| | Exploring the inland
Again, we hire a car to see a bit more of Morocco. This time, Marjolein’s husband (she is a ‘Woman of the World’, “Wereldvrouwen”, who lives in Agadir) has helped us hiring the car.
1st day, 13-02-2017
Marjolein joins us on Monday, together with the lady lessor and we fix all the paperwork. The car is a white Dacia Logan and it will be nice to imagine what it will look after our trip! We take our leave from Marjolein: she will be going to the Netherlands for 2 weeks, in connection with her projects (later more about this). We take the lady of the car rental back home and in this way find out how the car works. The rest of the day, we use the car mainly for the heavy shopping and buying a Moroccan gas bottle in one of the poorer quarters of Agadir and we fill two jerrycans with diesel oil.
Saves a lot of lugging. Fred empties the large gas bottle into the smaller bottles. The diesel oil is siphoned from the jerrycans into the tank, we are taking them with us tomorrow. At night we make a last visit to Nick and Anne to say goodbye, they are leaving for Tenerife the next day.
2nd day, 14-02-2017
Tour: Agadir-Tiznit-National Parc Souss-Agadir (about 210 km)
Tiznet or Tiznit is a town in the southern Moroccan region of Sousse-Massa, about 100 km south of Agadir, in the western part of the Anti-Atlas Range. The city is also called “Silvertown”, because a lot of Jewish silver smiths settled here. The city has become known for craftsmanship jewellery and silverwork: jewels, daggers and sabres. The old inner-city of Tiznit is surrounded by a 5 km long ochre loam wall with six gates and strongholds. The main gate is the Bab Ait Djerrar. Behind that is the arcaded Place el Mechouar, the central square of the town, with a bus station, simple hotels, cafés and restaurants. Around the square there are large souks, with a maze of alleys. The souks of the armourers and jewel makers were famous for a long time in all of the country. On the right end of the square rises a large mosque with a minaret.
From Agadir, we drive the N1 to Tiznet, a well asphalted highway and so we can drive considerably fast. On our way we pass along the many outskirts of Agadir and again see the half-built flats, in poor state of preservation. The land here is relatively flat and bare. In the far distance you can see the high mountains. Every now and then you see Argan trees and rows of prickly shrubs, put there to stop the sheep from crossing. We see three-wheeled carts, the so called ‘Docker’ motors with a container, loaded with all kinds of cargo. A large flock of sheep with a shepherd walks along the road and tries to keep his sheep off the road. Quite different from Holland, this is!
Then we near the city of Tiznit and see the red walls of the medina from afar. We park the car on the central square and give the car-park attendant a few DH. Then we dive right into the souk, looking for the silver shops. At one I see a pair of beautiful silver earrings. The man asks 350 DH, which we find much too much. After some haggling I am the proud owner of a pair of silver earrings for only 180 DH. We also run into a teeny-weeny wool shop and again I can’t help myself and buy a few balls of crochet-yarn. You can never have enough of that!
This town is also aimed at tourists and we frequently hear “looky, looky, no buying”. By now I get sick of this and immediately get the urge not to buy anything at all anymore. We stroll through the streets a bit, only to look at each other and decide that we are by now finished with the souks!
We leave the town and drive along the N1 in the direction of the National Parc Souss-Massa. This area stretches over 40 km wide from Agadir along the coast to Tiznit. It is about 33.800 hectares and founded in 1991. In the park you find the reservations Rokein and Arruois en the extra protected areas. This land encloses seven traditional Berber-villages. It is known around the world for its ornithological species, like the famous bald-headed Ibis (only found here) and other kinds special birds. The flora varies according to the amount of water: from desert-like and rocky areas, with different vegetation of euphorbia and eucalyptus trees, palm trees along the river. The coast of the Park is very varied, endless sandy beaches, cliffs, caves… https://visitnationalparksoussmassa.jimdo.com/
We don’t have enough time for a promenade with a guide, but still want to get en impression of this nature reserve. You have to use your imagination differently, when thinking of “Protected Area”. It is not at all like in Europe. Here you can drive your car right through it. At the exit to Massa we leave the N1 and drive in the direction of Massa and then follow the “Route SidiR’bat”. An accessible 2-lane road, who has – surprise! – streetlamps (if it works…). We pass by dark-red houses with walls around it and a large herd of dromedaries, we can’t say we experience the famous nature reserve.
By now we are hungry and in “SidiR’bat” we see a sign that says “Auberge restaurant La Dune”. The road slowly changes from two to one lane, to eventually pass into a sandy road. Fred suddenly has his doubts about driving on, we simply have no SUV, but according to the GPS we are still on the right track. We see a donkey rolling about in the sand next to the road. We persist and finally end up at the Auberge, which also has some Berber-tents to sleep in. The restaurant is on top of a dune with sea view. It has a beautifully built blooming garden with a veranda, where we can have an idyllic lunch. Apparently it is also a good spot for surfing. We are the only lunch guests and are warmly welcomed. We order chicken tajine, which takes about 30 minutes to prepare, but waiting while sitting on this nice quiet spot is certainly no punishment! While we drink our fresh orange juice with lemon, we listen to the whistling birds. More guests are coming in, Germans on bike, with whom we have a little chat, while waiting. According to the owner of the restaurant, we only have to follow the road to get to the next village.
The dirt road – if you can still call it a road – looks more like a dune, through which we wrestle us, while rocking about in the car. Big holes and oncoming traffic can be avoided, luckily. We do have a nice view of the sea, though. After an hour of rocking, we enter a ‘normal’ road in the village of Douira and we continue our way in between ‘glasshouses’ (which are made of plastic instead of glass, like in Holland) to the N1. It is now another 50 km to Agadir. All in all a lovely ride. We fill the 2 jerrycans once more with diesel, at a gas station and then this day is done.
3rd day, 15-02-2017
Aouris - Paradise Valley - Immouzer Ida Ou Tanane –Tiqqi - Bigoudine -Barage Abdelmoumen - Wintimdouine – Amskroud – Azararag – Agadir (about 210 km)
We hit the road early and take the highway N1 along the coast, until the roundabout, then the 1st exit to the P1001. The hilly landscape in the beginning is a little barren with Argan trees, where it immediately squirms with goats. Stalls on the roadside selling Argan oil, fossils and ceramics. We have our doubts about the antiquity of the fossils…. We pass by a man on a little donkey, who is very busy on his cell phone. Because, you know, everybody has a cell phone in Morocco! The mountains in the distance become greener, but along the road it gets rockier. The road winds through a valley along the river with an oasis, with large palm trees. We are on the road to the well-known “Paradise Valley”.
The road has become more of a one lane road, with big holes in the asphalt. It gets very narrow and large parts of asphalt have simply crumbled. At one moment I get out of the car to find out if we can get on, without tumbling into the river. On top of that, there is oncoming traffic, Fred even has to reverse. This however is hopeful, because it means the road beyond can be driven upon. Then the road changes to sand and rocky parts and more oncoming traffic, we really have to watch it! On the rocks we see signs appearing with ‘auberge’, ‘restaurant’ and such. We are getting near! The road goes back to ‘normal’ and winds itself along the river. It is really beautiful here! After a while we see a yellow sign on the other side of the river “Café Vallée du Paradis”, with a shelter made of branches next to a clay shack. The man immediately hastens to put a few plastic chairs outside, as we drive by. To stop on this narrow road? How do we get to the other side? It is a pity for the guy, but we are not going to do this.
I take a lot of pictures of the wonderful surroundings and in spite of the bad roads, we wouldn’t want to miss this for the world. The mountains get greener and higher and the road winds itself from top to bottom in between the vales. Our next destination are the waterfalls (les cascades in French) of “Immouzer Ida Ou Tanane”. It is high time for a coffee and we stop at café restaurant “la belle vue”, where we have a lovely view over the valley. Except for the twittering birds, the silence is immense here! We are being served by a friendly old men, who tells us that we even can spent the night here, if we want (see video). We are almost tempted!
We drive on to a fork in the road, where we take a left (P1001, keep the road) to look at the waterfalls and then turn right to continue our way. On the road to Immouzer we pass a number of smaller waterfalls. In the town, we follow the signs to the parking lot, where a little man is waiting to show us the way. “Not necessary”, we say “we can find the way, we only have to follow the sound”. We walk, sometimes stooped under the Argan trees, jump brooks and arrive at the waterfall not much later. Nice, but not spectacular.
During the way back to the fork, we drive behind a couple of lorries, which are converted to ’campers’. The road gets very narrow here and passing a car is close to impossible. At the fork we keep on the P1001. In the distance the first mountains with eternal snow appear, breath-taking sight to see! We pass the town of Tiqqi, where the yellow gorse is in full bloom. In Bigoudine we lunch at the local Restaurant (a tajine, of course) and have a ‘nice’ view of a small van stacked with cows. The Animal Rights Party could stir up something here in Morocco! Then we take the N8 alongside the “Barrage Abdelmoumen”. From the car we have a lovely view of this reservoir, which has a dirty red-brown colour, like the colour of the earth here. The hills get more bare and flatter. We pass another van in which they transport cows. I still find it a very unpleasant sight to see how they treat animals here. After 20 km we take the road to the exit P1004, where we drive 17 km on a narrow winding road in the direction of “Caves of Win Timdouine”. Nowhere a sign and when we arrive at our destination, according to the GPS at least, the road is closed. So we cannot reach the caves, but we certainly have another beautiful view! We now only have to drive back those 17 km to the N8…. The colour of the earth slowly changes to red, the hills get lower. By way of Amskroud we drive back to Agadir. After tanking the jerrycans full again, we drive back to the marina. A long day, but worth the (de) tour!
4th and 5th day, 16-02-2017 en 17-02-2017
Circular tour:
Agadir - Marrakesh (255 km and 3 hrs)
Marrakesh - Tisselday (150 km and 3 hrs) overnight stay
Tisselday – Taznakht - Taroudant - Agadir (370 km and 5,5 hrs)
Because we don’t want to leave Kit alone for more than one night, we have a tight schedule. The first day to Marrakech, then another drive to possibly Tisselday to stay the night. The day after that we have another big drive ahead of us, because there is a lot to see on the way.
Marrakech
One of the four Royal Cities of Morocco, with more than a million inhabitants. A big modern city with of course its old centre. When you take more time to visit the city, there is enough to be seen, like the Palais Bahia, Koutoubia Mosque and minaret, Jardin Majorelle, Museum of Islamic Art, Menara Tombs of the Saädieds and the museum Dar si Said. It has the oldest ‘old city’ (medina) of Morocco, which has been placed on the UNESCO world heritage list in 1985. It is surrounded by high red city walls and you find a tangle of alleys, squares and nice little shops. In the medina there’s the central square “Djemaa el Fna”. Here the executions used to take place, hence the name: “Death’s Square”. Now you will find dozens of booths where you can get food and drink; there are snake charmers, monkeys, ‘dentists’, acrobats and musicians. What is certainly worth visiting is the well- known Koran school “Ben Youssef Madrassa”, a unique example of Islamic culture. The name comes from the Almoravidic sultan Ali Ben Youssef (reign 1106-1142). The school is built around 1570 and restored in 1950. The students were housed in 130 cubicles, placed around the courtyard, which is richly decorated with cedar wood, marble, colourful tiles and plaster ornaments. The school developed into one of the most important Koran schools in the Islamic world and with 900 students the largest in Africa.
We leave as early as we can. It promises to be a wonderful warm day! We take the A7, a turnpike road (a good one). At first we drive through grey hills with in the distance the mountains with eternal snow. We even have to pass through a tunnel! Now, don’t get carried away, it is not at all like the tunnels in France or Switzerland, because it only takes you 5 minutes. The landscape gets flatter with, of course, Argan trees everywhere. We pass through several villages with large stalls of ceramic. Normally you hardly can drive here, because of everything that walks, hops, crawls on the road: donkeys, carts, bikers, sheep etc. And then we see a sigh:”Piste Cyclable”! A real cycle path! Well now! But, ….what drives around here? A donkey, pulling a cart full of branches. And the mopeds drive ON the centre line marking!
Then we near the town of Marrakech, a big modern city with wide streets. We pass a very touristic open carriage with two horses and drive past the red walls of the Palais Bahia. The beds with palm trees and shrubs look well-tended. Our time is limited, so we drive right to the old town. We find a parking next to one of the entrances of the old medina. We have to park our car right in front of another car, very peculiar. But then the park attendant asks for our keys. But we are not giving the keys to have a stranger driving around our rental car! So we put the car elsewhere.
We walk into the medina in the direction of the central square, it is a hive of activity with of course the well-known booths: spices, cloth, shoes etc. We catch a glimpse of snake charmers and men with monkeys, of which you can take a picture. But I don’t want to take a picture of such a form of animal exploitation and abuse. Animals don’t get treated well here. In a narrow alley we see a kind of “Hall of Fame”, very touristic (see pic). There are stands where they sell hand-painted wooden advertising signs, statues of South-African heads, decorated with beads, tile sellers, old cameras and lots and lots of touristic souvenirs.
It is starting to get really hot and we have something to drink on a little square. We have a view on a carpet merchant and ask him the price, which is 900 DH and that we find too expensive. We walk through the streets to the “Ben Youssef Madrassa” (entrance 20DH= € 2,00). We see the beautifully decorated courtyard, very impressive and what a serenity. A welcome change from the bustle of the souk. Walking through the hallways we see the 130 cubicles, where the students sojourned. A pity it is so badly maintained; with the exception of the courtyard, everything else looks not too well. But still certainly worth visiting! What astonishes us is that this medina is on the world heritage-list: it is a touristic spot, where merchants constantly pull your jacket in order to sell you something. Mopeds make their way through the too narrow streets and leave a terrible stench of exhaust gas behind. No, not really a nice place to stroll around! We have a quick lunch on the main square, before leaving the town. Because it is very warm, we change into our shorts.
The plan is to drive as far as possible and then find a place to spend the night. We have a few options which we sorted out in advance. Let’s see how far we get! We follow the N9 direction Tisselday, about 150 km. And 3 hours. Anyway, we want a place to sleep before it gets dark. The road is tolerable and at first we make speed. At the entrance of a town or village they often place a tower with the name and a word of welcome on it. We drive straight through the Atlas Mountains and the landscape is impressive. It is so different every time, it keeps surprising us. As we get further up, the quality of the road decreases and we have holes to avoid. Taking over gets more troublesome and even with oncoming traffic you have to really watch out. We sway in between the rock ledges and see that they are very busy improving the road. Not unnecessary, I might say: on the left and the right we see big rocks just lying on the road. We see several landslides and at a certain moment we can’t even drive through, because one of those landslides just happened. We get higher and higher into the mountains and see the snow getting closer! There we are, in our shorts! Unfortunately (or luckily, since it has gotten really cold by now!) we can’t get near the snow in any way. But it still is special!
The road gets gradually better. It gets dark quickly and we are near Tisselday, a real Berber village. Somewhere here has to be a maison d’hôtes (B&B) “Irocha”, https://www.irocha.com/en/, where we might spend the night. We go there at hap hazard! Via a narrow, rocky steep road we arrive at a complex built in red stone. Through the opened door we walk past a court to a counter. After ringing the bell, the very friendly owner Achmed appears, who tells us that we can of course stay the night. He shows us 2 different rooms and we choose the smaller one with shower, toilet. For 2 people, including dinner and breakfast, the price is 800 DH (€ 80, 00). The whole complex breathes an atmosphere of hospitality. There is a swimming pool and a large covered terrace, where you can have dinner outside and where you have a lovely view over the valley, where the trees are in bloom. Really a picture to paint! The room has a Berber style with modern facilities, like airco with heating. Nice and warm, now that we are in our shorts. After changing we go the joint living room, where the fire is burning in the hearth. There are a few other guests. We have an aperitif and read a little. Fred almost falls asleep on the couch. At 20:00 we get a succulent 3-course-dinner dished by Khalid (cooked by his wife). Accompanied by a nice bottle of wine, this is the cherry on today’s cake! This is enjoyment in a special environment.
The next morning, after a good night’s sleep in the comfortable beds, we get a hearty breakfast in the conservatory. We get into a talk with the owner, who tells us he is born and raised in this Berber village. We make him a compliment about the ambiance. He started in 2008 with 4 rooms and has by now expended to the current complex. We tell him that we sail our boat around the world and that he finds very special. After breakfast we say goodbye to Khalid and his wife and wish Achmed good luck. In short, impressive surroundings and a perfect place to come to a rest.
We leave the mountains and drive via the N9 to Amerzgane, take the P1505 and drive on it up to the joint with the N10. We follow this, direction Taznakht. The landscape changes to flat and red hills. Hills, that later change into some sort of moon landscape! An ideal area to film this kind of movies. Taznahkt is known for its Berber carpets. Since we do want to buy a small carpet we take a look in this town. I try to pin some cash, but after a few efforts the cash machine doesn’t give any money. I walk into the bank and the man behind the counter says the thing doesn’t work (later it turns out that the money is written off anyway). We try another cash machine and this one works. We enter one of the carpet shops and the merchant shows us many a carpet. He tells us that women need a full week’s working to weave a carpet. They are a member of a big cooperation that sells these carpets. After some negotiation we have a lovely (Berber)-hand -woven carpet. A lovely and practical souvenir from Morocco. When we near villages we often see schoolchildren walking home, next to the road. Poor children have no money to pay for the school bus and have to walk home or depend on hiking. Some children live in very remote areas and have to walk 15 km from and to home. When I see 3 boys with a backpack standing alongside the road with their thumbs up, I say to Fred: “let’s take them along”. The 3 boys speak a little English and are very happy to get a lift and ask in their best English if I am on Facebook! But no, I’m not going into that. After dropping them off, we take in hiking children twice more, who are all very glad and thankful. We are a bit surprised that these children (the youngest being just 10), step so easily into a car with strangers. Maybe because we are foreigners, who knows? Another big difference with the Netherlands. Anyway, 7 children didn’t have to walk home that day. As we say in Dutch:” Whoever does good, meets well”.
Just before Aoulouz we turn off to the P1706 and drive on the left bank side of the river. The town of Tiout was also on our list, but for that we had to make a huge detour. This town is known for the fact that goats simply climb into the Argan trees, because they love the fruit so much. Well, that I just have to see! But we don’t have to drive all the way to Tiout; on the way we see a lot of Argan trees and then suddenly I see a whole herd of goats. And yes, also goats in the trees. A very funny sight and of course I take a some pictures. Saves us a few hours driving, does it not? This road is of minor quality again, which you can notice by the piled rocks along the road. Look like Zen-towers. Then I suddenly yell at Fred:” STOP!!!! Something walking on the road! “I jump out of the car (forgetting my twisted knee), walk up to the middle of the road and pick up a large land turtle. With, obviously, a death wish, crossing the street like this! I put him/her in the roadside further up the road. Another animal snatched from the jaws of death! Underway we have lunch in a village and there I twist my left knee a second time, stepping off a too high porch. Luckily, we don’t have to walk anymore.
We drive on to Freija and take the road that crosses the river, the R109 direction Taroudant. From there the P1708 and then the N8 to Agadir. We have had enough by now and drive the last part without halting. We drive into Agadir and at a roundabout a van rides in front of us, loaded with women with head scarfs. I take a picture, on which some of them wave at us and call in English: “I love you!” Others make a gesture about getting some money from us. Yeah, right! We laugh as we pass them by. It is really funny!
6th and 7th day, 18-02-2017 and 19-02-2017
The last two days we use the car only for doing some shopping and filling jerrycans with diesel. For the rest we do very little, also because I want to take it easy with my knee. We take the car to the ‘carwash Moroccan way’. Wages are much less money than an automatic carwash. The car is cleaned top to bottom for only 20 DH (€2,00) in 15 minutes. The rental company picks the car up at the marina nicely on time.
We have seen a quite different part of Morocco this week and drove about 1200 km. Long and tiring days, a lot of variable impressions, but certainly worth it!
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