TWO COUNTRIES IN ONE CLJ – 5 nights in Portugal & 5 nights in Morocco – including one night glamping in the Sahara Desert. The response to this CLJ was so great, the group had to be divided into two groups overlapping just one night in Casablanca.

The journey was organized by Tova Wald, who arranged our Israel trip, as well. Local guides were provided both in Portugal and in Morocco. Group 1 started in Portugal with a visit to a dairy farm just outside the city, a trip to Setubal for a visit to a huge fish market, a trip to the magical town of Sintra, where we experienced a multi course tasting menu, which was followed by a tasting of 10 Portuguese desserts! Our hotel in Lisbon opened their kitchen to us – and allowed our guests to work with their 10 chefs in creating our own meal one evening. A late night stop at a FADO club gave us even more local flavor. No trip to Lisbon is complete without a taste of Pasteles de Belem, yummy little custard tarts – and we had our share of them before being whisked off to Marrakech.

Everything about Morocco is foreign…from the native dress to the food markets to the style of cooking food (in either conical ceramic tagines or in underground fire pits.)  Our group jumped right in to a dinner at the Jam Al Fna Square complete with snake charmers and a potpourri of sights, sounds and aromas. Lunches in country clubs and in private homes showed us the vast variety of life styles in Morocco. A cooking class just outside the spice market taught us the nuances of Moroccan spices, tagines and its beloved couscous. But Morocco was not all city life. One night was spent in an incredible desert encampment serenaded by Moroccan music and the sounds of the desert.