Agile Trekker: Morocco Day 3

10/19/2026

Some people woke up early to catch a sunset from our riad's rooftop. I slept through it.

After breakfast at our riad, 4 of us decided to visit a local art supply store. It was a ways away, and we walked there. We left the walled medina and entered a less touristy environment. It was hot, hot, hot! We made it to the art supply store and checked it out. I only saw one product from Morocco - some colored paper. Other brands were things you could easily get in the US.

We found a spot to sketch on the sidewalk on our walk home. We needed shade. We wondered if it was considered socially acceptable to sit on the sidewalk and sketch, but no one complained. A few people stopped to check out our sketches. If I haven't mentioned, most people we encountered spoke Arabic and French. Fewer people spoke any English - sometimes it was just enough English to sell you things. One person in our group had studied French for a year using DuoLingo, which did help our group.

We started walking the rest of the way home, but it was so hot! Regarding water - tap water is not potable. Everyone drinks bottled water - still or sparkling. Bottled water is sold everywhere. We ended up grabbing taxis and returned to our riad. One thing about riding taxis - taxi drivers often don't speak English. We learned that it's good to have the name of your riad written out in Arabic, to show your taxi driver.

In the evening, we went out to a higher end rooftop restaurant in the medina. They had photos of many famous people who eaten there. This was one of the few places we found that served alcohol. Most Muslims don't drink, so alcohol is hard to find. Many restaurants do serve mocktails. What was for dinner for me? Vegetarian tagine! That was pretty much dinner every night for me, lol. I love vegetarian tagine, but by the end of the trip, I was trying to find anything else I could eat. Our waiter saw us sketching and told us he is an artist too. He did a quick sketch for us. At the end of the meal, he gave each of us a coloring book he had created with scenes from Morocco.