Blogs from Rabat, Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaer, Morocco, Africa

If at noon the king declares it is night, behold the stars… ~ Moroccan Proverb HE SAID... Today we were travelling northeast from Casablanca to Rabat. We were catching a morning train to Rabat, so we headed down to the hotel lobby for an early breakfast. Breakfast was a reasonably simple affair, but enjoyable all the same. We started with freshly squeezed orange juice and mint tea, then grazed on baguettes, boiled eggs, croissants and jam. We organised our packs in our room, then loaded them into a minibus and made our way to Casa Voyageurs, one of Casablanca’s three main train stations. The station was empty, so we breezed through the various ticket collectors and settled into our oven-like carriage. We eased out of the station at 9:45am, and stared silently at the decrepit and ... read more

We enjoy the best breakfast of the holiday in the riad. Freshly cooked, piping hot pancakes, a perfect omelette, bread, yogurt, fresh fruit and even a bowl of tiny strawberries, halved and macerated in a little sugar. Madame who is in charge is French, so that is probably why. Thus refreshed we set off to visit the Bou Inania Medersa (what they call a madrassa in Morocco). Despite being listed as opening at 9.00, it’s closed when we arrive. The cleaning lady tells us it opens at 10.00 so we decide to walk back to the main square, confident we now know the route. However, the souks are entirely different this early. None of the shops have opened, so instead of navigating our way down incredibly narrow passages between the shops selling young men’s fashion, and ... read more

Im Hotel wurde mir versichert, dass die bei Auto Ryad = BMW Motorrad erst um 10.00 anfangen würden. Aber sie wären schon um 8.00 dagewesen. Ich also etwas später, es waren auch 20 km zu fahren. Irgendwann geriet ich auf eine sechsspurige Prachtstraße, gesäumt von Straßenlampen in marokkanischem Barock und vielen Polizisten. Diese machten gerade die Straße frei für irgendwas Wichtiges. Vielleicht wurde der Pudel des Premierministers zum Gassi gehen gefahren. Bei BMW spricht kein Mensch Englisch aber wir einigten uns schnell, dass Paul ans Diagnostik Gerät muss. Jetzt warte ich. Ich soll in SECHS Stunden wiederkommen..... Vielleicht müssen sie das Diagnostik Gerät erst erfinden???? Fertig waren sie allerdings erst um 18.30, da bekam ich zuerst die Rechnung und dann das Ergebnis. 25.- €, alles in Ordnung. Vielleicht soll ich an dieser Stelle gleich einfügen, dass ... read more

So the Drive down to M'hmid was short, but an ok road with a small mountain pass and the edge of the desert to look at. We arrived at the campsite way to early, so the guy showed us around and then showed us one of the air conditioned rooms, so we choose one instead of camping. Lunch was really nice and after the owner discussed what extras we were interested in doing. It was at this point he told us the dunes were still another 40km's away, so I wouldn't get to cycle them with the fat bike! The next day, we realised that the sand was just behind the place, all of a mile down the road, and that the dunes he claimed were 40 km away were the big dunes that you have ... read more

Noc bola nahovno, furt som sa budil. O 6/00 ma definitivne zobudila blizka mesita, odkial zvolavali ludi na modlenie. 7/30 ma CS naklada do auta a vyhadzuje ma na elektrickovej zastavke Madinat Al Irfane. Cestou k zastavke uviazneme v mini kolone. Oznacene su tu 2 pruhy a jazdi sa v troch. Obcas niekto zatrubi ale pohoda. CS je dnes az do noci v skole. Na papier mi pise arabsky info pre petit taxikara,upozornuje ma aby mi zapol taxameter,max cena 20D. Podla CS su petit taxi poctivci narozdiel od grand taxi, ktory su hajzlici a snazia sa ludi natiahnut. V budke si kupujem hned 2 listky na elektricku. Dnesny plan mi spravila CS. Vystupujem pri zel.stanici a smer blizka medina. Je skoro rano,tak nikde nikoho, obchodiky zavrete. tak ju opustam smer kasbah of the udayas. Pri opustani ... read more