teacherCanada to escort school group to Morocco and Spain
 

Well, it's just about time to promote the next (and likely last) school international education excursion. Eurotrip 2011 to France, Italy and Greece is firmly positioned, fully subscribed and only about 5 months from departure. Since we plan trips like these about 2 years prior to departure, Eurotrip 2012 needs to be made available to eager, adventurous students.

The plan. During March 2012, 14 days split between Morocco and southern Spain. Flight into Casablanca, visit Rabat, Fex and Chechaoune and Tangier before taking the ferry to Spain. A quick visit to Gibraltar, 2 nights in Granada, then 4 nights in Valencia. We will be in Valencia for the finale (nit del foc) at the end of Festival Fallas.

After spending about 2.5 months doing research for the trip and sending our tentative itinerary out to 7 student group travel companies, information about the potential trip was made available to students. Great news. 45 students came to the first meeting. This is a positive response because we hope to take only about 25.

I will post over the next 17 months as we progress towards our departure date.

I will post this on the Europe forum as well to see the feedback there.

tC

Should be fun, I note from the Euro version of this thread that you dropped Marakesh, which is a realy pity and one of my favorite cities. Still Rabat and Fes should be good fun. I don't know Casablance and Tangiers (only T's reputation). No advice leaps to mind.

Gibralter, offers you the chance to see what the Genoese made of British Culture, a bit odd and small, think small village in Nova Scotia.

Grenada is worth some study before the visit

bilboburgler - I sure hope it is fun. We tend to cram a whole lot of living into a short time. It was a real struggle for me to drop Marrakesh. I've always wanted to visit the city ever since I heard the CSN&Y song. After I started researching Morocco, I wanted to visit even more. However, the logistics just didn't make it work. Too much travel time. Fes will be an excellent second choice. The Europe board responses tend to be panning Rabat and suggesting another city on the road between Rabat and Fes (Menkes). That is a real possibility. We won't spend much time in Tangiers - just go straight to the ferry station, so it doesn't really count as a destination city. Others in the Europe board are discouraging Gibraltar as a rather low grade destination. I will have to research more to determine the best use of our time. Presently I think Gibraltar would be interesting - but if our time is more valuable in Malaga or Granada I can be persuaded.

With respect to your comment about studying the destinations, each of our travellers is required to become an expert on one destination. They present their findings to the group prior to our arrival at the site. The group that has indicated interest in this trip is full of positive, wonderful young people and I am confident they would do this well.

tC

I haven't read the Europe thread yet, but I'll put in a good word for Rabat - and a bad one for Casablanca. (Click on my name for my Morocco TR.) Rabat has a couple of sights and a nice old section, and is a good low-key intro to Morocco.

I enjoyed my one night in Gibraltar, but I'm a Brit living in the US, so the British ambiance was fun for me. The sequence at the southernmost point of lighthouse, souvenir shop, and mosque is interesting, too.

If you haven't read TC's previous trip reports, you are missing out on very fun and lucid reads. Here's one from Egypt in 2009- http://www.fodors.com/community/afri...e-memories.cfm
You won't stop until you finish!!!

regards - tom

Thanks cary999 - the trip to Egypt was an exciting episode in my life.

Just want to provide an update for this trip. We are very close to selecting our travel service provider from the seven who have bid on our proposal. Essentially, our itinerary looks like this: Day 1, depart Canada, Day 2, fly into Casablanca in afternoon, do a coach tour and see Hassan II mosque, collapse in Casablanca hotel, Day 3, private coach from Casablance to Fez via Rabat (we may substitute Meknes for Rabat), tour Meknes or Rabat, Day 4, explore Fez, Day 5 explore Fez, Day 6, coach to Chefchaouen, tour Chefchaouen, Day 7, explore Chefchaouen, late transfer to Tangiers, Day 8, early ferry from Tangiers to Spain. The Spanish portion of the itin has been posted in the Europe forum (trying to keep them separate - a suggestion from another poster)

This is our itinerary as it stands now. I am sorry we could not get to Marrakech or the southern coast of Morocco, but the logistics just did not permit these options.

tC

Be very careful about the Casablanca hotel. I'd really urge you to consider collapsing in a hotel in Rabat instead - you can take the train from the airport, although you might have to change once. I haven't been to Chefchaouen, but are you sure it needs two full days?

Chefchaouen is interesting, but it is small. That said, we enjoyed an extra day there to get away from the center area that gets a lot of tourists. Towards the west side of town is a climbing series of steps that wanders in areas that are very non-touristy. Very different than the other cities on your itinerary as well.

If you had time in Spain, it might be interesting to contrast this white town with those left over in Andalusia, such as Zahara. Time and culture has created interesting differences between them when they were once probably quite similar.

Also - it would be a shame to miss Ronda, even if a stop over on the way to Granada. It may not be a good cultural view of Andalusia because of how tourist oriented it's become, but the setting and the architecture is astounding.

ps - watch 'em close in Chouen. ;) It's known as the pot growing and selling capital of Morocco. I was approached several times and I'm old(ish).

thursdaysd - I would expect our flight to arrive in Casablanca around 3 p.m. It might be 4 p.m. before we're out the airport doors. We'll have a coach waiting for us to take us on a drive-around tour of Casablanca with likely one stop at Hassan II Mosque. From there we will go for supper - then bed. This group will be "bagged". They will have been up for nearly 2 days. Is there a hotel in Casablanca we need to be wary of? Chefchaouen is a pretty town. There are fewer attractions for us, but I hoped we might use one day as a "slower-paced" day.

Clifton - what a great idea to compare and contrast Chefchaouen with Zahara. I will see if this can work for us. We'll see if we can arrange a stop at Ronda. I'll be sure to mention this to our Tour Director.

I am aware of Chefchaouen's reputation as a place to get a"head". I have been told there are fields of M nearby. We'll have to keep close watch over the dollies!

Thank you both for your interest and comments.

tC

TC - If you check tripadvisor you will see that all the budget hotels in Casa are pretty bad. I can attest that the bad reports on the Transatlantique are unfortunately correct (see my Morocco TR for details).

thursdaysd - thanks, I'll keep an eye out for it.

tC

I'm not sure what kind of budget you're working with for Casablanca or if you're set on staying in the center but the Ibis (a European chain) we stayed at at the train station (Gare Casa Voyageurs) felt pretty safe. It was definitely clean, and it had a restaurant inside. Not dodgy inside in the least. It sits right on the parking lot of the train station, but didn't feel particularly seedy the way many train station areas often do. Plenty of space to park a tour bus. Basically a mid-range western style hotel and their website says they "start at" 379 dirham (45USD), for what that's worth... not knowing your season or what'll happen to rates by 2012 of course.

http://www.ibishotel.com/gb/hotel-20...rs/index.shtml

Over in Spain, if you can't get to Zahara (suggested because it sits on a hill just like Chouen) you have quite a few other choices for "Pueblos Blancos". Grazelema, etc. Ronda is quite a bit bigger and has more color, plus the incredible bridges.

Thank you again Clifton. I can make suggestions for hotels to our TA. If it works for them ($ wise), I am sure they will agree. If suggestions comes from a customer like us and turn out well - they take the credit, if it bombs, then they say it was my request! We have stayed in Ibis hotels before and they have always been fine. Great suggestion. We can often get group discounts for hotels too.

Thank you also for your further suggestions about places to stop. I will map those for reference and suggest them to our Tour Director. I certainly appreciate your willingness to help us out.

tC