Morocco Trip November 2007
Many of the photographs on this page were taken by Linda and Rob who were both on the trip.
We left the Algarve at the end of October and set off for Tarifa, south of Cadiz in Spain. We just took the motorhome and left the car in Albufeira with Rob and Pauline who live on the site. Tarifa has a gorgeous hard sandy beach complete with cows and horses grazing on the moorland next to the beach. We had planned on wild camping but the area was unsuitable as it had rained a lot and become boggy. on the moorland next to the beach. We had planned on wild camping but the area was unsuitable as it had rained a lot and become boggy.
We enjoy independent travel and wouldn't normally go with a group as we like to make our decisions for ourselves and not have to be bound by an itinerary. However we weren't sure how our vehicle would perform on Moroccan roads and the tour offered a full mechanical back up should it be required.
High quality roads in Morocco
We all met up near Algeciras in Spain ready to take the ferry the following morning. We were pleased to discover that there were to be just 7 motorhomes on the trip. Once we got to north Africa we quickly realised that we needn't have worried about Moroccan roads or the capability of our motorhome at all, it was well up to the job. All the roads were of an extremely high standard, mostly tarmacked. Although we heeded the advice not to drive at night as anything travelling at less than 25km an hour doesn't require lights! We were also surprised to discover that there is practically 100% mobile phone coverage, including the desert.
We visited the ancient Roman ruins of Volubilis. They have been restored where funding has been available over the years. There were some very impressive mosaics and an olive oil press. Nowadays the presses in the villages are almost exactly the same but use donkey power rather than slaves. We spent the night wild camping and soon found ourselves sitting around a campfire, telling stories and bonding with our fellow travellers.
Volubilis
We travelled south via a town called Meknes. Early on our first morning we were woken by the call to prayer from the mosques. As we could make out at least 5 this should have been a terrible sound. Far from it! It sounded like a wonderful early morning symphony. Once we were organised after our 5am wake up we took a horse and cart to the very authentic souk which sold everything from meat and produce to designer clothes. Although there were parts of the animal for sale that you wouldn't generally see in the butcher's at home including freshly shaved cow's heads. Parts of the butcher's section were more reminiscent of an abattoir. It was all extremely clean and very well laid out.
We were given such a warm welcome by all the people we met. As we drove along children and adults enthusiastically waved and smiled from the roadside. Mike had to be careful driving the motor home as many people would run out on to the road to try and sell trinkets. As we drove along the motorway on the way home there were even people walking along the hard shoulder trying to sell things, or sitting on the crash barriers watching the vehicles go by.
One night we stayed at a cedar forest. There were some Barbary Apes that came to see us which the locals were feeding bread to. Mike had some monkey nuts and the huge dominant male picked up on this instantly. He chased Mike away who started throwing nuts out of the bag behind him shouting 'mind my nuts!' That evening we had the second of our camp fire evenings. Before we left on the trip we were convinced that this was not our scene however we had great fun telling jokes and sharing stories.
Monkey enjoys Mike's nuts
As we travelled south the scenery was constantly changing. We stayed at an oasis called Source Blue de Meski. This had been an R &R outpost for the French Foreign Legion in its day. The pool looked beautiful but I didn't go in as closer inspection revealed quite a lot of living things in the water. We had a tour around the village by a local resident and met his wife and daughter. We felt very privileged to see around people's homes and how they lived. The new king has ensured that electricity is available and most homes had a well in the garden and access to a satellite dish. But the women still did the washing in the river and weaved brightly coloured rugs in the home. That evening we had a meal in the restaurant with dancing afterwards. Music was provided by an excellent musician, whose name escapes me and some of the villagers. They were all very accomplished and it was all great fun.
We then continued south to the Sahara desert and stayed in front of the sand dunes outside an Auberge at Erg Chebbi. A few people went on an overnight camel trip. They all looked more comfortable on the way back-even Spiddy-Jacqui and Bill's dog.
Spiddy and Jacky getting used to camel riding
We chose not to take the camel trip but got up early to watch the very beautiful sunrise over the dunes. We were very amused to realise that some Ian, Elspeth, Linda and Tony-also on our trip were sitting further along our sand dune. We thought we were enjoying a moment of solitude and they thought they had taken their early morning camel ride well away from the Auberge.
After leaving Erg Chebbi we visited the Todra Gorge, the Atlas film studios and Aout Bennadou (I've spelt that wrong!) where many films have been shot. We enjoyed the main square in Marrakesh and got lost in the souk which seems to be what you are expected to do. Mike was pounced on by a snake charmer who very quickly entwined a snake around his shoulders, grabbed Rod's camera and started taking pictures.
We then travelled out to the coast and had a week at Essaouira. A very nice coastal town and fishing port. Whilst there we visited a Hammam which is a Moroccan bath house. I went with Elspeth who had been before as I wasn't brave enough to try it out on my own. I stripped down to my bikini bottoms and was allocated my own lady to 'look after me'. We entered a hot steamy room with women and girls washing themselves or each other. The room was very clean, tiled and completely bare apart from taps at intervals around the room. After being sloshed with bucketfuls of warm water I was covered in what looked like engine grease but is actually an argan oil cleansing and moisturising paste. After being left to marinade for a few minutes she returned and scrubbed my skin extremely firmly (brutally?) with an exfoliating mitt. She showed me with great pride an alarming amount of very black grime and skin that had come off me. Next was massage time and again I was thoroughly pummelled. Then she washed my hair and my body and I was left to relax as she went and fetched my towel. It was a shame that we couldn't communicate as she didn't speak French or English. I would have loved to tell her how much I had enjoyed the experience. My whole body glowed and my skin was so smooth and soft afterwards.
The quality of the food and eating out was excellent and inexpensive. We enjoyed snacks from the street stalls, traditional tajines, fillet steak and the famous Berber omelette. This was always different, usually with a delicious spicy tomato sauce and cheese. There was one truly awful interpretation which was a cold plain omelette served with bread and a cheese triangle on top. We were able to buy pretty much anything we needed. The large towns had full sized supermarkets such as the French chain Auchan. These sold everything including alcohol and even ham. The villages and towns all had a souk and we were able to buy fresh produce here. We acclimatised to it all quickly, however on the way back we stopped to buy some toilet roll at the Lidl in Tarifa. Half an hour later we left with a trolley stacked high with purchases. 'Wasn't that a good Lidl?' I pronounced, well I think any supermarket would have looked like Harrod's Food hall after a month in Morocco!
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