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.

 

“Their Morocco” by Mehdi de Graincourt

This is our last post on Morocco which we visited in January/February 2020, just before the coronavirus pandemic hit Europe and Africa. The tourism industry suffered enormously worldwide.  We hope the lodgings and services we had enjoyed can bounce back quickly in 2021.

We close this series with a softback coffee-table book I picked up at the Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech.  I checked its availability online while at the shop. To manage luggage weight, following IT’s advice, generally I check bookdepository.com before buying any books while travelling. It is a way to suppress that otherwise untameable shopping impulse. The English version of “Their Morocco” is published by the Fondation Jardin Majorelle (where we were visiting) but I could only find the French version “Leur Maroc” online.

The byline of the book is “The Kingdom Seen Through the Eyes of Artists, Writers and Explorers from Other Countries.” The Foreword is by Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent’s partner – see our earlier post here about their museum and garden.

The people covered in the book include more than 60 notable characters divided into 3 periods- before 1912; 1912-1956; and 1956 since independence to the present, and the characters are presented according to their time of arrival. I have picked a few who resonated with me to share here.

René Caillié (1799-1838) – he was the first European who documented his travels in 1827 on the Caravan route, from Guinea up the the Niger river to Timbuktu (Tombouctou see drawing below), then crossing the Sahara from south to north to Fes, and eventually Tangier. His travelogue was published by the French Geographical Society in 1829, and he was awarded the Légion d’honneur.

Henri Matisse (1869-1954) arrived in Tangier in 1912, became obsessed with the blue Moroccan sky and was dazzled by the lush nature and vibrant colors. He spent months in Morocco producing a collection of paintings heavily influenced by his sensations of the country.

Anaïs Nin (1903-1977) – American writer, famous for her diaries and erotica, first visited Morocco in 1936. This book reproduced short passages of her diary describing her arrival and discovery of Fes in poetic, exquisite details  … “I was overwhelmed by everything I saw. Mystery and labyrinth. Complex streets. Anonymous walls. Secret luxury. … The birds do not chatter as they do in Paris, they chant, trill with operatic and tropical fervor.”

Joséphine Baker (1906-1975) was an American-born French music hall entertainer, French Resistance agent, and civil rights activist. In 1925, she was renowned in Paris as a dancer, performed the Charleston in a costume, consisting of only a short skirt of artificial bananas and a beaded necklace. When the Germans invaded France, Baker campaigned against anti-Semitism, and eventually left Paris to the Château des Milandes, her home in the south of France where she housed resistance fighters.

In 1941, she settled in Marrakech and taking advantage of her singing tour, she met informants and ambassadors in Casablanca and Spain; she entertained British, French, and American soldiers in North Africa.  After the war, she received the military decorations, Croix de guerre and the Rosette de la Résistance from France.

Paul Bowles (1910-1999) wrote The Sheltering Sky which was my (Chris) book for this trip – see earlier post here.

Orson Welles (1915-1985) started making the film Othello (based on Shakespeare’s play), between 1949 and 1950 with a team of 50 people in Essaouira for the outdoor scenes. But its Italian backer declared bankruptcy and Welles had to use local tailors and blacksmiths to make costumes and armors for the film.  In 1952, the film entered the Cannes Film Festival under the colors of the Moroccan flag, and won the Grand Prix.  In 1992, King Mohammed VI inaugurated Orson Welles Square near the walls of the medina facing the port, and just outside our hotel (see later post here).

Dalida (Iolanda Gigliotti ,1933-1987) – French singer and actress, born in Egypt to Italian parents, very popular international artist from the 60’s to the 80’s, made pop, disco and easy-listening songs with audiences in Morocco to Egypt to Lebanon, in France, Greece, Israel, and Turkey.

Salma ya salma sung in arabic (Track 6) was played when Anwar Sadat, the Egyptian president went to Israel for peace talks in 1977 – apparently the first arabic song played on israeli radio.

I still have a few more people to read up in the book – Pierre Loti, Colette, Gertrude Stein, Marlene Dietrich, Alfred Hitchcock …  A fascinating book about Morocco, times and people.

We thoroughly enjoyed our somewhat hectic 2 weeks – like always, in retrospect we now wish to have spent more time at certain places or pay closer attention to things we had only a fleeting look. Well, one day we will go back, may be to see Tangier and the Mediterranean coast.

Riads and Dars, part 3

This is the last of a series of posts which document our experiences in several traditional moroccan hotels, known as riads or dars. The earlier posts are here and here.

In Fes, we tried to stay in Riad Fes but it was fully booked. The riad is situated in the medina and guests are expected to find it by following discreet signposts like the one below. Generally, a guide is absolutely required when you first arrive at the edge of the medina with luggage.

In a densely populated medina, the riad architecture with few external-facing windows makes the entrance to the property very difficult for visitors to find in the myriad of alleyways, all bounded by high featureless walls with few identifiable landmarks.

It took us a while to find the hotel, even with the help of maps and several days of experience in wandering in the medina.

This riad is thoroughly modernized and met the international 4-5 stars status. The property is associated with the Relais & Châteaux network which have helped push their standards to match the marketing.

We had pre-dinner drinks at the rooftop terrace which afforded us a great view of the city of Fes and the distant Atlas mountains.

With lots of outdoor spaces on the roof, the guests are high above the noise and the crowds in the medina. The exterior of the building is modern except the green-tiled awnings and the outline of the windows.

A tiny escalator took us up to the roof terrace from the reception area. After our drinks, we walked down and stopped by the balcony on the first floor.

All the architectural elements around the reception area are meticulously restored. The guest rooms are also accessible from the balcony.

View from the balcony overlooking the reception area with a small grand piano.

Dinner was very good with modernized Moroccan dishes, and our meal was accompanied by an Oud musician. The dining room is modernized and we suspect the guest rooms are too. Without looking outside the window, we would not have known that this was Fes.

In Ouarzazate, we stayed one night at Dar Chamaa, arriving late in the day and just in time for dinner. This three-storey property is a fake dar, constructed recently and to cater to foreign tourists.

The hotel copied the plan of a dar. There was a small water feature (a ditch if one is mean about it) in the middle surrounded by colonnaded balconies. There were no traditional decorations (e.g., stucco) or form (such as an arch, except the lobby level). That’s being modern and efficient.

The hotel was comfortable. We had a good night of sleep after the long distance road trip. Ouarzazate is an oasis town, confirmed by the view from our balcony, which was just water and palm trees.  It preserved our touristic notion of being at an oasis. As the hotel is located at the edge of the town, we never saw the modern Ouarzazate center.

Our lodging in Essaouira – Madada Mogador – is situated above or adjacent to a riad.  The layout of the building had been modified to accommodate two businesses –  a hotel where we were and a massage and well-being establishment that took over the ground floor, including the courtyard and fountain.

With natural sunlight, the atrium was calm and pleasant.

A balustraded balcony circles the atrium overlooking the small fountain.

We booked one of the loft suite for the three of us.  The suite provided a double-level living space, a modern kitchen, and two separate sleeping areas, separately accessed by a spiral staircase or a set of open stairs.

One reason we booked this hotel was the view. We were not disappointed. Outside our window is the rampart of the old fort, and we could walk out to see the Atlantic Ocean.

If you are interested in the riads and dars we visited earlier, see Part 1 and 2 here and here.

 

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.

Road trip in Morocco #4 – from Ouarzazate to Essaouira

This is the last post of a series that documented our second road trip across Morocco that took us from the desert camp at Merzouga to Essaouira on the Atlantic coast. It was a jaunt of about 1000 km made in 3 days.  You can follow our trip to Ouarzazate on this blog here and here.

This was how the last leg began. We left Dar Chamaa in Ouarzazate at about 10 am.

To reach the Atlantic coast from Ouarzazate, we had to traverse the High Atlas and go through the center of Marrakech. We took a detour on P1506 to visit the kasbah at Telouet.

On this desert road, we passed a restaurant called China Red (Zhong Quo Hong) offering at least cafe, tea, juice, and wifi. This road must be popular with mainland tourists.

The road P1506 connects the settlements along the stream (Asif Ounila) with the main highway N9. Palm trees and arable land lined the banks.

We were traveling upstream for many kilometers, and then the road turned westward and headed into the mountain.

Here is a photo of our SUV for the road trip, a black Toyota Land Cruiser Prado, comfortable and energetic.

There was hardly any traffic on this stretch of P1506.

Telouet was our destination and the kasbah was very much worth the detour.  It will be the subject of a future post.

After Telouet, we rejoined the highway N9 to get to Marrakech which is on the other side of the snowy High Atlas mountain range.

N9 crosses the High Atlas at Tizi n’Tichka (Col du Tichka).  At 2260 m (7400 feet) above sea level, it is the highest major mountain pass in North Africa. We did not stop at this rest area, instead we went on to a restaurant which provided lunch accompanied by a panoramic view.

N9 was constructed along the old caravan trail by the French military in 1936.

Facing northwest, the plain on the other side of the High Atlas stretches towards Marrakech as far as the eye can see.

From here, it was all downhill on a highway … and soon we saw the street lights of Marrakech … the city does not have a ring road so we cannot bypass the city center.

While stuck in city center traffic, we inched along with this truck ahead that was advertising a go-kart circuit. Using a mirror, the driver of the car behind could see himself. Interesting marketing idea.  But would that image motivate a driver to want to race a smaller vehicle in circles?

We passed the main train station of Marrakech. To return to Marrakech a few days later, we used a coach service (which also terminated here), but we never had the chance/need to use the railway service.

Leaving Marrakech westbound on Highway N8, we passed this massive telecommunication installation situated on a mesa. Must be pushing out 5-bar strong signals ?!  Speaking about cellphone service, we had no problem at all even in smaller towns. The government has made some real investments here.

This area which lies between Marrakech and the Atlantic coast is flat and the prime area for cultivating argan tree (Argania spinosa). We stopped by the highway briefly at an agriculture commune where women were demonstrating the extraction of argan oil from the nut. We had seen it already in Fes at another women’s commune, and bought our share. The oil is trendy at least in Europe and a valuable export for Morocco (the tree is native and found only in Morocco).

These are young trees in a plantation. If you search online (try here, it is a bit surreal), you will find photos of several goats climbing or standing on branches of an argan tree. We did not witness this but apparently the goats climb up to reach and eat the fruits. It has been said that the goats cannot digest the nut and poop it out, and people can harvest the nuts from the poop to make argan oil. Voila.

While descending to Essaouira on highway R207, we caught our first sight of the Atlantic. It was nice to see an ocean after days of endless expanse of sand and rocks.

Essaouira is a fishing port and a beach resort, well known for wind surfing. As it was the winter season, there was hardly any tourist.

Our lodging was at the edge of the medina near the Avenue du Caire entrance. We never found out why there were so many taxis going around with the Moroccan flag flying.

Finally, we arrived at the west coast of Morocco having started the journey near its eastern border with Algeria.

What a truly memorable, bucket-list, cross-country excursion.

Part 1, 2, and 3 are here, here and here.

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.

Walking in Gorges du Toudra in the High Atlas mountains

Todra Gorge is one of the detour from our 3-day road trip from Mezouga to Essaouira. See earlier post here.

The Todra Gorge (or Todgha Gorge, Gorges du Toudra; in Tamazight: ⵜⵉⵣⵉ ⵏ ⵜⵓⴷⵖⴰ; Arabic: مضيق تودغا‌‎) are a series of limestone river canyons, in the eastern part of the High Atlas Mountains, near the town of Tinghir.

A local guide took us for a walk along the canyon floor, through palmeraies and one of the villages, and we crossed the Oued Todra several times.

We did not go further upstream, but we read that the canyon narrows to a flat stony track, in places as little as 10 metres (33 ft) wide.

Lonely Planet said that the best time to visit is in the morning when the sunshine briefly illuminates the gorge in a golden moment of welcome. Well, we were there late in the afternoon and saw the warm rays of sunset lighting up the upper halves of the cliff face.

We walked along and on the banks of irrigation channels by which river water is diverted into the fields of vegetables, and almond trees and walnut trees. The almond trees which flower in early spring were blooming.

Our local guide spoke English well and told us a lot about stem grafting to propagate the almond trees.

We walked through a Berber village with abandoned mud brick houses. Berbers are an ethnicity of several nations mostly indigenous to North Africa and some northern parts of West Africa.

The Moroccan Constitution, amended in 2011, lists Tamazight the language spoken by Berbers as an official language together with Arabic. In June 2019, Moroccan lawmakers approved a bill requiring Tamazight to be taught to all Moroccan students.

One of the main characteristic of Tamazight that has confused Tamazight speakers is that there are many dialects. Tamazight has three major varieties. Tashlhit, Tamazight and Tarifit. And each of these dialects consists of many sub-dialects.

The teaching of Tamazight is now accompanied with the Tifinagh alphabet (neo-tifinagh), which many Tamazight speakers still aren’t familiar with, having been accustomed to write the language in the Arabic or Latin alphabet. A modernized form of the Tifinagh alphabet was made official in Morocco in 2003. Before this point Tamazight did not have a literacy tradition, even though it has had a written tradition going back 2500 years.

This is Tifinagh written in Tifinagh ⵜⵉⴼⵉⵏⴰⵖ . Tifinagh has been added to Unicode Standard in 2015 and its block range is U+2D30–U+2D7F. We hope your computer can support the display of these codes, otherwise you would have been seeing boxes.

For many years, giving children Amazigh names was forbidden in Morocco, and administrators would often refuse to enter these names into the civil registries. The effect of such a ban was the exclusion of those who speak the language – usually people from poor, rural areas of the country – from participation in various aspects of public life.

Apparently during the high tourist season, souvenir stands and tour buses clog the road.  We did not see anything close to regular vehicular traffic or even a piece of souvenir, lucky us.

Can you see Sue and the guide ahead of me in the photo above ? The vertical rock faces offer excellent rock-climbing routes. Something that we were not going to be able to enjoy.

Our driver was waiting for us further upstream at a scenic spot. We had a nice, gentle 90-minute walk while the sun was slowly setting behind the mountain.

Morabit Marbre Fossils, Erfoud

Our first detour after we left our Merzouga desert camp on our cross-country drive was a fossil factory or rock shop – Morabit Marbre Fossils, at Erfoud – the fossil capital of Morocco.

During the Devonian period, the Paleozoic Era, from about 450 million years ago, this area of the Sahara was the floor of a large prehistoric ocean. It is now prime digging grounds for fossil hunters. We stopped by a fossil field the day before when were exploring the area. See earlier post here.

The most common fossils here are trilobites. Trilobite fossils are found worldwide, with many thousands of known species.

Shown above are ammonites which were molluscs (like squid, octopus) but they had a hard coiled tubular shell as well as a soft body. In its shell, there was a series of progressively larger chambers that are divided by thin walls. Apparently, only the last and largest chamber, the body chamber, was occupied by the living animal at any given moment. As it grew, it added newer and larger chambers to the open end of the coil. The ammonites first appeared in the Devonian period (circa 409 million years ago) and became virtually extinct at the close of the Cretaceous period (circa 66 million years ago) along with the dinosaurs.

We bought one which had been sliced open into two halves and were polished.

I found a rock with numerous ammonites on a digging site from a day earlier. See earlier post here.

This workshop/shop has a courtyard full of large sheets of rocks in which are embedded the fossilized organisms.

Photographs show workers breaking up huge pieces of marble/rocks by pneumatic drilling, and hauling the big pieces back to the workshop where sheets of rocks were carefully sliced off like white bread.  Some of the sheets are about about 10 cm thick.

They are made into ornamental displays, or practical things like tabletops, fountain and bathroom pieces.

In addition to the regular patterns of marble, the slabs of marble on offer here contain fragments of fossils scattered in it.

Apparently, it is rare to find fossils in perfect condition so the miners take their finds to fossil “factory” to have them restored. The composition and placement of the fossils on these slabs (see photo below) looked a bit too perfect to me. Perhaps the fossil themselves are genuine but they were assembled and fixed in a new background.

It must be worrisome for shoppers to hear that fossil replicas can be made from plaster, plastic or even auto-body putty. Not knowing what the real deal looks like, it can be hard to distinguish them.

The shop also offers a huge selection of rocks and minerals. Some are in their natural form.

We were the only customers in this showroom. But during peak season, there must be busload of tourists descending on this emporium.

 

 

 

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.

Riads and Dars, part 2

Continuing with a tour of riads and dars … I think Astrakan Cafe by Anouar Brahem on ECM suits the mood of this dar, especially Track 14 Astrakan Cafe – 2 and Track 8 Parfum de gitane. Part 1 of this post is here.

On our return to Marrakech in the second week, we booked into Dar Darma. IT selected this property because of its unique interiors.

As we mentioned in part 1 (here), most rooms in a riad/dar do not have outward facing window. Partly it is because there is no view in a dense urban setting (where most riads/dars are situated) and more importantly, for religious and privacy reasons. The occupants cherish their privacy and tranquility. As such, many of such homes in the medina have no frontage and are recognized only by an unassuming door. The photo above shows one of two entrances to Dar Darma, the other one is, we think the backdoor, which is even more modest.

Part of the fun in staying at a riad or dar is the sense of discovery and wonder when one first steps inside.

To start, there is usually such a contrast between the hot, chaotic, messy public alleyways and the finely decorated, calm, cool and darkened interiors, followed by a view of clear running water in the center of a tiled garden populated with fragrant plants.

Then, as one explores the property, there is the unexpected and original designs that have been executed by the architect to transform a traditional home into a business that provides hospitality.

As we were welcomed into Dar Darma, we were led through a labyrinth of passages, halls, seating areas, and narrow stairs. We were totally disoriented.

The interiors were all dimly lit, but it was adequate for seeing where to go. Can you imagine this place illuminated only by candles ?  A bit creepy.

All the interior spaces have a soaring ceiling – at least 15 feet – with matching tall windows looking out to a garden or courtyard.

We booked one of the six suites. Our suite was the Red suite – two bedrooms with en suite bathrooms and a living room – look at the walls of the living room.

An arched entry leads to our bedroom framed by a traditional full-height door that carries a smaller one.

Our medieval-looking bed was situated in the middle of an elongated, high-ceiling room. The stripes on the wall accentuated the vertical dimension. The ensuite bathroom was at the far end.

The bathroom was spaciously cave-like (reminded us of Riad Tawarjit) with two separate bath/showers, illuminated by this massive ornate light. It has to be the most dramatically-lit bathroom we have ever used in our travels.

IT’s room was on the other side of the living room, with a set of double doors.

Two “armored” giant vases flanked a small fireplace. A piece of leopard-skin was laid out in front of a TV hidden in a cabinet. The rug was old – the poor cat was probably not an endangered species at the time it became a rug.

We had not seen any skin of exotic animal for sale in the souks – a little surprising since we were in Africa.  A benign observation it was as we do not condone such trade. Plenty of leather, though.

IT’s room was decorated with period furniture and a creepy old photograph (see photo below).

It was nice to share breakfast in our living room. There was an option to have breakfast on the roof terrace which we took the next day. Our living room had windows overlooking a shallow pool with pink petals, surrounded by giant vases (see the photo near the top of the page).

Steep steps lead up to the roof terrace. The black-and-white theme is consistently executed throughout the property.

Compared to the two floors below, the roof terrace was relatively spartan or modern (depending on your taste). In the riads/dars we visited, the roof was always devoted to relaxing – having a drink, a snack under an umbrella, or a dip in a rooftop pool.

There was a small swimming pool up there but it was drained. January was their off-season, after all.

This property does not have a reception. The manager works in a small room somewhere in the labyrinth, we saw it but probably could not find it again.

The very personable concierge gave us a brief tour of the property as it was mostly vacant on our day of arrival. On our own, we would have gotten hopelessly lost. We saw Asian-themed decorations in some rooms with possibly orientalist antiques.

Apparently, many large riads are amalgamations of several homes resulting in a collection of interconnecting courtyards and balconies. Like Dar Darma, they have interesting spaces, some hidden and cosy, while some offers a surprising view of a garden.

Wrapped around mirrors in one of the suites’ bathroom and shower for a very vain person.

Dar Darma is not palatial but it has a maze of rooms and corridors which hides its true size … and then we discovered a small garden.

Due to its layout, we hardly saw any guests, nor the service team – must be a great place to play a murder mystery game or hide-and-seek.

We really liked Dar Darma for its understated luxury and privacy.

Dar Darma’s website has more pictures. Check it out here.

Part 1 is here. More riads to come …

 

 

 

 

Riads and Dars, part 1

Staying at a riad (or dar) is part of the Moroccan experience. For our two weeks in Marrakech, Fes, Ouazazate and Essaouira, we stayed at 2 riads, 3 dars and had a dinner in a riad where we were too late to make a room booking.

I selected a few songs for this post.

Riad (رياض) means a type of garden associated with a traditional Moroccan house. The word originates from the Arabic term for garden. Dar has a courtyard instead of a garden. But the meanings of the two words have apparently mutated and merged in English to represent traditional homes which have been restored and modernized, often by foreigners, to operate as intimate boutique hotels.

Our first night in Marrackech was spent in Riad Tawarjit situated in the medina, about 10-15 minutes walk from Place Jemaa El-Fna (see our post about the square here).  It is a small modest property with about 10-12 rooms on two floors and the roof.

We think it is a recent conversion from possibly two adjacent homes.

The placement of the water feature (a small pool for your feet ?) is not in the center of the property and looks like an afterthought. But it does have a small tree qualifying it as a riad.

Our room was on the second floor and very cosy. IT’s room was directly on the other side of courtyard (see photo below).

In our room, we felt like sleeping in a cave because it had a high ceiling, all the walls (not just the bathroom/shower, see below) were smooth with rounded corners and edges, and had a natural not painted grey color. Probably concrete.

Historically, riads were the city homes of wealthy citizens (merchants, aristocrats). They were mostly two or more stories high with a square or rectangular garden/courtyard and a fountain. They typically have two salons at the ground level facing each other across the central open area.

In Fes, we stayed at Dar Al Andalou which has the classical layout. Being the only guests when we arrived, the host allowed our group to pick any room we wanted. It was not an easy decision as the rooms were all different.

DL and family chose the salon on the right and for us, the one at the far end (see photo above). IT chose a room on the second floor.

This property had been nicely restored. They took care to maintain as much traditional details as possible. But the plumbing was not modernized for the 21st century. We were cold and the hot water was not consistent. The manageress was nice about it but the on-site caretaker/waiter was less responsive.

The traditional floor plan was designed to preserve family privacy and reflected Islamic cultural norms. The architecture directs the attention of the dwellers inwardly with windows, galleries and balconies looking back into the courtyard, with the fountain as a focal point.

In older houses there would be no windows in the salons but only two large doors each housing a smaller door. The smaller door is kept open in summer with a curtain for privacy. The photo below shows the double door to our bedroom, neither one were used during our stay. Another set of doors with stained glass and a weak lock was used (see photo above).

The salons are typically elongated with very high ceilings, sometimes carved and painted. This was our bedroom which lacked any outward facing window and was quite dark throughout the day (see photo below).

Because of this inward-looking design, many of such homes in the medina have no frontage and is recognized only by an unassuming door. In a densely populated medina, this type of architecture makes it very difficult for visitors to find their riad in the alleyways lined by high featureless walls with few identifiable landmarks. Losing your orientation the first time is almost fun and feels adventurous, but after that one time, you feel stupid and find the situation annoying when you just want to get back to rest your feet.

Typically, they have a roof terrace for cooking, relaxing and entertaining, but historically, the roof terrace is used for drying clothes and grains, and sleeping when it is too hot.

It has been said that the gentrification of these traditional homes played a role in keeping alive Moroccan handicraft traditions, such as tadelakt plaster (the “concrete” walls we had in Riad Tawarjit ?), stucco decoration, and zellige tiles.

More riads and dars to come …

 

 

 

Volubilis, an archaeological gem

While we were staying in Fes, we took a day trip to Meknes and Volubilis.  Meknes, one of the imperial cities of Morocco. Meknes did not make much of an impression on us but Volubilis is a gem.

First, let’s put on some Morocco traditional music made with an Oud – a type of lute. In Fes, IT booked a tutor to learn how to play the oud.

Volubilis was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. See its record here. Most of what is written below came from UNESCO and Wikipedia.

Covering an area of 42 hectares, it is of outstanding importance demonstrating urban development and Romanisation at the frontiers of the Roman Empire and the graphic illustration of the interface between the Roman and indigenous cultures. Because of its isolation and the fact that it had not been occupied for nearly a thousand years, it presents an important level of authenticity. It is one of the richest sites of this period in North Africa, not only for its ruins but also for the great wealth of its epigraphic evidence.

Volubilis is a partly excavated Berber city and commonly considered as the ancient capital of the kingdom of Mauretania. Built in a fertile agricultural area, it developed from the 3rd century BC onward as a Berber settlement before becoming the capital of the kingdom of Mauretania.

It grew rapidly under Roman rule in the 1st century AD with a 2.6 km (1.6 mi) circuit of walls, 8 gates and 40 towers and around 20,000 inhabitants – a very substantial population for a Roman provincial town. The city gained a number of major public buildings in the 2nd century, including a basilica, a temple and a triumphal arch. Its prosperity, which was derived principally from olive growing, allowed the construction of many fine town-houses with large mosaic floors.

The city fell to local tribes around 285 and was never retaken by Rome because of its indefensibility and remoteness being on the south-western border of the Roman Empire. It continued to be inhabited for at least another 700 years, first as a Christian community, then as an early Islamic settlement.

In the late 8th century it became the seat of Idris ibn Abdallah, the founder of the Idrisid dynasty of Morocco. By the 11th century Volubilis had been abandoned after the seat of power was relocated to Fes. Much of the local population was transferred to the new town of Moulay Idriss Zerhoun, about 5 km (3.1 mi) from Volubilis.

The ruins remained substantially intact until they were devastated by the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake and subsequently looted by Moroccan rulers seeking stone for building Meknes. It was not until the latter part of the 19th century that the site was definitively identified as that of the ancient city of Volubilis.

During and after the period of French rule over Morocco (started in 1890 until 1955), about half of the site was excavated, revealing many fine mosaics, and some of the more prominent public buildings and high-status private houses were restored or reconstructed. The Arch of Caracalla is one of Volubilis’ most distinctive sights, situated at the end of the city’s main street, the Decumanus Maximus.

The basilica was used for the administration of justice and the governance of the city.

Completed in the early 3rd century, it was one of the finest Roman basilicas in Africa.

The Capitoline temple

Some of the houses were apparently luxurious residences which had private baths and a richly decorated interior, with fine mosaics showing animal and mythological scenes.

The houses have been named by archaeologists after their principal mosaics or other finds.

Many of the mosaics were protected by a rope barrier to prevent people to walk over and wear down the tiles.

The city was apparently supplied with water by an aqueduct that ran from a spring in the hills behind the city. An elaborate network of channels fed houses and the public baths from the municipal supply.  The bath shown here can accommodate more than 10 people sitting in the round stone seats.

Our tour guide was very helpful and took us for a walking tour of first the major public buildings and then the private homes, and down the main street, Decumanus Maximus.

The site also has a small modern museum showing a movie about the city and displaying some excavated pieces.  Apparently, the best pieces are on display in the capital and Tangier.

UNESCO commented that the archaeological site of Volubilis is an outstanding example of a focal point for the different kinds of immigration, cultural traditions and lost cultures (Libyco-Berber and Mauritanian, Roman, Christian and Arabo-Islamic) to exchange influences since High Antiquity until the Islamic period.

We are very glad to have chosen Volubilis to spend half a day.

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.

Musée Yves Saint Laurent and Jardin Majorelle, Marrakech, Morocco

We had a guide/driver for a day in Marrakech and he brought us to Musée Yves Saint Laurent, Marrakech (mYSLm).

Concurrent with the opening of Musée Yves Saint Laurent, Paris (Av. Marceau), the Foundation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent created this museum in 2017 with the Foundation Jardin Majorelle.

A retrospective movie Yves Saint Laurent was made in 2014. Here is the soundtrack, it has a few opera favorites and nice quiet piano pieces.

The main hall of the museum (photos not allowed) shows a retrospective featuring 50 pieces representative of the essential work of YSL from 1962 to 2002 including the pea coat (1962), the Mondrian dress (1965), “le smoking” tuxedo suit (1966) and the safari jacket (1967).

He designed clothes for women that borrowed from a masculine wardrobe, “avoiding the fashion of the moment and give them more self-confidence”.  Catherine Deneuve and Isabelle Adjani wore his designs in various movies.

The museum also has a space for temporary exhibition, an auditorium where we saw a short documentary film, a cafe and a bookshop.

YSL was trained at the House of Dior and in 1957, he found himself, at age 21, the head designer after Christian Dior died of a heart attack in his fifties.

In 1961, he opened YSL couture house with Pierre Bergé in Paris.

Les Quatre Saison (The Four Seasons) posters by YSL in 1983.

In 1970, YSL designed the first in a series of greeting cards with the word “Love” in poster form that he would send his friends, collaborators, and clients annually until 2007.

The YSL museum is adjacent to the Jardin Majorelle which was saved from demolition by Pierre Bergé and YSL in 1980. The garden (English link here), also opened to the public, was designed by the French artist, Jacques Majorelle (1886-1962) in 1923.  Jacques Majorelle commissioned the architect, Paul Sinoir, to design a Cubist villa for the property in 1931.  I included a copyright-free photo below because it was impossible to take a picture due to overcrowding.

YSL was born in 1936 in Oran, Algeria and seemed to have a great affinity for north Africa.  He and Bergé collected over 600 traditional North African objects and a Berber Museum (Le Musée Berbère, linked here) was created in 2011, which houses their collection.

Majorelle was a celebrated Orientalist painter, and a special shade of cobalt blue was used extensively in the garden and its buildings which is named after him, bleu Majorelle –Majorelle Blue. Everywhere in the garden, the blue is contrasted with almost-neon lemony yellow and deep vermilion-orange.

The garden offers a series of walkways at different levels among the boldly-colored buildings. There is a large collection of cactus, all perfectly laid out and beautifully managed.

The garden was extremely popular and it was packed with tourists. There was even an Asian couple taking bridal pictures. I cannot imagine the crowds during peak tourist season.

YSL and Bergé were a couple but they split amicably in 1976 and remained lifelong friends and business partners.

Just before YSL died in 2008 of brain cancer, Bergé married YSL. His body was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the Jardin Majorelle. Bergé died in 2017.