All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveller is unaware - Martin Buber I woke up a few times in the night and admired the fog shrouded moon out the window. We left the curtains open to try to get as much cool night air in as possible. The fog really rolls in in the evening, and the temperature drops markedly. Except in our room which stays quite warm. I was hoping to sleep in and have a leisurely morning, but about 7:30 Susan said she thought she better go to the doctor. So I hopped out of bed, threw some clothes on, and sent a message to Abdul. While I was waiting I thought I better grab some breakfast, so I had a pancake and yogurt. I brought Susan a couple of small containers ... read more

People don’t take trips - trips take people- John Steinbeck We’ve had a wonderful second day in Marrakech. We had a nice breakfast served upstairs on the roof terrace of our riad: freshly squeezed orange juice and good coffee; followed by a platter of crepes (French crepes I had with honey), Moroccan crepes (I had with apricot jam), and bread and cake; lovely homemade yogurt; fried eggs, and watermelon. Ready for the day, we met our local guide Abdul 2 for a tour of the local monuments. Today was a free day and I wanted to see the two palaces and the Saadian tombs, so Susan and I arranged a tour with Abdul 2, and we were joined by Nicole and Matt, Linda and Annie, John and Barb, and Wendy (Greg wasn‘t feeling well). We met ... read more

I am sitting by the pool at our lovely hotel Chez Momo, outside the small town of Ouirgane. I’m enjoying a Flag Speciale beer, as I start the blog, after a one hour walk through the nearby Berber village. Susan enjoyed her beer while I was on the walk. Today was a long travel day driving over the High Atlas Mountains, through the highest pass in Morocco called the Tizi n’Tichka (elevation 2260 metres). The day started out well, as we enjoyed a hot shower and breakfast at the Riad Maktoub. I started out with hard cooked egg, bread, laughing cow cheese, olives, delicious freshly squeezed orange juice, and nice strong coffee. Then they brought out pancakes - I was getting full but had 1/2 pancake with honey, yumm. Then they brought out another pastry type ... read more

Travel is glamorous only in retrospect – Paul Theroux We got up about 6:30 this morning, to be ready for breakfast at 7:30, so we could leave at 8. I got my clothes out, put the shampoo etc in the shower in preparation for the shower I was very much looking forward to having, turned on the tap … nothing. Umm, isn’t there supposed to be water coming out? It started trickling out, then gave up entirely. The tap in the sink also gave up so we were completely waterless. I had a quick rinse at the Sahara camp, but that was it so I really wanted a shower this morning. Susan called Abdul to tell him about the lack of water, and we checked to see if nearby empty rooms had water. No luck. One ... read more

Greetings from Midelt, Morocco, as I enjoy a gin and tonic and paprika flavoured potato chips. We have a couple of hours to rest in our room here at the Hotel Taddart before dinner at 8 pm. We had another leisurely breakfast this morning at our riad, and left about 9 am for our drive to Midelt, with various stops along the way. Our first stop was in Ifrane, a small town located in the Middle Atlas mountains. It was built by the French in the 1930s, deliberately to look like an alpine resort. The town, at an elevation of 1,664 metres, gets lots of snow in the winter and is a skiing area. It was markedly cooler in Ifrane, compared to Meknes, due to the elevation. We had a coffee, and a WC break, and ... read more