Blogs from Morocco, Africa - page 11

Morocco is obviously known more for desert than the mountains. However no matter where you stay in the city, any vantage point will reveal a view of snow covered peaks. Yes, snow. It was pleasantly warm in the city - certainly warm enough to entice the tourists to don their bikinis. A mere 2 hours away in the mountains, others were skiing. Winter sports hadn't been something I had associated with North Africa, but yes there is a ski resort up in the mountains. We Brits tend to like the underdog and possibly our most famous Winter Olympian was also the least successful. Success is measured in many ways. Eddie the Eagle might not have won gold, but he won the hearts of a nation. It is therefore worth considering then, just 2 hours away from ... read more

Day 15. 3rdFeb (Monday) Got up late for a 9am breakfast at our Premier Inn. Buffet style, but with fish omelet rather than boiled eggs. After shovelling that down, I packed my bags & left them in Mike’s room, then I checked out at reception and we walked to the Atlantic, taking the easiest zig-zag route which took us past a hotel with 3 tennis courts. This interested Mike considerably, but he could not find it on google maps… The beach was full of roped-off areas full of sun-loungers, with just a handful of very brown Europeans slithering about on them in their sun-cream. It was quite hot again, high 20’s at least, although there was a good breeze from the sea, we found a shady cafe and had some orange juice. On our way back ... read more

Day 14. 2ndFeb (Sunday) 8am start again. Breakfasted the usual. Packed our bags and left em in reception. Then went out into the oven of a Sunday in Taroudant. It was hot, hot, hot – low 30’s I think. We decided to do a bar crawl – Moroccan style. We started off from the one at our hotel (2 Café au laits), then to one near the Kasbah (Mint tea for me, it was hot there, even in the shade!), then to one near the Great Mosque (where we met Aziz again – nice guy, we wanted chips for the salt, but the cafe we sat in only did cakes. Aziz explained that they don’t care if we eat food from another place, so we bought our mint tea’s there whilst Michael nipped out for the ... read more

Day 13. 1stFeb (Saturday) Up at 8 again whilst still dark. Had a boiled egg, green & black olives, bread & butter, with coffee & orange juice. 2 birds come in the restaurant each morning, as at Ouarzazate, despite no open windows or doors. I did hear their dawn chorus coming from inside as I arose. Michael was wondering what happens to all the bird poo they must produce, and whether the cleaners hate them. Canny little birds, very like sparrows, they hop around the tables and carpets mainly, looking for crumbs. Around 9:30 we went for our morning constitutional, today heading for the Kasbah then onwards to the North, following the wall towards the North East corner. Here we went through a small doorway to the outside of the wall, sitting beside a fenced off ... read more

Day 11. 30thJan (Thursday) A rather quick blog as I want my bed! Got up 7:30, had breakfast with Mike. 2 birds came in, manager said they come every morning for breakfast! Mike went off to the Kasbah again, for guided tour this time in order to test his French. I dozed off for half hour then packed bags. Mike came back and we decided to check out and make our way slowly to bus station, stopping at corner tea room on the way. We both had milky drinks, me coffee, Mike chocolate. We refused the bottled water as were carrying enough to see us through. At bus station I weighed my bag in and we waited 10mins until allowed on bus. Nearer the back this time so better suspension. We set off on time 12:30 ... read more