I have finally succumbed to Moroccan tummy – everyone has had a touch of it, and I thought I had escaped. I am laid low and close to the toilet. Luckily we have a few days in Marrakech to recover. I forgo the seaside trip to Essaouira and spend the day in bed. I do manage to attend our last evening festivities, but I don’t eat anything apart from an avocado juice (a fabulous local specialty.
Venus Adventurer Julie has planned the perfect end to our trek up the Atlas Mountains. After a shower and a change of clothes we are off to the Hammam Ziami – a boutique hammam especially for tourists by the look of it.
Driving back into Marrakech feels like visiting an old friend – its now familiar boisterousness and crazy traffic welcomes us home. The Hotel Gallia is fabulous – a beautiful comfortable Riad with 19 rooms off a central courtyard. It is literally a stone’s throw from the main square, but surprisingly quiet – and for me a nice wifi internet cafe around the corner. We have a night to get sorted before heading off to the Atlas mountains overnight with just a backpack and sleeping bag. Read more
We reluctantly leave the desert – and head for two days of sightseeing and more relaxing afternoons. This is well timed by our guide Julie of Venus Adventures, as we are getting tired, stomachs are being nursed along, and we have washing and personal things to attend to.
First stop Todra Gorge – where we stay in a hotel under these extraordinary cliffs. Read more
Into the Desert
The camel ride begins – it is late afternoon, we have packed a day pack with warm clothes, sleeping bags and gin and tonics. Adil has tied our turbans, Mohammed has the camels ready to go. It is time. We mount up one by one and with some extraordinary contortions and miracle we are up and off. Read more
Merzouga is our next stop – actually it is really the Sahara Desert, but there is no town there, so Merzouga is the best place to identify on a map. We are definitely out of the cities, it is dusty, hot, and the scenery is of two kinds – stony desert or date palm oasis.
Mostly the habitation is around the date palms, but a surprising number of people are living, or walking in what seems to be the middle of nowhere. Read more
Our guide Ahmet explains that most doorways are nothing special – you do not draw attention to yourself. But behind the occasional open door can be exquisitely tiled and enticing stairways.
He is leading us down another small pathway in the Medina when a doorway opens, words are exchanged and we are invited inside.
We have arrived in fabulous Fez where the ancient Medina is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site – the Medina is 1200 years old and the site of the oldest university in the world. Our guide is Ahmet who was brought up here and he deftly leads us through the maze of over 9,000 alleyways (no cars in here) to beautiful places and some where we can spend money…
Guide Julie of Venus Adventures has warned us the shopping is irresistable, I said maybe a carpet…
Najate used to be a guide at the Hassan II Mosque, but now guides independently. She is educated and articulate and keen to answer any question about Moroccan and Islam life. She warms up to us by telling us a story.
A woman has 6 children, and sadly her husband no longer calls her ‘honey’, but rather “mother of six”. She is unhappy about this and after a family gathering he once again says “mother of six – let us go”. She had had enough so she replied “Let us go father of four”.
This building is a marvel of modern design to achieve an age old purpose – sitting majestically on its own expanse of land on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. It was built to commemorate the former king’s 60th birthday in 1993, and is the 3rd largest Mosque in the world. It can hold 25,000 people inside and 80,000 in the open spaces around it.
