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Published: August 15th 2007
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(Kees)
Our arrival the African continent was surprisingly problem free. Riding bikes off the ferry was smooth. We had our pp's stamped in the boat (at the back??- who knows why, maybe part of King Mohammad VI's liberal reform package), and by- passed all the security, a whole lot of cars, then rode through the gates and into the chaos and mess of Tangier; so no worries. Our expectations of conservative and dry Morocco and the major hustle of bustle of Tangier, with hasslers left right and centre, didn't actually turn out that way. The city was a bit of a mess but it was vibrant enough with plenty going on. The traffic noise of cars and trucks getting of the ferry and into the chaos was pretty intense though. Toot Toot Honk Honk .......... pretty much all night long. Welcome to Tangers Town I say.
We didn't hang round too long though. One night there was enough. Our plan was to take a train to Casablanca and then ride on from there. In trying to find the train station we did a few extra loops around the city and in the process found this very suburban bakery, which
had bees everywhere: all over the food, all over the show. Dan seemed keen enough to try some bee delights so we had a bee snack on the way. Then after asking about a thousand people, we found the train station but only to find out that bikes were a no-go. The security guards made this very clear. So we ended up having to find the bus station anduse that instead. And hoped that on the bus the bikes weren't going to get too much of a hammering below. The trip was long and uncomfortable enough. We stopped off in the nation's capital Rabat, and watched a bit of Moroccan bus parking chaos take place, which was on the whole pretty entertaining. Next we were back on the bikes as we rode through smelly, dirty and busy suburban Casablanca and into the centre. In the middle of a busy intersection Dan's chain fell off- oh the timing!
Despite the traffic chaos the city was pretty good. We stayed two nights- checked out Hassan II Mosque (the 3rd largest religious structure in the world-holding up to 20,000 worshippers), the inner-city with its couple of nice buildings and spent lots of
time in the city's Medina (old city). The Medina had so much cheap and good food, and with a great atmosphere, we just couldn't leave.
So after a few days in Casa we jumped on our bikes and headed south, along the Atlantic. Did you know that the water is freezing around these parts? Well we didn't until now. It also helps explain the relatively mild climate, some parts of our trip would havce only been around 20deg. The coastal road wasn't too busy and drivers generally courteous and nothing has fallen off any of the dodgy trucks driving alongside. But if the truck is big enough, they simply honk, and while not reducing speed, simply force us off the road. Taxis meanwhile are very annoying; they always pass at full speed and toot there way passed; you always can tell when a taxi is approaching andthey'realways so overloaded (4 inb theback 4 in the front is normal enough). South of Casa was all beach territory, with dozens of resorts. I'm guessing that the tourists round there hardly even knew which country they were even in ;-)
Things got more remote and all the people- mostly young boys-
main square
Casablanca along the roadside were all so friendly. We stopped a few times for supplies and always got a welcoming response. That afternoon we'd biked around 90ks to the town of Azammour. Azammour was pretty lively with street stalls going into the night and again the people were great. We found a cheap hotel with a great views over the town. The next day we headed for the lively port town of El-Jadida, which has a great old Portuguese fort and plenty of fish for sale. So it was fish for lunch and out of there. The road out was pretty chaotic and messy, then just outside the city was all ugly industry. Eventually we made it out though and hit the beautiful Atlantic again. After 60 odd k's, we hit what looked like a wild western one road, one horse town. It was called Oualidia. But it ended up being OK and had a camping ground for a couple of dirhams each.
The next day we were off to Safi, for more fish? well no. We took an inland shortcut route where things got really remote. Luckily we had water as the 60k distance had no supplies. The landscape
Medina
Dan getting hassled was dominated by small trees and rocks. Again, there were plenty of friendly locals, mostly standing by their fruit waiting for trucks to pick them up. We soon got to Safi, checked out its pottery scene, had lunch and I checked out the Portuguese fort while Dan fixed chain link number 2. The way out of Safi was first all smelly fish industry followed by general industry. We'd get a view of the Atlantic from time to time, and the roads were new but further than that no major highlight.
When we did finally hit the Atlantic there was one pretty big hill to conquer, and we were out of water. It was pretty tough going but the view was amazing, then on the way down some random tiny shop in the middle of nowhere sold water. Great. The roads were pretty quiet and weren't too many people about. After another 20 or so k's we found a camping ground in the village of Souira. Dan went and got us sorted at the camping while I repaired tyre tube number 4. Souria was OK. The camping was bit of a prison like giant sandpit but it had a great
view over the ocean and a local cafe which was always full of Moroccan camp goers.
But there was a dark cloud on our horizon...
Bike Stats:
punchers, Kees 4-2
chains, Dan 2-0.
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Tot: 0.038s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 12; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0193s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Brititi
non-member comment
Been to J-Land and back again...off to the Big C this weekend (Canberra) for my internship. I shall email you a Japan update soon. Your North African trip so far sounds awesome. Take care and don't get knocked off your bike!