The entry into the country was amazingly uncomplicated. We had to wait only one hour for the documents to be carried out by the two officials who couldn’t read each others writing. Eventually, after a short glimpse into the interior and under our buses roof-plane, we were in Morocco – a multifaceted country full of contrasts:

The landscape outside the cities is spectacular, and the hinterland in front of the Atlas Mountains reveals itself solely in rich green colours. On the rural roads and in the smaller towns life takes place in a much slower pace than in Germany: People travel by foot, bike, donkey, horse or hitching a ride. Everywhere small farms are located, which offer fruits and meat directly at the road. People in the laid-back restaurants on the way are nice and helpful, the food simple but delicious! People in cafés and the public in general sit together in circles, playing cards and chatting.

The cities, on the other hand, offer a mixture of tradition and modernism. Particularly young people often are dressed in a European style. The cityscape, apart from the – indeed very impressing – typical visitor attractions, is characterized by pragmatism: small stores for auto, machine and electronic parts are all about. One of the highlights definitely are the multilane roundabouts. The slogan “who brakes loses” for sure comes very close to the truth here. Being a German in particular, it can be quite relaxing not to be bothered by trafic rules…

After a small tour in Tanger we decided to drive to Fès via the mountainous roads next to the Atlas Mountains. We spent the night some hundred meters off the main road, next to a small path and directly departed at 5am the next morning.

In Fès we took a walk through the largest medieval historic city in the world. Within the narrow alleys we met, as expected, mostly shopmen who exclusively target tourists. The regular market in another quarter of the city therefore was a lot more sympathetic to us, although being narrow and packed as well. In contrast to the historic city, only local people were present here.

We drove further towards Rabat in the west. Again we stopped somewhere hidden near the road during the night. Like the day before, we proceeded to McDonalds after arriving in the city – not because of the food, but because of electricity and internet. The multi socket, of course, was with us all the time… After multiple hours of writing mails, cutting videos and making plans, we took a walk through the city. A soccer match with some locals underneath a motorway junction satisfied our need for physical exercise.

Afterwards we drove to the old city and sat down in some small, smoky bar, accompanied by arabic soccer and men playing cards. The photo here was taken by the barkeeper’s daughter who, only by American music and films, taught herself to speak English almost perfectly…

We spent the night outside the city on the top of a hill, from which we had a perfect gaze at the lake underneath the next morning. Today we spent most of the time preparing interviews and cutting our numerous video material – soon the first videoblog should be ready!

Our official purpose of course is in full swing: We have responses from multiple startups and are already in the facebook group of Marrocan entrepreneurs. Also we look forward to a meeting in Casablanca!