Morocco 2012

Today I leave for Morocco with my two friends Zoe and Lynley for a 15 day tour. Below shows a map of our tour.

The trip over was great. I had a good sleep on the second leg and only watched a couple of movies. We arrived in London and bumped into Zoë whilst we were booking our luggage in to British Midland. We decided to celebrate this adventure with a glass of champagne. At about 9 in the morning we had our first drink.!!!!

 Our first night we went to the big square and had dinner. “ Chicken tajine with olives and lemons. It was delicious!

The picture below shows us sitting at the restaurant above the markets. We walked through the markets but were harassed by all the vendors wanting us to eat and their table. It was appealing, so we found a restaurant.

The next day after breakfast ( typical Moroccan breakfast consisting of a glass of orange juice, bread, butter and apricot jam followed by a coffee)  we headed to the souks  and we spent the day spending our money.

The souks went on and on. I can’t understand how they make their money with so much competition.  I am glad I didn’t take every durum I had and I probably would have spent it.  There was leather products, pottery, jewellery, spices, dried fruits etc. it just went on and on. The people are friendly but we noticed the men getting angry when we didn’t buy.

  We visited the Ben Youssef Madrassa. Founded in the 14^th century , this religious school was rebuilt in Andalusion style by the Saadians in the 16^th century.

Below is a picture within the walls.

                                             Lynley in the Souks

Day 1

At about 6pm we went down to the foyer to meet our guide and the rest of the people joining our trip.

Our guide is a Moroccan from the Atlas Mountain region and is just gorgeous. We have nine of us all up – all girls.!!! – Two Americans, one Canadian, one English and the rest of us are Australian. Of course we are the three elderly ladies and the rest of them are in there twenties.  They are great fun and we have all fitted in well.

That night we had a typical Moroccan feast consisting of soup, tajine and fruit.

                                                 Ibraham showing the Tajine

Day 2

We had a long drive to Casablanca to see the Hassan II Mosque.

This is one of the few mosque that non muslins are allowed in and is the third largest(Meca and Medina being the other two both in Saudi Arabia) holding 25000 people and took only 6 years to build. It was built from 1987 to 1993 and had 2500 workers and 10000 crafts men. It was truly magnificent.

We then drove a couple of hours to Rabat. Rabat is a very large town and being a Sunday it was filled with lots of people and plenty of cars. It was real mayhem.

After dinner we walked through the old part. The shop keepers were all closing up after their long day of trading. I have only seen as much rubbish once before and that was in Ghent after a night of the festival.

Day 3

We were escorted through the town of Rabat by a local guide. He was full of knowledge and was very passionate about his town.

We were shown the real Rabat and we all fell in love with it.

Morocco has their own King and he married a commoner and they have two children. He is much loved by his people. We were shown over the grounds of the palace.

                                      Roman Ruins – every country seem to have some

Rabat city

Lynley and I over looking the port of Rabat

We then drove to Meknes where I decided not to be a tourist but stayed in our room and had a few drinks.

Day 4

We left Meknes early to visit the Roman of Volubilis. These were very impressive Roman ruins. It is a listed UNESCO site and dates back to AD40. Below are a few of my favourite shots of Volubilis.

A Stork with his nest on a Roman column

Zoe looking at some very impressive Mosaic Flooring

The Tour Group

We then headed high up in the Rif mountains to Chefchaouen. What a fabulous place. Settle in between two mountain peaks is the village. It boasts beautiful blue door and white walled medina and was originally a Berber post. We went for a walk around on our own and took some lovely photos of the area.

Our First sighting of Chefchaouen                                      

Its all very Blue

Shopping!!!

The Wash House

It is still quite primitive in the mountains. They go to these wash houses to do their washing. There is a natural spring that flows all year.

We went for a walk around the village and this is our descent.

Day 5

We had a lazy morning whilst the young ones went for a hike in the mountains.

After lunch we drove to Fez. It was a long drive and we were all a little bus sick due to the windy roads.

They climbed passed the Mosque you can see high in the hills.

                                                                       A market day

Our leader Ibraham

We finally arrived in Fez and visited the large super market where we all bought a baget and cheeses and ate dinner in our room washed down with a glass of red wine.

Day 6

 We were picked up at 9 am by the local guide and spent until 6pm seeing Fez. We were all exhausted and once again ate in our rooms.

I will describe our day just by introducing the pictures.

                                      

A Jewish Cemetery

                          
                                          Zoe and I overlooking Fez

Fez is famous for their Pottery
I couldn't helps myself - more coffee mugs

The butchers shops were great

Plenty of dates

                                         Plenty of Olives on sale in the Souks

Lynley purchased a hand made rug

We visited the tannery - it was quite smelly so they gave us a sprig of mint to smell while we were visiting.

Some of the finished products

The donkeys were racing through the small alley ways. The owners were shouting "Attention attention" in other words get out of the way.

Israham bought some camel in the souks and they made mince patties for us for lunch.
I am afraid i couldn't make myself try!!!

Day 7

We travelled over the Moyen Atlas mountains to a town called Midelt.

The highlight of the day was lunch. We stopped in a town that had heaps of butchers shops attached to cafes that cooked the lamb chops you bought. They were very delicious.   Below are some photos showing our experience

The butcher cutting our meat for lunch

Our meat cooking!!!

                                     They display the meat head and all!!!

Day 8

This day was the highlight of the trip!!! – a camel trek in the Sahara Desert to a Berber camp. We stayed over one night and experienced a Nomad existence. 

We arrived at the base camp with a sand storm so we had to get Israham to put on our head gear ready for our ride over the sand dunes to the Berber camp.

Preparing the head gear for the sand storm

  Ready for my camel ride

Us trekking through the sand dunes to our camp

                                     Our tents in the back ground - It did get very cold.

                            In the Berber tent waiting for dinner

                                we watched the sun go down

We woke next morning at 5 pm and the skies were clear and we rode back to the base camp for breakfast. It was truly a fabulous experience.

                            Our camels waiting for us the next morning

Zoe and I on our camels at 5 in the morning

                                       Breakfast in the Desert


Day 9

After breakfast we went onto Todra Gorge. This 1000foot gorge is hemmed in on all sides by vertical limestone cliffs and is also called Morocco’s Grand Canyon.

We went for a walk and ended up  at a house that sold rugs and we had a mint tea demonstration. I have enjoyed the mint tea very much.

                                  Our Mint Tea demostration

                                                Todra Gorge

Day 10

A long day of travelling through the Atlas mountains and into a town called Ait Benhaddou.

Below are a few photos showing the different landscape that we see as we are travelling through the mountains.

.

Market we stopped at - pile of red onions

Day 11 and 12

Another long day of travelling through the Atlas Mountains to the Atlantic sea at a town called Essaouira. This is a colourful old city and fishing village.  We are here for two days. Rest at last!!!

Atlantic Ocean

                                  Sardines on sale

The Fleet

We did spend a little time looking at the sardines coming on the fishing boats. Zoe and Lynley had sardines from lunch. Sardines are exported from Morocco.

We spent the day shopping until we drop!!!

He dressed me up as a Berber women, gave the three of us Mint tea and then tried very hard to sell us heaps. It didn't work!!!

Our final meal together

Day 13 and 14

We travel back to Marrakech for more shopping in the souks.

I have really enjoyed this and would highly recommend On the Go Tours.  The hotels were of a great standard and the places we were taken to shows lots of thought. We were looked after by Israham really well. We enjoyed lots of laugh and plenty of jokes.