Final thoughts, and other things

Transport
We were unsure about using public or our own transport. We prefer to use public transport wherever possible, enjoying the opportunity to meet local people and the comraderie  of fellow travellers. However we decided to rent a car and having your own transport here is definitely a good idea. Some of the best experiences we have had would not have happened if we had been restricted to public transport.
A 2WD is fine here. Unless you are really into serious off roading you don't need a 4WD.
We didn't need any assistance, but listening to other peoples stories it's a good idea to hire from a larger company with a good track record if you want to avoid the possibility of losing some of your precious holiday time waiting for repair/recovery work.
A Dacia Logan is an ideal car for these conditions, it's a sturdy little beast and did everything we asked of it, including the desert piste and the terrible surfaces on the white roads between Ouzoud and Oualodia. It is the national car and spares and repairs are available almost everywhere.
Driving in Morocco has a really bad reputation, it was much better than anticipated. As with everywhere, including Europe, you just need to drive sensibly and with regard for the environment, the conditions and with the awareness that on occasions there are some very stupid people on the roads.
Road signs were excellent, we didn't get lost on regular roads at all. Any times when we did lose the way it was exploring in very rural areas where there weren't any road signs anyway, or of we tried to take 'short' cuts! Carriage ways were often narrow, but this was usually where traffic was light, so without rushing it was possible to average 50mph with no trouble. Even on remoter areas there were always plenty of fuel stations.
We noticed that in some places the old French rule of giving way to traffic coming from the right was still practised.

Best time to visit
We did a lot of research before coming from 25th March to 25th of April. It depends of course on what you want to do, obviously if you want to trek or climb snow covered mountains you need to come when there is snow. We were a couple of weeks too early for the sort of trip we wanted to do, this year. Another year and it might be fine, it's a weather rather than climate issue. I don't think it would be too hot in the desert early to mid April and maybe the nights wouldn't be so bitterly cold at altitude. There were a couple of times when I had so many blankets on my bed I had problems turning over.

Illness
Neither of us has had any gastric upsets or diarrhoea. We've drunk tap water on occasions although not all the time. We've eaten a lot of salads, which would all have been washed in tap water. We've eaten frequently from street stalls and barrows, some of the tastiest food, we tended to pick busy ones assuming they have more of a turnover and the food is fresh.

Safety
Moroccan people are in the most part very friendly, welcoming and helpful. There are a few hustlers around at tourists sites and in the big cities, but not too many and none were ever over-persistent or aggressive.
We have always felt safe, no threat to us or our property, even in large cities.
We don't think we have been 'ripped off' on any occasion. There might have been a couple of times when we felt we could have been charged too much for something, but if so a really small amount, peanuts, and nothing we weren't prepared to pay, considering the average wage here.
We haven't done a lot of souvenir shopping, not our thing, just a djellabah each as warm UK dressing gowns, babouche for the grandchildren and some tiny bottles of Argan oil and Amlou (from a women's co-operative. outlet. We negotiated what we considered to be a cheap price for the djellabahs if they had been bought in the UK, and for the bulk purchase of babouche. I'm sure it was much more than a local would pay, but we are not locals, we are tourists with much more disposable income enjoying their hospitality. All the bargaining was humorous and friendly.

Money and Alcohol
ATMs are readily available and although on a couple of occasions one would not accept our particular card (pre-loaded cash card) another one soon did. We had no problems with them at all.
Large supermarkets (for the sale of alcohol) are few and far between, usually on the outskirts of most large towns. Many places also have a discrete alcohol outlet, known to and patronised by local people, if you are able to tap into the bush telegraph and find one. We were very careful about being seen with alcohol, and at first restricted ourselves to drinking a glass or two of wine clandestinely in our bedroom. However whenever we asked the people where we were staying if they would mind if we drank a beer or a glass of wine, we were never refused, and indeed it was just accepted as the norm. We never drank in public or on public view unless it was in a restaurant offering wine with the meal.

Gender Issues
There was not a single occasion when I felt threatened or uncomfortable as a woman, unlike in Egypt for example. As a woman of a certain age I would always dress conservatively when travelling, long skirts and long sleeved tops in light but not transparent cotton are the coolest and most comfortable clothing in hot climates anyway. I always carried a light scarf I could throw over my hair if I felt it necessary, but apart from remote rural areas where some women were veiled, I rarely used it.

Communications
Wifi was readily available and it was free. Most hotels even in rural areas provided a connection. Even if the hotel didn't there was usually a cafe nearby which did. The only places we didn't get it were the remote hotels we chose close to the desert which only had satellite phones.
We purchased a Maroc Telecom SIM and got phone coverage everywhere.

Police
They have been kind and helpful on all occasions. We were rarely stopped in our car and when we were they were polite. There was no suggestion of corruption or bribery. This is unique in our experiences of travelling in all other African countries, including Central and sub-Saharan, and in Central America.

Other things
Morocco was no exception to most other places we have travelled, including the U.K., an essential travel companion is a handy little multi-tool, (loose plugs, dripping taps, toilets that don't flush etc)

Conclusions
We have enjoyed this trip. As we get older travelling seems to get easier. Maybe we are slower, more tolerant and accommodating. In all the countries we have visited in the past ten years our age seems to have been an advantage, particularly in the atitudes of other people towards us.

27 April Home

Our last day in Marrakesh was much better than I had thought it was going to be. After having a revision of our luggage and a rearrangement of the packing we walked into the Ville Nouvelle to the Marjorelle Gardens. They were lovely, a real haven of peace. The cactuses were amazing, quite exceptional. We lingered a while in the cool and the shade.
We strolled slowly back through the Medina, stopped for an orange juice and then an excellent shakshouka, our last Moroccan meal.
Before going back to the Road I made a last minute purchase of a large leather satchel type bag, just what I wanted for carrying a it more stuff around with me than my leather handbag will take.
The day went very quickly, the only downside being the hour delay in the Ryanair flight.

Home again. A wonderful trip.I'll put a last few thoughts together soon.

24 April Marrakesh

It is such a shock, coming back to Marrakesh. It is hot, noisy and dirty. There are so many other beautiful places in Morocco, I can't imagine a holiday where you would come here for a week. I suppose you could use it as a base and do day trips out. If we had planned it differently we could have taken the car back later and gone straight to the airport. Still we have another 24 hours here so make the most of it. We went out and strolled round the souks for an hour or so. I got my arm hennaed and we had something to eat at Djemma El Fna, then came back to the Road.
There were so many more beggars in Marrakesh than there were a month ago. So many women with children and babies, it was really distressing. I actually wasn't very hungry and I filled a roll with my kebabs and gave it to a women sitting in the street with a sad looking young child. She seemed pleased and said thank you. John emptied his pockets of small change. There were snake charmers, I don't know how to assess the state of happiness of a snake, and some Barbary apes on tight chains with choke collars. They seemed sad and listless, not very happy, not my sort of thing at all. Maybe I am just ready to go home.

22 - 24 April Essaouira

Back where we started from, if you don't count the first few days orientation in Marrakesh. After the events of last night and earlier this morning we were on the road by 07.30. We took the coast road out of Safi and then picked up the N1 through to and beyond Essaouira. We drove on to take a look at Sidi Kaouki. We loved the look of it and were sorry that we had not discovered it earlier in the trip. It was everything we had hoped that Oualidia would be and definitely was not. It's exactly the sort of place we always seek out when we are camping. However we had to make a rational decision about where we would spend the last couple of nights of the trip and agreed we needed somewhere with a few more amenities. We have a 'to do' list, including getting the car sorted, we have just thrown everything in the back and the boot for four weeks. John would also like to get it washed and valeted before we hand it back. It's done a lot of things you shouldn't do in a 2WD hire car.
So we are back in Essaouira and the Mirimar Hotel. It was rather nice, the young woman on reception recognis d John from the last time we were here. As returning customer,ears we have a nice sea view room with a balcony at the same price we paid for a back facing room last time. It feels a lot different in Essaouira, a month on. It is warm and sunny. I am sitting on the balcony in just a light shift, having just had a shower at 18.15. I couldn't have sat outside a month ago, I would be wearing both my thermal vests by now. It's a very nice room too,larger than the other one and the bathroom has a proper bath and a bidet. The bidet is a real treat, I have missed not having the 'arab' toilet, I must check out which countries/cultures have them. Is it an
Arab thing or a Muslim thing? It's not just the weather that is different in Essaouira a month later. Many more places seem to be open, bit there aren't a lot more tourists.
The trip here was interesting as Argan trees slowly replaced the Olives. There was also a lot of agriculture and some very expensive farming machinery, several combiners and lots of (John Deere) tractors. Unlike yesterday when in our cross country trip from Ouzoud we saw people plowing and harrowing with donkeys. Essaouira is a nice place, by far the best of the resort type seaside places we have been to. After settling in at the hotel we walked down to the port area and ate a big plate of mixed fish, lobster, prawns, squid, sardines and red mullet. With a salad, chips, bread, a Coke and a Fanta the bill came to about £30 which we didn't think was two bad at all.
We will be having an early night tonight and then a final relaxing day here tomorrow, with maybe more fish.

I had a very good nights sleep. Our room, overlooking the busy beach road, has quadruple glazing, that is two sets of double glazed sliding doors leading onto the patio. I didn't hear a thing.
After breakfast John took the car to be washed and cleaned and I went for a walk on the beach. There were miles of hard sand. I walked to the far southern corner of the bay, where John and I had walked almost a month ago. Today it was warm and sunny. I didn't realise how much the wind had got up until I felt the sand whipping the backs of my legs, and decided to turn back. Activity on the beach had increased, people were taking rides on horses and camels, would be wind surfers were being kitted out. I stood and watched as a novice struggled to control both his board and his kite simultaneously. A much more experienced exponent skimmed across the waves, performing leaps and twists with acrobatic precision. These are different to the wind surfers we used to see off Karystos. Instead of a surf board with a sail attached they have a sail board and a kite. Two young men raced sprightly horses through the surf. Some dogs came and sniffed around, to see if anything was on offer, a bitch with dangling teats and a young pup. Is it the only survived this time round? I had nothing and they soon left me for a more promising option.
I was suddenly aware that the rhinitis and itchy eyes I have had almost permanently for the last week had gone. It's the olive blossom, exactly the same thing I used to have for a month each year in Greece. When it happened here I knew exactly what it was, I had just got so used to it again I didn't notice it until it was gone.
Back at the hotel John had returned from! the car wash and we walked the short distance into the Medina, strolled the back streets, enjoying the ambience and the warmth, noticing how much difference a month had made. We bought some fried fish and shrimps from a street stall, a good sized bag for less than £2. We sat in the square and drank some freshly squeezed orange juice.
Back at the hotel we are sitting on our balcony, sheltered from the wind, drinking a beer. It's countdown time. Tomorrow we go to Marrakesh, back to Riad El Az, for our last night in Morocco. Maybe I won't write anymore. I can't decide whether or not to get my arms hennaed before I go back. I think Bella and Freya will be so impressed. It's been a great trip, I'm so glad we came. I'm also pleased we are back here at Essaouira although I think if we just took a holiday Sidi Kaouki would be the place for me.
I've missed the kids, but probably no more after four weeks than I did after two. Now it's time to go home though, I'm ready to go. Without a forward plan, where next, what next, I am thinking about my allotment, how are my potatoes, do they need earthing up. What about my garden, is the rambling rose in flower, have the fruit trees set. Karen put it so well in her blog about travelling and going home, I need to re-read it.

Cascades d'Ouzoud

More waterfall photos

Cascades d'Ouzoud

Barbary apes at the waterfalls.

Cascades d'Ouzoud

Some photos of the waterfalls

21 April Safi

22.00  Once again we have encountered a Moroccan wedding. This time at the actual hotel where we are staying. We didn't know when we checked in. We are sitting at the entrance of a large hotel in Safi which is booked out for a wedding tonight. I have never seen such finery. Two men with drums are at the entrance to the large room where the reception will take place and every time any guests arrive they beat out a tattoo. Earlier we saw a large sofa covered with gold brocade, similar to the ones which we saw being made in Fez, carried in, with countless other paraphernalia. Interestingly all the male guests seem to be in western suits. The women are in glittering, dazzling kaftans and djellabahs, headress and babouche to match, with tight belts, again similar to those which we saw in Fez. I think they are metal and must be so uncomfortable.
It's been quite a day. I think I have really gone off Google maps. John looked up the recommended route from Ouzoud to Oualidia and it took us cross country on a road which when it existed was full of potholes. Most of the time John had to resort to driving off road on the dirt verges. I think it's a case for using your common sense, our road map showed a perfectly good 'red' road which OK was a bit of a longer route but I am sure would have been a much more comfortable journey as we lumped and banged our way through. If there is a positive side to this it is the fact that we probably took a route no tourists have ever taken before.
It was all agricultural land, flat and featureless, with some signs of irrigation. At first we retraced our footsteps and had another chance to look at the area between El-Kelaa-des-Srafhna and Ben Guerir where at attempt is being made to establish olives, and the Phosphate Quarries. It was after there that the road deteriorated dramatically, as we passed old kasbahs and ksours, often protected by high hedges of prickly pear.
Oualidia was a great disappointment. We expected a small fishing village, instead we found a large package holiday type resort. We drove in, round and out the other side, and on down the coast. So here we are in Safi in the first hotel we came across, listening to a Moroccan wedding. There won't be much sleeping done tonight, by us or anyone else. Rooms all around us are booked by wedding guests, and obviously over-booked. I saw at least six people go into a room a couple of doors away, carrying pillows and blankets. We've given up on the voyeurism bit and come back to our room for a bottle of wine. To our knowledge some people have been sitting round tables in the main hall for at least two hours waiting for the festivities to get underway. An interesting thought has occurred to me, based on Greek experiences. We were so obvious sitting in the hotel foyer, watching events and we were totally ignored. I have no wish to be a late uninvited guest at a Moroccan wedding, but had we have been in Greece we would have been invited in long ago. We have so many examples based on our own personal experiences and those of others which we have spectated. Two strangers, and particularly foreigners, observed on the sidelines, would have been welcomed in and great efforts made to find someone who shared a language with them.
The hotel last night was lovely, one of the nicest places we have stayed in, so very quiet and peaceful. We have two days left and are still not sure how to spend them. We have decided not to book anything and will just head off down the coast tomorrow, after a stop at a Marjane to renew the alcohol stocks.

22 April 06.00
Strictly speaking I should start another page. The ear deafening tuneless music has just stopped. The rooms at this hotel open onto a central courtyard with a swimming pool and all the wedding guests overflowed from the reception room out into it. We have dozed a bit in the last seven hours, and just as they are packing up it is time for us to get up. Let's hope today is a better day than yesterday and tonight a better night than last night as our trip draws to a close.

20 April Cascades d'Ouzoud

It's happened again, one day, so far, so different. We left the Atlantic coast this morning and five hours and over four hundred kilometres later we are once more in the mountains.
We had an early start this morning. It was a luxury hotel and we looked forward to a good nights sleep, plumbing that didn't chug and whir in the wee small hours. However at 05.30 we were woken by loud conversations in French. We think there were two couples in rooms not far from us who were leaving early and had set alarms. They were actually holding conversations with each other at the tops of their voices, no consideration at all for anyone else who might be asleep. We wanted an early start and we had set an alarm for 06.30 so there wasn't much point in going back to sleep again.
We decided to go back and take the motorway for most of today's journey, then we would completely bypass Casablanca. On the way we intended to drop into a Marjane supermarket we had seen on the way to the hotel yesterday. Alcohol stocks are getting low. However it wasn't where we thought it was, and we weren't so desperate we needed to go looking for it. The driving on the motorway this morning was even worse than last night. Lots of people seem to pick a lane they like and stay in it, or even better have one wheel in each lane, it must be comforting to have the white line under your bonnet. Then of course, if things get a bit dull, there is always the possibility of a nifty bit of undertaking on the hard shoulder. As yesterday, animals were grazing at the verges and people were walking or waiting on the motorway. I'm not sure how the Moroccans classify a 'motorway'. It did get better after the turn off to the airport at Casablanca and we turned south towards Marrakesh so maybe a lot of the traffic was early morning commuters.
The motorway looped round Casablanca and as we saw the cloud of grey cloud (?pollution) hovering over it we knew we had made the right choice in deciding not to go there. The road took us over the 'Plateau des Phosphates' where the landscape was scarred and pitted with slag heaps. It was sad and sinister and reminded us of the west coast around the South African/Namibian border where De Boers have completely remoulded the scenery in their excavations for diamonds. The other striking feature about the scenery today was the abundance of olive trees, some older established ones but also massive new plantations. There seems to be an attempt to create olive farms in even the most hostile environments, small trees hand been planted in little depressions for watering in on dry sandy soil.
John spent a long time with Google maps yesterday evening. Maps have long been a passion for him. He reads them for enquiry and pleasure, much as someone else might read a cookery book.  He has a box with maps for everywhere we have ever been, taken home, mended and stored. Occasionally we will be talking about somewhere we have been and can't remember the precise details. He will get his maps out and pour over them for clarification. So having got quite a lot of the journey over, we came off the motorway at Ben Guerir and took minor roads for the rest of the way. It was a lovely trip as we came through areas which don't often see tourists. We passed a number of small villages, we could clearly see the original mud houses in the centre and then newer ones, two or even three stories, brick built and faced at the perimeters.
We found the hotel for tonight easily, as we came into Ouzoud, and it is charming. I suppose it is a riad, certainly the main house is constructed like one. A wall has been built round it and a number of small bungalows put into the garden, making it a kasbah.
We have a room in the main house which is large and airy as well as being old and quaint. The only thing is, the person, woman we think from our conversations, seems to have a day off. Two young men are 'holding the fort', doing an amazing job, although they don't really seem to have a grasp of which rooms are free and which ones booked. The woman who has the day off hasn't left them the key for the secure internet connection, so even though the router is on we can't get into it.
We came here to visit the waterfalls, 'cascades', and we walked the kilometre or so further down the road in the late afternoon, when we were told they are at their best. We were not disappointed. We were a little bit cynical, having been to Plitvicke in Croatia and Augrabies in South Africa, but these were different and in their own way quite unique. The setting is stunning, so much water crashing down. Our information was correct, they are in shade in the mornings, but as the sun catches them in the late afternoon the rainbows flit and fly between the mountains of the gorge.
A surprising thing was to find that almost all the visitors were Moroccan. They were several hundred people, it's a big area and was definitely not crowded, maybe we saw a dozen people who didn't look Moroccan. We walked down many, many steps to the base of the falls, where some young boys were swimming in the pools and there were some boats which would row you out closer to the falls. We sat at an improvised cafe and drank some freshly squeezed orange juice, so thick it wouldn't go up the straw. It was well worth the journey and I'm sure we would not have enjoyed Casablanca anywhere near as much.
Back to the hotel and a lovely supper, an excellent salad and one of the nicest tajines we have had.
So no internet and we can't investigate possibilities for accommodation for tomorrow night. We think we will head off back to the coast, another long day in the car, bit most of it will be on minor roads. We are on count down to returning to Marrakesh on Tuesday and it would be nice to find somewhere for the last two or three nights which would give us an easy run into Marrakesh to return the car. We think we might give a small place called Oualidia a look, who knows, of we find somewhere nice to stay there it could be our last stop in Morocco.

19 April Ech Chiana

New place, new surroundings, new setting, new experiences. Last night in Larache was so not tourist. Tonight we have moved down the coast a bit to luxury accommodation, but could really be anywhere. We are sitting around a swimming pool, we have a very nice room opening out onto a little patio overlooking the pool, shaded by palms, bougainvillea, amaryllis. It is all very posh and very touristy, but it will do well for an overnight stop.
It was dull and overcast when we left Larache this morning, and we were not long on the road when the rain started. We went through some heavy showers and in places there was evidence of recent rain. We had decided not to take the motorway but stick to the minor roads in order to see more. However we went wrong at Kenitra and ended up on a dirt road at the edge of a large sprawling souk. Miraculously we managed to find our way back the way we had come through the town and took the motorway turning. It was a good move, we sailed past Kenitra, then Sale, then Rabat. We turned off and took the coast road to this resort hotel.
Even on the 'motorway' the trip was interesting. It was certainly not 'motorway' as we would describe it. There were sheep and goats grazing at the verges, and small settlements could be glimpsed through the trees. Once again there were wonderful landscapes of patchwork in different shades of green, intensive agriculture. Potatoes were being irrigated, despite the rain. Yet again we saw crops and trees on steep, interraced slopes. In one place we must have been close to a sugar processing plant, we saw lorries laden with cane coming out of tracks leading away from the road.
I suspect that this strip of coast, between Rabat and Casablanca is pretty touristy, getaways for well-heeled Moroccans. We walked along the beach in both directions from the hotel. The first way we met quite a fast flowing river going out to sea, so turned back and went the other way. The tide was quite a long way out, but it seemed to be on the turn and waves and spray were crashing against the rocks. Unfortunately, even though the rain had stopped and there were occasional glimpses of sun, the sky was still overcast and visibility was not so good. We saw a track and turned inland, and came to a clearing with a small cafe. Well, there was a building, a few chairs outside, two young men drinking Cokes and some older men playing cards. We sat down and had some drinks, we could have been anywhere in Africa. There were even some banana palms close by. It was a nice stop, away from the plushness of the hotel.
We have changed our plans again! The idea was to move further down the coast tomorrow, somewhere fairly close to Casablanca so that we could take public transport in. We have decided we can't face it, even though we will have to admit that we have been to Morocco and not been to Casablanca. So instead we are heading inland again, even though we know it will be cold and could well be raining. The waterfalls at Cascades d'Ouzoud in The High Atlas Mountains are reputed to be a wonderful sight and one of the musts for Morocco, so that is where we are headed for. At the moment, we intend to head back to the coast again for the end of the trip, at the moment.....

18 April Larache

How different can things get. This morning we were in Chefchaouen and all it's picturesque, old world charm, in a small family run hotel with things that went bump in the night and lots of things for John to 'mend'. Now we are in a large and soulless hotel in a back street of Larache, a seaside commercial town. However we have a small balcony, overlooking a busy street which is currently being dug up. We have just sat outside, drinking a beer (smuggled in) making plans and watching people and events as they happen.
We left Chefchaouen this morning and took a 'scenic route' to Ksar-el-Kebir, a winding mountainous road where we saw very little traffic, and as far as we could tell, no tourist traffic at all. Once again, people waved as we went past, working in fields, tending livestock, quite a lot of cows as well as sheep and goats. We came upon a place high in the mountains which didn't really seem to amount to a village, more like an intersection of tracks. As we approached it was so busy, so many donkeys loosely tethered, then one or two vans with goods spread out beside the road. We think it was a Souk for the sale and purchase of various commodities from outlying villages, only accessible by donkey, at a spot on a road which vehicular transport could reach. One man had set up a stall beside the road, a travelling farrier, he was trimming the hoofs of the donkeys. Some people were coming in with donkeys laden with goods, others leaving, presumably having sold and bought their produce and requirements. It would have been interesting to know of any bartering took place. The scenery was wonderful, unfortunately often obscured by low cloud. We were struck by the enormous number of olive trees. We were surprised by the lack of terracing of the hillsides. We saw people plowing with horses or donkeys, slopes so steep a tractor could never have coped. We wondered what happened when it rained, surely they lost all the top soil? Hillsides such as those would have been terraced in Greece, and could be irrigated if required.
We were with six Spanish speaking people at breakfast this morning, two from Argentina who were there the previous night and we had already met. Their son is a doctor and is married to a Spanish woman he met in Argentina, but she became homesick for her family and so they have moved back to Spain to live. They visit them frequently, but love Morocco so often fit in a few days in the northern part. The other four people were from Madrid, but also pay frequent visits to Morocco. I dredged and trawled and the Spanish started to return. It was so nice to be speaking it again, however badly, I will work on it.
There was something I forgot to put into the blog about yesterday, we were standing on the bridge watching the women washing their carpets when a man came up to me, quite a respectable looking man in western dress. He asked if I would like to go to his farm and check out his produce, and maybe buy some plants. Do I really look like a wholesale cannabis dealer?
I wrote the first part of the blog,above as we drank another beer, because it started to rain quite heavily. It was overcast when we left Chefchaouen this morning and rain was forecast, it looked as if there had been some rain as we came through the mountains. John went to move the car into a better parking place and saw a young man with a newspaper wrapped parcel which looked like two cans of beer, so he asked him if there was anywhere here in Lara he that you could buy beer. The answer was yes and he was shown where to go. There was a queue (of Moroccans) and while he was waiting he was asked if he wanted to buy some 'chocolate'.
The rain stopped and we went on an exploration of Larache. There is no hint of tourist Morocco here. There are lots of hotels, a lot of which looked shut up. Presumably they are here to accommodate the Moroccans who flock to the coast in the summer to escape the heat. At this time of year it is warmer than the interior. Larache is at the mouth of a river and has a good harbour, the coastline around it is very rocky, but evidently there are nice beaches a short distance away and it has a reputation of being liberal and women are allowed to swim here. It is very scruffy, we walked down to the port area and it was like any other. Groups of men were standing around, talking, smoking. The harbour was packed with boats, some going out and coming in. We climbed up to the Medina, a small maze of alleys as in other Medina's. There was no pretence to make it pretty, but still walls were blue-washed and some doorways tiled. In the centre was a square with the market, some fruit and vegetable stalls, but mostly second hand items, clothing and tools, and plastic goods.
We went out of the Medina by another gate, into the Central Place, with an island in the middle with lots of children's rides. We sat oat a pavement cafe and drank mint tea, people watching. There seem to be many more people in western dress here, men in jeans and trainers. The women mostly had their heads covered, but there were quite a few who didn't, but were also wearing jeans and jackets. We finished our look around with supper in a back street cafe where John had a reasonable paella and I had a plate piled with more grilled sardines than I could eat in two sittings, garnished with coriander. We also had a mixed salad, beetroot, grated carrot, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, a bowl of olives, and a dish of spicy tomato sauce. It all came to about £8, including a generous tip.

17 April Chefchaouen

Chefchaouen is a really nice place, quite unlike anywhere else we have seen in Morocco. It is a walled Medina town stuck onto a mountain side. That and the fact that everywhere is painted in a shade of blue makes it feel like a Cyclades Island town. There is a central plateau but the rest of the town is either up or down some steps. Narrow streets with overhanging buildings twist and turn, with blind alleys leading off to houses up yet more steps. The contrast with the Medina in Fez could not be more startling. Everywhere is clean and well maintained. As we walked around this morning people were outside their houses, swilling down the walkways with buckets of water and brushing them clean. The walls, the steps, beside the alleys, they are all painted in varying shades of blue. Doorways are exquisitely tiled, and glimpses inside revealed stairs leading up and down to different levels of the hillside buildings with more beautiful tiling.
The people are unbelievably friendly and welcoming. Obviously as you walk around the shopping area the shop keepers are anxious to attract your attention and are very good at spotting which language to use, but there is no real hard sell. At least three complete strangers, two men and a woman came up to me and started a conversation, in Spanish and then in English. They were not shop keepers, they had nothing to sell. They asked where I was from, did I like Chefchaouen, did I like Morocco, and interestingly, which place in Morocco had I liked best. There is so much pride in the place where they live, maybe that is why they take such good care of it. I was asked if I had found everything I wanted, if I needed any help with anything. Then just goodbye, a wave, and enjoy your trip.
We walked out into the New Town area, not a place the tourists would go, and it was just as clean, larger litter bins, just like our giant wheelie ones in England, on every street, and people using them. Like most of the New Town areas, there were wide boulevard like avenues with trees and flowers bordering them. We also walked round the back of the New Town, where there were streets of more basic housing, some not in such good repair, rusty iron work and peeling paint, but it was still clean.
We followed the course of the river to where there was a place for communal washing and today must have been carpet washing day. Groups of people had enormous carpets they were washing and scrubbing in the fast flowing water and then dragging up to dry on the rocks. There were small waterfalls and cascades coming from the mountain sides to join the main river. We made a good decision to stay the extra day in Fez and take advantage of the facilities of Dar Mystere, while it rained. We learnt that it had been raining very hard here for several days as well, until yesterday. It would not have been so comfortable here. Somebody (another friendly person) explained to us that they don't usually get so much heavy rain this late on in the year, but that they had been really pleased about it. It has been a very dry winter and the concentration of minerals in the reservoir water is too high and it would not have been good for the agriculture or animal husbandry the area relies upon. The fruit and vegetables for sale here look wonderful, so fresh and luxuriant.
There were lots of people about today (Moroccan and presumably mainly local). Evidently 2 weeks national holiday period started yesterday, the schools are closed. We hope it doesn't mean that accommodation in the coastal resorts will get booked up. We have decided to head off to the Atlantic Coast tomorrow. We had intended to go back to Marrakesh down the spine of the country, taking in some of the places we missed out when we went east to go to the desert, or drove through in snowstorms. We had planned to go through Meknes and Azrou, but since we have been in Chefchaouen we have decided that we don't really want to go back to any large cities. This often happens to us, maybe it is why we travel so well together, we disagree with each other much less when we are travelling than we do when we are at home. One of us has a thought, like 'I don't really want to spend anymore time in large urban areas', and before the sentence is completed the other one says, 'that's exactly what I was going to say'. So we have had a change of plan, yet again, and are heading for the coast instead, and picking smaller places as we go, luckily we should be able to do that with the car. The only concern, as I said, is that if lots of Moroccans are taking their holidays they might all decide to go to the coast. We will see.
How's this for a contradiction, we will also go to Casablanca. We had decided not to, too big, too many people. We have had another think, and decided that it is an important part of Morocco and we mustn't be so 'sniffy' just because we try to stay off the tourist trails. We will however find somewhere to stay outside. We've had a look and there seems to be a very good train service along the coast for about 50 kilometres in either direction. So the current plan is to find a nice, smallish place to stay for a couple of nights where we can leave the car and take a train in.
Also we hope it will be a bit warmer at the coast. The mountains are colder than we expected for mid April, especially at night.

Chefchaouen

Chefchaouen is so picture postcard pretty. Like olden Greece with Moorish touches.

16 April Chefchaouen

This is so far from Fez, from everywhere else we have been in Morocco. Spanish seems to be the spoken language. It's some time since I've used my Spanish but it comes so much more easily than the French. It gives me a warm feeling, just hearing it. We have spent a lot of time in France, but I'm never really comfortable there, whereas Guatemala and Cuba were some of the best times. Both countries were amazing, Cuba will always be special, they were so good about my Guatemalan Spanish and helping me with a Cuban accent. I kept thinking how Greek Chaouen seems, until I realised of course, that it is Spanish, well that's close.
The journey out of Fez was easy. The scenery changed almost immediately, we were into rolling hills of intensive cultivation, green and lush with cereals and vegetables. It seemed to me that slowly, slowly the people became lighter skinned and more westernised in their dress. We were surprised to see so many house with corrugated tin roofs, and wondered why. Wood was in abundance, and bricks, so why not tiles. We have both lived in houses with corrugated tin roofs in sub-Saharan Africa and they are hot and noisy.
As the road turned and Chefchaouen came into view, sprayed onto the hillside, and looking for all the world like a Greek island village, it was such a surprise. Without too much difficulty we made our way to the hotel we had booked ahead. We left the car on a low road and walked up the steps. It is very nice, everyone is so friendly and we are getting by with a mixture of English/French/Spanish as my Spanish slowly returns. It feels good here, we intend to stay for a couple of nights.

Last night in Fez:
Boy, did it rain, or rather hail. The noise on the roof was deafening. After a nice meal we returned to the house and settled in for the last night. It was a good stay, the house was very nice and an excellent bolt-hole, it made a lot of difference to the comfort of our stay there. Fez, we will reserve judgement on. I'm not sure if it is the sort of place we would return to, we both need a bit more open spaces, a bit more green. It was a wonderful experience, much more authentic than Marrakesh, but maybe a bit claustrophobic for us. The winding alleys and souls were lovely, maybe we weren't there long enough to discover what else. For me personally, living in the City of Norwich is a bit of a challenge. When we returned from Greece, from our lovely rural surroundings, and had to decide where we would make our last home, I know that in the City was a good choice. My allotment is my salvation, when the bricks and mortar, the concrete, becomes too much, I can go and sit on the step outside my shed, and breathe. I love travelling, but the best times have usually been in wide, open spaces. Perhaps that's why I liked the desert so much.

Fez

They do weddings in a big way here

Dar Mystere

Some of the lovely lights

Fez

Fancy a few snails?

15 April Dar Mystere, Fez

It's a wet Sunday morning in Fez, and luckily I've got that Sunday morning feeling. In all the travelling I've always seemed to know when it's Sunday morning. I remember when I was in Tanzania, if I was going to get a bit homesick it was always on Sunday morning. When we were in Orkesumet Alphayo used to rescue me by insisting that I put my best African outfit on and went to church with him. Certainly after a couple of hours of singing, dancing and clapping the world was a very good place. Then there would be the invitation to go back to someone's house for lunch, and often people would drop by mine in the afternoon and we would sit on the 'stoep' and see how many jokes or stories worked if they were translated from English to Swahili to Masai and back again.
So here we are now in Fez on a wet Sunday morning and luckily we have this lovely house to hang out in, and I have an opportunity to make a few jottings. We had a very full and enjoyable day yesterday. It had rained a bit more on Friday night but we woke to sunshine. After making our first round of coffee John popped out to the little 'duka' close by and came back with a fresh stick of French bread. For breakfast we had eggs, local goat cheese, yoghurt and oranges. It is so nice to have the freedom here to do our own thing, I have found the hard dry crepes and the sweet jams we have had in some B & Bs for breakfast a bit inedible. First we went to an Internet Cafe to print out our return trip boarding passes for Ryan Air, thus avoiding the €60 a person penalty if you turn up at the airport without one. You can do it 2 weeks in advance, which is OK if you are on a 2 week trip, but no good for us.
Then we took a 'petite' taxi to the New Town of Fez, excellent advice given to us by Michael, to a large, large supermarket with an off-license department. We took haversacks and bags with us to disguise our purchases as we needed to return by taxi. The advice about large supermarkets in New Town areas is useful for the future, we have tended to avoid the new areas and stay in or around Medina's, and do any shopping we needed there. I think it will only be if we need to restock alcohol though.
We spent the rest of the day wandering freely and randomly in and around the Medina, we had had a chance to read some of the literature at the house, much more comprehensive guides to Fez than we had, and we searched out some of the places mentioned there. I am so pleased we were here for a Saturday, Alami had told us that Saturday afternoon would be a good time for the Medina. It was an entirely different atmosphere to that of the previous day, a Friday. As well as the tourists there were lots of families, browsing, shopping, meeting, talking. Once again we were impressed with how friendly people were. Of course there are a few hustlers, but even if we didn't look at their shops and goods we often stopped and exchanged a few words, especially if they spoke English. The Moroccans seem to be a very humorous people, ready to laugh, to tease, to enjoy a joke.
It was dusk as we returned briefly to the house to pick up some warmer clothes, and then to go to Clock Cafe to eat, on the recommendation of both Michael and Kate. We were not disappointed. I had a camel burger. OK, I know, but if I go to China I'll probably eat dog. Anyway it wasn't camel, it had to be dromedary as I learnt from Ashfran  at Du Sud that there aren't any camels in Morocco, they are further south in countries like Sudan. The animals here have only got one hump which makes them dromedaries. Maybe that's why all the people I have seen having 'camel' rides have looked so uncomfortable. I thought you would be wedged between the two humps, perched on top of one most be a totally different feel.
Clock Cafe had a cosmopolitan feel to it, I can see that if you spent some time in Fez it is somewhere that you would hang out. It sort of reminded me of The Blue Angel in Quetzeltanango, where I spent many an evening trying/pretending to do my homework when I was at school there for a month. We had intended to go to the last night concert of the Sufi Festival but it was late when we left the Clock and already rain was in the air so we decided to go back to the house and share a bottle of wine and a few hands of Crib. We were only just inside when the rain started in earnest, hammering down on the perspex roof cover over the courtyard. It continued off and on for most of the night and by this morning we had collected three quarters of a bowl full of water and several puddles from the drips.
I was wakened very early by the 'adhan', call to prayer. It fact, very, very early. Usually the early morning calls here have been less dramatic than they were in Egypt, not quite so much amplification and much shorter in duration. However I first heard this one about 03.40, which is quite a long time before sunrise. I must have gone back to sleep again because I thought he carried on for about 20 mins but when we talked about it this morning John said he was awake for over half an hour. It was a very un-melodic one too, it sounded more like a monotonous drone. We must be unlucky here because the previous night we were kept awake by what we assume was a wedding, based on our experiences from Greece. The music starts about 22.00 and gets steadily louder until sunrise, if you are actually at the wedding you may experience tinnitus for several hours afterwards.
So we are moving on tomorrow, onward and upward to Chefchaouen. The weather situation is due to improve, which is good as we are going further north, I'm not sure how the altitude compares. It's a shame that we have not had good weather for our stay in Fez, sunshine always improves perception, but it says a lot for the place that we have enjoyed it anyway. Friends will know that I am definitely not a 'city' girl, and in fact in our travels we usually try to avoid larger places. I have always said that the only city I would consider making a return visit to is Istanbul; and now......... maybe.......Fez!

Later in the day:
The sun came out, we thought the rain had stopped, so we got dressed, (me at least, John somehow manages to get dressed when he gets up, on my own I often don't put day clothes on all day). We were going to the Museum, but the sun was shining, it was warm, and that hasn't happened much for us in Fez, so we didn't want to go inside and decided to stroll a bit more. We found we were back in places we had been to before, but that was fine. Then the clouds closed in, the sky darkened, and the rain came. So here we are again, the rain is hammering down, the bowl is filling. Sometime we'll make a dash for something to eat.

Time for some more thoughts on Morocco:

Driving: this is John's area, until we reached Fez he thought that all the reports of bad driving in Morocco were exaggerated. We have stored the car here, but on the trip in he found drivers to be inconsiderate and aggressive. Tomorrow we have to collect the car and drive out so we hope it is not too bad.

Housing: I wrote earlier, I think around Tafraoute that all the housing looked to be in good condition and of good construction. Particularly as we drove from Erg Chebbi to Midelt and on to Azrou the housing we saw from the road was much more basic, in some cases little more than single breeze block construction, unfaced. The traditional mud brick buildings offer much better insulation but are often replaced by breeze block. The winters must be bitterly cold in these houses, and permanently damp.

Health Care: I need to do a bit more research on this one as I have had few opportunities due to language problems to talk to people.
The nomadic/semi nomadic Berber people for example. I was told in Erg Chebbi that they can go to a health care facility in Rissani or Erfoud.
Is there a child vaccination programme? What is the incidence of measles? Polio? HIV?
The infrastructure in Morocco seems good. We have found electricity everywhere and even if not reliable there is good internet access. The Berber people who are nomadic obviously do not have access to good sanitation, presumably they are using long drops and as these do not contaminate their water supply they don't cause a problem.

Education: Free schooling is available and, I think, accessible. By that I mean that it is in Arabic and even the Berber nomadic children can speak Arabic, unlike some parts of Central America and East Africa where education was in Spanish or Kiswahili and if the children only spoke their tribal language there was no provision to integrate them into the school system.

There is so much more to discover. Travel is so humbling, you realise how much you don't know, how much more to learn. Too many places, not enough time.

Dar Mystere

Just for you, Bella, some photos of where we are staying

Fez

Some snapshots of Fez

13 April Dar Mystere, Fez

The rain has stopped, although there are still black clouds around. I don't think Fez is much warmer than London at the moment. Lack of sun doesn't really matter too much as I shouldn't think much penetrates the maze of small streets and alleys even in high summer. I should think it might get a bit oppressive and stifling then, though.
We enjoyed a good night's sleep last night. It's very comfortable here and it was nice after a couple of weeks travelling to know that we were completely on our own. One of the amazing things about the house is how quiet it is, here right in the centre of the Medina. I don't think we realised just how central it is until we started to do a bit of exploring this morning, we are literally just a step away from some of the busiest souks and surrounded by so many small 'dukas' selling all basic essentials. The Riad we stayed in in Marrakesh was very nice but much larger, Dar Mystere is much more like a family house, compact and secure.
We spent the morning exploring and browsing in the Medina, just wandering, strolling, taking it all in. Once again John's extra antennae were on top form and we didn't get lost at all, we made one or two diversions down small alleys, sometimes finding ourselves at a dead end, just to see what was there, but he always got us back on track again in no time. We visited a merdersa, which was quite fine, but maybe not as architecturally striking as one we saw in Marrakesh. Interestingly, we didn't have a guide, we learnt quite a lot about it by standing next to a tour group with a guide who spoke Greek so nicely and clearly, presumably it was his second language and he didn't have a regional accent, we had no problems understanding him. As it is Friday most places started to close down around midday, so we took a lunch break to review and preview. We decided to take a look at the Mellah, the old Jewish quarter, this afternoon as we thought maybe that would not be so affected by the fact that it is Friday, we don't know whether it was or not. We went into one of the synagogues, which was just like most other old synangogues we have been in, but the view from the roof was rather fine, looking out over the outskirts of Fes, we also strolled around Al Andalous. We walked past an enormous and magnificent mosque, resonating with the voice of the speaker within. We could glimpse in through open doors and see that it was packed with people and many others were sitting outside, on steps and next to walls.
We ended our day at a cafe/restaurant which comes 'highly recommended', he told us 'Lonely Planet, but he is in our Rough Guide as well as several of the information books we have found here. It was a very good meal, we shared a large plate of mixed vegetable starters. It wasn't on the menu but we managed to explain what we wanted. We had seen the various vegetables in a cold cabinet, maybe to be added to other dishes. So it was a bit like a Greek 'mezethes'. It was also very filling so we shared a 'shakshouka' which was also exceptionally good. We haven't seen the word 'shakshouka' on a menu here, it tends to give a description and call it 'tajine with meat balls, tomatoes and egg'. I guess that just about sums it up. It's a dish we got hooked on in Siwa. We both agreed that tonight's could hold it's own with those in Siwa, even though interesting as the people watching was, we ate outside, the ambience of Siwa could not be duplicated.
Fez is good, certainly less tacky than Marrakesh. It has a much less commercialised feel to it. We've only had one day here so far so really can't say more, but if you want to visit one city in Morocco then Fez would be a good choice. The only thing against it, and this has to be just in the Medina and the areas around it which we have visited, is the stockpiling of rubbish. It's not as bad as in most Egyptian cities, but still pretty dire. What we saw today was not just one or two days rubbish which hadn't been collected lying beside the alley, it was longer term discarding of refuse into pieces of  unoccupied land, between buildings.
Both of us have spent time in different large towns in sub-Saharan African countries and seen how clean they are kept. Most times I was in Arusha or Moshi I stayed in a 'guesti' in the Maasai (poor quarter) of town rather than the tourist/safari hotels as I was usually with local work colleagues. First thing every morning the (unmade-up) roads and alleys were swept and all the rubbish piled up and burnt. OK, maybe not too environmentally friendly as they burnt everything on the spot. John says the same thing about the places around him when he was in Nigeria. When we were in southern Africa, particularly Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, admittedly we weren't in large urban areas, everywhere was clean and clear of rubbish, people sweeping the dirt surrounds of their houses each morning and burning the rubbish. What's with North Africa?

Erg Chebbi

A few desert flowers

Sijilmassa

The ancient underground water system

Erg Chebbi

Beautiful dunes. Not as yellow as Egypts Great Sand Sea, not as orange as Namibias Sossovlei, but still wonderful, spectacular.

Todra Gorge

It wasn't as spectacular as the other 2 Gorges because the road was low down, beside the river, but still pretty stunning.

08 April Todra Gorge

Tonight we are in the Todra Gorge in a tourist hotel, a far cry from the last few nights, and they don't have internet.

Last night at Chez Pierre was truly amazing. The supper meal was fantastic, we do believe the reputation of the chef/owner. In fact we both agreed that at home we would have paid £80 for that meal alone, never mind the fantastic room, the sun terrace, one of the best hot showers we have ever had etc., etc. We were given a complimentary bottle of a very nice red Moroccan wine, then we started with a few olives, then some light as light can be puff pastry tartlets with a selection of vegetable and cheese toppings. Next came a bowl of bean-y cream-y soup, with a background taste of herbs. The bread was warm and light. Then there was a peeled stuffed tomato drizzled with a delicious sauce and stuffed with prawns and herbs. The next course was, wait for it, couscous, but not couscous as we have ever had it before.  Instead of a big bowl full with vegetables heaped on top it was a neat little mould of saffron flavoured couscous topped with a medley of chopped charred vegetables and beside it a parcel of tender as you can have it chicken stuffed with a green vegetable, something like spinach or chard. I am very ashamed to say that at this point I had to back down, I just couldn't finish it all, much to the waiter's consternation. Pudding was a light chocolate sponge with a crispy chocolate coating and a rich ice-cream, I couldn't quite place the flavour of the ice cream but I think it was cardoman. We finished with tea, a blend of herbs but mainly thyme and rosemary. Breakfast this morning was also very good, eggs, crepes, olives, honey, jams, yoghurts, freshly squeezed orange juice, as much strong black coffee as we could drink. As we left we had a large bottle of water pressed on us for our journey.
I need not have worried above the heights or hairpin bends in the Todra Gorge, it is very different to the two previous gorges in the High Atlas. This is mainly because the road follows the river, at the base of the canyon, rather than clinging to the sides. It does have an impact value, but for me nothing like the Dades and the Valley of the Roses, for a start I had my eyes open all the time. From Chez Pierre we retraced our footsteps to the main road and continued through mostly barren scrub to the town of Tinerhir where we branched off onto the road leading into the Todra Gorge. The first thing which struck us was the commercialisation and the number of tourists. The entrance to the Gorge is through a narrow gap in the rocks and this was lined with stalls selling all manner of tourist stuff. We checked into one of two large hotels at the entrance to the Gorge. The room is small and a bit poky and there is a background cheesy sort of smell, but it is clean and has a toilet and shower, but no hot water.
The whole area was heaving with big tour buses, small tour buses and tourists of every nationality. At first we couldn't understand it, but then we realised that as far as the entrance the road is accessible to all the tour buses, and as far as the tourists are concerned, if they haven't seen the other two Gorges they don't know what they are missing. We have both been feeling a bit blobby, two weeks and no real exercise, so after checking into the hotel we decided to take a walk. We walked for about 5 kilometres along the road into the Gorge, it was amazing, at the entrance to the Gorge there were crowds of people, but only one kilometre on there was no one. We saw a Spanish couple (we assume, there was a Spanish registered vehicle parked beside the road) climbing. It all looked very, very scary, one of the pair was slowly making their way up a rock face, hammering things, ?pitons¿ into the rock wall while the other one let the rope out. Further on we saw a man sitting astride a rock high above us at the side of the road, his white turban glistening in the sun. Close to him were four camels grazing on the hillside, he waved to us and we waved back and we shouted greetings to each other in no language, just shouts. I thought how ironical it is, that you visit all these places and take all those photographs that have no meaning. The photographs you want to take, the memories you will remember, are not possible. I could not take a photo of that man with his camels, but the picture will remain in my memories for some time to come.
We kept expecting something dramatic to happen, the road to climb above the valley, but it just continued along the river bed. After five kms we decided to turn back and pick up the car and go further to see how the Gorge developed, so we did and drove further on into the Gorge. The rock formations are quite dramatic, but for us it did not have the impact value of those we had seen on the previous two days.
So here we are, back at the hotel, the day-trippers have gone, but the hotel is full of tour parties, they are here in their too short skirts (the women) and their too short shorts (the men, mostly), and we are hanging out until after supper when we will probably escape to our matchbox room with a smuggled bottle of wine, in case they have a disco of Moroccan or any other  music.
We've booked ahead for tomorrow night, somewhere in Mergouza, back in the desert close to the Erg Chebbi Dunes. It isn't in our Rough Guide, but the very helpful young man at Chez Pierre last night gave us the number of a friend of his from university who works at a place down there. As the stopping off point for desert trips we expect it to be quite booked up over this week, so we thought we would play safe and take him up on it. If we don't like it we can look around once we are there. Another important development tonight is that we have contacted the local guy in Fes who looks after Michael Howard's Riad to see if we can go earlier than we had booked, and it seems that we can. One of the reasons that we don't book ahead when we are travelling is that we frequently change our plans on a daily basis as the trip unfolds, and this one is no exception. We now plan to go to Fes after the trip to the desert which will give us much more freedom to choose how we make our way back to Marrakesh and which other places we take in en route.

Rubbish: Most places in Morocco are very clean, especially in the large urban areas. We have seen nothing like the piles of rubbish which we saw in Egypt. We think that most smaller places must have a town 'tip', we have seen some smouldering piles on the outskirts. These might not be too well managed as around them we have come across various detritus hooked in trees and bushes, presumably the result of winds. We just found a rubbish bin in the Gorge and were pleased to be able to deposit a bag of rubbish, orange and banana peel, chocolate biscuit and crisp packet wrappers, which we have been carrying around for a week looking for somewhere to put it. We haven't been able to find a public rubbish bin anywhere else. When we were in the desert dunes close to Tinfou we were sad to see the remains of camping and day trips, plastic bottles, aluminium foil, and empty tin cans, John collected so many empty sardine tins. Today walking up the Gorge it was obvious that fly-tipping had been taking place, bags just thrown from the road into the river, plastic bags, disposable nappies and cans. Beside the road broken glass from wine and beer bottle sparkled in the sun. Maybe it has been the same in other places and because we have been in the car, travellinb more quickly, we haven't seen it. We can't think that tourists would have done this, it was high up on the road, past where any tour buses would go, we saw only local people there.

Holidays/religious days: We didn't expect a 3-day weekend. We assumed that banks for example would close on Friday, the day of prayer, and Saturday, the Sabbath. They are closed on Sundays as well. Isn't Sunday a Christian dedicated day? The Gorge was full of Moroccans today, was it normal for any Sunday, if so that means that everyone has Sunday as a holiday, not just the banks. Or was it even busier because it is Easter Sunday? If so, why?
There are a lot of questions I would like to find the answers to when I get an opportunity.

12 April Riad Dar Mystere, Fez

We spent last night in one of the most bizarre places we have ever stayed. We had a good trip from Erg Chebbi through some picturesque landscapes. It is an incredible country as far as scenery is concerned, within three hours of travel we had left the desert and had snow capped mountains in view, from 750 metres to 1400. We followed the Ziz river valley, first along low plains and then through a Gorge, a wonderful palm filled oasis to our left. It seemed that as soon as we had left the desert the wonderful rock formations we had seen in the Atlas mountains began to reappear.
Finally we reached Midelt, the stopping off point in the journey to Fes. We headed for the first hotel on our list of probable/possible to find that it was fully booked. The second one looked so grubby and run down from the outside that we didn't even go in. So we decided to try one 5 kms outside the town, thinking that as it was not so easy to get to it might not be booked up. It seemed quite a long way before we caught sight of it, up and up an unsurfaced road. As we approached it looked like a modern attempt at a kasbah construction, with walls and turrets. We found an entrance and asked about a room. We were taken on a route through a building, a courtyard, a corridor to a room. It has a window into a corridor but otherwise is dark, and has a musty smell, presumably through lack of ventilation. I personally would not have chosen to stay there, John is much more accepting than me and felt OK about it, so we checked in. We sat outside in a quite nice garden and drank a couple of beers, by which time it was too late to move on, so there we were. My concern was exacerbated when a group of French people who must have booked ahead, arrived, moved their things into rooms and half an hour later moved out again and went on their way. We seemed to be the only people staying there, but a lot of Moroccans seemed to be living there.
Later that evening:
We came in from outside about 6 as it became cold. John checked the GPS and we are at 1600 so that is not surprising. The place is like a rabbit warren, there are doors and corridors everywhere, which different people come in and go out of, and then re-appear from a different direction. We found what looked like a lounge, a large room with couches round the outside and low tables in the middle. There was a large wood burning stove and a flat screen TV in a corner. The windows were all covered in a sparkly green cloth. We sat down at one of the tables and started to play a couple of hands of crib. The man we had seen in reception came and set up the table to eat, so it seems we must have found the dining room. We were half way through our supper when a couple we had seen earlier, sitting in the garden when we arrived, came in and sat at another table and were served with their supper. We were just finishing when a door opened and four of the French group who we thought had packed up and left earlier came in. I am sure that the original group was larger, maybe twice as many people. Those who returned seemed to be expected as they walked straight through as if they knew where they were going. There are lots of noises off, women talking, children crying. Several people have come in and settled down to watch the TV which is showing what I think is a very dramatic and over acted soap, atrociously dubbed. I saw similar ones in Greece, on in the afternoons, which were usually Spanish or Italian. There is a lot of weeping and wringing of hands. They are fixed to the screen, obviously engrossed. It continues to get odder and odder.
Last night a king sized bed in a room big enough to take three. Tonight whatever you call a small double bed, ? Queen size, which there is only just room to get round.
Last night I was hot with just a sheet. Tonight two thick blankets and I'm huddling up to John for warmth, (not much choice in this bed!)
We didn't sleep too badly, despite to odd smell and the dripping tap. We had a meagre breakfast (just coffee, bread and jam) and were on the road by 08.00. The place was so overpriced. We paid 600 dhs for that horrible little room, supper and a scant breakfast. For another 100 dhs, (that's about £4 each) we had the luxurious accommodation at Du Sud, swimmimg pool, and amazing food. Breakfast there was crepes, 2 jams, honey, lovely fresh bread, fresh orange juice, loves, cheese, eggs.
Today:
It was raining when we left Midelt, we had heard the rain in the night. As we climbed out of Midelt towards Azrou, the rain turned to sleet and then snow. We could not believe the snow covering of trees, fields and rocks either side of the car. We passed 3 bad accidents, all involving lorries which had run off the road. As heavy fog closed in driving conditions became very difficult and we were in a slow convoy of vehicles. We think we reached a height of about 2,500 kms, but the thick cloud cover blocked the GPS satellite signals and by the time it locked on we had dropped down to 2,250 kms. There was also quite a strong wind and animals had backed into it, we saw donkeys with snow covered rumps. We had hope to see the Azrou Cedar Forests and the Barbary Apes, but it was just blinding snow streaking past. We passed a snow plough going in the opposite direction so maybe it got even worse.
On arrival in Fez the snow had become rain. It was with some trepidation that we approached Fez, wondering whether we would be able to find the meeting point which had been arranged with Michael's local contact who would show us where we could store the car and how to get to the Riad. Thanks to an excellent arial view from Google Maps, allied to some maps from our Rough Guide, we drove straight there and found Alami waiting for us. We stored the car in a secure underground car park and then we followed him I through a maze of twisting, turning alley ways until we were at the door of the Road.
We stepped in from a dim back alley to a beautiful three storey building. It is exquisite, everything about it is lovely, I think of something out of the Arabian nights, the tiles, the furniture, the lighting, the layout. I can't write any more now, tomorrow I will take some photos and some more description. I am so pleased we Ave come here.
We dodged the rain and went into the Medina and had a nice meal, bought a bottle of wine and came back quite wet. Now we are sitting on opulent sofas, in evocative lighting, I am writing and John is planning tomorrows activities. Already I know that I am going to like Fez, a lot, it might even get up there with the desert.

10 April Erg Chebbi

It is very nice here, our room is very large with a king sized bed. Supper last night was amazing, it was an enormous self-service buffet. The table was heaped high with plates of delicious vegetables, all in lovely dressings, broad beans, stick beans, cauliflower, courgette, potato, and lot of other really nice food. We still have a couple of bottles of wine left from Essaouira and we had one of those. I think we have only one left so I hope we will be able to stock up again when we get to Fes. John phoned the man there tonight to arrange for us to arrive the day after tomorrow.
We couldn't work out how the hotel gets its electricity supply as we couldn't see any cables running in. We learnt today that it is solar power during the day and a generator at night. The hotel also gets all it's water from a bore hole in the desert nearby. The atmosphere is very relaxed, in fact it is a very relaxing place to be.
We decided to take a trip organised from the hotel today, otherwise we would just have taken the Logan back over that corrigated piste and then down the surfaced road to Mergouza and back. So we went in a Land Cruiser with a very nice young man called Ashraf on a four hour circular trip into and around the Erg Chebbi dunes. I took so many photographs, I've thinned them by half already and must do some more editing before I decide which ones to keep. Unfortunately the skies have been overcast today. It was a bit cloudy when we left and a wind got up, blowing sand about, which further decreased the visibility.
As well as driving to panoramic spots, with views over the dunes and the surrounding desert we also visited a Berber family home. Obviously it is all contrived for the sake of the tourists, but it gave us quite an insight into their way of life. I thought the nomadic Maasai had a primitive existence but this was, to my perception, worse. At least the Maasai grazing lands usually offered some form of shelter amongst trees, and they would usually construct simple constructions which they could return to. Shelter for this family was a cloth cover draped over sticks in the ground, so I assume that when they moved on there would be no trace of their existence. They had built some mud brick structures nearby where cooking and other domestic chores took place. The elderly woman (a grandmother of four, I established)  also showed us how she carded the goats hair and twisted it to weave the blankets and carpets.
We stopped for lunch at an establishment run by some people who came originally from the Sudan, interestingly they were referred to as 'the black people, where we had madfouna, or Berber pizza, it was a very spicdelicately spiced beef pie, with a flat griddled base. We also listened to some traditional Sudanese music, for which they are evidently renowned.
Ashraf also took us to a place in the dunes where lots of fossils are found and we saw large rock faces of a black stone with some lovely fossils in it, sea creatures and ferns, another reminder of when the Sahara was a deep sea. We visited a lake, which is sometimes inhabited by flamingos, but they were over the other side today, and we were also shown a small farm, where the land was divided into plots with irrigation channels, much as we used to cultivate in Greece and now, with the lack of water, on the allotment.
It was a good trip and one we are pleased to have taken, we would never have found any of those places on our own, and an added bonus was the time spent talking to Ashraf, himself from a local Berber family, about health care, education, social provision. I learnt that in fact there aren't any camels here, these are all dromedaries. Camels have two humps and are found further south and in Sudan. Maybe that's why all the people we have seen having 'camel' rides have looked so uncomfortable, instead of being comfortably wedged between two humps they are perched precariously on top of just one. We were fortunate to have an intelligent young man as our driver, who, although he occasionally struggled with his English, was keen to speak it and had sufficient command to communicate effectively. We were even treated to one or two jokes which either didn't translate well from the Berber, or we missed the humour.
A reminder of the dry heat here, I washed out my underwear and a long sleeved cotton shirt before we went to supper and hung them out on a lone strung up between two trees outside our room, and when we got back they were all dry.
After another wonderful supper tonight, the vegetables were so amazing I had a vegetarian meal, we are settled down in our lovely room with the remains of our last bottle of wine, getting ready to move on to Midelt tomorrow. Auberge du Sud has been a lovely stop over, I mean to contact Rough Guide when we get home, it should be checked out. I could just chill out here, of course, I do love the desert.

09 April Kasbah du Sud Erg Chebbi

If I glance over my shoulder I can see the dunes of Erg Chebbi, slowly blending into the dusk. Slightly to my left is a herd of camels, I think they have been bedded down for the night. To my right is a collection of Berber tents. They do actually belong to the 'hotel' we have checked into. I think there is a group of people doing the desert thing, I expect they will light a fire later on. Erg Chebbi is Morocco's big Sahara experience area. It all seems quite organised. I think the camping trip we made into the Eastern Sahara from Bahariya Oasis, just us and Khaled our Bedouin guide and later the wonderful experiences in Siwa and the Great Sand Sea couldn't be duplicated here, these dunes are only 7 x 28 kms. Never the less they are impressive, turning quite an ochre colour, getting nearer to the apricot dunes of Sossovlei.
The hotel last night at the Todra Gorge was not so bad. It also served to remind us why we don't do organised trips. The meal last night was really mass catering stuff. The soup wasn't too bad, but the so-called tagine was some stewed chicken plonked into a tagine dish, some sliced potato put around it and a tagine lid put on top. Breakfast this morning was instant coffee, even in the most out of the way places, small with only half a dozen rooms, we have always had real coffee. However I slept well and was warm enough.
We hit the road quite early this morning. Once out out of the Todra Gorge we were back on the N10. We then switched to the R702 and continued on to Erfoud and then Rissani. A lot of the journey was through scrub desert or hammada, occasionally broken by lush oasis, towering palms and irrigated crops. Coming out of the Gorge we saw quite a few women with a large piece of white cloth knotted over one shoulder, a bit like a sari, we haven't seen that before. The highlight of the trip was as we neared Erfoud. Before we left England we watched a programme in The Lost Kingdoms of Africa series, about the ancient Berber kingdom of Sijilmassa in this area. It featured an incredible system of moving water underground to where it was needed. We saw the lines of volcano shaped mounds which mark the spoil where the shafts were dug. We stopped and had a good look at them and actually went down into part of the workings. We are now in the area where much of that programme was filmed and we are so pleased that we recorded and saved it and really look forward to watching it again when we get home.
John once again did a marvellous job navigating us here, we went for a long tome after leaving Rissani without any confirmation that we were on the right road, it was further than we thought before signs started to appear. Finally we saw a sign pointing to the hotel we were headed for and turned off the road onto a piste. It was rough and corrugated, ( we won't tell Europcar! ) and we travelled for about 8 kms on it before we caught sight of the mud, kasbah type walls. Inside it is luxury in the desert, we have a large, large room with a lovely bathroom. We are sitting around a swimming pool with a bottle of red wine ( we brought it in with us) waiting for our supper, which smells delicious. We are both in short sleeved tops, a light warm wind is blowing through the arches in the kasbah wall, and the desert is touching distance away. It smells warm. I am very contented, it reminds me so much of the 'Africa' I love and remember, even though the setting and circumstances are so different.
There isn't any internet here, I haven't even worked out how the electricity gets here, there isn't a generator or any sign of cables above ground.

More Dades Gorge

More scenery

Dades Gorge

It was spectacular and scary