All photos taken by Chaimaa Assli.
Morocco is a small country located in North Africa that has a lot of different foods and traditions. With all of its beautiful beaches and historical spots, it is a perfect place to go for a vacation. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, I have not been able to visit my family there for the past three years, but this year I finally got the chance to go. My family and I managed to visit quite a few places.
My uncle grows a lot of different vegetables and other things in his garden outside of my grandparents’ house. Photo taken by Chaimaa Assli 
My sister Leena and cousin Rihanna were at my grandparents’ house. Photo taken by Chaimaa Assli 
This is at my grandparents’ house in Aïn Harrouda, Morocco. Photo taken by Chaimaa Assli. 
Everyone fought to hold the new pet rabbit but it ended up running away. Photo taken by Chaimaa Assli
My mother’s side of the family currently lives in Aïn Harrouda, Morocco which is a city just outside Casablanca. It is also the place where I was born. You can find a lot of cafés and bakeries everywhere you go in Aïn Harrouda.
This is a famous Moroccan dish called Couscous served with my favorite Moroccan soda called Hawaii. 
Moroccan Tajine is one of my favorite Moroccan foods. 
In Morocco, depending on the dish, everyone eats from the same big plate. 
This dish is called Bastilla and this is the seafood version. 
These are appetizers before the main dish. 
People in Morocco drink a lot of Moroccan mint tea.
Morocco is filled with all types of delicious foods and pastries. My personal favorites are bastilla, briouats, and zaalouk. Moroccans also eat a lot of French pastries, especially with mint tea. Some examples are croissants, crêpes and mille-feuilles. For more information on Moroccan foods click the link here.
Since Morocco touches both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, seafood has become a cultural staple. It is eaten a lot there and it is included in a lot of popular dishes. Near Aïn Harrouda there is a fishing dock where the boats bring the fish they caught in. There were some really big fish there. I saw small sharks, squid, and what looked like an eel.
A lot of people in Morocco celebrate their weddings over the summer, so every year we go I attend someone’s wedding. This year it was my uncle’s wedding. The party was a lot of fun and we wore our traditional clothes. We also ate a lot of Moroccan food there.
Casablanca has a lot of places to visit. One of the places I visited was Morocco mall. Morocco Mall is pretty big. There is an elevator that goes through an aquarium and it has a small amusement park in it. There is also an ice skating rink. Another place I visited was the famous Hassan II mosque.
The souq in Casablanca is huge. It’s separated into many parts. Each section of the souq is for a specific thing. There is a section for clothing, vegetables, furniture and there is even a section just for olives and oil.
One of my favorite places I visited was the all-girls cafe in Casablanca. Everything there was pink including the walls, chairs and even the food. The café was called Kiki’s and if you ever visit Morocco I definitely recommend it.
For the first three weeks I was in Morocco my family rented a house in El Mansouria. The place we rented is a really nice vacation spot. There are a lot of pools and it has a few soccer fields. It is also near a few really nice beaches and cafés.
There is a beautiful place in El Mansouria on the beach that is perfect for relaxing. I went there with my family for breakfast and because we liked it so much we went the next day and stayed there the whole day. It’s not the best place for swimming but I still highly recommend it.
Morocco has a lot of beaches where the water is clear and perfect for swimming and beautiful sunsets. There are also some really nice cafés that are on the sand and they have magnificent views.
Zaneta, Morocco. This is in the countryside of Morocco where some of my dad’s side lives. There is a café in the hills in Zaneta that overlooks a lake. The café has a small farm and park. It also has a small mosque for praying. There is also horseback riding by the lake.
The final destination is Dream Village which is a zoo and a water park. Dream Village is in Zaneta. I highly recommend this place to anyone visiting. There are a lot more animals there than in the zoos here.
Overall, I really enjoyed visiting my family who I have not seen in a long time. We made sure we had a lot of fun with the short amount of time we had together. I missed eating all of the authentic food, and although I eat Moroccan food here, it is not the same. I cannot wait to visit again next year.
