Essaouira

A local guide showed us around the medina of this old port city this morning (Saturday 26th). It's always great to hear the historical context from an articulate, knowledgeable local person and get the layout of the place.  The medina's layout is more planned than most and houses about 16,000 people. It would probably only take a few days to get to know your way around here.

We follow the ancient medina/sea wall around from our riad and reach the old French built skala (fortress) outpost pretty quickly. Essaouira's safe port access from Africa to the Atlantic Ocean has made it a significant prize for many invaders and occupiers over the centuries....including the Romans, the Portuguese, and the French.  This part of the medina's wall is very heavily fortified....

 These cannons were made in Barcelona in the 1700s.....

We wander down the streets and lane ways of the medina and then eventually out to the picturesque old port area.

The fishing boats are all moored today. It's the second day of Eid and things are very quiet everywhere we go (like Boxing Day at home(?). The port cats must be wondering why there are no fishy bits for them today 

Our guide left us around lunchtime after introducing us to a very attractive and extensive jewellery market. We found a local place for a seafood lunch before making it back to the Riad around 3.00pm. Rob is still not well so he'd spent most of the day sleeping and taking it easy. Jennie was also not feeling too well by now so we had a pretty quiet rest of the day. Maxie, Rod and I had some fun doing a bit more shopping and mixing with the very friendly locals and ending off the day with mint tea on the rooftop terrace of our riad. We also enjoyed a walk down the medina after to the old port area one last time - quite a fun thing to do in the evening as there were hundreds of locals out shopping and socialising too.

Ouarzazat to Essaouira

We enjoyed our stay in the very stylish Riad Bouchedor in Ouarzazat on Thursday night with its very caring and attentive staff. Rob is improved this morning (Friday 25th) and we're all ready for the long drive ahead of us.

We spend the first few hours of the drive in the high Atlas Mountains on roads that curve and wind through spectacular landscapes of subtle colour and arid vegetation

 .....and lush fertile valleys.

We eventually cross the Tizi n'tichka Pass (2260metres) and stop at one of the many argan oil "feminine co-operatives" dotting the highway. No wonder it is such an expensive product (Moroccan Oil) as its  extraction is very labour intensive and it would be hard to implement large scale farming operations in harvesting the nuts.

Once we're over the Tizi n'tichka Pass the landscape changes and we can see that farming is much more intensive. In winter this country is covered in snow.

We take a lunch stop on the drive through the more opulent parts of new Marrakesh. Not much is open today on the second day of Eid and the Italian cafe we stop at is slow to serve us (but food is good). It's a good 2 and half hour drive then through flat, poor looking country to Essaouira. As we get closer to the Atlantic Coast we see more olive and argan tree groves and we note the strong ocean breezes and cooler temperatures.

It is always exciting to arrive at our riad accommodation on this trip and there are lots of "wows" as we arrive at Riad Mimouna last night. It's located in the Essaouira Medina (so it involves a walk through the laneways of the old city to get here), but it has the most spectacular location right beside the sea. This is the view from one of our windows...

I love the sound of the sea....and it's just as well as even with our windows closed it is a very distinctive sound in the rooms of this beautiful Riad.

We enjoy a late, delicious dinner in the Riad's dining room high up on the roof terrace. We eat some of the local seafood in a range of dishes that are beautifully prepared.  Rob doesn't join us; he's not eating much yet.

To Ouarzazate

On Thursday Rob and I both woke up after a rough night, more so for Rob than me as he’d spent the night throwing up and feeling terrible..the latest victim of our group virus(?)

I tried to clear my head by checking out the magnificent view of the village below the Hotel’s terrace overlooking the fertile Dades Valley. Today is Eid and so a very special day in Muslim Morocco. Most families will slaughter a sheep in memory of the prophet Abraham’s dispensation from God. Everyone wears their best clothes, children receive presents, there will be special prayer meetings, most villages will close down after morning prayers and there will be a special lunch (starting with a stew made from the neck meat of the sheep) before the streets are filled with people again in the afternoon.

As we pass through the villages of the Dades Valley it is a treat to see all the families out and about all dressed in their best clothes (new clothes usually, and very colourful) greeting each other and all the children excited with their gifts. It looks a lot like Christmas morning! We also pass quite a few prayer gatherings too with rows of men mostly dressed in white robes sitting crossed legged in clearings in the steeply sited villages.

We get going soon after 9.00am this morning with Rob sitting in the front of the van with a plastic bag handy. It’s a beautiful 17oC and we enjoy the drive up through the beautiful Dades River valley to the stupendous Dades Gorge, a drive that tests all the gear changing skills of our wonder driver Mohammed.

We turn back then and start the drive to Ouarzazat (140klms), by way of the thousand kazbahs and some of the most fertile looking settlements we’ve seen so far on this trip.  We pass through the area famed for its Damascus rose fields and rose water/oil co-operatives (although not open today sadly), through Skoura, and by lunchtime we reach Ouarzazat, the so called “Hollywood of Africa”, because of its reputation as an international (and more local) base for film production.  Along the way we have an interesting stop along an old river bank where nomadic tribes still stop at times in the cycle of seasons to find shelter for themselves and their goats/sheep in these caves. The smell of their animals was still very strong today.

Wayne and Rob stop off at our Riad Bouchedor in Ouarzazate for a welcome afternoon of rest while the rest of us head 30klm West to the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Ksar Ait Ben Haddou, the largest Kasbah in Morocco for lunch, then an afternoon of exploring.  The Kasbar was built by one of the last Berber chieftains during the 18^th century, although the granary and other areas on the site date back to the 11^th century. More recently it has achieved fame through being used as the film set for the films Lawrence of Arabia and Gladiator among many other historic epics. We enjoy our climb to the top of the site and imagining what life was like in this picturesque Kasbah overlooking the river and the fertile valley below. 

 Rod is the last Aussie male standing today...but Rachid is our favourite proud Berber son!

The cleared pit below the kasbah buildings was where the most famous Gladiator fight scenes were shot (with the aid of some CGI enhancement).

Maxie was targetted by one of the local boys who make handy pocket money "helping" visitors cross the river bed after our visit to the Ksar (castle) site.

We finish off the day with a visit to an amazing local and African artifacts gallery (Labyrinthe Du Sud), a real Aladdin’s cave of a place where we spent over an hour examining gorgeous jewellery and artifacts (and buying a few things). We wished we could fit some ancient doors and mirrors into our hand luggage!

Rob was a little improved by the time we got back for our evening meal at the Riad. Our hosts could not have been more caring, making him Za’atar tea and a light meal of rice, bread and apple (perfect recovery meal). Rob was even able to eat some of it (and keep it down).

Merzouga - Todra Gorge - Dades Gorge (260klms)

We left Merzouga around 11.00am yesterday after our magical night in the desert, driving back through Rissani to Erfoud before heading West along a high plateau of the Mid Atlas Mountains towards the amazing landscapes of the fertile Todra River valley. These sand cities look like something out of the bible..

After a lunchstop and a realisation that another member of our group (Wayne) might be succumbing to the dreaded (24 hour??) tummy bug we are drawing closer to the spectacular Todra Gorge, the highest, narrowest Gorge in Morocco with its rock formations known as "monkey toes".

The pic below is of a hotel/guest house (kasbah) at the base of the gorge - we noted that part of the building had been destroyed by a recent rock slide - a constant hazard! This gorge is very popular with crazy rock climbers.

For Wayne it must have seemed an impossibly long drive then through curving, winding roads to our overnight stop at the amazing Hotel Xaluca Dades. It is a large, fabulously exotic hotel overlooking the spectacular Dades Valley. We are met with some traditional Berber music.

The hotel's decor is African inspired. The rooms are in "glamorous rustic" style and the hotel's public spaces are dotted with huge African sculptures and art works. Jennie celebrates her recovery from the bug with a Hamman treatment and the fit ones amongst us enjoy a Casablanca beer at the bar (our first alcohol in a while). Rob is not feeling well however and he has a terrible night..his bug is a bad one.