Sunrise on Mount Pilatus, part 1

On our way back home after a visit to St. Moritz, we used the motorway instead of the mountainous route we previously took.

To see photos of the mountain passes we visited on that route, click here.

Lucerne-Kriens-Pilatus

We stopped at Lucerne for lunch and then sneaked up to Mount Pilatus for the night. Not quite ready to go home.

We were very glad to find that there were spaces in the Parkplatz in front of the gondola station at Kriens, and that it would allow overnight parking.

The first section of the ride from Kriens to Kriensregg and then Fräkmüntegg took about 20 minutes and gained about 900 meters. We were the only ones in the 4-person cabin and had the full 360 degrees-view of the Lake Lucerne area.

The second half of the ride up to Pilatus Kulm was the “Dragon Ride” – an aerial cableway that claims to give a sensation of flying. It is quite new since it was built in 2015. The trip was only about 5-7 minutes and can carry about 50? passengers.

The photos above were taken on the day of our departure. On our ascent, the previous day, the weather was not cooperating (photo below). According to Wikipedia, one of the possible derivations of the name of this mountain is “pileatus,” meaning “capped” or “cloud-topped.”

There are two hotels (50 rooms total) at the mountaintop but we could only book a room in Hotel Bellevue. On arrival, the mountaintop area – Pilatus-Kulm – was obscured by fog. We were seriously concerned that our plan to see sunrise the next morning might be ruined.

All the shops and eateries were closed after the last cable car and cogwheel train departed around 17:45. The hotel room booking included a prix fixe dinner at the only restaurant – Queen Victoria – in the historic Hotel Pilatus-Kulm (which was closed due to off-season or COVID). The two hotels were connected by a terrace and underneath it the concourse for the cable car and cogwheel train.

Throughout the evening, we could roam freely outside on the terrace and stroll indoors to look at the windows of closed shops and some exhibits about the history of the Hotel Pilatus-Kulm. The terrace with empty tables looked quite eerie in the fog.

There were enough guests in the dining hall to not feel like a haunted house. The food was typical continental dishes. The night was made special by the candle lights in the dining hall contrasting the grayish fog visible through the windows.

Luckily, the fog cleared overnight. To see sunrise, we left the hotel at 6:30 am to climb to the top of Esel (2,118 m [6,949 ft]), one of the three peaks accessible from Pilatus Kulm.

View of Hotel Bellevue from Esel, 15 minutes after sunrise

The side of Esel casting a shadow against the rising sun on Hotel Bellevue (photo above).

View of Hotel Pilatus-Kulm from Esel

Queen Victoria rode up the Pilatus on horseback in 1868. Hotel Pilatus-Kulm was built in 1890 and completely renovated in 2010.

See our next post for photos of sunrise at the summit.

Cotti Agricultura at Alp Flix

Back to Switzerland …  On our way home back from St Moritz, we spent a night at a sheep farm at Alp Flix. 

Click on the link to see our earlier posts on St Moritz, and the nearby Julierpass.

Alp Flix is a protected moorland situated on a plateau of between 1900 and 2000 m altitude, lies within the boundary of Parc Ela – the largest nature park in Switzerland.

The farm Cotti Agricultura is in the hamlet of Tgalucas (top right corner on the map; 1970 m, 6463 feet).  Their web site in German (possibly Swiss German) is here.

To get to the farm, we turned into the village of Sur just after descending from Julierpass on A3. There is a restaurant/hotel, and a church. We saw hunters dressed in camouflage standing next to their truck having a smoke. Wondered what they were hunting.

We continued on the road and started ascending into the low-lying clouds. The paved road became a gravel path lined with two rows of bricks. Conifers lined the road.

After a short climb, we reached the flat plateau which gave us the impression of entering a separate otherworldly realm. The village below was no longer visible, nor were the mountains ahead/above us.

Alp Flix is apparently a popular place for hiking. Cotti Agricultura is not only a farm, it is also a cafe/bar/restaurant, sells home-made milk and cheese, and provides simple accommodation.

The front of the farmhouse has been converted into a reception, a bar and an open kitchen area. When we drove up to the farm and checked in, we were told to park the car at a public parking area about 10 minutes downhill.

Reluctantly, we drove back down to leave the car and walked back. We saw the largest (poisonous) mushroom ever.

It was a nice fresh walk as the drizzle had paused.

Tgalucas

We met the resident shepherd on the kitchen floor – a very smart and alert animal.

The day was grey and misty but it added a lot of mood to the moorland. Cotti Agricultura kept only sheep and we noticed the smallish milking machines. The owner noted that cattle farming requires more land and a much larger scale of operation.

But we did not see any sheep. Perhaps they were all herded up into the mountain to take advantage of the summer pastures, as we were there in early September. We believe they all went up the road that runs alongside a stream behind the farm.

Our dinner (lamb chop, unsurprisingly) was served in a small dining room behind the kitchen. It was spacious for 15 diners. The back of the dining room was a wine “cellar” and behind it, with its own entrance from the outside, the toilets and shower area.

The main reason we chose to stay at Cotti Agricultura was the yurts. They had installed five for guest accommodation. For us, the concept was “camping” in the Alps.

A traditional yurt (from the Turkic languages) or ger (Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered with skins or pelt and used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes of Central Asia.

The yurts are a gimmick and it was popular with visitors. All were booked that evening. No animal pelts were used to make these tents. The white plastic-lined, wood-framed tents were a bit sterile, minimally decorated by a door painted with ethnic motifs.

Next to our yurt, there was a tiny sauna. Nobody used it. For us, we would not enjoy it as, it was rather wet and chilly when you come out. Maybe Scandinavians would like it.

There was no running water or toilet in the yurt. The farmhouse was very close-by so it was not a problem (not for us anyway, since our yurt was the closest to the house).

The yurt felt very roomy inside, except the lack of headroom. We had a circular bed, a couple of stools, and a sideboard. There was a wood-burning fireplace with a chimney sitting on a slab of concrete in the middle of the tent.

There was not a need to use the heater but the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning did cross my mind. No electricity, so we used the provided candles for light. We liked the idea of getting away from modern amenities, like wifi, for just one night. It rained a bit overnight. We slept fine as we must be tired.

Woke up to fresh air, similar foggy grey skies, wet grass. Felt alive and well.

We left after a big breakfast, and rejoined A3 heading towards Albula and then Chur. Our next stop before reaching home was Mount Pilatus near Lucerne.

Muottas Muragl looking over St. Moritz

Muottas Muragl is a location on the southern slopes of Blais da Muottas (2,568 m) and offers at 8,051 feet (2,454 m) the most beautiful vantage point above the lakes of Upper Engadine valley. 

Muottas Muragl is situated between the villages of Samedan and Pontresina, accessible by a funicular railway built in 1907 that takes a 700-meter climb from Punt Muragl.  At the top, there is a hotel and a panoramic restaurant. 

This photo of the hotel and restaurant (with a straight-up funicular) at Muottas Muragl is taken from another mountainous location further down the valley.

We took a bus from our hotel, passed the town center at St. Moritz Dorf then the main train station, heading in the direction of Samedan to the funicular base station (1739 m).

The track is very steep, as much as 54% gradient. There are two counterbalanced carriages that ride on the same track. When the carriages come close together, the track splits into two as a “passing loop” for both carriages to pass one another.

We did not time the ride but it felt like 10-12 minutes. The first half of the line ran entirely through a forest, the second part of the line went on open mountain pasture.

The main attraction of Muottas Muragl is the view of the Upper Engadin valley flanked by views of Piz Palü, and Piz Bernina with Biancograt.  Picturesque defined.

Renovated in 2010, the Romantik Hotel Muottas Muragl is the first “Plus Energy” Hotel anywhere in the Alps, producing more solar energy on an annual average than the hotel itself requires. The excess energy is stored by a geothermal circuit underground. It is also CO2-neutral.

Apparently, the restaurant is not a fast-food style cafeteria typically found at summit locations. It is a gourmet restaurant which serves dinner accompanied by a spectacular sunset view. The funicular train runs until 11pm.

We did not bother to get anything there as it was quite crowded (not safe).

The location provides a bird’s eye view of the entire St. Moritz (above).

Unlike most of the high mountain locations, it does not provide skiing, although there are numerous Alpine hiking trails, snow shoeing trails and a toboggan-run to the station below.

There is a short loop behind the hotel that takes one to several vantage points in different directions and art. The iron sculpture (above) by Curdin Niggli, presented in 2007 to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the funicular railway, symbolises the crossing of the two railways in the middle (in Romansh “Cruscheda”).

We spotted a few hang gliders.

We encountered a herd of black Hérens cows happily relaxing behind an inconspicuous fence.  They seemed to be free to roam anywhere on the mountain. We think the fence is to prevent them from wandering into the restaurant and hotel.

Along the loop, we saw “Sine sole sileo” – the world’s most precise sundial. In winter, it can also be used as an almost equally precise moondial.  Its unique construction makes it possible to read the time to an accuracy of an incredible 10 seconds.

«Il Guot» – Romansh for «the drop» – is a unique work of art created by Timo Lindner to mark the centenary of the funicular railway. The drop, which is made of natural stone and mortar and coated in white marble, symbolises water in all its various forms, from rain to ice to snow.

It was a really nice sunny windless day with comfortable temperatures. R & R at high altitude.

Our trips in 2020

Dear Readers, Happy 2021 !

What a nightmarish year we had.  Glad that it is the beginning of a new year.  Although the problems are not going away immediately, it is however symbolic that we are all moving on, to a better tomorrow. And we will …

It is a tradition on this blog to take a look back at some of the places we visited last year. Because of the pandemic, we traveled very little, Morocco in January and the Eastern side of Switzerland in September, plus a day trip to Bern.

Marrakesh, Morocco – Jemaa el-Fna and Kotoubia

Dar Darma, Marrakesh

Merzouga – the edge of Sahara

Essaouira on the Atlantic coast of Morocco

Grimselsee at 1,908 m (6,260 ft), Switzerland

Muottas Muragl at 8,051 feet (2,454 m) above St Moritz

A night in a yurt at Tgalucas, Alp Flix at 6,463 feet (1,970 m)

Staring at Piz Bernina 4,049 m (13,283 ft)

A night on the Pilatus summit at 6,801 feet (2,073 m) to see sunrise before 7 am.

Sunrise from Esel at 6,949 feet (2,118 m), Mount Pilatus

Oberhaupt at 6,906 feet (2,105 m), Mount Pilatus

The Parliament Building, Bundesplatz, Bern

For 2021, I(Chris) bought a new camera by Olympus with 2 lenses – the pictures above (and many others on the blog) were taken using a Lumix LX7 or a Lumix TZ101.  The photo below was snapped by an iPhone XR –  it is not from an advertisement. We will have a separate post about the camera system later.

Testing the new camera around town – Lausanne.

We also upgraded our software from Lightroom 6 to Lightroom Classic.

Hope to make more black & white photos in 2021.

 

Five Alps mountain passes in two days, part 4

On our second day of this road trip to the Eastern side of Switzerland, we drove from Andermatt (after a detour to Airolo and San Gotthard pass) to St. Moritz.

How about a bit of Bach for this stretch of the road trip:

We took Hauptstrassen 19 running alongside the river Vorderrhein (which feeds into the Rhine) to Flims, crossing the canton border from Uri to Graubünden, and passing through a string of picture-perfect villages.

The famous Glacier Express also runs through this valley.  It is 90 years old in 2020 and claims to be the slowest express train in the world. See the avalanche barrier (photo below on the left) protecting the road and the track.

The tourist train with panoramic windows and catering onboard runs a 8-hour journey from Zermatt to St Moritz covering a 290-km length that includes 91 tunnels and 291 viaducts. This train is the best option to see this area without driving.  We might use it to see areas that are not reachable by car in the future.  Highly recommended.

We just caught sight of one going over a bridge above us.

Before the village of Disentis, we passed but did not stop at Oberalpass 6706 feet (2044 m).

This pass is important logistically, and different from the others because not only it has a small lake (Oberalpsee), it also has a train station, a ski area, and a lighthouse!

The 14 m-tall lighthouse was installed in 2010 as a tourist attraction and came from the river Rhine further downstream.

This was a local train which runs between the villages and uses the same viaducts and track as the Glacier Express.

We turned South on A13 towards Thursis but detoured to see Viamala-schlucht (see post here), before continuing to Albula.

Joining the national highway A3 at Albula, we passed Lake Marmorera within the boundary of Parc Ela.

The road became twisty again as we started our ascent towards the fifth mountain pass – Julierpass.  But this road is nowhere near the spectacles of Grimselpass and Furkapass we saw the day before.  Apparently, certain sections of this road were rebuilt in 2009 to reduce the number of serpentine turns.

Julierpass at 7493 feet (2284 m) in the Albula range of the Alps connects the Engadin valley with the rest of Graubünden.

Julierpass lies between Piz Lagrev (10,384 feet, 3165 m) and Piz Julier (11,090 feet; 3380 m), and crosses the watershed / drainage divide between the basins of the Rivers Rhine and Danube.

Historically, the romans built a temple of Jupiter on top of the pass.  There are two buildings now – the red one with lots of windows is the Julier Theatre built by Origen – an organization that maintains the Rhaeto-Romanic cultural heritage.  Rhaeto-Romance is a family of romance languages that include the fourth official language of Switzerland – Romansh.

It is a wooden construction and has multiple terraces inside.  The spectator terraces embrace a central stage which directs the view of the audience outside to the vastness of the landscape during a performance.  According to Origen’s web site, Julie Theatre will “dedicate itself to the world theatre, it will act with the seasons and reinterpret the mountain pass as a place of culture.”

The other building is a tower but we cannot find a description about it. Both buildings were closed and there was no one around except curious motorists.

From this point on, the drive was all downhill to Silvaplana 5,955 ft (1,815 m) and Highway 27 took us to St. Moritz – 5,978 ft (1,822 m).

We arrived at our hotel in St Moritz after 7 pm and concluded the long day of driving with a nice dinner.

In two days, we managed to see Grimselpass, Furkapass, St Gotthard pass, Oberlap pass and Julierpass – watersheds of major rivers of Northern and Southern Europe.  It was mountaineering by car.  Ideally, we would like to have experienced the vast openness, forever-changing cloud formations, and muted colors of the Alpine landscape by hiking.  We are considering this trip as a preview.

Click to see our earlier posts on this road trip, part 1, part 2, and part 3.

Five Alps mountain passes in two days, part 2

Continuing with our road trip (the start of the trip is here) …

Our selection of music to accompany us to the second mountain pass of the day is by Max Richter.

To get to Andermatt where we spent the first night of the road trip, we had to traverse another mountain pass – the Furkapass.  We retraced our drive from Grimselpass back down to Gletsch (1759 m), cross the Rhône in town, and then zigzag up the mountain on the other side towards Hotel Belvedere.

There was a sense of anticipation on this stretch of the drive because Hotel Belvedere which is perched dramatically half-way up the mountain, is visible from all angles. It was particularly eye-catching when you looked up from the Rhône valley on approach to Gletsch.

We parked next to the closed hotel and had our lunch at a snack bar.  When I asked for a hotdog after seeing a photo of a frankfurter, the person behind the counter grunted “no” and noted they only serve the sausage with brown square bread, and not in a roll.  Mustard on the side.  I guess people who live in the harsh mountain environment do not smile much.

I downloaded this picture of the Rhône Glacier in 1900 from Wikipedia (see below). The edge of the glacier was near the Grand Hotel Glacier du Rhône at Gletsch near the base of the valley. We took a picture of the same Grand Hotel (see earlier post here) and the glacier was nowhere in sight now.

In 120 years, the glacier has regressed, presumably due to climate change, upwards to a point where we took these pictures next to Hotel Belvedere.

Water from the glacier collects in a small lake which feeds a stream that runs downhill to Gletsch and beyond as river Rhône.

This is the source of the Rhône (at 2,208 m, 7,244 ft) which empties into Lac Leman (Lake Geneva). In Geneva, the Rhône enters France, continues to Lyon and then southward to Arles, and reaches eventually the Mediterannean. The length of this river is 813 km (505 miles).

A souvenir store was at the end of the parking area of Hotel Belvedere which also serves as the entrance to the Rhône Glacier Ice Grotto (Rhonegletscher Eisgrotte). Only a short walk from the store, the grotto apparently includes a chamber and a 100-meter long tunnel under/inside the glacier which is dug fresh each year. We went to one such ice cave in Chamonix and did not feel the need to see it again. Click here to see our post about that ice cave visit in Chamonix.

Three km up the road from Hotel Belvedere is the Furkapass (2431 m; 7969 feet). The European watershed (continental divide) runs along the pass.  This is one of the snowiest regions in Switzerland.

The road was built initially for strategic military reasons and was the longest pass road in Switzerland when it was opened in 1866.

Once the mountain pass was opened, coaches started services on the route bringing tourists to the area during the heyday of Alpine tourism in the 19th century.

Apparently nowadays, more than 250,000 people cross the pass each year on cycles or motorcycles, in private cars, in Alpine PostBuses or by historic steam train. We stopped at the Grand Tour of Switzerland scenic photo spot.

The Grand Tour of Switzerland is a 1,600 kilometre driving tour through the most beautiful areas of Switzerland, going over five Alpine passes, passing twelve UNESCO World Heritage sites and biospheres and running along 22 lakes.  It is a great site to do research for a road trip in Switzerland (https://grandtour.myswitzerland.com/en/).

Looking down towards the valley from the pass …

This mountain pass became famous after it was used in a car “chase” location in the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger. One curve on the east side of the pass is even named “James Bond Strasse”.  Here is the James Bond clip on Youtube.

We reached Furkapass and drove down from the east side of the pass to Realp using the same stretch of road as James Bond, towards Andermatt.  The road is just as narrow and curvy as it was shown in the film.  As we descend the Reuss valley, we passed a number of villages with wooden houses and whitewashed churches.

We were using our own car for the trip, so the drive was comfortable as much as it was exhilarating.  All these roads are closed during the winter months and their open/close status can be checked online at Alpinepasse.

Our hotel at Andermatt was a modern luxury high rise but maintained the warm ambiance of a mountain lodge.  We had a quick dinner at the hotel and promptly went to bed, after a long but enjoyable day of driving.

Five Alps mountain passes in two days, part 1

Like millions of people in 2020, due to the pandemic, we worked from home, stayed away from crowded places, and stopped traveling. Before the arrival of winter and the possibility of another extended lockdown period, we decided to go on a short road trip within Switzerland in September.

Driving your own car is safer than public transportation. And we believe it was safer to go up to the mountains as the summer holiday season was winding down. Since we had never been to the sparsely populated, mountainous Eastern part of Switzerland, it was time to explore.  To accompany this online trip, I chose a collaboration by two great musicians.

The easternmost point of this road trip was St. Moritz, the well-known, historical ski resort town in Kanton Graubunden. We took the scenic route from Lausanne via the Swiss Riviera, through the Rhône Valley and start ascending the Alps after Brig.

Starting at 9 am from home, we simply followed A9, mostly a motorway until Sierre. The drive was really easy up to here as this route was built to give quick access to all the major ski resorts in the Swiss Alps, such as Verbier, Crans-Montana and Zermatt.

Our first stop (not scheduled) was at a suspension bridge near Bellwald. It was a surprise discovery as the Hängebrücke appeared on our right after we left A9 to join Route 19. No longer in the French-speaking part of Canton Valais, these parts of Valais use a Germanic dialect.

Many suspension bridges in Switzerland are spectacular and themselves destinations, but they are not easy to reach. This footbridge is built to cross the Rhône River to connect Bellwald (1566 m) on the north bank to Mühlebach (1250 m) at Fürgangen (1188 m, not far from the small train station). Built next to a main road, it has to be the easiest suspension bridge to access for casual tourist like us.

After Oberwald, Route 19 becomes narrower and twisty as we slowly climb alongside the upper reaches of the Rhone River. Then we reached Gletsch where the mountain views become spectacular.

Gletsch at 1,757 m (5,764 ft) is a hamlet located 2.5 km (1.6 mi) below the edge of the Rhône Glacier. It is called Gletsch (derived from Gletscher, glacier in German), since the first building, the predecessor of the Hôtel Glacier du Rhône was built more or less next to the glacier’s mouth in 1830.

The glacier has been retreating from right to left in the above photo, leaving behind the a new section of the Rhône.  Gletsch is just visible at the right edge of the photo below.

Gletsch lies at the crossroads of the Grimsel Pass (leading to the Bernese Oberland) and the Furka Pass (leading to Andermatt where we stayed the first night of this trip).

We drove up to our first pass – the Grimselpass (Passo del Grimsel) at an elevation of 2,164 metres (7,100 ft).

There is a small lake, a cheerful, rusty sculpture, a restaurant and a hotel at the pass.

The pass connects the upper valley of the river Aare, with the upper valley of the Rhône. As the Aare is a tributary of the Rhine, the Grimselpass stradles the continental divide between the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

On the other side from where we came, a paved road runs 38 kilometres (24 mi) from Gletsch to Meiringen. The road is normally closed between October and May, due to the high snowfall on the pass.

Slightly below the pass on the north side are two lakes, Totesee (Lake of the Dead) and Grimselsee. The latter is artificial, created by a dam built in 1932 to generate hydroelectric power (operated by Kraftwerke Oberhasli (KWO) which now uses its local transport network to support tourism).

We descended from the pass to Grimselsee. From a distance, the light-green glacial water was perfectly calm and looked oddly solid.

Across the dam on the other side is a hotel.  One section of the dam allows vehicular traffic.

The hotel – the historic Grimsel Hospiz was our initial choice for lodging for the night, but its 28 rooms were all booked. There is quite a bit of history here – apparently, the first certified guesthouse of Switzerland was located at this exact spot, way back in 1142!  In more recent times, the hotel became a sensation in 1932 as the first exclusively electrically-heated house in Europe (when the dam for hydroelectric power was completed and supplied the power). Really.

Renovated in 2010, the hotel is now open during the summer from June to October and in winter from December to April – “Silent Winter Oasis” – while the pass is closed to driving due to several feet of deep snow, the hotel can be accessed by gondola and tunnels of the KWO power plant. The gondola which traverses a part of the lake was not running unfortunately as the summer tourism seasons just finished (or did not open due to the pandemic).

What a place to spend a quiet cozy Christmas !

Port of Essaouira – part 2

Port of Essaouira – part 1 is here.

The ocean off Morocco’s Atlantic coast is one of the richest fishing grounds in the world. This post is about human-scale commercial fishing.

Have you heard the seminal 1994 collaboration of Ry Cooder and Ali Farka Toure – Talking Timbuktu ? The all-time favs here are “Ai Du” (track 9) and “Diaraby” (track 10).

The port of Essaouira is no longer a full-service commercial port except for fishing and ship maintenance. People at the hotel told us that the fishing boats return everyday around mid-morning.

So I(Chris) went just before noon and was totally in awe of the sight and sound around the port. The energies on display on land, sea and in the sky were unbelievable.

There was so much activities on the water as the returning boats streamed into the rather small port. The boats had to turn around and parked itself next to a moored boat in order to unload its catch. There were at least 30 people per boat.

Sardine is the main commercial interest, followed by mackerel and anchovies. These fishing boats are trawlers which ply the coastal waters and return with crates of sardines forming towers on the stern.

As fishing boats were arriving every 15 to 30 minutes, the number of people working shoulder to shoulder at dockside was mind-boggling. Most of the work on the wooden boats and on the docks were done by human labor. There was not much mechanization and no automation.

As it was close to midday and getting warmer under the African sun, the fishes which had been kept on ice had to be offloaded quickly. These boats do not have refrigeration on board and kept the catch on ice in open air.

What impressed me the most is the human conveyor that was formed across several boats to unload the crates of sardines from the boat that had just returned and “double-parked”, being the last and furthermost from the pier.

Somehow I don’t think the people work for a company or a fleet. There was no logo or uniform. I did not see walkie-talkies either. So the organization of labor around the docks amid the chaos – placing people at the right spot, knowing and coordinating what to do, and getting the crew paid at the end of the day – must have been well-rehearsed and evolved over the years.

I noticed two kids on the dock watching the human conveyor and waiting to pick up any fish that fell off a crate. See the pink plastic bagful of fish held by one of the two scavengers. There was indeed some results. It was surprising that such an activity was tolerated by the men transporting the fish.

The port of Essaouira caters to the low-tech coastal fishing fleet while the high-seas industrial fishing fleet is based in Agadir which lies further south and has a deep water harbor. Until a treaty and fishing license was signed with the European Union in the 1990s, Morocco had many disputes with Spain which has a modern fleet and operates within Morocco’s territorial waters.

The crates packed with sardines on ice were hauled away. The term “packed like sardines” comes from the image of sardines in a can, but these photos lend more support to the impression.

Ten crates form a stack. There are at least 90 crates in the photo below.

The crates were loaded onto a refrigerated truck heading to a canning factory (I assumed).  A lot of people were congregating on the dockside – a few were clearly tourists but there were some local spectators or men that just got off the boats, having finished a day’s work.

After the catch was offloaded, the men worked together to repair and tidy up the nets and buoys.

Getting the nets ready for another day of trawling. I will think of all these hardworking people whenever I pull open a can of sardines.

Flocks of seagulls dashed around above head eying for a chance to grab a fish, and there were lots of fish in the open. “Flock” is an understatement as the sky was full of birds – “swarm” might be more accurate.

This fishing port is a memorable place – the energies, labor, and diversity of activities. It has been going on for centuries, day after day.

Port of Essaouira – part 1

Essaouira (الصويرة‎; in Portuguese: Mogador) is a historical city on Morocco’s Atlantic coast. We spent a couple of days in Essaouira after our trip to the desert. It was nice to see some water after days of sand and rocks.

The medina of Essaouira, formerly named Mogador (name originating from the Phoenician word Migdol meaning a « small fortress »), is an example of a fortified town of the mid-eighteenth century, built by the Moroccan King – Mohammed III. In the Berber language, which is spoken by a sizeable proportion of the city’s inhabitants, it is called “Taṣṣort”.

Bab al Mersa built in 1770.

Essaouira’s medina is protected by 18th-century seafront ramparts – the Skala de la Kasbah. Old brass cannons line the walls. The tower Borj El Barmil overlooks the entrance to the city.

The port of Essaouira was known as the “Port of Timbuktu” because most African products for export to Europe ended up here, including slaves.

Have you heard the seminal 1994 collaboration of Ry Cooder and Ali Farka Toure – Talking Timbuktu ? My all-time favorites are “Ai Du” (track 9) and “Diaraby” (track 10).

The importance of Essaouira faded due to the rise of Casablanca in the North and Agadir in the South. The Western bastion of the rampart is seen the photo below.

Essaouira is inscribed by UNESCO on the World Heritage list in 2001. Nowadays, the port of Essaouira is non-commercial except for fishing and ship maintenance. The waters are not deep enough for bigger ships.

There were really only two kinds of boats – a large motorized trawler that tows a small blue boat.  The small boats were moored to a set of floating piers in neat rows.

Most of the boats, large and small, were wooden, painted blue and carrying bundles of orange buoys.

I saw fish being scooped from the floor of a small boat into a basket which was thrown up to the pier. There was a boat-load (literally) of fish.

Some people were standing around waiting to buy some fish right there and then. Freewheeling trade all over the place.

This group of men were waiting for some kind of auction of the buckets of sardines. I won’t be surprise there was an arbitrage on the dockside.

Although a fish market is located next to the fishing port, makeshift stalls were set up alongside the port’s access road.

Local residents and restaurant owners came to make their selection for the day.

Cats were quite visible around town and in the port. We saw relatively fewer dogs.

This cat was walking on the edge because its paws could fall into the holes of the metallic walkway of the floating pier.  The cats are very well-behaving here as we never once saw a cat eating a fish or any food out in the open.

Just outside the port is an open area where tourists can enjoy fishes and shellfishes at one of the numbered stalls which will cook/grill it to order. I did not think the lobster was caught locally as none were seen inside the port.

Part 2 is about actions around the port. Don’t miss it.

Kasbah at Telouet, Home of the Pasha of Marrakech

On our way to Essaouira from Ouarzazate, we took a detour on P1506 to see Telouet Kasbah, but passing Ait Benhaddou (a United Nations Word Heritage site which regrettably we did not stop to explore).

To accompany your reading, highly recommended is Stephen Micus’s quiet contemplative Nomad Songs published by ECM. My favorite song here is Track 11 – Under The Chinar Trees (scroll down … and wait for the vocals after 2:10).

We arrived at Telouet just before noon and there were hardly any people inside the kasbah. Behind where we parked our SUV (photo above) is the foundook, a place where in the old days, camels from passing caravan were kept (like cars in a garage).

The kasbah was built in 1860 by the feudal warlord family of El Glaoui in the Moorish style. It lies at an elevation of 1,800 metres (5,900 ft), occupying a strategic position in the High Atlas, and visited by the caravan traffic between Marrakech and the Sahara.

A local guide walked through the kasbah with us. Only a few rooms in the kasbah can be visited because part of the kasbah is collapsing due to neglect.

It is surprising to find such a degree of luxury out here, being quite far from Marrakech and Ouarzazate. The guide said 300 workers worked for three years to decorate the ceilings and walls. The interiors are decorated with stucco, zelliges for the walls, and cedar painting for the ceiling.

The El Glaoui family made its fortune initially by trading almond, saffron and olives, and collecting taxes from the passing caravans.

In addition to being strategically and logistically well-situated, Telouet was located near major salt mines. Over time, the family became very wealthy and enjoyed close ties to the Sultan.

In 1893, Sultan Moulay Hassan were caught in a blizzard while crossing the High Atlas mountains. The El Glaoui family rescued the party, and received as rewards from the Sultan, feudal lord titles (qaids) in several areas and a cannon to fight rival warlords.

Thami El Glaoui, presided over Kasbah Telouet from 1912 to 1956, as the Pasha of Marrakech. His influence and wealth grew with interests in agriculture and mineral resources as well as levies on commercial transactions within his domain. Apparently, he attended the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II as a private guest of Winston Churchill.

However, El Glaoui became an ally to the French protectorate and conspired to exile the then Sultan Mohammed V to Madagascar in 1953.

In 1955, Mohammed V returned from exile and declared independence for Morocco. El Glaoui was declared a traitor and lost all of his properties and political leverage. Kasbah Telouet has been left to crumble ever since.

A room of the kasbah, its wall collapsed is being used for holding sheep.

What a difference between the inside and the outside, the privileged and the underclass, the recent past and the present.

Fame and fortune come and go. We hope someone will do something to preserve at least a part of this kasbah.

Let’s see if history can live on in this corner of North Africa.

Atlas Studios, Ouarzazate

Atlas Studios is a film studio located about 5 km (3 miles) west of the city of Ouarzazate, the second town where we spent a night on our Merzouga-to-Essaouira road trip across Morocco. You can follow our trip to Ouarzazate on this blog here and here.

According to Wikipedia, measured by acreage, it is the world’s largest film studio. Most of the property lies in the nearby desert and mountains. Next to the studios is the Oscar Hotel which provides hospitality services to the film crew.

Scattered about are props for various movies, such as troop carrier, fighter jet … etc.

Many sets from various movies remain in place and, because of this, the studio also operates guided tours and it has become a tourist destination.

I(Chris) was rather curious about it, especially up to this point in time, we had been exposed mostly to ancient history and indigenous culture on this trip.

These are some of the movies that were made in Atlas  Studio: The Jewel of the Nile, Aladdin (2019 film), The Mummy, Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra.

With rocky mountains and an arid desert nearby, this location was perfect for those movies.

They recreated the historical interiors too, so that, I suspect, they can film the dramatic open desert vista when the main character emerges from the palace.

Cleopatra’s?

Very colorful faux Egyptian decorations in a giant set.

The other movies film made here that have a medieval theme include: Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, and Game of Thrones.

Then, these two movies: Vikings and Atlantis were also listed as being made here (at least parts thereof) but the environment seems a bit incongruous for those stories.

Another large scale set that were kept intact after filming is the Tibetan temple built for Kundun. The film soundtrack was done by Philip Glass, one of my favs, so here is a sample.

Kundun was made in 1997 by Martin Scorcece. The movie dramatizes Tibet’s fourteenth Dalai Lama, from childhood to adulthood, and deals with Chinese oppression and other political problems.

The Chinese Communist Party objected to the release of this film which was distributed by Disney. It took many years before the relationship has improved to the extent Disney was allowed to film in Xinjiang recently the live-action adaption of the story of Mulan.

We have never been to Tibet and would not know how authentic was the interiors (this is true for most moviegoers).

Until one goes right up to the statues and artifacts, they all looked quite authentic except a layer of dust and sand which will not be tolerated in a real life temple.

The Atlas Studios was founded in 1983 by entrepreneur Mohamed Belghmi. Since then it has been able to expand, thanks to the natural environment which can mimic the outdoor locations of many movies. The lower cost is a factor as well as the predictable and reliable weather conditions, meaning that there are few rescheduling or delays.

What we did not expect was a stable with attractive looking horses and camels, all clean and handsome, camera-ready to step onto a set.

The studio also filmed some other modern pieces here: The Amazing Race 10, The Living Daylights, The Grand Tour, The Hills have Eyes, Prison Break, and Patton.

Babel (which we saw and liked) was made here too. One of the stories in Babel (played by Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchet) took place in the desert of modern day Morocco.

The visit was a fun way to spend a few hours after a long drive, before we headed to our hotel in Ouarzazate.

If you are interested, you can follow our trip from Merzouga up to Ouarzazate on this blog here and here.

Road trip in Morocco #3 – from Boumalne-Dadès to Ouarzazate

Our second road trip across Morocco took 3 days, 2 nights, from our desert camp at Merzouga to Essaouira on the Atlantic coast. The first night was spent in Boumalne-Dadès, and the second in Ouarzazate. This post covers the journey between these two points. See earlier posts about the road trip here and here.

When we arrived at the Kasbah Tissarouine at Boumalne-Dadès, it was rather late. So we did not have a chance to look around the place. The Kasbah turned out to be a rather large family resort which was largely empty because we were there during the off-season.

By the way, the pool and white loungers in the photo above are visible from space via Google map if you know where to look. The sky above Morocco was blue and clear the entire time we were there.

The resort is built on top of a hill that looks across the River Dadès (Oued Dadès) towards the mountains to the northeast.

After breakfast, we walked around enjoying the view – the snow-covered High Atlas was visible in the northwest.

Getting back on the road again, our first stop was the Gorge du Dadès. We followed the Oued Dadès upstream on R704.

The mountainous terrain here was formed by two different kinds of rocks, one type intruding into another type and they were eroded to different extents over the years …

… and the intruding type yielded dramatic shapes on a large scale. The hillside looked like the back of a giant scaly animal.

The most dramatic part of the gorge is a set of hairpin turns on R704 as the gorge narrowed and the elevation increased.

We cannot imagine the traffic during peak tourist season here.

At the top of the hairpin turns is a viewpoint at the Cafe Timzzillite. It is also a hotel. What a location to spend a night – the sunrise and sunset colors on the rocks must be spectacular.

We turned around here to head back towards Boumalne-Dadès.

We passed by a number of villages, like Tamelatt, as well as a string of hotels and restaurants. Although this area is somewhat remote, it is a popular area for visitors who come here for hiking.

A market was taking place as we drove passed.

Whole lamb was sold with fresh herbs. Apologies if it is too graphic but it is just the market in that part of the world. The butcher was trying to call back a potential customer.

Our next destination is the Vallée des Roses which is situated near a tributary of Oued Dades further downstream. We passed some fields that looked like rose bushes and stopped by the town of Kalaat M’Gouna to do some shopping.

Damask roses (Rosa × damascena) are grown here and used to make rose water in the valley. The roses are also shipped to factories in Marrakech to make perfumes.

At one of the tourist shops, we saw the prices of the products and they were not what one would expect at the source of its main ingredient. The cosmetics appeared relatively crude (simple rose scents plus what sounded like industrial chemicals). Packaging and perception are so important in this business. But … at least the local taxis are pink.

Getting back on the arrow straight N10 westbound, we headed straight for Ouarzazate passing Skoura. The landscape was fairly boring on this stretch of the highway – just endless rocky desert on one side and emptiness with distant snowy mountains as a backdrop on the other side.  … on a desert highway, cool wind in the air …

As planned, we stopped to look at the Atlas Studios in Ouarzazate before checking in at our lodging – Dar Chamaa – just outside Ouarzazate. The Atlas Studios will be the subject of a future post.

Around the corner from Dar Chamaa is an emporium of handicrafts and antiques – Labyrinthe de Sud – it was touristy but well stocked with unique and high-quality wares.

Two days, and about 400 kms we travelled so far.

 

Road trip in Morocco #2 – from Merzouga to Boumalne-Dadès (ⴱⵓⵎⴰⵍ ⵏ ⴷⴰⴷⵙⵙ)

Our second road trip across Morocco took 3 days, 2 nights, from our desert camp at Merzouga all the way to Essaouira on the Atlantic coast. The first night was spent in Boumalne-Dadès, and the second in Ouarzazate.

On this portion of the trip, we played Dire Straits in the car which delighted our driver who is apparently a fan.  It has been a while for us too.

We retraced our route out of the desert camp back on N13 northbound from Merzouga to Rissani, and then Erfoud. This area known as the Tafilalet was the homeland of Morocco’s ruling Alawite dynasty and also the last area to yield to French control in the early 1900s.

Entering Rissani through the gate. Rissani was the location of the ancient capital (14-17th century), Sijilmassa, a crossroads between the north and south where gold and slaves were traded. It is still a major commercial center of the area.

We passed the Salon International des Dattes (well, the sign is not legible in the photo). Look at the space available for a souk!  Sadly, we did not stop somewhere in this region to buy dates, apparently this is the place to find the best dates in Morocco.

At Erfoud, we made a short shopping stop at a fossil “factory” or rock shop.  See later post for pics.

Then we used R702 westbound, passed a series of small towns, namely Jorf, Ksar Touroug, and Ksar Mellab. The word ksar or qsar (ⵉⴴⵔⵎ) refers to a Berber fortified village.

I was sitting next to the driver, when most of these pictures were taken from inside a moving car – please excuse the quality of the photos.

Our driver said that different Berber tribes live in these small towns, and women wore robes with distinct color and styles.

Pink house with decorative rock pattern. Made me think of the Flintstones.

We joined the highway N10 at Tinejdad for lunch. It was 1:30pm already. Tinejdad means ‘nomad’ in Tamazight (Berber language) and it was a resting post for caravans.

… and unexpectedly we ran into DL and family (!) in the restaurant. They had left the Merzouga camp a few hours before us because they had to catch a plane from Marrakech the next day. Apparently, their driver took a detour to show them an underground irrigation system in the area.

Even though we said goodbyes just a few hours ago, it was very nice to see friends in foreign lands especially when you do not expect it. The fact that we stopped at the same restaurants tells us that there are “designated” restaurants for tourists all over the country.  All drivers know to take their client to such establishments, at least one per town, hence our Moroccan dining experience is kind of monotonous while mostly authentic.

Our next stop was a large oasis town Tinghir (Tinerhir, or in tamazigt: Tinɣir or ⵜⵉⵏⵖⵉⵔ, in arabic تنغير), recently made the capital of Tinghir province.  See later post about the Berber language and alphabets – tamazigt.

To take in a panorama of the oasis and Tinghir, we used R703 northbound and headed up into the mountain.

Along River Todra, at Tinghir, lush palm trees cover a narrow strip of land about 48 km long and 1 to 4 km wide – la palmeraie. Most of the homes are built on either side of the river on the slopes, without taking up valuable naturally irrigated land for agriculture.

Our driver said Tinghir is prosperous partly because of the silver mines in the area.

Notice the light-colored robes the ladies were wearing in this photo – quite different from the black one worn by a lady (sitting on a donkey) we saw earlier.

The road R703 followed River Todra, and we continued driving upstream to see the famous Todra Gorge. We stopped for a bathroom break at this hotel located in a narrow part of the gorge.

We had arranged a local guide to take us on a walking tour of the gorge, the riverbed where the river started, and the village of Ait Tizgui. See later post.

An impressive gorge ! There were a lot less traffic than we thought, given that it is a gap through these mountain range in the area. May be it was important in the old days for the caravans.

Foreign visitors has started coming here for rock-climbing. We met an American in his 20’s who has been living in the area working as an expedition guide.

Downtown Tinghir

After the tour, we came back down the mountain on R703, passed Tinghir and continued westward on the highway N10.

Decorative walls ? –  we must have crossed a provincial or regional boundary.  From Tinghir, the distance to our final stop for the day is about 50 km.

As we approached the city of Boumalne-Dadès (ⴱⵓⵎⴰⵍ ⵏ ⴷⴰⴷⵙⵙ in tamazight), it was almost 8 pm. This city is modern-ish and the approach road was lit with pretty lights and neon signs that reminded me of outposts outside Las Vegas, USA. That’ s a continent away.

We spent the night at Kasbah Tissarouine on the edge of Boumalne-Dadès.

A long day on the road but it was really fun, especially when someone was driving.

Roaming around the desert – part 2

Continuing with the drive around the desert area near our camp, accompanied by some lively traditional Gnawa music.

… along the way, we stopped to see a herd of donkeys that gathered around a well in the middle of a featureless flat desert.

The well was built by funds from the charity – Coeur de Gazelle as identified by a plaque above the well.  It is such a valuable resource that this organization is providing to the inhabitants of the desert.

These donkeys are probably owned by Berber nomads living in the area.  According to Wikipedia, Berbers, or Amazighs, (ⵉⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵏ, ⵎⵣⵗⵏ)) are an ethnicity of several nation groups mostly indigenous to North Africa and some northern parts of West Africa.

The area has been the home of nomadic Berbers for thousands of years. In Morocco, after the constitutional reforms of 2011, Berber has become an official language, and is now taught as a compulsory language in all schools regardless of the area or the ethnicity. In 2016, Algeria followed suit. Berber languages (generically Tamazight) are spoken by around thirty to forty million people in Africa. We observed that road signs and roadside advertisements were all written in Arabic, Berber, mostly also in French, and very occasionally English.

We saw a tent that served as a tea house for tourists to drink mint tea and socialize with the locals … not sure what these boxy homes were made of as they were all wrapped in some form of textile – certainly looked portable. A lady was standing outside her tent (see above photo) but unfortunately our guide did not make any arrangement ahead of time.

Do you know Zinedine Zidane was born in France to Kabyle Berber parents from Algeria ?

Though often thought of in the West as nomads, most Berbers are in fact traditional farmers living in mountains relatively close to the Mediterranean coast, or oasis dwellers, such as the Siwa of Egypt; but the Tuareg and Zenaga groups of the southern Sahara were almost wholly nomadic.

Prominent Berber groups include the Kabyles from Kabylia, in northern Algeria, who number about 6 million and have kept their original language and society; and the Chleuh in High and Anti-Atlas of Morocco, numbering about 8 million. Other groups include the Riffians of northern Morocco, the Chaoui people of eastern Algeria, and the Tuaregs of the Sahara scattered through southern Algeria and Libya, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. The staff who ran our camps were probably Tuaregs as they all wore the characteristic indigo-blue colored djellabas (robes).

Despite the hostile desert environment, people had apparently lived in this area for a long time. We drove through a ghost village.

The abandoned dwellings were built with adobe, or mud bricks made with sand, clay and organic matters. The guide did not say much about the history of this settlement, but it was pointed out that the mountain range in the horizon marks the border with Algeria (see below).

On the way back to our camp, we passed by this mysterious complex.

The buildings looked unoccupied – it could be a tourist hotel which was closed during the off-season.  The architecture is Malian, i.e., from Mali, a country south of here. Unlike a traditional building made with mud bricks, this one seemed to be made of concrete.

I think this building style was used in one of the Star Wars movies. We soon got back onto the paved R702 and then the N13 highway near Hassilabied and turned south, effectively circling Erg Chabbi in an anti-clockwise direction, arriving back at the camp in about an hour.

The desert was hostile and unforgiving, and it was a lonely and mysterious place.

 

 

Maison Acacias, Tissardmine

During our day trip in the desert near our camp, we had lunch at Maison Acacias, a hostel and restaurant situated in a small oasis.

African blues by Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté suit the mood here – try “Ruby” and “Kala Djula” first – they are all good.

We got to Tissardmine after a 2-3 hour drive off-road northbound from our camp on mostly solid rocky terrain.  There were several stops along the way but the straight-line distance is less than 100 km.

We formed a 2-car caravan (see earlier post here about what we did earlier in the day), there were no paved roads, just tracks in the sand. Our SUV did get stuck in the sand and required the more experienced driver from the other SUV to get us out.

The oasis is the site of a small traditional Berber village with 15 or so houses. If you know where to look, Tissardmine is visible on Google map.

Lodgings (top photo) and entrance to the cafe (below).

This big dining room could be a place where tourists scattered in different campsites gather for a drink or dinner in the evening, if they know this maison and can find it. Notice the pillar that is made by stacking earthen urns.

Although two couples arrived after us to have lunch, the place was very quiet and peaceful. I don’t remember if they have internet access.

There were rooms on the other side of the parking area, but unoccupied. It was the low season afterall. There was a roof terrace which afforded a view of the desert.

Lunch was relatively simple. Everything was fresh and cool.

Grilled meat smelled great.

An idyllic, truly remote, desert hideaway. I(Chris) felt relaxed just by looking at it.

For all of us, it is safe to say that Maison Acacias must be the remotest place where we ate lunch.

A second part of the story on roaming the desert is coming up next.

 

 

Roaming around the desert – part 1

First, let’s put on some Morocco traditional music made by the Oud – a type of lute to get us in the mood. In Fes, IT went to a class to learn how to play the oud.

What did we do in the desert ? We set off in two 4-wheel drive SUVs in relative comfort to tour around the areas around Merzouga, and nearby settlements, Tissardmine, and Hassilabied.

The drivers took us north from our camp in the dunes (see our earlier post here). We were soon traveling on tracks over mostly solid rock, skirting around the eastern edge of the Erg Chebbi sand dune.

While the semi-arid desert looks inhospitable, there are human activities scattered all over the area – some are modern like this communication installation, and some are old, e.g., a ghost town (see our later post).

Our first stop was a fossil field, where one can just pick up fossils from the ground.  It was in the middle of nowhere, no sign and not even tracks.

Morocco has vast deposits of Devonian limestone which dates back three hundred fifty million years. The Sahara desert was a warm shallow sea and the seafloor was abundantly populated by various extinct life forms – ammonites, trilobites and belemnites.

We found only ammonites (see photos) which have a coiled tubular shell. Apparently, they are excellent index fossils, and it is often possible to link the rock layer in which they are found to specific geological time periods.

While we were all bending down looking for the perfect specimen, a man spotted us and came over on a motorcycle to sell us an assortment of stuff from oil to rocks, laid out neatly on the ground. We did not see where he came from – a kind of traveling salesman. Shopping was not on our minds as there were so many things to discover around our feet.

Our next stop was a brief look at an open-cast antimony mine in the same area, worked by two men – one inside a big crack in the ground to load the ores into a bucket, and another above ground operating a diesel-powered crane of lift the ores out.

We could not see the bottom as it was really dark with the shadow cast by the vertical walls. It wasn’t very deep but we could not see how the ores were extracted from the rocks.  Antimony is an ancient metal and its compounds were recognized and used in ceramics.

Our guide told us that the men were mining stibnite (antimony sulphide, Sb2S3) that had been used traditionally to make a blue-black mascara, known as khol, widely worn by men and women in North Africa.  Antimony is commonly used as an alloy to harden other metals, such as lead in batteries, and lead and tin in type metal for printing.

Under a cloudless sky, there was no one in sight and the only sound was made by the sputtering diesel motor. There was no shade to get away from the sun, except to go underground. It must be several degrees cooler down in the pit.

While traveling across the relatively flat desert, we noticed rows of small rock piles which presumably act as markers of certain boundaries, probably relating to land ownership.

From time to time, we saw camels roaming in the open desert, without riders or handlers. They were surely not wild, probably just taking a break from providing tourist rides or walking long distance in a caravan.

Our next post will be about lunch in the desert.

Glamping Erg Chebbi, Morocco

Erg Chebbi is a small sea of sand dunes stretching 22 kms long and 5 kms wide and peaking up to 150 metres high. Formed by wind-blown sand, Erg Chebbi is known for its golden-orange sand formations that start at the most northern tip of the Sahara. We arrived at our camp just after 6 pm and were rushed onto our camels’ back for a trip out onto the dune before sunset.

Prior to the trip, I was rather apprehensive about riding a camel for any length of time longer than half an hour. I read somewhere and friends told me that it is an overrated experience, the discomfort far outweighing any fun and novelty aspects. The most common complaints are a sore arse and seasickness.

Luckily for all of us, getting onto the camel was relatively straightforward.  The animals were well-trained, calm and knew what it was supposed to do with minimal fuss. Our guide was very experienced, knowing exactly how to get us posing on camel back in formations for some great pictures.  From left to right, on the camels were SG, IL, IT, Chris, Sue and DL.

After lumbering about for 10-15 minutes, we got off the animals and walked up to the top of a dune which offered a view of the sweeping sea of sand. And it was so eerily quiet.

The sun was below the horizon and the intense orange color was starting to fade out of the boundless sandscape. This was a memorable high point of the trip.

There was not much camel-riding in the end to test the cautionary theories properly. No one complained about any ill effects after the ride.

Having seen the animals up close, I came to appreciate the stoic hardworking camel that serve the nomads for centuries as the only means of transportation across this hostile terrain.

The word “erg” came from the arabic word “arq” meaning a dune field. Erg Chebbi is technically only in an area of semi-arid pre-Saharan steppes and not part of the Sahara desert which lies some distance to the south. And our camp is located at the edge of the sand dune so we were not as “in” the Sahara as we’d like to believe.  But the featureless desert and the rise and fall of the dunes were real and gave us a taste of the Sahara.

By the time we got back to our private tent, dinner was almost ready. While the structure of our tent was formed by a metal frame with layers of fabric, it had a hinged door, an air-conditioner, a shower and a sit-down toilet. What a luxury in the middle of a desert. We were so pampered, and could now claim to have enjoyed the quintessential desert experience, the clueless tourist version.

There were a total of 10 tents in this camp. Only two were occupied on the first night, we met the other guests at dinner – a couple from China, and a father and his grown son from Argentina. The tents form a semi-circle with a dining tent at one end. The kitchen, storage and staff quarters were in a small concrete building hidden behind the dining tent.

The dining tent had a high ceiling, silky-plush sofas, spacious table settings, and air-conditioning (not needed).  The food was a better-prepared variation of the tourist menu we had encountered so far.  It was good and we enjoyed it.

Entertainment was provided in the form of traditional songs accompanied by drums and krakebs (a large iron castanet-like instrument). The guy leading with a drum set was also the chef! It was an enthusiastic performance, lasted at least 20 minutes and they seemed to enjoy it as much as we did.

I wondered if they are Tuareg Berbers as most of them wore the indigo-blue djellabas. Tuaregs as a Berber group are semi-nomadic scattered through southern Algeria and Libya, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso.

A bonfire was lit and we all sat around it to keep warm, and stared at the night sky. We, city-dwellers do not get to see the milky way much and it was mesmerizing and thought-provoking.

Our first night glamping in the desert was quiet and event-less. Slept better than when we were in Fes, in fact.

The following day was another cloudless sunny day. It was then when we had a proper look at the camp (or the resort shall we say). Here is a view of the camp from the dining tent in the morning.

View of the dining tent from the ring of seats around the bonfire.

The format of the served breakfast was similar to an international hotel but with a Moroccan twist – a hot egg-based dish (arrived in a tajine clay pot), several kinds of bread with local honey and jams, pastries, fresh fruits, and unlimited orange juice and coffee. It was scrumptious and plentiful.

Yes, we had had “Tea in the Sahara” – also a 1983 song by The Police, inspired by The Sheltering Sky – a book I was reading on the trip – see our post here.

We saw pigeons around the camp as there was a grove of trees nearby.  But I did not recall seeing any insect.  Apparently many of the desert animals and insects are nocturnal. The evidence of their movements could easily be seen.

We spent two nights at the camp so a full day was available to looking around the area. See later posts.

A group of Chinese tourists arrived during the day and took up all the other tents. Their itinerary was brief – they rode the camels, enjoyed dinner accompanied by the singing and drums, and promptly departed the next morning.

Road trip in Morocco #1 – from Fes to Merzouga

This road trip is one of two which took us across Morocco. We arranged a driver to take us, 6 people, from Fes to Merzouga, south of the country. The journey in a Mercedes minivan started at 7:30 am and covered almost 500 km.

Once we left Fes, we travelled across a plain and approached the Middle Atlas mountain. The Middle Atlas is the northernmost and second highest of three main Atlas Mountain chains of Morocco. In the photo below, the mountain range cast a shadow across the plain as we started ascending in the eastward direction. By the way, the quality of photos in this post is limited by the fact that most were taken from a moving vehicle.

Our first stop was at Ifrane at 1,665 m (5,463 ft).  It seemed that this is a popular tourist rest-stop; several vans (like ours) and tour buses were already parked in front of a cafe.  We got out to stretch our legs and it was surprisingly cold.  We all ordered a hot chocolate in the cafe and stood around a gas fireplace.

Ifrane has a prestigious university –  Al Akhawayn University (saw the signs) – that teaches in English. I found out later that my employer’s local affiliate recruited many of its graduates.

The area enjoys sufficient snow fall during the winter months that it becomes a ski resort – often compared to Switzerland by the locals due to the architecture – chalets with steep roof. It is also popular in the summer for its more temperate climate when compared to that of Fes.

The Middle Atlas is 350 km in length in the north-east of Morocco with a rich biodiversity (in opposed to a barren desert) making it a tourist destination. The region is noted for the endangered primate, Barbary macaque monkey, and cedar forests. Our driver took a short stop to say hello to a small troop of monkeys.

To accompany this trip, let’s have something truly local. Track 3 is good.

We traversed the mountain through an area blanked by a layer of light snow.

We descended on the other side of the Middle Atlas via the Route Nationale N13 highway to face the High Atlas mountain range across a desert plain.

The High Atlas rises in the west at the Atlantic Ocean and stretches in an eastern direction to the Moroccan-Algerian border. The mountain range serves as a weather system barrier running east–west, separating the Sahara from the Mediterranean zone to the north and west. I suspect that while the central plain is in the rain-shadow of the mountain, it gets its water from melting snow.

We took a short break at the small town of Zaida to buy some fruits and masks (DL was rightly worried about the shortage) from the local pharmacy that also sold veterinary drugs (the only time I have entered a drugstore that supplies humans and their animals).

Lunch was taken at Hotel Taddart, a large hotel just outside Midelt, which caters to large tour groups in a caravan of buses. The restaurant felt like a college campus canteen (due to its size) while it offered standard tourist menu at tourist prices. We encountered the largest concentration of Asians tourists here (there were at least 3 full tour bus worth of tourists).

Midelt is the provincial capital situated at 1,500 metres (5,000 ft) in the high plains between the Middle Atlas and High Atlas mountain ranges. It is at about the same elevation as Denver, Colorado, United States – the mile-high city.

Continuing on the highway N13, we crossed the central Moroccan plain and negotiated our passage across the High Atlas at the Gorge du Ziz. The scenery at the Gorge was stunning but we did not manage to take any decent photo to show here.

The River Ziz (Oued Ziz), which flows out of the High Atlas and into Algeria (over 200 km), is important as it irrigates all the agricultural lands south of the High Atlas.

The River Ziz widens at one point to form the Barrage Al-Hassan Addakhil, just outside the town of Errachidia.

Around the junction of N10 and N13, we stopped for snacks and bathroom, and admired the view of the Ziz valley. Where there is water, there are palm trees. If you look for the Ziz river on google map, you will find a green ribbon snaking across a vast expanse of featureless yellow background.

As we approached the oasis town of Erfoud, the terrain became flat and the surroundings started to look like a semi-arid desert. Since leaving Fes, we had passed through at least three biomes.

Erfoud was the filming location of The Mummy, Prince of Persia and Spectre (James Bond), and is best known for fossils. Then, we passed Rissani, the nearest market town to the Erg Chebbi sand dunes – the reason for our visit.

This route is apparently a well-trodden path for those who wants to see the Sahara while visiting Fes. N13 is a single lane highway which ends at Taouz not far further south. We were glad that this trip was not made during the European holiday seasons.

Our destination, Merzouga, is a small village about 35 km (22 mi) southeast of Rissani and only about 50 km (31 mi) from the Algerian border. It is the base for most tourists who are going onto the Erg Chebbi sand dunes.

We reached the end of our day-long ride in the minivan, and were transferred to a 4×4 SUV somewhere on N13, past Merzouga but before Khemliya. As far as we could observe, all the activities in Merzouga and Hassilabied (a village nearby) are associated with tourism, hotels, quad rentals, restaurants, tour operators, etc. I read somewhere, that people call this area a desert theme park.

We transferred into two 4×4 SUV (no 4×4 SUV that can accommodate all six of us) and drove a further 10-15 minutes off-road to get to our destination.  We arrived at our desert camp and were greeted by the staff. It was after 6pm and the sun was setting (hence, the long shadow of our SUV on the ground).

It was almost an 11-hour journey, door to “door”. We were tired but also energized by the change of scenery.

Place Jemaa-el-Fna, Marrakech, Morocco – part 2

It was our first day in Marrakech. Continuing with our walk in the Place Jemaa-el-Fna after dark. Catch Part 1 here if you missed it. Feel free to browse earlier posts about other places and more photos. Use the tags or the archives feature at the bottom of the page.

To accompany this post, there is another track of Gnaoua found on Spotify.

The square is not really a square but a huge polygon where multiple streets and alleys converge. More people came to the square than in the afternoon.

There were numerous fruit juices carts (orange is abundant in Morocco); and dried fruit and nuts stalls – dates, many different kinds (medjool, sukkari, etc), walnuts, dried apricots and figs.

Along one side of the square is an entrance to the souk, a traditional market catering to the common daily needs of the locals, and tourists. We went in there later with a guide.  If you are visiting for the first time, direction challenged, nervous and/or inexperienced traveler, please, please get a local guide before venturing into a souk.  It’s a crazy maze in there.

A few stalls sell handcrafted lamps – metal with stained glass seemed popular.

Argan oil products are ubiquitous – for consumption (by locals mostly) and cosmetic uses – it became very popular in the 2010s around the world – and we encountered many shops and co-operatives selling it for all kinds of aliments and beauty treatments. It is the quintessential modern day snake oil.  The oil is not without its merits but it has been over-marketed.

Who cares?  We’re tourists!  It’s our job to buy needless, useless things when vacationing.  So we happily bought some (and lotsa other stuff that we now just look at and think, hmm…what do we do with this one?  Why did we get it? What’s it for?).

These stools were placed there by henna artists with photos of their body art designs – mostly hands.

Henna is a temporary plant-based dye applied to the body as one goes through major life events, such as a wedding. Men also wear it.

It was after our dinner, we walked and looked around for a short while, some of us were jet lagged (and some of us didn’t sleep well the night before so was sleep walking at this point) so we decided we can all go for some dessert and/or coffee/tea.  We see this brightly lit building and thought hey, look! Looks like a nice cafe, let’s go there.

The cafe was on the 2nd floor.  We walked in and there it was: a metal detector. It’s a cafe not a jewelry store. Also, the metal detector was situated so that one can sorta go around it if you didn’t want to go through it. There was no guard or personnel to tell customers that everyone needs to go through the metal detector.  So WTH?  Chris did a quick research after we got home and found out that while Morocco is one of the safest, moderate Islamic countries, a suspected bomb blast killed 17 people in 2011 in Café Argana, the brightly lit building in the back of the picture.  The same brightly lit building that housed the cafe that we went to to have some dessert.  But that was 9 years ago: the metal detector was not even on when we went in that evening.

There was never any sense of danger – not even a checkpoint – while we were in the country. I(Chris) went to Jordan, another very safe country in the middle east, and Morocco appeared even more relaxed. In comparison, the metro stations in the center of Beijing and Moscow deployed metal detector for passengers and x-ray machines for bags.

Yeah, that was Chris.  This is me (Sue):  OMG, danger, danger!  I have never seen so many motorcycles in one place in my life.  China had bicycles; Marrakesh has motorcycles.  They were everywhere; big streets, small streets, narrow alleys, if it’s wide enough to fit a motorcycle, it will be there.  And the fumes from them motors !!!  Just thinking about it is making my eyes water and lungs quiver in fear.

Anyway, after our dessert, we were walking back towards our riad and came across this really pretty store (left, photo below).  First, the ground right in front of the store was decorated with flower petals (very colorful and pretty) and there was incense smouldering so the area smelled really nice.  So you’re led with sight and smell to this store that sold spices, soaps (the famous savon noir) and fragrance stuff.   In the picture below, you see the colorful cones?  They are spices.  In powder form.  How is that shape maintained?  We stared at that for a while (and tried not to breathe too heavily in case we messed up that cone shape).

It’s our first night in a new city none of us have ever been to, so we were all very excited and roaring to spend tourist money.  We spent a lot of time here.  We learned during our stay in Morocco that when you enter a shop, you are usually greeted by the shopkeepers with mint tea.  So we had our tea (different kinds, including eucalyptus – feeling tired? smell the eucalyptus crystals, it’ll clear your nose and open your eyes) and bought stuff.

After our shopping spree, we headed down rue des Banques (entrance flanked by Le Marrakchi and Cafe de France) to return to our riad.

A truly unique place.

If you like night markets, check out our posts on Hong Kong’s Chinese new year flower market (here and here) and the night market just outside Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia (here and here).

#morocco #marrakesh #maroc #maghreb #argan

Place Jemaa-el-Fna, Marrakesh, Morocco – part 1

Hello world.

This blog has been on hiatus for a little more than a year.  Since so many of us are marooned at home and cannot (should not) travel in the foreseeable future, it could be a relief to do some virtual sightseeing.  We will start with sharing our last trip taken in the beginning of 2020, just before the pandemic hit Europe.

The destination was the kingdom of Morocco.  We were a party of six. IT, our frequent travel companion, joined us for the full two weeks. DL, IL and SG traveled with us in the first week of the trip.  None of us have been to Morocco before, and in fact, it was the first time for us (Chris and Sue) to set foot on the continent of Africa.

We chose Morocco because it is relatively easy to get to from Europe, and the weather is agreeable during a Northern hemisphere winter season. Our point of entry was Marrakesh, Menara airport. It receives direct flights from Geneva.  The other popular option, more for business travelers, is Casablanca.

We were warned about long lines at the immigration checkpoint and even paid extra (per passenger) to use the speedy VIP lane. Well, it was nice to be greeted by a smiling English speaker at the gate but there was hardly anyone in the spacious modern terminal.  It felt like a scam. Perhaps it is different during the peak travel season.

Our drivers were already waiting to take us to our riad. Emerging from the modern terminal building, we saw another breezy white building, apparently built earlier, that handles departure (see above).

After having settled into our riad in the medina, we wandered into the maze of alleyways and ended up 15-20 minutes later in Place Jemaa-el-Fna, the main square of the city.

The square was packed with people, locals and tourists, stalls, tarp on the ground, and carts selling all kinds of goods and edibles. Surprisingly, there were no donkeys or mules, bicycles and motor bikes. So it made strolling in the square a less stressful activity.

The square has been a part of the UNESCO World Heritage site since 1985. We bought this postcard showing the square circa 1916.

We grabbed an early dinner at Le Marrakachi which had a terrace offering a panoramic view over the square.

Le Marrakachi – a touristy restaurant, but a comfortable place to relax and catch up with DL, IL and SG.  We last saw them in July 2019.

The square became more alive as the sun disappeared behind the minaret of the Koutoubia mosque (Bookseller’s mosque), the largest in Marrakesh, built around 1158.  We did not go to see this landmark as non-worshipers are not allowed.

We took a stroll after dinner around the huge square. There were all sorts of entertainment from parading peacocks, snake charmers (daytime), storytelling, to Gnaoua music (photo below).

The description of Gnaoua music on WIkipedia: deeply hypnotic trance music, marked by low-toned, rhythmic melodies played on a skin-covered lute called sintir or guembri, call-and-response singing, hand clapping and cymbals called krakeb. Gnawa ceremonies use music and dance to evoke ancestral saints who can drive out evil, cure psychological ills, or remedy scorpion stings. Glad to find it on Spotify.

Food is a major attraction in the square. Grilled meats galore. As it was early in the evening, most stalls were just setting up the tables. To some people, the setup in this photo below seems unhygienic. Having seen the place first hand, I think it is not a problem. Since we had an early dinner, we were not tempted.

Another stall was selling sheep’s head and tangia (a different kind of stew from tagine, see center of photo below). Locals did not care but it might be hard for tourists to eat while staring at the rows of heads.

These deep-dried triangles (briwate) of meats, vegetables and seafoods are our favorites – often offered as appetizers in tourist restaurants. They are essentially big samosas.

There were no tall buildings in sight which made the square felt very open and large. We relied on a few brightly lit buildings to orient ourselves in the square.

By the way, if you are wondering, the common English spelling of this place is “Marrakesh”, although “Marrakech” (the French spelling) is also widely used. The name is spelt Mṛṛakc in the Berber Latin alphabet, Marraquexe in Portuguese, Marraquech in Spanish, and “Mer-raksh” in Moroccan Arabic.

To be continued.

#morocco #marrakesh #gnaoua #maroc #maghreb