September 17th
Overnight in Aroumd then Mohamed picks us up, takes us to Imlil, where Abdu drives us for the next three days.
Takes us for breakfast somewhere on the plains east of Marrakesh, then we head further east through the Atlas mountains towards Ait ben Haddou. We stop at a few places for coffee and to take pictures of the spectacular views. At the first stop, we meet Abdu’s cousin who is driving two other young couples, Sasha and Muna from Switzerland and Fin and Eloise from England on the same route. We will get to know them as we make all the same stops all the way to the Dades Valley and beyond to the Merzouga dunes on the edge of the Sahara.
The countryside is amazing, tho stark in some places where it is very dry. Stoney plain often, then lush valleys full of orchard where there is water. First major stop is the very touristy Ait Ben Haddou which means fortress of the sons of Haddou. Fin told me about and I ordered the book “Lords of the Atlas” which describes the history here. It has been a major film location for dozens of movies from “The Man who Would be King” to “Game of Thrones”. Atlas Studios is a major studio theatre about 40 km from here. Today Ben Haddou is thronged with tourists. It’s pretty interesting and we’re fairly glad to have a guide but it’s a serious tourist trap.
Guess the real reality check was when the guide and I were standing waiting for the other 5 and he turns to me and asks if they are my children. Uh, no. Could be though, they are the same age as mine. Forget my age sometimes.
Next stop is Atlas Studios just down the road but it’s raining and thankfully none of us are particularly interested in Hollywood Maroc. This in Ouarzazate, also called the gateway to the Sahara. We stop for some groceries, because everything is expensive in the Sahara apparently but we probably buy more than we need.
Keep on going roughly east towards the Dades valley.
The Dades gorge is truly spectacular, we stop a few times for pics. Abdu takes us to the top of the canyon for some spectacular shots before returning us to our quaint hotel at the bottom. The trip to the top is scary in a car even though the road is good. Big busses can’t make it up these switchbacks because they’re too tight.
One of the highlights of this valley are the “Monkey Fingers” rock formations. Truly bizarre and the pics below don’t do them justice. Would be great to come back and do some exploring in this valley.
Dinner at the hotel is one of the best we’ve had – for once not too much food and no tangine! (Getting a bit tired of it.) We’re still sore from our Mt. Toubkhal trek and so hit the hay pretty early. I am up in the night a few times and check out the spectacular stars.
September 18th
Next day is another long drive towards the dunes of Merzouga. First stop three times, once at another beautiful gorge. Very touristy too. Professional hitmen at the top trying to sell you stuff or take donations for having your picture taken with Berbers. They’re nice enough tho. Some rock climbers on the steep canyon walls and there are outfitters that will take you up.
Our illustrious guide has arranged a “special” carpet display for us down a back alley. The head salesman is a pro sheister but funny enough and we trust them enough to buy a carpet. Christy wanted one anyway.
Other two stops are for lunch and once to buy scarves. Both times I’m pretty sure Abdu is getting some kickbacks for stopping at specific places. The lunch stop is in a pretty large town but this restaurant is packed with tourists from large busses. I’m guessing we stop there because the food is safe and because the proprietors give something to every driver that brings in guests. Fair enough. As usual, the service is pretty good, the food is brought quickly and the prices are reasonable.
Both Christy and I are nodding off occasionally in the car because of the heat and the sameness of the landscape here. Flat and stoney, until you come upon a gorge with dramatic sides and lush bottom. We stop in a pretty arid town to buy wrap-around scarves. Abdu has been telling us not to buy them at other spots because they are too expensive but they are necessary as the Sahara is windy. At this joint they are expensive and cheeeeeaaaaap – unravelling as we put them on. Muna is not impressed and returns at least one that is frayed badly from the get-go. I have my doubts about the necessity of the scarves and certainly about the quality here. I’m 99% sure we’re here because of the deal Abdu has with the owners. I don’t know if we just happened to have calm conditions in the desert in a few hours but they certainly weren’t a necessity.
Made for some nice pics tho.
We’re headed for the Merzouga dunes now but before we get there Abdu stops at this very lonely outpost. Not much going on there, he says it’s closed but we get out and take a look around. The sign says Khettaras Oasis and there are rows going off into the distance of these open mine things, look a bit like small craters from a distance. Back in the car I google it and turns out Khettaras is a fascinating way to get water from the mountains into these arid areas by digging underground waterways. Check it out here.
Another hour or so puts us at the drop off point for our camel ride across the Merzouga dunes to the edge of the Sahara. Abdu was talking about a hotel drop off and a swim (!) but instead we are rushed out as the camels are ready. They will take our gear in a truck to the tent city near the Algerian border.
Camel riding is slow and uncomfortable, but an experience nonetheless. How else would you know if a camel ride was slow and uncomfortable?
We ride for about 90 minutes including a stop for some pics atop a reasonably high dune. All glad to dismount, we retire to our pretty luxurious “tents” complete with tiled floors and bathrooms. The only thing missing are power outlets for our tired electronics and fans. The rooms are very hot, even an open window doesn’t help much.
Buffet style dinner, then music and dancing. The music is 5 locals banging on various percussion instruments, mostly drums but some metal spoon-type things. It’s surprising rhythmic and they cajole us to dance so we shuffle barefoot in the sand around the fire pit. No fire necessary, it’s still over 30 degrees at night. We retire to bed, fall asleep but I get up in the night and sleep outside on a bench until things cool off a bit. Stars are spectacular.
September 19th
Up in the early morning to catch the sunrise, walk across some dunes. Pretty pretty.
The guides are pissed at Fin and Eloise who have decided to try “sand boarding” which delays our departure. No skin off our noses tho. All 6 of us have elected to forego the return camel ride in favour of a pickup truck. Christy and Muna in the cab, the rest of us in the back.
It’s about 10 minutes back to the village where Abdu and the other guide are waiting. We say our goodbyes and head in generally different directions – we towards Fes, them back to Marrakesh.
The ride back is long and fairly uneventful, save for spectacular views above the Ziz valley, a great pizza lunch at some mid-trip town and a stop at the “monkey” forest in the snow district close to Fes. Here the local thieves hand you a bunch of peanuts to feed the monkeys. I see through this immediately and give the guy back his peanuts but Christy has fallen for it. Have to give him something so I hand him 10 dirhams (about $1.50, a lot) and he asks for 100. I say “for 10 peanuts!! No way!” “Give me 50”. “No way, here’s 20”. “Give me more”. I walk away to “give me more” while around me I hear some of the other tourists saying the same thing to the other crooks.
Another hour or so gets us to our drop off point near Riad Norma, just inside the eastern gate of the Fes medina. We extract our bags and give a warm goodbye to Abdu who still has a 10 hour drive back to Imlil! We tell him to drive safely and give him a nice tip. He seems very appreciative and over the next day or two sends pics and thoughtful messages over WhatsApp.
Riad Norma is awesome, another Christy “you’ve outdone yourself again”. We have the honeymoon suite, 12 foot ceilings, huge room, big bathroom, sitting room and even two walk-in closets. We take tea and have a quick splash in the riad pool then head out for dinner. Don’t get far before it starts pouring, luckily, Eunice (sp? our male host) gave us a restaurant recommendation which is just down the alley. We go up to the roof top terrace and by the time we finish the rain has stopped.
September 19th-21st
The next couple of days are pretty uneventful – the usual getting lost in the medina, strolling around. Breakfast is awesome here.
I think the coffee may be affecting me – I have had a phlegmy cough since Canada and it seems to be getting worse. Gonna try a few days with just tea.
On the whole Fes is nice but after you’ve seen four medinas, you’ve seen them all as far as I’m concerned. There’s rarely anything new or unusual or Fes-specific. If we came back to Morocco I would focus on the geography and history, not the medinas.
It’s Sunday night as I write this and we’re heading out for dinner soon. Tomorrow we go to Chefchaouen – the Blue City which is on the way back to Tangier, where we will catch a ferry on Tuesday back to Marbella.
September 22nd
Not really a problem to find a cab to get us to the bus depot, then onto the bus for the fairly long ride to Chefchaouen. Cab to the medina, where google maps helps us find our hotel.
We check in to our pretty average spot, then go medina walking, Christy is looking for another carpet. After going into several shops (and buying one blanket) we meet a local guy who is somehow trustworthy, you can tell he’s affluent and not seedy at all. He takes us to the guy who has the carpets. Turns out he’s also building a house and he gives us a tour. Fascinating the construction techniques and the detail, all done by hand. Both he and the “agent” are super nice and seem very genuine, we are trading stories about golf and soccer while we tour his house, then his carpet warehouse. Doesn’t seem concerned at all whether we buy or not, but Christy does buy another nice one.
Then the agent takes us to his favourite dinner place, it’s pretty good, but he doesn’t join us. Later we see him escort in two other tourists so we’re pretty sure it’s either his restaurant or his brother’s or somehow he’s getting a kickback. Still, we don’t mind.
Find our way back to the hotel, we pack up as we have to depart early.
I liked Chefchaoeun, good kick off point for the low Atlas mountains around.
September 23rd.
We’re up very early to catch a small cab, to take us to a large cab to take us to Tangier, where we will catch the ferry across to Tenerife. Then the bus to Marbella, then a taxi to Juergen and Alyson’s.
That whole journey while very long is pretty uneventful other than the excruciatingly painful Muslim religious music our large cab driver plays for 2 1/2 hours. It’s just moaning. But he’s singing along.
Got a bit of a layover in Tenerife so we walk the beach a bit as it’s on the way to the bus station. Looks like a really nice beach and kind of a cool town.
Much confusion at the bus stop, but ours eventually arrives and off we go.
Quite glad to get to Juergen and Alyson’s, they make us a lovely bbq and we are pretty early to bed.