http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , Morocco , Souss Massa Dra en-us Sat, 12 Dec 09 06:06:40 +0000 Sat, 12 Dec 09 06:06:40 +0000 I apologize for not making a post sooner but to be honest there hasn't been anything post worthy in Rabat probably because I am used to being here so it feels normal to me well as normal as Rabat can be. Anyways here goes...After class on Thursday 79 MSJ took a train from Rabat to Marrakesh. We shared a cabin on the train with a family who had a little girl The girl really liked playing http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Agadir/blog-447907.html Another long drive today took us into the High Atlas Mountains with some stunning scenery along the way. Our starting point was Imlil a village filled with guides hikers and equipment rental places. We had a 1 1.5 hr leisurely walk through some mountainous terrain flowing streams with fresh snow runoffs and fields of wild flowers Irises poppies etc to reach a village called Armed wher http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Imlil/blog-398241.html Even after a thorough cleaning last night albeit with a weak shower I still had sand everywhere. We made a quick stopover in Dades Gorge. There are rock formations called ldquomonkeysrsquo fingersrdquo that look more like gorillasrsquo fingers to me. Our destination today is Ait Ben Haddou along the Route of 1000 Kasbahs and Ouarzazate an area for many film productions such as Law http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Ouarzazate/blog-398237.html Our first visit to the African continent starts with a long corkscrew descent into Marrakech airport. After clearing customs we exchange money pick up our backpacks and head outside into the welcoming warm spring air. First challenge make it to the CTM bus station in town.On most of our travels so far this would be reasonable simple but there are three things against us one Moroccorsquos http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Ouarzazate/blog-392495.html Day OneAfter an early morning flight from Luton costing around 140 return with Ryanair we arrived at Marrakech airport. First post of call was to obtain some local currency as you cannot obtain it outside of Morocco. The next port of call should of been to the duty free shop to get some drink supplies but we passed on this which would later haunt us.Our Moroccan host Mohammed Aztat had arranged f http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Mount-Toubkal/blog-382315.html It's the end of November two days after Thanksgiving. What herein follows is a much delayed and succinct transcription of travels since last updatingAfter arriving in America I floundered about in the Northwest a bit before tying my shoes and hitching Eastward to New York City. Here I ended up living for a year in BedStuy Brooklyn surrounded by a great number of even greater people. I http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/blog-349722.html Good intentions. The road to hell is paved with good intentions whereas the road to southend is paved with bitumen.... I never did make the essaoiria dawn although for a holiday 730 am isn't bad as a start. Iwent down for breakfast then set off for a final stroll around this citythat I have to say I have really taken to. Its such a relaxed place and just existing here is nice. I can't really sa http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Agadir/blog-346675.html Here we go again trying to type English on a French keyboardThis morning we woke up early drove through busy Marrakech and were treated by the beautiful Atlas mountains. There is really no way to describe what an incredible experience it was but I will try and do it some justice thank goodness for the camera. The mountain ranges leave you breathless and the view is ever changing. The cray http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Ouarzazate/blog-335543.html 13 Sep we leave the Todra Gorge and drive throught the Dades Gorge which is even more spectacular...very red stone and strange rock formations some look like giant feet. Drive through the valley of the 1000 Kasbahs to Ouarzazate. This area is famous for being used by Hollywood as a film set including good old Lawrence of Arabia and they are currently filming Prince of Persia Sands of Time wi http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Ouarzazate/blog-334949.html Ok very quickly an update.We arrived in Agadir yesterday. Since my last entry we left Marrakesh and traveled by bus through the Atlas mountains to Ouarzazate everybody try to pronounce that 5 times slowly. This is the town where they have filmed Gladiator Lawrence of Arabia Alexander the Great and Kingdom of Heaven. Very interesting place. We actually quite a efw characters here one old l http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Agadir/blog-321039.html Hello I hope you are enjoying the summer back home. I have to say that even though it's supposed to be dry heat here it still feels very humid. I can tell we are in the desert because soaking wet clothes dry within an hour Kelly and I spent our last night hanging out with some British tourists and some locals. We had some really good talks about the differences in our cultures. They said http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Ouarzazate/blog-302290.html Aprs 4 h de bus climatis nous sommes bien arrives Agadir Nous y avons passes une nuit Nous avons enfin pu voir la mer que nous attendions tant ... Il y fait beaucoup moins chaud on a mme eut froid surtout le soir On a visit un petit peu c'est une ville trs touristique. Depuis hier soir nous sommes Taghazout petit village ctier au nord d'Agadir. Ce matin on a fait une ball http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Agadir/blog-299212.html This is my 7th continent in 6 months....a great week of fun with Leslie and Tiffany in Club Med Agadir. This isalso the 5th continent of Leslie in 18 months and the 5th one on which he plays golf...and not even 8 years old.The last time I went here was 13 years ago as a golf instructor...not much has changed...it's fun to see that Imay get older but that souvenirs from that far as still well the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Agadir/blog-299100.html Your ultimate tour guide http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Ouarzazate/blog-289392.html On our exploration of Morocco south of the High Atlas we had originally considered cycling a loop from the Draa Valley village of Tansikht through Risani and Erfoud back to Ouarzazate but soon realized we wouldn't have enough time to complete it before Kate had to catch her March 18 flight from Marrakech for a quick visit to the U.S. So not wanting to pass up the Dades and Todra Gorges don' http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Ouarzazate/blog-278862.html After a day exploring the extremely photogenic kasbah at Ait Ben Haddou we had a relatively short morning's ride to get into the city of Ouarzazate at the intersection of the Dades and Draa River valleys. Ouarzazate was the real beginning of our trip south to the end of the N9 highway at M'Hamid where the paved road finally gives way to the hammada and sand dunes of the Sahara. While riding o http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Ouarzazate/blog-270604.html Jonathans fast time the truthWe in the tent believe that Jonathan did not actually run the race he studied the map book really well and then got a lift in the jeep Shocking I know but it is not possible for an Irish man to run that fast Apart from my brother stubbie who is running Boston the weekend after nextTeam NaveTeam Nave were housed in Tent 63 the name came about on the first da http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Ouarzazate/blog-264696.html After nearly a week off the bikes on vacation in Essaouira we resumed our southward journey down the coast with a very short 25km leg to the beachside village of Sidi Kaouki. This tiny town barely more than a bus stop and not even rating its own mosque has only recently appeared on tourists' radar screens and the road to it a 30km loop west of the main N1 coastal highway was only fu http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Agadir/blog-257318.html We enjoyed a morning lounging in bed and avoiding getting dressed in a very cold room. Just as we were about to get up someone knocked at our door to remind us checkout time was in fifteen minutes. When Rob reminded him we were staying two nights he didn't even apologise for disturbing us. Once we were up we went into the souqs in search of bread and cheese for our picnic. We found baguettes easi http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Ouarzazate/blog-248400.html We got up nice and early and had our slightly tedious breakfast of bread and spreads. We wanted to leave immediately after finishing breakfast but we had to wait for the second load of laundry to be returned. We left our tips for the nicer members of staff and left.We arrived at the station early for our 10am bus. A guy there sold us tickets and tried to charge us 10dh each for baggage. Slightly t http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Ouarzazate/blog-248393.html