Morocco: Marrakech

With Fes still being relatively new to the tourist scene, it felt as though Marrakech welcomed us with open arms. There were tourists everywhere, which was often a rare sight in Fes. The main square, Jemaa el-Fnaa while famous in its own right is a gateway to the Medina.  

The Koutoubia Mosque visible from the Jemaa el-Fnaa

Crossing the road to get to the Jemaa el-Fnaa was chaos. You have to just start walking into the traffic and let the cars, buses and motorcycles negotiate a path around you. Thankfully many people were doing the same, so we'd usually just join the people bus and edge our way across the oncoming traffic.

Drinking coffee and watching the antics of local street performers in the Jemaa el-Fnaa

The square gets busy in the afternoon as make-shift restaurants set up a maze of marquis and fight for customers - as do many of the street performers including snake charmers, acrobats, magicians, mystics, musicians, monkey trainers, herb sellers, story-tellers, and entertainers in medieval dress.

These restaurants set up in the afternoon and are gone by morning.

Many of these restaurants sell pretty much the same thing (admitted by the guy haggling us, 'come on, they're all the same anyway.'), so rather than being picky we just went to the first place that looked decent. It's customary to be given a starter you didn't ask for too. We didn't mind, the food was cheap, and the starter was pretty good. We ordered a Tajine and cous-cous while cats weaved in and out from the surrounding tables trying their luck for a morsel of food.

A more local market place just inside the Medina. There were loads of baby turtles (or tortoises) for sale - I hope they don't eat them.  

The Medina in Marrakech is by no means as overwhelming as the Fes Medina. It's easier to navigate, flatter and doesn't compete in size against Fes's 9000 streets. You can enter shops without being hassled, some places even had prices! We regained some confidence after a disheartening experience of negotiating in Fes and gave it another go in Marrakech. We were successful - and we weren't led down any dingy alley ways to a cousin's uncle's bigger shop. 

How do they do this? Maybe we should have asked for a scoop of paprika just to mess with their display.

Dumping ground in the heart of the Medina.

All this rubbish was being dumped in the heart of the Medina. There were shops just opposite and next to the dump heap. The cats had made it their home.

You could buy everything from well made leather goods to tacky cheap souvenirs.

Marrakech was a great ending to an unforgettable trip to Morocco. From the crowded Medinas to the open desert there is something for everyone.

- Kate

Morocco: Desert

We arrived in Merzouga just as the sun was setting. It was a long day of driving. The small village is home to our guides, Mohammad and Yousef. 

We were surprised to find the hotel was more of a clay palace. It was our most comfortable stay yet, with the biggest bed we've ever slept in, a swimming pool and a roof terrace to star gaze. We met Mohammad and enjoyed some mint tea, or as Mohammad liked to call it, Berber whiskey. 

We met with Mohammad and Yousef the next morning and went four-wheel driving through the dunes of the desert. We stopped to see exposed fossils from when the desert ground used to be an ocean floor. It was incredible. Many people in Morocco make a living by digging up the fossil rocks and polishing them to make all kinds of furniture pieces or even just small souvenirs to sell.

We continued on through the dunes and it was actually a little scary. Although many of the dunes aren't that high, they are steep. As the car descends down a dune it feels as though it's going to fall forward and end up resting precariously on the nose of the car before tipping over. Thankfully that didn't happen. Instead, and in an attempt to climb a steep dune on soft sand the car rolled back and ended up in a ditch - we stayed here for the next four hours.

It was at least two hours before anyone came to help. We tried to dig away sand from the tyres and use rocks to stop the tyres from spinning. It didn’t work, and the car became more and more buried on its right side. Mohammad disappeared into the distance and miraculously returned with a shovel. Secrets of the Sahara.



With no agenda, we took the time to harass some scarab beetles and take a few photos of the area.

The Scarab Beetle. They leave pretty little beetle shoe marks in the sand. You can see the pattern across many of the dunes.

It was almost impossible to shelter from the sun.

We were actually very close to the Algerian border. You can see it just off in the distance. The divide was a huge rock/mountain with a perfectly flat top for hundreds of kilometres and is called the Hamada, meaning no water (in Berber).

Yousef calling for help.

Thank goodness they have mobile phone reception in the desert. The guy that came to our rescue (in a pink cowboy hat) seemed like a bit of a pro. He was a guide for another couple, and our situation became a bit of a tourist attraction for them. The couple even asked to take a photo of us (probably to write about on their blog). We were eventually rescued (before being getting stuck again and then eventually rescued once more)

Lunch was finally happening! A Berber style pizza and grilled chicken with spices cooked on coals. Very yummy. We were in the middle of nowhere. 

First he rolls out the dough before filling the centre with vegetables, egg and meat. Then he carefully folds the dough around the ingredients before heating the stones on the ground with kindling and placing the pizza onto the stones. 

Next he places a tin over the pizza to trap the heat and cook the pizza.

Finally he places kindling over the tin and creates a fire that soon enough burns out and the pizza is ready! 

Mohammad in charge of the chicken.

The biggest herd of goats you've ever seen was headed in our direction. Mohammed stopped mid-conversation and ran wildly towards the army of goats to chase them off into the desert. It was hilarious - he ran so fast (and wildly), and so far. 

We chilled out in the shadiest part of the desert. Set up with rugs and little tables our host had tea and coca-cola at the ready.

We quickly stopped off at another local village to see some local Gnawa music and dancing. We also were encouraged to dance which was kind of fun, but mostly awkward because the whole performance was just for Joe and I. We bought a CD of their greatest hits (mostly a donation)!

Yousef being all gangsta

 After a huge day in the desert we went back to the hotel to wait for our camels to take us back into the desert. We didn't wait long. One of the camels was lovely and calm. My camel. Joe’s camel was yelling and throwing his head about. He wasn't happy. As we got moving, Joe’s camel remained very vocal. He was making lots of gurgling and burping noises as well as continuing to whine occasionally. Camel riding is rather uncomfortable. After about 10 minutes the novelty wears off and you’re ready to walk.

It was however about an hour on the camels before we reached the camp. As he ordered the camels to sit, Joe’s camel became rather emotional again. Poor thing. 

We went into the living quarters and it was pretty good. We had a mattress to sleep on and loads of blankets. We headed into the main tent to just relax (rest our bruised bottoms) and wait for dinner.

Desert Cats! 

I was naughty and fed all of the kitties! In the desert there are mice and cats – that was pretty unexpected.

Later Mohammad came to join us. He sang for us and played the drums. Hassan (who walked us through the desert), joined in and played another local instrument that I would describe as tin hand clappers (actually called castanets). Mohammad taught us a few different rhythms on each of the drums while he sang. We got to bed at about ten that night for an early start the next day.

Luxury tent bedroom.

Hassan woke us up before sun rise so we could climb the dune to watch the sunrise. It was really steep and hard to climb and we were stuffed by the time we got to the top.

It was well worth it though. Joe made it up first. I hesitated to reach the highest point as the climb became steeper and steeper but got there in the end. You can see how high we are by spotting the camps below. You can't walk up once it becomes too steep. You have to crawl as the sand slides beneath you. 

  

I very ungraciously slid down on my bottom for fear of falling to my death before regaining some confidence on the less steep decline. 

Overall this was an incredible experience, and one we won't soon forget.

  

Our tent down there

- Kate

Morocco: Road Trip

After breakfast in Fes we met our driver/guide Yousef who would be taking us on our trip to the desert. Day 1 was the 450km leg from Fes to Merzouga which is close to the Algerian border. Due to winding and dodgy roads this would take about 8 hours including a few short stops for food and photos. The route would take us first through the green pastures near Fes, over the Middle Atlas Mountains, then over the High Atlas Mountains and into the Sahara Desert.

A few hours in we reached Ifran in the Middle Atlas which was built to look like an alpine village and there was a fair bit of snow around too.

We stopped for lunch in the Desert near Midelt at the foot of the High Atlas. It was bizarre to go from snow to desert within about half an hour.

Then we crossed the High Atlas range and followed the Ziz Valley through to Errachidia. The landscape was really amazing through the valley with deep gorges, old Kasbahs, and rocky moon-like plains.

Things then opened out to the flat plain of the Sahara with the occasional town clinging to an oasis.

We reached our destination of Merzouga where we would stay for a few days to head into the dunes and stay with the Berbers (see upcoming separate blog post). After this we continued another 400km to Ouarzazate via Todra Gorge, the Dades Valley and the Road of 1000 Kasbahs.

After a night in Ouarzazate we were supposed to cross back over the High Atlas to Marrakech, however there was heavy snow which closed the pass so we had to go east almost to Agadir to go around the mountains. This turned our 2.5 hour trip into a 7 hour marathon. Yousef announced that he would have to "drive like a Moroccan" to get to Marrakech before dark. This involved lots more beeping and less tolerance for cyclists and pedestrians (which was already pretty low). The concepts of driving within lanes and queuing at lights hasn't taken off yet in Marrakech so whoever has the bigger vehicle has right of way.

Ouarzazate is known as "the Hollywood of Morocco" (I suspect only by people from Ouarzazate) so we went to check out one of the movie studios which had all sorts of sets and props from movies shot there. Apparently they filmed parts of Gladiator, The Mummy, Lawrence of Arabia etc here.

Not really Egypt... Everything is plywood, plaster, and polystyrene.

Not a real car...

Our final stop was at Ait Benhaddou which is an ancient fortified town full of old Kasbahs, mud brick houses, and cheap tacky souvenirs. 

We then pushed on to Marrakech through more desert, Argan tree forests, and dusty plains. Here is a map of our road trip from Fes to Marrakech via Merzouga.

- Joe