. According to the chroniclers of the time, Moulay Ismail’s obsession with being besieged was at the origin of the excessiveness of the granaries which, once filled, could have ensured the survival of the city for twenty years! No seat actually lasted more than a week under his reign.
After free lunch, departure for volubilis, Roman city classified cultural heritage of humanity by Unesco before heading to the city of Fez, classified cultural heritage of humanity by Unesco, arrival, installation to the hotel or riad, accommodation.

Day dedicated to the visit of the city of Fez
– Medina Fes El Bali:
It is the largest in Morocco and the most exciting. It was declared World Heritage by Unesco in 1976. Its labyrinthine lanes lead to a multitude of historical wonders and souks.
It is the historical heart of the city, established on the slopes of a basin crossed by the Wadi Fez: it is the medina, with its medersas Attarine (built between 1323 and 1325) and Bou Anania (built between 1350 and 1357 by the sultan Abu Inane), its Nejjarine fountain, its mausoleum Moulay Idriss and its famous Karaouine mosque (entry prohibited to non-Muslims).
– Souk El Attarine: It is the souk of grocers; it is undoubtedly the most colorful market of Fez.
– Nejjarine: This small place takes its name from the cabinetmakers who occupy the stalls of the neighborhood. A pretty fountain all zéliges ornate and a carved wooden pediment comes to decorate the place. On this square is an old Foundouk (guest house) now transformed into a museum where are exposed wonders tracing the history of wood in Morocco.
– The Quaraouiyine Mosque: Founded in 862 by a Muslim Fatima El Fihria from Quairouan. It is the oldest university in the Islamic Arab world. Fourteen doors allow access to the interior of the university which has a valuable library of 30,000 volumes.
– Zaouia de Moulay Idriss: Shelter the tomb of Moulay Idriss II founder of Fez. It is the holy place of Fez.
Lunch in an old palace in the medina then return to the hotel, time available
Night at the hotel or Riad.

After breakfast departure to the South for Midelte via Ifrane and the chain of Middle Atlas. Lunch en route to a local restaurant. Midelt is a step to avoid the 440 km between Fez and the Merzouga dunes in a day, deserved rest around the pool of the hotel. Dinner and accommodation.

Late after breakfast, departure to Errachidia by the palm grove of the Ziz Valley, crossing the High Atlas via Talghoumt (1907m above sea level). Arrival in Erfoud. Transfer by 4×4 or camel to the dunes of Merzouga, to watch the sunset over the dunes and where an evening around a fire under the stars will mark you forever by the silence and the majesty of the desert. Night and dinner in bivouac or under the stars to admire the constellations.
(the bivouacs are comfortable, equipped with bedding and sheets, with mobile chemical toilets, solar showers and lighting by generators and camp lights)
“I have always loved the desert, we sit on a sand dune, we see nothing, we hear nothing, and yet something radiates in silence …” Antoine de Saint d’Exupery
Walking the roads and the paths of the desert, one begins to imagine the life of the caravaneers of old, who took months, sometimes years, to reach by difficult tracks of the destinations surrounded by mystery. All those who recounted their adventures along these roads, did feel this feeling of infinite space, of absolute solitude, and also the magic of these deserts and mountains that barred the horizon.

After breakfast at the bivouac, drive to the city of Tinghir and its wondearful palm grove, then the Todra Gorge.
Crossing lunar landscapes: stones blackened by the burning sun of the South, rock gardens, mineral rocks, acacias, palm trees and some oases of greenery lost at the edge of the desert around water points or on the edges of some Streams lost between deep cliffs erosional works millennia, announce the proximity of the desert.
Lunch en route, then arrived at the Todra Gorge, visit and walk between the cliffs high + 300 m and in the middle of the cliffs there is a river that gives life to the oasis to die on the desert sand. After, visit of the toudra gorges then head to the famous gorges of dades. Check-in at the hotel, or in a guest house and dinner.

After breakfast, departure for Ouarzazate valley of roses where you can stock local rose water between Kasbahs (fortified habitat and centralized mud under the authority of a despotic leader who ruled like a kinglet) and Ksar (collective housing on the road of transhumance, led by alternation by the inhabitants following the rules written by the inhabitants themselves (kind of primary democracy) .After arrival in Ouarzazate, departure for Ksar Ait ben Haddou, classified heritage of humanity by Unesco and where several films have been filmed, visit Ksar, then return to Ouarzazate, dinner and overnight at the hotel.

After breakfast, departure for Marrakech, classified cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO, via the High Atlas Mountains and the Tichka Pass (2260 m) the highest passage in North Africa. A multitude of picturesque and fascinating landscapes of terraced crops and adobe houses glued to the mountainsides mark the local architecture of the people of the South. Arrival in Marrakech, lunch in a local restaurant, then time available. Overnight in a Hotel or Riad (dinner outside in a local restaurant: optional).

After breakfast, historic visit of Marrakech:
– Minaret of Koutoubia:
The Almohads built many palaces and religious buildings, for example, the famous Koutoubia mosque built on the ruins of an Almoravid palace, and twin sister of the Giralda of Seville and the Hassan tower (unfinished) of Rabat
– The Bahia Palace:
It is a masterpiece of Moroccan architecture, built in the late 19th century, like most Arab-Andalusian palaces, with beautiful gardens and pretty patios, and 150 richly decorated rooms. The construction of the palace was undertaken by the Moroccan architect El Mekki on behalf of the grand vizier Ahmed ben Moussa said Ba Hmad (former slave became regent of the king) (1841-1900) to house his 4 wives and 24 concubines.
Under the French Protectorate, General Lyautey, then resident general, made it his home.
– The Saadian Tombs:
The Saadian tombs of Marrakech date from the time of the great sultan Ahmed al-Mansur Saadi (1578-1603). These tombs were discovered only around 1917, then restored by the service of the Beaux-arts. Since then, they have never ceased to impress visitors with the beauty of their decoration. The mausoleum houses the bodies of some sixty Saadians, including Al-Mansour, his successors and his family. The building is composed of three rooms. The most prestigious mausoleum is the Hall of Twelve Columns. This hall houses the tomb of Sultan son Ahmed El Mansour. Its cupola is of carved cedar wood, and the stuccoes are finely worked, the burials are made of Carrara marble from Italy. This mausoleum is a very good example of Hispano-Moorish decorative art. Outside are the graves of soldiers and servants and a garden of the necropolis.
– Badi Palace:
Raised by Ahmed al-Mansur, was a replica of the Alhambra, made with the most valuable materials from Italy (marble), Sudan (gold dust), India (porphyry) and even China (jade ). The Badi also struck contemporaries with its Koubba al zoujjaj, its “glass dome” made of translucent crystal. But all this was to disappear, dismantled by order of Sultan Moulay Ismail around 1695. This palace was primarily intended for lavish receptions offered to ambassadors from Spain, England and the Ottoman Empire, recognizing Saadian Morocco as a power the area of influence reached the borders of Niger and Mali, a major gold-producing region. Under the reign of the Saadian dynasty, Marrakech thus found its role as point of contact between the Maghreb, the Mediterranean basin and the sub-Saharan African world, through the caravan routes
– Place Jemaa el Fna: classified world heritage Oral of humanity by unesco.
Free lunch after visiting the souks, then time available to relax or go shopping. accommodation at the hotel.

After breakfast, departure for the coastal city of Essaouira (Mogador) classified as a cultural heritage of humanity by Unesco.
Paul Claudel who, in The Soulier of Satin (1930), recognizes: “There is only one certain castle which I know, where it is good to be locked up … it is rather necessary to die than to return the keys … it’s Mogador, in Africa. »
Cradled by the wind that deflects the rays of the sun on the ramparts of the city and mixes the sea spray with the smell of cedar. You will experience strange sensations, the plenitude of an unusual happiness and the dizzying vertigo of a dream awake and absolute.
You will see the ramparts contain the Medina: frail walls on which the outbreaks of houses and the fire of the sea are neutralized. You will visit the scala with lined stones made of severe roughness and rigorous geometry in an eternal immobility, where you can caress the satin bronze of the heavy and peaceful canons, unsatisfied with the endless spectacle of the surf.
You will see the fishing port, the boats lined up or staggered or in disorder near the quays, tossed by the residues of the swell that survived the pier…
You will see the boats leave the port in a hurry, before the sun disappears in a magical conflagration behind the islands.
Arrival in Essaouira, visit the fishing port, La Scala, ramparts, souks, craftsmen carving thuya wood, Check in at the hotel. Then you will have all the evening available to visit the city or stay in your accommodation for a mint tea or a coffee. Overnight in Hotel or Riad.

After the breakfast, departure for the city of El Jadida (Mazagan) registered with the cultural heritage of the humanity by Unesco, via the city of Safi, capital of the ceramics and sardines, lunch in Safi and continuation towards El Jadida, arrival and visit of the city, the ramparts, the Portuguese cistern, the Church of the Assumption then continuation for Casablanca, arrival and installation at the hotel, accommodation.

After breakfast, and following the schedule of your flight, transfer to Mohamed V, assistance with check-out.