Knotty Ewe On the Land

I arrived safely in Istanbul very early in the morning.  Unfortunately I only dosed on the flight so I was very very tired when I arrived.  I made it to my hotel and checked in early.  I was able to get a few hours sleep before Rose arrived later in the afternoon.  It was fantastic to see her again and I’m very excited to be doing this tour with her.

We met with our tour leader and our tour mates (there are only 9 of us) in the evening to go over the details of our trip.  It looks like we will hit all the highlights of western Turkey including Ephesus, Pumakkale, and Capadoccia.   You’ll get details as we go!  The fun part of these tour is that as much as possible we are going to use public transit so it’s not your typical bus tour which I’m thankful for.  It seems like we have a really good group – 4 Aussies, 3 Canadians, 1 American, and 1 Scot.  Everyone is very friendly and nice so the dynamic is great so far.

Today was our first official full day.  We started the day with an orientation walk.   We are staying in the “Golden Horn” area which is the old section of the city and was the heart of both the Byzantine and Ottoman empires.  Everything is within a pretty easy walk of our hotel which is down by the harbour.

Our tour started by going by Hagia Sophia which was an orthodox cathedral built by Emperor Justinian in the 6th century and the Blue Mosque which is right beside Hagia Sophia.  We didn’t go into either because of the crowds.  Rose and I will definitely return as we have a few days in Istanbul after the tour is finished.

Hagia Sophia – cathedral built by Justinian, then converted to a mosque, now a museum – inside visit after the tour is done

Blue Mosque

We did go inside another mosque though and it was beautiful.  Sorry I can’t remember the name – so many were mentioned.  One of the problems with a tour is that you get information overload and you just follow along without really knowing where you are going or what you are seeing.

Taking our shoes off to visit the mosque

Inside mosque – head covering required for women

We also did a quick breeze through the Grand Bazaar which is the largest covered bazaar in the world.  Rose and I returned during our free time this afternoon to do some shopping – though we didn’t buy much it is just too overwhelming with choices!

Entrance to the Grand Bazaar

Inside the Grand Bazaar

Grand Bazaar – strangely empty during Friday prayers

Along the way today we got to try some yummy new foods.  For me the best was freshly squeezed pomegranate juice and apple tea.  The prevalence of these is like the orange juice stands and mint tea which were everywhere in Morocco.  I think these will be daily consumptions if available in the places we are going.

Apple tea

Fresh squeezed pomegranate juice

Honey and pistachio turkish delight – chewy sweet that they claim is an aphrodisiac

Stuffed peppers

Turkish pizza – yummy but my stomach finally is rebelling at the cheese which will be avoided from now on :(

I’m glad that we have some time in Istanbul after our tour is finished as there is so much to see here.  We didn’t really have a plan for today but I have a long todo list already for when we come back!

After spending a few very civilized and enjoyable days in Marseille I’m leaving tonight at the ungodly hour of 2 am to fly to Turkey.  I am very sad to leave France.  It has been so easy to be here, so relaxing.  If I weren’t already booked into tours for the next 5 weeks or so I’d love to stay and explore more of France.  I will just have to save it for next spring I guess.

This morning I took the ferry out to the Fioul archipelago which is a grouping of three small islands out in the bay.   One of the islands is the Chateau D’If which was the prison for Dantes in the “Count of Monte Cristo”.  Being a fan of the movie I was disappointed that I couldn’t visit the island as the seas were too rough to allow for safe docking.  The other two islands were joined by a causeway in the 19th century to create a harbour.  I spent a lovely few hours rambling around the islands, enjoying the views of the ocean and Marseille.

Marseille

Chateau D’If with Marseille in the background

Chateau D’If

Ile de Frioul

Harbour of Ile Frioul

This evening for my last meal I returned to the English pub I was at a few nights ago.  On the advice of a friend I wanted to try the Leffe dark ale which proved to be equally lovely.  Also as I’m leaving Europe now for a while I wanted one more Flammekuche (it ended up not being quite the same as what I had in Germany in August).

Flammekuche with Leffe Rituel

Desert was pear sorbet covered in pear brandy.  As you can expect it was quite lethal and infinitely yummy!  The problem is that I have a cough again and the pharmacist gave me cough medication that has codeine in it.  I’m hoping it make it to my flight safely!

Pear sorbet with pear brandy

I’m really enjoying my short break in France.  Outside the immediate area around the Old Port which is pretty touristy, Marseille really is just a just a big, modern city that is going about its business.  I’m not going to hold that against it, but yesterday I headed to Aix en Provence to get a dose of a slower pace and a more comfortable atmosphere.  Aix did not disappoint and was as warm and lovely as I remember it from my previous visit in 2010.

In the morning I hiked to the rail station from my hostel and purchased my ticket for the next of the frequent trains to Aix which is a 40 minute ride from Marseille.  As many of the people on the train seemed to be young people I figured they were headed to the university in Aix.  I love riding trains.  It is so relaxing watching the countryside rush by.

I spent most of the day just wandering through the old part of the town.  I enjoyed a lovely lunch in one of the squares under the tall shade trees amongst the warm yellow stone buildings.  To my eyes everything in Aix said warmth – probably just because I like the yellow so much!

Lavender bunches scenting the sunny air

After my lovely day of wandering, I decided to have a proper dinner last night at a nice restaurant amongst the never ending parade of establishments around the port back in Marseille.  Most of the restaurants have prix fixe menus which are pretty good and include a starter, main, and dessert for a decent price.

Rocket salad with parmesan cheese

Duck with veggies

Chocolate mousse

Bearic, the luxury loving lush, voted for a wine selection from the “carte grande réserve” but I settled for a glass of the house red which was quite satisfactory.

The food was pretty good, but am I crazy that a meal shouldn’t take 2.5 hours to complete?  I ran right up against the famed lack of service in French restaurants as I was promptly ignored for most of the evening and struggled for 30 minutes just to pay the bill.  It was totally ridiculous but definitely an experience!

I’m in Marseille for a few days for a cultural reset before heading off to Turkey for three weeks.  I arrived really late last night somewhere around midnight.  I can’t really say which time it is as I think the time changed last night so all the clocks were messed up (I changed my watch 4 times!).

My first order of business this morning was to make my to do list which includes amongst other things restocking toiletries and changing my plans for December (Egypt is really really not a good idea even for optimists like me).  Besides getting these housekeeping chores done though my priority was to get out to wander and enjoy the old port area which I did.

Old Port

Sunday strollers enjoying a band concert under a reflective performance area (see the reflection above)

Floating restaurant in the harbour with a small water problem

Restaurant specializing in Moroccan food – tanjine anyone?? (not for a while)

A good portion of Marseille’s port area was destroyed during the war and the destroyed buildings were quickly replaced in the 1950s with uninteresting structures.  However, the back streets are still in tact and were a rewarding wander.  Old Montreal, not surprisingly, came to mind.

Le Panier narrow street above the port

As a means of furthering my orientation after my feet had hit the limit, I took the hop-on-hop-off bus around it’s tour around the old city.  This was fun as it took me to spots I wouldn’t have reached by foot and was a nice cruise along the water front corniche.

Cathedral de la Major (giant 19th Century creation)

Harbour islands including the Chateau D’If (a day trip soon)

In trying to restock items I need I quickly discovered that Sunday shopping is a new phenomenon here and very very few stores are actually open and those that are make a big deal of it.  I hadn’t factored that into my mental planning! I was able to find everything I need though (even found my special moisturizer which pleased me greatly as I really don’t want to experiment and get a massive case of topical dermatitis yet again).

I did end up doing some other shopping though.  I saw a Desigual store from the tour bus and hunted it down afterwards.  I’ve been eyeing these colourful creative clothes for a long time since an un-named coworker sported a lovely top.  So far on this trip I’ve been relatively restrained in buying things either as souvenirs or that I can’t get at home – today I gave in.  Sorry no ugly change room selfies to share of the couple of tops I got.

I rewarded my wanderings with a truly European meal – Italian pizza, Belgian beer, French water in an English pub setting.

Our week in Taghazout together was fun, relaxing, and an interesting eye openner.  Taghazout is a small village just along the coast from Agadir.  Since the sixties it has been a big surfer hangout.   The intent in staying there was to get some sun, sand, and relaxation and for me to try my hand at surfing.

When we arrived though we were both very very tired from the road trip.  After moving around almost everyday and the constant riding for almost 2 weeks, we were exhausted mentally, physically, and emotionally.  This is the first time we have travelled together so being together 24/7 under conditions of some stress has taken its toll.  We were bickering a lot and generally not really enjoying our time.  This is the first time we’ve had such disagreements so it was hard for us to learn how to deal with that kind of conflict.  But after lots of talking (and cuddles) we worked things through.

We did actually consider leaving Morocco early to go somewhere more culturally familiar (e.g. Europe).  Morocco is lovely but I found that I was conscious of everything – from brushing my teeth with bottled water, to making sure I’m wearing pants when we go out (not showing too much skin).  I couldn’t just do as I would at home which is very tiring.  Not to mention I’ve been on the move for over 2 months now.  I was very much in need of a mental and physical break and we were only partially able to get it in Taghazout.

We had an apartment directly on the water. Actually the one we originally rented wasn’t tenable as it was right in the heart of the town.  The first night there was a group of skateboarders doing their thing right blow our window and then the next morning the fishing boats started revving their engines for launch starting at 6 am.

Fishing boats below our window at first apartment

Luckily, the organization we booked the apartment through (Surf ‘n Stay) was able to move us to another unit which was lovely and a bit further out of town.  We were able to sit on the balcony and enjoy the sun and sound of the waves crashing onto the beach below.

On our first weekend we made a trip into Agadir to the massive supermarket to pick up some supplies which included some wine as these are the only places you can buy alcohol in Morocco.   Everyone from the area seemed to be there as they are all stocking up for the coming feast of Eid which was on Wednesday.

Actually the big part of the feast is slaughter of a sheep so there are big road side stands where you can get your sheep or even in the parking lot of the supermarket (kind of like getting a Christmas tree!).  People bought the sheep live an then as part of the Eid celebrations they were slaughtered.  In the days leading up to it sheep appeared in unlikely places.

Talkative sheep waiting for Eid celebrations (right beside where we were having dinner)

A waiter that we were chatting with at one of the restaurants invited us to join his family’s celebrations for Eid.  Though it would have been interesting in the end we didn’t go.  A big thing for me was I couldn’t handle watching a sheep being slaughtered and then watch people eat it.

The day after Eid (Thursday) the garbage truck hauled away mountains of sheep carcasses that were slaughtered because they weren’t sold along with all the discarded skins.  Many of the young men made suits out of the skins (including the face skin) and walked around clothed in them for the next couple of evenings carrying the feet tied to strings and hitting passers by and asking for money.    You can only imagine the smell!

Sheep people with masks after Eid (I struggled to get a picture)

I did give surfing a try one day.  It was a total disaster.  Of course I’m totally uncoordinated and am probably not in the best of shape to do it, but I was really looking forward to it.  I made arrangements through our host with a local surf school.  I was the only total beginner that day so I had one-on-one instructions with a young guy.   It was a beautiful day and after grabbing gear we headed out to a gorgeous long sandy beach just outside town.

Let’s just say he was a disaster of an instructor.  Surfing is really really hard because it requires alot of strength, balance, and coordination – especially when you are trying to stand up on the board (called “pop-up”) for the first time.  He made me feel like an idiot that I couldn’t do it within my first 5 tries.  I only found out at the end of the day from other surfers that no-one stands up on their first day.  Unfortunately my instructor didn’t tell me this, so my own frustration combined with feeling his impatience upset me so much that I eventually gave up and sat it out on the beach.  So that was the sum total of my surfing experience in Taghazout as I was so put off I didn’t want to give it another try there.  I will likely give it another try in a different place in the future – hopefully with a group of other beginners to get mutual support and make it fun instead of just a monologue of analysis in my head!

Me in my wetsuit (squinting in the sun – I’m not in pain!)

Surfers enjoying the waves

We also did some exploration of the area. The highlight was hike up to Paradise Valley.  This started off with a lovely ride up into the hills away from the ocean.  We then hiked down into a beautiful valley full of small water pools, cool palm trees, and tranquility.   It was a lovely spot of green in such an arid country.  I’ve really missed green! Unfortunately we got off the main path and I also found it was pretty muddy when I took an undignified tumble!

Paradise Valley

Yesterday (Saturday) the folks we rented the bike from (Loc2Roues) came to Agadir from Marrakech to bring us the luggage we had left with them as well as to pick up the bike.  That last piece of business taken care of we packed up all our gear and headed to the airport.

I was very very sad to say good bye to Eric.  It has been a revealing few weeks.  We’ve both learned a lot about each other, our relationship, and what we want going forward.  I think in many ways it was just a bit of overload – too much Morocco, too much bike riding, too much time together without breaks.  But we worked it through and I’m very happy.  I’m now looking forward to the rest of my trip until December.  This stretch of separation seems much shorter than the first even though it will likely be the same duration.

Yesterday evening Eric started on his journey back to Toronto and I headed to Marseille for a few days break before heading to Istanbul.  My mission here is to reset a bit but more on that to come.

Sorry for the long delay in posting. I hope you will forgive my taking a bit of a (unplanned) break this past week so I could relax and enjoy my time with Eric.  I’m so touched by how many people are following along on my adventures.  I am very appreciative of all the comments and emails I’ve received.  Every time I hear from someone it feels like a big hug which makes all the difference when I’m feeling disconnected or alone.  So thank you.

Louisa: The last few days of our road trip were spent enjoying more dramatic scenery on the southern side of the High Atlas.  The highlights of this were the Dades Gorge and Valley of the Roses.

The Dades Gorge is just west of the Todra Gorge and cuts deeply into the mountains.  If you go far enough there are rough tracks (called piste) which you can drive along that connect the gorges.  We tried to go on some of these but our bike is just too big for it and our tires aren’t rugged enough for it.  So we just stuck to the normal tarmac roads (much to my pleasure!).

Eric: I’d like to add that some of the highlights were the people we met and the lunch we had in M’semir! The road through and past the Dades Gorge to M’semir was tough. How tough? Switchbacks on less than ideal roads without barriers tough! Oh and then there was the high pass (not mountain high, mind you, but still 1800+ meters high) where the road was reduced to 1 vehicle width due to erosion… Still no barrier! My nerves were most definitely shot by the time we got to M’semir. Once there and once finding the eastern-entry point to the MH3 (Piste to Tamtetouche in the Todra Gorge) we settled down for lunch in a very relaxing spot. The restaurant had a huge garden in front of the lounging benches and we had a very satisfying lunch of berbere omelette (saffron and cumin!) cooked in a tajine. It was just what I needed to recuperate from the adrenaline and cortisol running through my body before doing that ridiculous route again. Did I mention I don’t like heights?

The next highlight of course was our last photo stop (the last photo in the following group) before reaching our Auberge. Louisa and I were standing arm in arm taking in the view and I turned around to the road and there camping spot on the other side to see a specialized truck made for overland travel. It was a smaller version of another we had seen earlier where the container has been turned into a living space. Pretty cool way to travel! The owners of the vehicle spotted us and for some reason used their nice camera to take a picture of use from across the way. Visiting them lead to a fantastic conversation about they’re travels, their vehicle (turns out they did the conversion themselves). A Scotsman who was trekking the area came over as well to join the conversation and we learned quite a bit about the sheep slaughtering festival that will be going on for Eid, also a key tip to get our alcohol before the weekend was over because those parts of the shops close down so as not to tempt the local population during a time of celebration, seriously! Oh and the Swiss couple with the truck gave us almost 1L of wine, amazing! You can checkout their story here at Sahara-team.ch.

Louisa: The next day we went in search of the Valley of the Roses.  We had both pictured fields and fields of roses planted in the valleys with the flowers in full bloom. Unfortunately we could not have been more wrong.  First off, the flower harvest is in May so our timing was off by almost 6 months, and secondly the roses are planted as borders around the fields so they are a secondary crop.   It was a fun adventure though to drive up into the hills and to not find any other tourists on the road.

Eric: Yeah this was a surprise for us, while I figured we weren’t going to see a massive bloom of roses I did expect some sort of industrialized operation going on there… nothing of the sort. It’s all local families who produce some amazing rose oil. The gorges here really are something to marvel at, before you reach them you may as well be in a desolate and barren place until suddenly, come around a bend and drop down a bit and you’re skirting around a lush valley filled with life. It’s still not enough to sustain the local population, they do have to import foodstuffs into the area which I was surprised at but I suppose makes sense.

Louisa: We then made our way to the western end of the mountain range to Ait Benhaddou.  This is a kasbah that has been preserved and gussied up over the years to be used as a movie set.  It has acted as a backdrop for Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator, Prince of Persia and Game of Thrones (amongst others).  It was fun to walk around, though the tourist touts were kind of annoying and ruined the atmosphere a bit for me (I almost felt I was back in Egypt).

Eric: I have to say I was underwhelmed by this place. There were however some shops that I had fun in, especially the last one where I was really engaging the shop keeper into explaining his wares. I got the impression I was getting some fabrication of the history of the items and had a distinct impression that some of his stuff was from the movies that were shot here. In fact, when we arrived outside his shop he told us about how the Gladiator scenes that were made in the slave camp were shot there, how he was an extra, etc.

Louisa: We continued over the Anti-Atlas range towards the coast.  Enroute we encountered some strange weather.  It felt like we were driving through a cloud on the high plateau.

Eric: You may not know this but Louisa is quite tired and is in relaxation mode (this is a fantastic thing!). She has left out an entire city we stayed in called Talouine in the hopes to finish this blog post quickly, not on my watch! Muha. I have to admit Talouine was pretty non-descript from our perspective. It is a great place to use as a base for hiking if that is your thing, or, if you’re lucky enough to come at the right time to see the lotus blooms and the saffron harvest; we were a week early! However while driving through this region I was reminded of a documentary of the saffron industry in Morocco and then it hit me… we were driving through the very region from the documentary. 1kg of lotus stigmata = $4000, can you imagine how many stigmata you need to get to 1kg?

Eric: Louisa says it “felt” like we were driving through a cloud on the high plateau. As far as I was concerned we were driving through a cloud on the high plateau. I may be wrong of course but I’ve had the pleasure of being in clouds a few times before and I’ve come to associate a different kind of smell to them vs. mist & fog. An interesting and weird happening was when we suddenly would get hit with water… or rather we would drive into a patch of moisture that was either falling or just ready too… it felt like ice almost… little tiny bits of ice hitting my face through my open visor.

Past the cloud we ended up having lunch at a rest-stop attached to a gas station. It was mutton and it was horrible. Though to our surprise a few motorcyclists arrived who we had bumped into up in Fes. A French group that remembered us and with Louisa translating we were all able to commiserate a bit on our experiences so far in Morocco. Quite a treat for me! For the rest of the day we leap-frogged the French group, they passing us on our next break and vice versa.

Louisa: Late this afternoon as the heat was dying down, we made our way up the Todra Gorge. The hotel we are staying at is part way into the gorge so we didn’t have to start at the very beginning.  The gorge is stunning and was warmed by the late afternoon sun.  It is hard to describe how majestic and “wow” inducing it is, so you’ll have to enjoy the pictures!

Eric: We didn’t HAVE to start at the beginning but we did have to go back into Tinghir/Tinerhir for gas first; What a pain and totally my fault for not thinking about it on Sunday! However on the way we did see 4 bicyclists making their way along which was very inspiring and then a group of 4 motorcyclists who we saw up near Midelt on Saturday. They had come down from what I suspect was Imilchil on what is known at the MH2 to readers of Chris Scott’s Morocco Overland guidebook.

Eric: While it’s not shown in the photos we’ve posted here there are some spots in the gorge where the layer of rock clearly shows how it was “bent” during it’s formation. Seeing rocks that bend like this always reminds me of my uncle Stefan (a geologist) showing me up near Bala in Ontario some amazing examples of rock that folds over on itself… to be here seeing it on such a grand scale is really quite humbling.

Louisa: We made our way through the gorge to emerge on the rocky plain beyond.  We managed to even start following one of the gravel roads recommended in our guidebook as great for exploring the region.  Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately in my mind as I didn’t think we had rugged enough tires for it) the light started to fail so we had to turn back.  As it was it was fairly dark by the time we made it back to our hotel for about 7.30.   With the high walls the gorge got dark before usual.

Eric: The gravel road Louisa is talking about is the eastern end of the MH3 which connects the Dades and Todra gorges. The book refers to this as the second hardest route they outline because of the first 5 to 12km at each end of the route… This was a pretty good time for me to get some experience with a big bike, 2-up on these overland routes. My verdict? It would be pretty tough given our low experience riding together on such a heavy bike. I took some photos of the route extending out beyond the bike as inspiration to come back again one day.

Louisa: Despite my previous posts, you may now notice a new ring has made its way onto my significant finger.  For a short time this had the traditional meaning.  However, following a panic attack on Eric’s side and some heartfelt discussions, we decided that we prefer to pursue a dedicated partnership rather than more traditional arrangements.  More on possible future celebrations to come!

Eric: Hehe, yes, our “non-engagement life commitment” ring… it has quite a ring to it doesn’t it! I’m really happy to have found myself with someone as special as Louisa wants to create something unique to ourselves and I couldn’t be more excited or happy!

We’re in looooooooooove!

Louisa: As we are in a Muslim country, we took last Friday as our day of rest and hung out at our accommodations outside Fes.  It was also a day of celebration as it was our one year anniversary.  I’m very grateful for the wonderful year we have had together and this trip to Morocco is just the start of our many adventures together.

Eric: I didn’t realize we took Friday as a day of rest because we were in a Muslim country, I just thought we were tired after trudging through the Medina(s) on Thursday!! However I was well aware of it being our anniversary and it was really fabulous to take it easy and reflect on the past year. It’s been a long time since I’ve marked a year of any relationship so it’s very special to me that it’s with Louisa in this far away place. Suits us well I reckon!

Louisa: On Saturday, now well rested, we were ready to hit the road (relatively) early as we headed south over the Atlas mountains to the south of Morocco.  It was amazing how the scenery changed — going around a bend we would go from bright green forests, to golden desolate plains, then onto red rocky scrub.

Eric: Early and on-time are new aspects of my identity — credit to Louisa there! Now, who reading this post remembers a certain road trip where I decided to bake muffins 5 minutes before being scheduled to leave? We left in very good time I have to say and beforehand we took the time to chart out an updated itinerary now having a reasonable understanding of how far we can travel in Morocco in an hour, etc. A big impact on this rough estimate is of course how picturesque the route is! And Saturday’s route certainly was stunning… My first true mountainous riding experience!

Louisa: Along the way we met a number of interesting creatures — including monkeys, camels, and of course many sheep and goats.

Louisa: At lunch time on Saturday, Eric spotted a sign for a “special place to stay” pointing down a rough side road.  Being the driver, and exploring type, he took us down the road.  We ended up at a wonderful small aquamarine lake backed by the dramatic hills.  There was a small inn there where we had lunch sitting in a bedouin style tent.

Eric: This was a “real find” and that sign really did sum up the location quite well. Next time I come through Morocco with Louisa, friends, or on my own I will make sure to bring my camping gear to really make the most of this landscape. While the inn did have some tents setup, weeks or months of exposure this year had really given them a beating and I prefer my own gear.

Louisa: We were joined for our meal by a feline family including a kitten who was hanging out in the roof of the tent.

Eric: I am unfortunately a big sucker for animals. It wasn’t just a family of cats hanging out with us, there was also a raggedy little dog with a red collar running around looking for attention and food. He came rampaging through the tent looking for scraps after the cats had their turn at begging (and receiving, I couldn’t resist!) for scraps of our meal.

Louisa: We spent Saturday night in Midelt.  As we arrived quite early, and their wifi (pronounced weefee here) didn’t seem to function (hence this delayed post!) we went out to explore the Apple Festival as the region is the apple capital of Morocco.  From what we saw there wasn’t much apple related except for the giant fake apple beside the stage. This was a three day celebration and we seemed to arrive on the party night.  There were thousands of people wandering around the main street.  As the evening progressed they converged on the parking lot with the entertainment stage.  We “enjoyed” the warm up act of three rappers before the main event, apparently a well known Arabic pop group performed.

Eric: Ack! Sweetie you’ve left out the best part about how we negotiated our price down to 50% of what they wanted from us! The Riad Villa Midelt wasn’t very busy that night and making ready to mount our trusty iron stead cinched the “very special, only for us, please don’t talk about it” final offer.

Eric: After the pleasantries of checking in were finished another couple arrived in their rental car. We kept quiet about our special deal and hoped they would fare well. Afterwards the main attendant of the Riad Villa Midelt took the couple (British to be sure) off to see some sights; inquiring where they went is how we learned about the festival. When trying to sort out how we might find out own way there a friendly local walked by with his nephew. I cajoled Louisa into asking if he was going to the festival and after a moment later our immediate problem was solved! Hassan and his nephew Ayub (sp?) were our guides to the event!

Here is a sample of the pop group: Arabic Pop Group

Louisa: Actually the funnest part of the evening for me was people’s reaction to Eric and me.  We were pretty much the only non-locals there and the kids really got a kick out of saying hi to Eric.

Eric: Actually the funniest part of the evening was revealing to Louisa that regardless of where I go in the world all the kids (usually boys) refer to me as “The Big Show”… after a wrestler on American TV who I bear a resemblance to. It first happened in India, then Cameroon, then Costa Rica, and now Morocco.

Louisa: Sunday evening we arrived in Tinerhir (spelt various ways depending on your guide book).  This is our base for a couple of days to explore the mountains and to do some interesting biking.

Eric: Tinerhir, Tinghir, we’re not pronouncing it correctly either way because nobody seemed to know if we were heading the right direction earlier in the day or not!

Louisa: When I was in Grade 9 I read Agatha Christie’s “Destination Unknown” which was set in Morocco. This set off my long felt desire to come here.  Part of the story is set in Fes and describes the magic of the winding, chaotic, ancient medina.  So of course exploring Fes and it’s medina has been top of my list in coming here.

On Thursday we set out on our magic adventure.  We took a round about way of getting there as we didn’t study the map too closely we relied on local assistance which wasn’t very helpful.  I’m not sure if it was a lack of good communication in iffy French on both sides or if they didn’t really know.  In general we’ve found the Moroccan people friendly, helpful, and very nice so I rather think it was iffy French.

Eric: Actually I think we did pretty well considering we don’t know the city, how to spot road signs, and spent a lot of effort simply adjusting to city driving. In general locals pointed us in the right direction but I got turned around with the quickly shifting roads that realigned themselves with numerous roundabouts. To head in a certain direction means to you need to flow through the roundabouts almost like water would falling down a series of ledges. It takes a lot of mental fortitude, confidence, and intuition to know you’re headed in the right direction.

Louisa: We eventually found it after trudging through the hot midday sun.  Some lunch helped revive our spirits before we plunged into the winding streets of the medina. We quickly found we have a minor difference in our travelling styles.  Eric likes to talk to everyone and can quickly get anyones full life story.  Me, I like to just observe and avoid engagement for fear of being accosted and taken advantage of as I was in Egypt.

Eric: I think I should expand on what Louisa calls “eventually found” and “trudging”. The part of the Medina we went to first was almost exclusively for locals and on the outskirts of the main Medina. We ended up here because we didn’t know better and needed to make a decision about where to start. We noticed we were not being accosted by the local shop keepers and how good that felt to just wander through the small souks looking around at our own pace. After taking a wrong path — we were following the flow of locals — we ended up in the north west corner of the Medina way, way, way off from where Louisa wanted to be. The Medina is like a labyrinth and we were standing in a spot that looked like a dead end which was causing some anxiety. Fortunately, our salvation literally was around the corner and we found ourselves out in the open. What followed next was the trudging along the northern wall of the lower Medina until we came to the much more frequented — by tourists and well-to-do locals — entrance that brought us to a much more lively quarter.

Louisa: Eric struck up a conversation with first a leather merchant who wanted us to go see his father’s workshop at the tanneries and a tour guide who wanted to spend a few hours taking us around the medina.  All at a reasonable price of course.  He also chatted up a carpet merchant who kindly explained how the carpets are made in his family’s workshop which we absolutely had to visit. Being the engaged interested person he is, Eric marched off after the kindly carpet merchant and I followed along dreading what was to come.

Eric: The leather merchant was actually just a kid working at just another shop along the lanes, he and his older companion showed us some of the wares they had, proved their value by trying to burn them, etc. What was very interesting was the use of cactus fibre to create some of these materials.

Louisa: The carpet shop was down a couple of streets and up a flight of stairs where we were greeted by a cheerful, welcoming man eager to tell us of the great workmanship of his berber tribe.  After ensure our comfort on a couch and providing mint tea, we were shown many beautiful carpets.  After some good negotiations we settled on a single small carpet made from cactus fiber dyed a lovely orange yellow by saffron.  Happy with our purchase we made to leave.  The kindly gentleman of course insisted on showing us some additional items including hand woven blankets.  Somehow, in the end we walked out with two blankets and our carpet.

Eric: Siad is the cheerful mans name! For anyone who has been welcomed into a shop as a tourist in a country like Morocco it’s safe to say a similar game is played in both places. I thoroughly enjoyed the exchange that was going on, relating my own experiences to experience they’ve had with other tourists. Going through different styles of carpets with Louisa combined with a bit of storytelling about ourselves to our shopkeeper. It’s a neat experience that I enjoyed but I know Louisa was anxious and a bit stressed about. This visit to the carpet shop was really spur of the moment and fit my style well but not Louisa’s; it’s important to note that neither 1 of our styles is completely effective in getting the most out of “The Medina Experience”, later that day we discussed what was good and what was bad for each of us and came up with a solid approach for how to go about it next time!

Louisa: In all I think the medina was a disappointment as it was pretty much like any other medina we’ve been in.  The carpet buying experience was definitely unique and as you have seen it described.  I don’t think we were too royally ripped off.

Eric: I’m a bit sad that Louisa’s expectations weren’t met by our stroll through the Medina. There are things we could have done to make the experience smoother — taking a taxi there for example — though sometimes there is simply too great a gap between what our expectations are of a place and what reality shows itself as. Traveling like this in a country such as this one thing is very clear, give yourself time, time, time.

Louisa: Tuesday morning we packed up all the stuff we would need for the next three weeks as we hit the road.  This required quite the reduction in volume of stuff as we are only able to carry a minimum of stuff on the bike but we still need clothes, toothbrushes and beach wear for later.  The remainder of our luggage is staying with the motorcycle rental people.

Louisa: We made our way out to the new city to pickup our bike.  It is a big machine – BMW GS1200.  In the last days before my departure I madly ran around Toronto buying motorcycle gear and even then Eric had to order some stuff online for me.  It is surprisingly hard to find women’s protective gear in the right sizes.  Eric brought all the stuff with him including helmets, jackets and pants (with body armour built into them), gloves and special boots.  These will be our primary clothing for the next couple of weeks (and are such a lovely fashion statement).

Eric: The bike really is quite big — usually — but I don’t think most customers who rent this model are my height because it was setup to be used by someone much shorter. I felt cramped! Getting on my 800GS was much harder! We were able to make some modifications on the road before parting ways with the owner of the bike that made it much better. Brought up the driver’s seat height and adjusted the angle of the handlebars. Much better.

Louisa: I have to admit that I was terrified on Tuesday morning.  I was pretty much having a constant panic attack thinking about doing this road trip.  I have only ridden short distances in Toronto before on the back of Eric’s bike.  As well, it is totally beyond my normal comfort zone as the planning has been fairly minimal and will be done on a daily basis, including booking accommodation.  With so many unknowns my anxiety level was very high.  Eric kept me calm though and we made our way out of Marrakech safely.

Eric: Louisa wasn’t the only one who was anxious about this trip! However my anxiety happened before coming to Morocco when I thought I had gotten us into something much more than I could handle as a driver. Examining road conditions with Google maps and reading forum posts by other riders only goes so far! However, Louisa and I ordered a book called Morocco Overland and for me, the knowledge in the book was invaluable; it gave me the insight I needed and was written in a context that a motorcyclist needs. Once I was actually in Morocco watching how people drive all of my worries faded away, compared to India, Cameroon, and Costa Rica — oh and don’t forget downtown Toronto in rush hour as a cyclist — the traffic in Morocco is easy.

Louisa: Our first destination is Fes.  It is about 485km from Marrakech and so has taken us two days to complete.  We can only average about 50-60 km per hour because of the condition of the roads, speed of other drivers, and we are passing through many small towns.  We also require frequent stops every hour or so to stretch our legs.  Also the vibrations of the machine cause quite a bit of bruising to your sit bones (much like riding a camel or donkey for a few days).

Eric: We are definitely travelling slower than local car traffic and faster that local truck and bike traffic. It works pretty well except when a car tries to pass on my left and comes a bit too close without my noticing. This may be par the course for Moroccan drivers but it’s startling for someone used to a well defined zone surrounding a moving vehicle. Easy enough to deal with though, I check my mirrors more often and if I see someone coming who I feel is a bit too impatient I slow down and pull to the edge and wave them through. The drivers and passengers of these passing vehicles always make sure to make eye contact and wave thankfully as they drive by! That is quite nice.

Louisa: We are stopping in small towns for food. I’ve quickly learned that I need to just eat what is available and that might not always fit with my normal dietary preferences.  So far this has included eating rabbit and lamb tajine.  Very helpfully they left the head on the rabbit tajine so you could verify that that was what the meat was!

Eric: I love tajine. Morocco basically has slow cookers running non-stop (it seems) every reasonable place to stop along the road. You have to ask first how much the tajine is or else you may end up paying twice the going amount for your foolishness! I’ve been really impressed with Louisa’s ability to adjust her desires/ideals to align with the reality we find ourselves in. We typically share a tajine between us… I am definitely consuming less food while I’m here and that is really nice.

Rabbit tajine

We have enjoyed a lot of beautiful dramatic scenery though passing through flat brown planes before climbing up into the hills.

Louisa: It is fun to wave and smile at people as we are going along.  We must look like aliens from outer space in all our gear on our big machine.  The kids get a big kick our of waving.  The girls especially always break into a big smile when they realize I’m a woman. It is very unusual for women to do something like this here.

Eric: Louisa is the designated waver between us. I tried waving to people as we passed by but it was too risky to take my hands off the handlebars. It also makes it feel like I’m the driver to her royalty and we’re making a tour through the country to see her people!

Louisa: We arrived safely at our hotel outside Fes last night.  This will be our base for exploring the area for the next few days.

Eric: As we were arriving at Fes a young man on a scooter started talking to me and to Louisa’s dismay I continued engaging him! He was trying to see if he could a kickback off any hotel he may direct us to or tour he may sell us on. He lead us towards where we were going but had to drive away disappointed. When we finally found the reception for the bungalows we were going to stay at we were led to a building that really did not live up to what was advertised and after a bit of stern discussion en français Louisa made sure we got what was promised (and a bit extra).

Louisa: I’m sorry for the delay in updating the blog.  Wifi connectivity has been very hard to comeby and I have to admit that having Eric has been a bit of a distraction.   As we will be driving around for the next couple of weeks this may be the norm for a while.  So stay tuned!

Eric: Hope nobody minds me butting in on Louisa’s blog!!!