I am THRILLED to jump ahead in time for a moment and share photos of my recent trip to Morocco with Nomadic Tours. I did their 15-day Morocco Encompassed trip in early June and it was a blast, largely in part due to our excellent tour guide Mohammed and a great group of travelers.

And here’s Mohammed — one of the best tour guides I’ve ever had. Funny story: when we connected on Facebook we realized we had a friend in common, my friend Mel from Australia who I met in Jordan last year. The world is truly small.

This is a hotel-based tour, and I was really impressed by the level of accommodation. Single travelers are paired up and my roommate for the tour was the lovely and effervescent Tally from Australia. We joked that I have a 30-second rule… as soon as we enter the hotel room, I need 30 seconds to photograph it before we put our stuff down. Tally gamely played along!

And here’s a few photos from our meals… prior to this trip I’d only eaten Moroccan food maybe twice (including a visit to the Ryan Gosling-owned Tagine in Beverly Hills with my friend Allison). But now I can’t wait for my next opportunity to dine on cous cous, tagine, and mint tea.

A few of my meals from the trip… my favorite by a long shot was beef tagine with prunes. It melts in the mouth…

We all shared giant chicken tagine portions on the first night of the tour:

Mint tea was consumed daily. Here we are being served upon arrival at the Madrid Hotel in Chefchaouen.

And our beloved nos nos! (Or is it nous nous…? I saw it spelled a few different ways.) It’s the local coffee with a lot of milk, and it’s delicious — we stopped every morning for a cup. I had to ignore my milk allergy but it was worth it.

With that preview of the accommodation and food out of the way, let’s get on to the actual tour!

Our trip began in Marrakech on day 1 — we could arrive anytime, and there was a welcome meeting at 6pm followed by dinner. On day 2, we drove up to Casablanca on the coast. We were only there for four hours — mainly to walk the beach and visit the largest mosque in Africa — before continuing onward to Rabat for the night.

Here’s our group in Casablanca:

Photos from our day tour of Rabat:

On day 3 we continued on to Meknes. Our group quickly obsessed over photographing doorways, which is easy to do in Morocco, as there’s an impressive variety of shapes and colors.

The morning of day 4, we drove to the ruins of Volubilis and attempted to spell out the word “Morocco” with our bodies. We were semi-successful?

A group shot — we were at capacity with 15 people. A really nice gathering of folks from all over the world: the States, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, and the UK.

In the afternoon we drove north to Chefchaouen, a town where all alleys, doorways, and stairs are painted white and blue. It’s incredibly picturesque and probably the highlight of Morocco for some visitors.

Dinner at the main square in Chefchaouen:

The next morning we had the option of an early hike… and about a third of our group woke up in time. (Confession: I had to pry myself out of bed, but I’m glad I did it.)

The fun continues on day 5 as we arrive in Fes. That evening we all attended a fancy dinner featuring musicians, belly dancers, magicians, and a fire-eater. This is an optional activity and well-worth the $25 price tag.

We spent two nights in Fes, which allowed for an entire day tour of the city. We started at a pottery workshop; it was both interesting and provided lots of photo ops.

Mini tagines on display:

We stopped at a Madrasa, which is a school, dormitory, and mosque all rolled into one.

But the highlight of Fes was the tannery. It’s where workers dye the hides of animals in giant stone vats.

As you might imagine, there are all sorts of leather products for sale.

Next up we visited a textile workshop. More fun trying on scarves and outfits…

On day 7 we drove towards Midelt, and pulled over along the way to watch these local monkeys in action.

A group picnic was on the agenda for lunch — we stopped at a grocery store, where Mohammed gave each of us cash for food and we pooled our money to buy a huge spread. Later we enjoyed lunch by this idyllic stream.

After settling in at our favorite accommodation to date in Midelt, we went for an evening hike that blew away our expectations. There’s a giant gorge and sweeping views of the desert.

A ‘groupie’… aka a selfie with a lot of people in it (coined by my friend Grace!).

The stellar views continued on day 8 as we made our way towards the Sahara. These wide open vistas remind me of the American Southwest.

After a decadent lunchtime stop that included food and a fancy pool, we headed to the desert. Time to meet our camels!

We climbed aboard for an hour-long ride to our camp in the Sahara. It was an eventful trip… we were blasted by a sandstorm, and then it rained. I put my GoPro to work and got some cool shots. My DSLR barely recovered, as grains of sand can be kryptonite for cameras.

(Some of these shots are from our sunrise return the next morning… it was glorious.)

Upon arriving at camp, we put these snowboards sandboards to good use.

I love this shot of our guide Mohammed:

After a delicious dinner prepared by the local Berber family who runs the camp, we gathered around the fire for music, fellowship, and roasted marshmellows.

On day 9 we pressed on to Todra Gorge and spent the afternoon hiking and visiting a local Berber carpet shop.

The next day we stopped at this overlook where car companies have shot commercials:

And in the afternoon we had the option to tour a movie studio in Ouazazate. A bunch of U.S. films have shot here over the years, like Gladiator, The Passion of Christ, the Ben Hur remake, and last year’s The Way Back.

Confession: I genuinely loved being around this environment and it made me miss Hollywood.

After settling in at our hotel, we went on a sunset hike to the top of this famous hill in Ait Benhaddou. They’ve shot Game of Thrones here, as well as more Hollywood movies in the surrounding area, like the upcoming Queen of the Desert starring Nicole Kidman, James Franco, and Robert Pattinson.

This area is exceptionally scenic…

On day 11 we drove to Essaouira on the coast and stayed for two nights. By now we’d all enjoyed the trip so much that we figured it’d be hard for this city to rank among our favorites, but it did. Essaouira was one of the best parts of our tour.

Another spot where Game of Thrones has shot. We ate dinner at a restaurant overlooking this area.

On day 13 we made the return drive to Marrakech. While the tour began here, we didn’t get to explore Marrakech until the final two days of the trip.

Oh, first we stopped by a tree with GOATS climbing all over it. (This is arranged by locals and you have to pay for photos. I was skeptical but the goats were chill, just eating leaves from their perched positions.)

The bustling main square in Marrakech:

Another shot taken from the same vantage point during sunset:

Some miscellaneous photos from the market:

We ate dinner in the main square on the first night. So much fun.

And on the morning of day 15, the tour came to a conclusion. It was truly a jam-packed two weeks and I can’t believe we saw as much as we did in such a short time. Morocco is an incredible place and I’m thrilled to have properly visited this country.

I’ll leave you with a few images of my fellow tour mates. We lucked out with a fabulous group and I’m grateful to call them all friends.

SO MUCH FUN. Love you all!

Once I finish recapping my 2013 RTW trip in a few weeks, I’ll bring you full posts from each of these fabulous Moroccan destinations. These photos are only the beginning!

Many thanks to Nomadic Tours for discounting my 15-day Morocco Encompassed trip in exchange for blogging and photography services. Opinions are my own.