Asilah Adventures

After several weeks of our usual routine, my friends and I decided to take a little getaway weekend trip to Asilah, a small coastal beach town just south of Tangier. The weather the day before was gloomy and rainy, and the forecast predicted much of the same for the rest of the weekend. We contemplated not going but decided we didn’t have that many weekends left to travel and chose to go anyway. We left early Saturday morning and took the train 3 hours north. We arrived to sunny skies and a light breeze. Another part of our hesitation to going to Asilah that weekend was that we were unable to find a place to stay that was within our desired price-range. Upon deciding to make the trip, we took a leap of faith and planned to find a place to stay once we arrived. We walked the mile or so from the train station to the town, opened our guidebook, and set out looking for the first budget friendly suggestion listed. The town was small enough that we found the place in 15 minutes. We asked, nervously, if they had a room available for 3 people for the night. The man at the front desk nodded and grabbed a key from a wall filled with all the room keys. It appeared we were the first, if not only, ones there for the night. The man led us upstairs across a small tiled courtyard into a small room with three beds. The place was simple, quaint, and full of Moroccan character. Plus, at $8 a night per person, we were sold.  We went out in search for lunch and found a place near the water. We were surprised to hear that everyone around us was speaking Spanish. It turns out Asilah is more full of Spanish speakers and travelers than the more Northern city of Tangiers. After lunch we went to find the medina. I read before coming in my guidebook that the mayor of Asilah lives in the medina and has sworn to keep the medina as clean as Switzerland. It was certainly the cleanest medina I’ve seen in Morocco yet. Asilah is also known for it’s yearly mural painting festival, where all of the walls of the medina are painted white and artists are invited to come and create a mural on the walls. We spent hours wondering the medina, snapping endless pictures of the unique murals, colors, and doors. 

(Arabic Graffiti)

I could not stop taking pictures of the doors.

We spent the end of the afternoon reading in a café, and then headed to the beach for the sunset (after being led around by some new “friends”). 

After the sun was down, my friend Simone wanted to find the hotel where she has a reservation to stay when her parents come at the end of the program. After searching for a while with no luck, we began asking people for directions. Few people seemed to know what we were talking about until we asked two Moroccan women. We told them the name of the hotel and the café it was next to. They told us to follow them and they led us around, slowly, for around a mile. We communicated briefly in Darija with some French, and they quickly took us under their wing, holding our hands as we crossed the street. They ended up leading us to a different hotel that was next to a cafe in the middle of town. We thanked them for their help and kissed on the cheek, then decided to give up our search. Nearby was a small liquor store (the first I’ve ever seen in Morocco) so we decided to pick up a bottle of wine and find some market goods at the little souk near our hotel. We composed a little picnic (avocado, red pepper, hoobz, grapefruit, and some dark chocolate) on the floor of our room and watched a movie on one of our computers. It was perfect.

The next day we went to a nearby café and read in the sun (not a cloud in the sky!), then went back to sit by the beach. We caught the train around 3pm and were seated next to two Moroccan university students. We started talking with them and ended up become friends. We talked about all the languages in Morocco (these conversations were taking place in English, French, Spanish, Darija Arabic, and Fous’ha Arabic) the Amina Fillali case, medical school in Morocco (one of our new friends is currently in medical school), and various other aspects of Moroccan life. We left the train station and arranged to meet up for coffee later in the week. Overall, we left the trip feeling good and glad we ended up going. We also all knew we would be back.