May 21, 2025
After a week of generous breakfast spreads in Morocco, we enjoyed our most extravagant breakfast at Hôtel Xaluca Spa Aguelmame Sidi Ali. Abdul joined us for breakfast this morning and shared how he is eager to travel more throughout Europe and the US, but that the visa process for Moroccan passport holders is terribly challenging. This hotel reminded us of a smaller Mohonk Mountain House, but it felt a little eerie as only three rooms (including ours) were occupied the night we stayed there. The lack of other guests made us feel comfortable letting the boys roam a little more freely and they enjoyed playing hide and seek throughout the first floor while Kyle, Abdul and I finished eating breakfast.
Once the hide and seek game ended in a wrestling match, we gathered the boys to go back to the room for a bath before hitting the road once again. The boys enjoyed a bath with a view of the lake in the massive jacuzzi tub while taking turns turning on and off the jets of the tub.
We would have loved to do the hike around the lake, but we skipped it in favor of rest and quiet time in the room yesterday afternoon. Before hitting the road, though, we took in some of the sights including spotting a few stray dogs napping by the lake. Kyle and I spotted one dog we were certain was not breathing, but after a few seconds of whistling he soon roused and looked at us. On noticing the dog, Ollie let us know how much he missed Opie and asked if we could take this dog home too.
After an hour’s drive, we arrived in Azrou which is home to a forrest and Barbary apes (Berber Apes per Abdul). We thought we would just be looking at them from the van, but had a far more interactive experience. There were a few locals standing near the forest edge holding bags of peanuts, dates and crackers. For a small tip, they were giving the boys handfuls of the snacks to feed to the monkeys. Len was nervous at first and would throw handfuls of snacks on the ground causing a great ruckus where the monkeys would all run over and fight over the scattered treats. Ollie on the other hand was working to lure the monkeys close to him, holding out just one treat at a time. He was so keen to get a monkey to jump on his shoulder like his friend Ti-ti from the square in Marrakesh. With help from the locals, Ollie was eventually successful in getting a monkey to jump on his back and he was thrilled. I was happily feeding the monkeys myself when a local lured one to jump onto my head and shoulder. The monkey then made himself at home on my shoulder by balancing on his bum and hung out for a few minutes. Ollie was terribly jealous.
The favorite monkey was the mama monkey who was carrying around her young babe. Abdul thought the baby was just a few weeks old. Both boys were keen to feed the mama monkey extra snacks, but a bigger “boss monkey” kept sweeping in to steal her food. Len was quick to call him “mean boss monkey!!” and this theft only increased the boys’ efforts to feed the mama. Before leaving, we came across an older looking monkey which the boys coined “grandpa monkey.”
While walking back to the van, Lenny whispered to me, “Next time I’m going to be super brave and let a monkey sit on me.”
Each day driving in Morocco, we’ve come across at least 10 police checkpoints. We are waved over at about half of them where they check the car’s paperwork, ask Abdul where we are from and are then sent on our way. We were stopped at a checkpoint today and after Abdul was pulled out of the car for a few minutes, we learned he was issued a speeding ticket for driving 67 kmh in a 60 kmh zone. Like 3 miles per hour over the limit! He didn’t seem too concerned though since the ticket was just 150 dirham ($15 USD).
Soon we arrived at Ifrane known as the “Switzerland of Morocco.” Abdul said wealthy moroccans have a winter home here as its close to the ski mountain. Wild how the environment and landscape changes so rapidly in Morocco. Abdul joined us for lunch and the boys relished in having another join our Uno games. At one point the three of them were on one team with Ollie acting as “the general” barking out orders from the head of the table. They also took turns showing him pictures from when they were babies and having him guess who was who. Lenny asked if Abdul could join us in Spain.
Our Riad in Fez is tucked in a narrow walkway on the outskirts of the old Medina. We had an hour to decompress in our room (cavernous 30 ft ceilings!) before heading to dinner up a small hill just outside the old city. We had reservations at a rooftop restaurant called Jungle Bar at Hotel Sahrai. There were a few restaurants at the hotel, though, and one of the hosts at the white tablecloth French restaurant gave us the hard sell to switch our reservation. “You know, upstairs is Lebanese food, you don’t want that. French and Moroccan food here!!” But we absolutely did want Lebanese food and a more casual environment than the white tablecloth restaurant seemed to offer. We arrived to the rooftop where they had a live DJ and no kids other than ours, but no one seemed to mind. The kids played hide and seek along the rooftop and among the other diners while Kyle and I planned our order. Lenny ate nearly an entire bowl of hummus himself and Ollie discovered that he LOVES grape leaves (dolma). We caught a beautiful sunset over Fez and the boys shared a victory dance when Len won his first ever solo Uno match.
We opted for convenience store ice cream pops again over restaurant dessert. Abdul drove us to a small shop where they were roasting nuts outside on the street in huge barrels which intrigued the kids. Abdul joined us for dessert and our 5 ice creams were just ~50 dirham ($5 USD) versus the 90 dirham a piece dessert at the restaurant.
Len’s good luck continued as this convenience shop had a push pop that had M&Ms in a clear plastic tube that pushed the pop up. He had seen a picture of this ice cream on a cooler in Marrakesh but we haven’t found a shop that actually carried it until tonight. He must have said, “I’M SO EXCITED about the M&M pop!!” at least 4 times. Kyle discovered an ice cream in the running for his favorite ever in the pistachio flavored titan. He said it rivals the toasted almond and strawberry shortcake good humor bars back home.
Back at the room, we continue to find signs of the boys playtime in the desert with mounds of sands appearing in the boys’ luggage.
