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Published: October 27th 2012
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Tinghir
Looking across the lush valley of the Todra river. Our tour of Morocco started in Casablanca. I really don’t know what Humphrey Bogart was thinking of when he immortalised this place – it really is very uninspiring (and that’s putting it politely).
Day one got off to a shaky start as the coach taking us to the train station crashed into a small car! Thankfully there wasn’t far to walk as were politely asked to leave the coach and make our own way to the station.
After a short train journey we arrived at the capital, Rabat. The highlight for us was a trip to the narrow, winding streets of the Kasbah, where the bottom half of the houses are painted light blue to keep away the mosquitoes. We have now decided to update our entire wardrobe, so whenever you see us we will be clothed all in blue!!
Just as interesting, but not so picturesque was the local market where, among other treats, the locals were buying meat carved from a cooked camel’s head.
After an overnight stop in Meknes (where the former Royal gardens have been turned into a golf course) we carried on to the Roman ruins of Volubilis. Before exploring we had
Royal Guard
Standing Guard outside the Mausoleum of Mohammed V a lovely picnic under the shade of the olive trees, with impressive views over the ancient site.
On our first night in Fes we decided to have dinner in the Kasbah. A good decision as it turned out, as the food was fantastic and we also had a comedy side show as a local eccentric got quite overexcited and began shouting & gesticulating at everyone. The local portly policeman then came along and kicked him up the bum to move him on. The man returned again so one of the shop owners resorted to chasing him around the square banging him on the head with a copper saucepan! We only needed a string of sausages and a crocodile and the full Punch ‘n’ Judy would have been in effect.
Day two in Fes was basically a glorified shopping expedition for the ladies, as we visited all the various artisans & craftsmen whilst wandering around the old Medina. The most memorable sight was at the old tanneries, where we were given fresh mint to place under our nose to mask the pungent smell of the freshly stripped hides. It was also fascinating to see bloodied goat’s heads & camel’s
heads up for sale in the crowded back streets of the souk.
Our long drive over the Atlas Mountains was not without incident as we drove through our first ever sand & dust storm – it was like driving through a combination of fog & thick smoke. Luckily we managed to escape unscathed; but not so lucky was the poor driver who we saw facing the wrong way in the middle of the highway with a shattered windscreen. On arrival at our dust covered hotel we were welcomed with another fierce sand storm that sent everyone scurrying inside. Why would anyone choose to live here?
We arrived at the edge of the Sahara to be met with an endless sea of rolling, golden sand dunes. During our brief stay here, the one lingering memory will be flies, flies & lots more flies. They were everywhere and one was constantly flapping both hands about to discourage them – mostly without success.
Whilst we were tucked up in bed at our sand blown hotel we were blissfully unaware of the drama happening all around us: some of our travel companions were spending a night in a Bedouin tent in
the desert. Unfortunately, a violent thunderstorm flooded the camp and the tents became waterlogged so everyone had to be evacuated by 4WD back to the hotel. In addition to this the lady next door to us had to abandon her room at 4:30am due to the rising floodwaters.
The heavy rain overnight was the worst since 2006 and consequently the route the next day was flooded and our coach broke down & got stranded in the floodwaters. Luckily there were many local lads on hand to help push our coach onto dry land. Although a comical sight, things could have turned out so much worse! We went up the road to a café for a mint tea whilst they worked on the engine.
Leaving the southern desert behind, we headed once again for the Atlas Mountains – our destination this time being the Todra Gorge. Following an energetic 5 hour trek through the dramatic ochre coloured cliffs, we had a gentle stroll back to our hotel through the lush palmeries that lined the banks of the nearby river. A marvellous way to spend the day!
With the festival of Eid approaching, people all over Morocco were buying
live sheep to be sacrificed. Therefore, we witnessed multitude of ways of how to transport a sheep. The most interesting & comical were: on the back of a motorbike; on a bicycle; in the luggage compartment of a coach; squeezed into the back of a minivan (in addition to the people); on a roof rack & wheeled along in a small trolley. If all else failed people picked them up and threw them over their shoulders.
We arrived at our final destination of Marrakech via Essaouira, a small windy seaside port. On the way we witnessed a group of goats climbing up into the Argan trees to eat the fruit, quite a bizarre sight.
After a quick afternoon’s tour of Marrakech we said goodbye to the group and very early the next morning started the long journey home to Thailand.
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rrruss
Russ Pearce
Tanneries
Who can ever forget that smell?!!! Great blog!