Week 2, Morocco: Fez, Marrakesh and Essaouira

November 1st:

Rose at 6, packed the sleeping gear, helped out for breakfast. Sunset was stunning:

After breakfast continued our way to Gorges Valley... another scenic trip:

At 1 pm we arrived and checked in at the hotel in Tachoud:

Took a walk with Marc (UK) to the valley:

This idiot climbed all the way up, without any kind of fall protection

Trying to look tough ;-)

Returned to the Hotel, took a shower, and tried to update the blog, but ... no internet, so... i guess you'll have to wait a bit more.

We all had diner together and i even played some guitar (horrible guitar, so it wasn't that good)

Slept horrible because some french had a party going on next to our room, at the terrace. I could have killed them (always the french ... isn't it Ben (little inside joke)).

November 2nd:

Woke up (better: stood up) at 7, nice breakfast at the hotel, and on our way to Marakesh (where we are supposed to arrive in 2 days). Stopped on the way to do the shopping for my cook group. Took an hour (and managed to score a bottle of wine as well).

On the road again with ... guess what ... stunning scenery:

Tom (Ireland) sat next to me that day

Next stop was in <name?> to watch the typical Moroccan clay stone houses. Merchandise to be sold too of course.

Then on our way for bush camp, which we found after an hour or so. I was part of the cook group, so... setup kitchen and (tried to) cook a decent meal. The potatoes took forever, so we finally decided to fry them. The group had to wait until 8 pm before they got their food. Sorry guys.

Broke down kitchen and slept like a log again.

November 3rd:

Rose at 5.45 (woken up by dog barking), to setup kitchen and make breakfast. 

Then back on the road. The scenery gets prettier and prettier:

Now the last 2 hours before we reach Marrakesh.

Let me tell you a little about the group... We are: British, Irish, American, Dutch, Canadian, German, Chinese, Vietnamese  and Aussie.

The group is good! Everybody is really helping out when needed. Most of us are born in the late 50-ies/early 60-ies, so we basically are a bunch of old hippies. We play music on the truck like CSN, Boston, Doobies and so on (Music made by people who play an instrument (yes, i'm old fashioned when it comes to that)).

Anyway it's a good group and i really like the trip so far very much. The travelling virus is coming back!! I may want to extend my trip (if possible).

We reached Marrakesh around noon. We were dropped of by Jordan (driver of the truck) and went to the center of town. First a nice lunch with Freddie and Tom, then see the 16th century palace:

 

I also went to the famous market, but was not really that impressed. The night version seems to be better, but i'm not sure if i will go there...

At 4.30 the truck picked us up again to go to the campsite for two nights.

No grass, but pebbles, but for the rest: nice place to relax, do some laundry, organize your stuff, etc.

Cook group did a great job ending up with drinking wine with the a couple of fellow travelers (bit hangover-ish the next day, but that was gone after breakfast and ... the good memories stay, so...)

Slept really well, as you can imagine.

November 4th:

Slept in till 7.30 or so... breakfasted (is that even a verb?), showered, shaved and brushed for at least half an hour (man, that felt good), and now ... found a nice place with (every now and then) good wifi, so... time to publish the first week of my blog... fingers crossed!

Devastating news: Terri's mom has serious health issues, so she is forced to leave the group and go home to Vancouver... I am so sorry to see her go. She was a great fellow traveler and a fine cook group member. Hope to see you again somehow Terri!!

I decided to stay at this campsite during the day, to sort out my stuff.

May go to the night market tonight ...

And to the night market we went, by cab ... it was soo nice...

And... the inevitable happened: i bought a guitar for on the road. It turned out that our driver, Jordan, also wanted a guitar on the truck and so... we bought one together. Really happy with that.

We came back at 10 pm. Last glass of wine and slept good again.

November, 5th:

Busy, busy day. We did sooo much. Here we go:

Rose early, breakfasted and broke up camp in the dark ...

Long drive along the edge of the Sahara...

Then visited a oil making company. Not the stuff for you car, but from all kind of herbs and seeds ...

And on we went, to a large Moroccan market, where we (Ben, Andy and I) also had lunch...

Nice omelet, wasn't it Ben?

Would you like some fruit with your flies sir?

And further on the truck... to a nice viewpoint, just outside of Essaouira ...

We reached Essaouira round 3.30pm, so time to see the harbour and a part of the old city...

After a very nice stroll up there we met at the place where the truck was supposed to pick us up, but ... we had some time to spend and so... a drink at a beach place ...
First time in years that i drank an Heineken ... 

Then to our campsite ... cook group made a nice meal, i played our guitar (it's pretty good actually) and closed the day over a glass of wine...

Slept good.

November, 6th:

Rose at 7.15, showered (hot, which is not that obvious), breakfasted, checked the news (wifi came back!) and at 10 went to the old part of town again by cab.

Nice strolls again:

Local Art

With Andy and Ben again

Idiot

It was on a blue Monday.
Guess what the color of my flipflops are ...

Garbage collecting by moped

Walked for about 6 kms to get some shopping done, then back to the seaside for a mint tea:

Then back to the campsite, where i am now, updatng my blog at the poolside.

Life is tough huh? ;-)

Tonight, fresh fish for diner. See how that turns out...

Laterz ...

Got my guitar and played at the poolside. Forgot to take a picture, or make a recording. Sorry.

Had diner at 6.30, which was really amazing. Fresh fish, directly from the harbor (BBQ-ed by Aussie Dave), combined with Lynn's spicy cury. Beyond delicious!

Made a little campfire but it got really cold, so by 9.30 everybody crawled in his sleeping bag.

Slept good.

November, 7th:

Rose at 6.30, showered, breakfasted, packed and on the road towards West Sahara. We will be bush camping for 4 days in a row, so... no wifi and all the alcohol must be drunk before we cross the border...

So, first do the shopping (for 4 days (took 2 hours)), checked the news in a local bar, and then on the road again.

And .... we finally saw the famous tree climbing goats ...

Had lunch in the dunes, along the Atlantic coast.

We hope to get as close as possible to Legzira. Tonight the first bush camp out of 4.

Continued the long drive and reached a good bush camp place round 6 pm.

Put up our tents, shared a bottle with Rasjree and Andy, had diner, chatted the evening away and slept like a log.

See you all next week (or a bit later, depending on the availability of wifi) ...