Morocco surprised us twice: with green, Ireland-like hills after years of drought, and with everyday rural life on the road from Fez to Chefchaouen.

Mint tea in the garden, bread from a clay oven, and a hands-on class cooking tagine and zaalouk. The group agreed it was the best tagine of the trip.

Moroccan food is so much more than couscous and tagine. Our favorite was Dar Roumana, a restaurant hidden inside a former riad in the Fez medina.

Spacious rooms, a huge pool, the Chenot Spa, stables of purebred Arabian horses and a sitar player at breakfast. Here’s why we love Selman Marrakech.

Five times a day, the call to prayer drifts across Morocco. For the women on our trip, especially in Chefchaouen, it became a moment to pause.