A Day by the Sea in Asilah, Morocco

Hooray for the start of the Morocco honeymoon posts! Pat and I arrived safely in Morocco, and in fact have already been here a week! I blame the (relatively) cold weather for the lack of a post sooner. It’s winter here too, and some nights it’s been down in the 30’sF! Combine that with a lack of infrastructure for the cold (what, no central heating?) and it’s been hard to get motivated. All that aside though, we’re having an absolutely lovely time in Morocco. It was a great choice for a honeymoon destination.

We started out our trip by flying into Tangier, one of Morocco’s northernmost cities and most often visited because you can easily take a ferry there from Spain. It’s basically a port town and not the best Morocco has to offer, so we made the decision to rent a car at the airport and get the heck out of dodge as fast as possible. We drove about 45 minutes south to Asilah, a lovely Moroccan costal city.

Asilah is busiest in the late summer, when it hosts the Asilah Arts Festival. Then, it is flooded with tourists and artists, coming to enjoy the scene and the beach. There are still many murals on the walls to hint at the fun we missed this year.

We found Asilah a bit sleepier, but still charming. It was fun to wander the streets and also the sea wall.

We got to take a look at the catch of the day.

We relaxed and sipped mint tea and enjoyed our first Moroccan couscous, while soaking it all in.

In Asilah, we stayed at Hotel Azayla. Although it was recommend by both of our guidebooks and has a reputation online for friendly staff, they must have had the day off when we visited. The rooms were simple and clean, but the thin glass windows let in every noise like we had them wide open. Imagine our surprise when we were woken up to loud music at around 11pm! It carried on for an hour before we decided to investigate. We got bundled up and ventured out, following the booming base. About a 10 minute walk away, we came upon a plastic tent where we could see the outline of several belly dancers and men and women sitting around and watching them. It was so loud! But you don’t have to take my word for it:

Asilah Noises in the Night from Kelly Egan on Vimeo.

As tempting as it was to join the party, we scurried away back to our beds and popped in some earplugs. Just as we were about to fall asleep, around 1am, a rooster started to crow! This went on for the rest of the night and the earplugs weren’t enough. We just had to laugh and chalk it up to part of the adventure. Welcome to Morocco!

Our progress so far:

P.S. – See what we’re up to now on Instagram!