Morocco 2026

The tour is officially over. A last few stragglers were still present at breakfast but most had caught a taxi to the airport by mid morning. For the most part they are all travellers and are off to places like London, Paris, Istanbul, Spain, and more.

The day stretches ahead. I am sure there are many things to do in this large city but we are done with sights and tours and will spend the day on more mundane things. After spending some time in the cramped quarters of our room, I decided to venture out to explore. My expectations are low. So far I have not seen much in this area of the city to interest me. It is just basically a large urban centre with loads of traffic and commercial buildings and restaurants around us. Because it is Ramadan, a lot of places aren’t open or are almost completely empty. Before I go out I accompany Rudy to the restaurant in the hotel and share a bit of food with him. Then he is off to a movie at a huge movie theatre just around the corner from our hotel and I am going to search out a garden/park that I passed on the way home from the market yesterday. I have my camera ready at hand to take pictures of any interesting sights.

But before I write about sights, let me tell you about the dangers that a pedestrian faces when navigating the sidewalks and streets in Morocco. Although there are traffic and pedestrian lights it seems that they are just suggestions. Because of the massive roundabouts (often 8 streets coming together), there are always a number of cars or half a dozen motorbikes approaching the area where I would like to cross a street. The Moroccan way of crossing is just to head out into the traffic with your head down. Miraculously, vehicles swerve around you. Most Moroccans continue across without even flinching. I, however, do a comical little tourist dance.  My face is contorted into a look of terror as I start. I jump to the left, my body gives a jerk of fear, I race a few steps, I grab the arm of anyone beside me, and then I finally scuttle the last few steps. My heart is racing and my body shaking with fear, but I have finally made it across.

Anyway, on the way to the park I see some strange and not-so-strange sights. Firstly, this very top notch tourist hotel has had some issues with the placement of letters on the sign. (Check the photos below to find the mistake.) This city is known as the “red city” and most of the buildings are painted shades of orange, brown, and red. There are “laundromats” on street corners that are basically glass rooms with laundry machines inside. The fashion industry is doing its best to follow the important designer names (with small changes). Calvin Klein has become Ghlain Klain. There is weird modern art in the small parks along the way (same as in Canada). And of course there is the obligatory thick wall of the city built centuries ago.

The garden is less than impressive but I while away my time there anyway. I pinch some of the leaves and smell them. I have begun to do this in order to identify some of the bushes and plants here. I am astonished as to how many of them have pungent odours which I am sure are used in herbal remedies and perfumes. Today I crushed some orange blossoms. Wow, the scent is intense and beautiful. Also crushed another minty menthes type plant.

We are getting tired of Moroccan food so tonight we went out for Thai food with MaryLou and Dave. After that we walked around the corner to a massive movie theatre to watch the movie, Marty Supreme. The theatre was massive, seating 750 people, and featured an opening roof. But there were few people at the show tonight.

Well, this probably isn’t the right thing to say, but MAN, it sure feels good to know that we won’t be seeing that dented white minivan again. We are in Marrakesh, the last stop on this tour. After unloading our luggage yesterday, we handed our driver Abdul some tip money and said goodbye. And then, to make our joy complete, upon checking into our hotel, the manager informed us that “the bar is open”!  It’s been a while…

We and the Driedgers both booked an additional 2 nights at the Marrakesh Oudaya Hotel to the two that were already booked for us by the tour. Might have been a mistake. The hotel is rated 3.2 on google and I’d say that is generous. But it is so great to finally be able to leave the suitcase open for more than one night before having to repack and load it into the van. So we’re hanging out here until Sunday. Last night Naomi and Dave ‘shopped’ Airbnb and booked a place down in Agadir for a week, beginning Sunday. Looking forward to that.

That sore and swollen ankle of mine hasn’t really improved very much in the 2 weeks since Casablanca. So today I’m sitting in bed with my leg raised up on a pillow, hoping that staying off it a bit will help.

Well, if a guy doesn’t DO anything all day, there will be precious few photos to post. Naomi got a text from the Aussies who were back from their early morning balloon ride, inviting her to join them for an afternoon of shopping. So off she went. I read the New York Times, did Wordle and all the rest of the puzzles,  and watched a few Youtube video highlights of the late night talk shows. Then I went out for a walk around the neighbourhood. There’s a big beautiful cinema just around the corner from us — we’ll have to go see a show one evening. I had a coffee at the hotel cafe. Back in the room to do a couple of crosswords. Dave texts me: Time for a beer? We meet at the hotel bar. MaryLou joins us. Naomi comes through, home from shopping, off to the room for a shower. Hey, look who’s sitting two tables down! It’s Mia, the woman who left the tour a few days ago.

The tour group ‘Last Supper’ is scheduled for 6:45; meet in the lobby at 6:30. Which we do. Some of the people are all dressed up fancy. Alex and Suzanne have opted NOT to join. But Mia WILL be joining us. And so we march off to a restaurant that’s about 3 blocks from the hotel. We’re in the big room upstairs, where the table is set for us. (It’s still okay for folks to smoke inside in a restaurant here in Morocco!) We have one smoker in our group, but the rest of us don’t really appreciate cigarette smoke wafting over our dinners.

Food is good. Service? not so much. Dave and MaryLou’s pizza arrives long after everyone is finished eating. Then Vikram stands up invites each of us to say something that we liked about the trip and our leader. We’ve already each passed our little bundles of ‘tip’ money down to Vikram, and after each of us has had a chance to tell about a highlight of the trip, he hands the packet of money to Malika, our tour guide.

So we’ll postpone movie night to tomorrow — our movie was to start at 9:00pm, and we were already 10 minutes past that time by the time we’d each spoken our piece.

Well, a trip would not be complete for me if I didn’t put up a gallery of beautiful entranceways. I have resisted the urge so far but today is the day. Vinyl windows and doors of the world, you have nothing on traditional Moroccan handiwork. Some of these doorways are centuries old.

But I need to get back to our actual days events. After a hurried breakfast this morning we threw our bags into the push cart that would ferry them to our van outside the old city of Essaouira and walked to our pickup area. We took our usual seat at the back of the van and headed off for Marrakesh. This was to be the day of reckoning for me. This would be the destination I had been dreading. Was I afraid of the big markets that would entice me to spend all my money? Was I dreading the end of the tour when I would have to say goodbye to all the daily drama? What could it be? Well those of you who know me well, will recollect that I am desperately afraid of snakes. And yes, the rumours were that the market was filled with nefarious snake charmers who were lying in wait for people like me. Supposedly they would race up to me, throw a snake around my neck, and refuse to remove it unless I gave them a specified amount of cash for the dubious pleasure of having my picture taken with the reptile. This would not only be traumatizing for me in the moment but, would retraumatize me every time I viewed the picture or even hear the word Marrakesh spoken inadvertently. Well I am happy to report that none of this occurred. I was on high alert all day and if anyone even brushed my shoulder in the market I jumped right out of my skin. But the guide was kind and steered clear of the snake area and although I could hear, in the distance, the haunting (and nightmare inducing) sound of the flutes calling the snakes to rise I did not come in contact with any of these reptiles.

But, before we even got to the main souk (or market), we toured a couple of sights. The first was the Saddian Tombs. My takeaway from this sight was the astonishing fact that these beautiful buildings and tombs were only rediscovered in 1971 despite being in the centre of the city, The entranceways had been blocked off when a new dynasty destroyed the Saddians in 1668. Due to the nature of the thick-walled buildings and small alleyways in the old medinas, it is not always easy to determine the layout of an area.  And so for hundreds of years no one noticed that there was something unknown behind the walls. Initially after the end of the dynasty,  the Saddian people were afraid of the new rulers and the hatred toward them, and kept the location of the tombs of the royal family a secret. Eventually this knowledge was lost to subsequent generations. Although the site was interesting, the sun was blazing hot, and the lineups long and so we were glad to move to the next attraction.

We stopped next at the Bahia Palace that was built in the 1890s for the prime minster. It was ornate and glorious and the technology of thickened walls and placement of doors and windows to keep areas cool for meeting with foreign dignitaries and businessmen was impressive. This prime minister had 4 wives and each had a separate area in the complex. One of the wives was very intelligent and educated and spoke many languages and she had a room with bookcases for her study. She was the main advisor to the Prime Minister and would sit outside the doorway to the meetings and listen to all the conversation in many languages and then would tell him what would be the best course of action.

And then it was off to the souk (market) and my attempt to avoid the snakes. As I mentioned above I succeeded in this respect. By this time we were tired and hungry and so we stopped for lunch and then on back to our new hotel. It is a slightly dated place but there is a large pool and, much to our surprise, a place to get a cold beer. Rudy and Dave were delighted.

By this time I had received news that my newest granddaughter had been born and I spent much of the rest of the evening gazing at pictures of her. So lovely to have her to make an appearance. I can barely wait to see her in person.

Today we had a ‘free’ day in Essaouira, a port town on the Atlantic coast.

When we went to bed last night, Naomi was really quite ill. But we both slept very well, and Naomi woke up feeling MUCH better — even better than she expected. We went down to the hotel lobby and I had a nice omelette and two cups of good coffee. Quite a few people in our group opted to go for a Hammam Experience, a traditional, multi-step bathhouse ritual focusing on purification, deep exfoliation, and relaxation. (I copied that from our tour brochure — I actually have NO idea what half that stuff means, and it’s not something I’m at all interested in. But Naomi would have gone for it if she hadn’t gotten so sick.)

Instead, the two of us went for a walk after breakfast. We found a way out of our Medina, and out to a big sandy beach. There weren’t many swimmers or sunbathers out in the cold Atlantic waters this morning. But as Naomi walked along the sand, she came upon a beach littered with broken tile pieces. She began collecting tile pieces to take home.

After we left the beach we went for a walk within the Medina. Naomi began taking photos of the interesting doors. There were lots of brightly coloured shops selling leather shoes and purses, slippers, scarves, Moroccan lanterns, and mosaics…you name it.

Eventually we ended up back in ‘our’ neighbourhood. It was around 2:00pm and we were hungry. Naomi wasn’t 100% sure that she should be eating something — but man, those Nutella crepes (or ‘CREEPS’, as the sign said) looked (and were) SO delicious she couldn’t resist. Nutella, banana, and strawberries for her, Nutella and a sliced up Snickers bar for me. So good, but so filling. Probably shouldn’t have done that — likely spoiled our supper, which we were both really looking forward to.

Before going back to our hotel I stopped by to pick up our laundry, which I’d dropped off yesterday evening.

At 5:00pm the tour group gathered in the lobby of the hotel for a meeting. Our tour leader went over the plans for the next couple of days and then also talked about some of the challenges she’d had with our tour, mostly apologizing for times where her instructions or communication hadn’t been as clear as she’d wish they were. She also mentioned some of the serious issues that a couple of group members had caused her (and all of us). And yes, she admitted that it was her first time as a group leader, and thanked us for our patience, etc. Unfortunately, the person who had created a lot of the problems for her was the one person who decided NOT to attend the meeting.

We had plans to go out for a 7:00pm dinner together with the Driedgers and the ‘Aussies’ (Schillers) but since we still had an hour to kill, the six of us ventured upstairs to the rooftop of our hotel to watch the sunset.

Michael and his wife Lisa had been out for dinner the night before and one of them had had the ‘John Dory’ fish, which Michael said was the best he’d ever tasted. I didn’t know that John Dory was a fish, so I was very interested in trying it. So were MaryLou and Naomi. Michael had made reservations for us at a restaurant that served John Dory. And yes, the John Dory fish was SUPER delicious! The only thing missing from our evening dinner was that those beautiful wine glasses on our table would not have any wine in them. Our server apologized; he said he too would happily drink a glass of wine with the meal, but hey, it’s Ramadan, and there would be no alcohol served.

Back at our hotel, Naomi packed her bags. We have to get up very early tomorrow, have a quick breakfast, and then we’re off on a 3-hour drive back to Marrakesh, where we will be for the final 2 days of our group tour, and another 2 days for just the Driedgers and us — to have a break and decompress from our 15 days of go-go-go. It’s been a fun tour, but it’ll be great to just relax and do nothing for a few days.

This morning I awoke feeling less than a hundred percent. Throughout the night my stomach rumbled and the feelings of nausea rolled over me but I was determined not to leave the warm bed and make my way down the freezing corridor to the washrooms. Despite feeling sick, I needed to walk back down the mountain. The fresh mountain air was wonderful and the walk down refreshing. When we reached the van, I was given the front seat. (reserved for those of us suffering from stomach upsets).

I spent the long drive to our next destination dozing in and out. We stopped at a woman’s cooperative in a small village. We were served a delicious lunch and, despite knowing better, I enjoyed some of the food. Among other things this women’s cooperative works with wool processing to produce rugs. Despite many setbacks and the earthquake 3 years ago that destroyed the operation, the women are back learning and developing projects to benefit the community. Even Rudy tried some artisan work. Who knows, he may take up handicrafts once we get home.

Back on the road to Essaouira, we by turns roasted, and were buffeted by warm winds from our open windows. The air conditioning is not working and so the cramped van has the added benefit of the lovely warm weather. Once in Essaouira, we stopped at our hotel and dragged our luggage to our room. I heard that many of our group went out to take in the sights and get oriented. I, however, climbed under the covers and slept on and off all evening and through the night with Rudy bringing me Spite and other things to help me feel better.

Today we left the pre-desert country for the magnificent High Atlas Mountain landscape, crossing the Tizin’Tichka pass at 2260m.

Along the way we made a few more ‘WC and coffee’ stops. Our first stop included a visit to an ‘Amlou’ presentation. We watched as some women demonstrated how they crushed almonds and extracted the oil. Then we were led into the ‘showroom’ (sales room?) and shown all the wonderful products that were made from the oil extracted from almonds.

Our next stop was at Zerkten. Across the road from the restaurant was a parking lot for tourist busses, from which tourists might view the mountains and maybe buy some souvenir trinkets from the sellers lining the street.

We headed into the Toubkal National Park, passing through small villages on winding mountain roads, and finally, after 5 hours in the minivan, arrived at the village of Imlil. We had repacked our luggage, putting only what we might need for our overnight stay up in the mountains in our backpacks. We left the rest of our luggage in the van, where our driver would spend the night watching over it. Our backpacks were loaded onto the backs of a couple of mules who would take them up to our mountain gîte.

And so began our 1-hour hike from Imlil up to the little village of Aremd. The hike was great! Not too strenuous, and although the air was cool, the climb was uphill enough so that we were not cold. There was snow in the mountains all around us. The village of Aremd is in the shadow of the third highest mountain in Africa.

Soon we arrived at our mountain gîte (a small, simple house). Our backpacks were already in the cabin, and our rooms were assigned to us by our tour guide. Accommodation here was multi-share, with four to six beds in each room. Dave and Marylou would get their own room. The four remaining men shared a room, while the women were divided into 2 more bedrooms. Each room had a small portable heater. All of us would share the 4 bathrooms and 3 showers.

Out on the patio, our host welcomed us with glasses of hot tea and a couple of big bowls of popcorn.

Michael and Lisa (the ‘Aussies’) and Naomi and I went for a walk through the small village and up into the hills. Men were herding their goats from off the roofs of their buildings into smaller ‘pens’ for the night. Mules also were herded home along the narrow rocky trails. Young children were kicking a soccer ball around in the ‘town square’. Women were busy cooking supper, some on an outdoor fire of little sticks.

When we got back to our gîte we sat down at two tables and our host brought out a dinner of delicious soup and bread, followed by a big dish of couscous and chicken. Fresh local orange slices served as dessert.

A workout on the trail up the mountain, fresh air, a big homemade dinner, and cozy blankets to keep us warm in the crisp cold night air — it didn’t take long until we were in our beds, doing our best to snore in harmony.

This morning we are not all at our best. A couple of people are down for the count. They have spent the night shivering and shaking uncontrollably along with many visits to the washroom. Others seem to be finished with the typical Moroccan breakfast and are absent from the breakfast table.  Each breakfast has its plusses and  minuses. This morning the bread is especially stale but there is amlou (almond butter), fresh orange juice, and yogurt available.

After breakfast it is out to the van with our luggage. The seating arrangement has been shuffled today and those who are not well are to sit in the front of the bus. This does not go over very well with some of the group but, by this time on the trip, Rudy and I are not surprised. OOhh! What’s that? There is a small conference between one member of our group and the tour leader. A few minutes later, the unhappy group member announces that she will leave the tour tonight!! She just can’t take the “constant sniping”. Well, that’s that. And just to emphasize how big the disconnect in this group is, another person in our group stated, as she got on the bus, “What I like best about this group is that we are like a family.” Hmmm. Yes. I could unpack that for you but I will let you extrapolate for yourselves. Starting tomorrow there will be one more open seat on the bus and we will all fight to be able to sit by ourselves.

Rudy and I always sit at the back of the bus. Rudy does this because it is the only place he can stretch out his long legs. I join him in solidarity and perhaps because it is sometimes a powder keg in the van. Rudy’s periodic “oophs” are at least predictable and usually harmless. He grunts for various reasons. One is that we have just gone over a bump and his back is jarred. Another could be that someone (mostly me) has said something a little stupid. Other times he just oophs.

Today we are headed to Kalaat M’Gouna, known as the “City of Roses”, for a tour through the rose extraction facility. And, of course, the gift shop. A couple of tour members buy a lot of souvenirs. Rudy is NOT one of them. He is especially not interested in the perfumes and unguents and creams made from the rose water and oil. In fact, he looks disgusted when I apply some to my hand. I guess I will be sitting away from him. Oh, I guess not, because there are no extra seats in the van. Don’t worry, all the tour members have slathered on all kinds of rose scented stuff so Rudy will just have to suck it up.

In this same shop there are other tourist trinkets. I am often reminded of travels with my kids and what they always wished to purchase. These two pictures are for Ez and his boys. They were always wishing for knives and swords and always had trouble bringing these dangerous weapons home. I don’t think these will make it through customs either.

Back into the van, another bit of a drive, a stop for lunch (where a picture of Matt Damon hangs on the wall indicating that he has dined here), and another drive to Ait Ben Haddou, a world heritage site. I hardly know where to begin here. As we drove in we passed the huge Atlas Studios where many famous movies and series such as Laurence of Arabia, Gladiator, Gladiator 2, and Game of Thrones were filmed.

After unpacking in our hotel, we meet for a late afternoon walk up into the ancient centuries-old walled village fortress of Ait Ben Haddou. This kasbah was on the ancient trading route to Marrakesh from the Sudan. It was an important fortress where grain, salt, and other goods were kept high in the citadel, protected against maurading people. The kasbah was  home to both Jews and Muslims who lived in harmony together. (Side note: Our guide tells about how his grandfather and the neighbours cried when their Jewish neighbours moved to Israel when the State of Israel was established). Our local guide, Mohammed, takes us through the village where he grew up. Between the ages of 10 and 26 he made money by carrying tourists across the river from the new village to the ancient kasbah. A number of years ago the government built a foot bridge and many people were sad because their livelihood was no more. He said that his family no longer lives in the old village because of an earthquake 3 years ago. Luckily everyone in the old village had crossed the river to the new village to attend a huge wedding and so no one was hurt. Many of the homes, including our guide’s family home, were completely destroyed. Today, the  government is rebuilding the house and he said the family would likely move back by next year.

The movie industry has done loads of films here. The three-towered gate was built especially for the movie, Laurence of Arabia, and was not a part of the original kasbah. It still stands because it was made in the 1960s, but anything that is built for a movie set these days must be taken down after the shooting, as required by the terms of becoming a UNESCO heritage site. The area where the arena for the film Gladiator was made has been taken apart.

After the tour of the kasbah we had the option of joining a ‘cooking class’ where we could learn to make chicken tajine — but by now many of us had eaten tajine plenty of times on the tour and were ready to eat something else. And most of us were too tired to take in one more activity today. A few of us ended up sitting in the lobby of our hotel eating cookies and chips and mulling over the big news of the day — tomorrow there would be one less passenger in our crowded tour minivan.

Woke up at around 7:30. Our hotel is really cool, but there are a few important things that it is missing: virtually NO internet (a very weak and unreliable signal is offered in the lobby, but that is a LONG way from our rooms), and (at least this morning) NO hot shower.

After a brisk cold shower we packed our bags and headed to the breakfast room. Today the coffee tasted even worse than it looked. I had put some bread and butter on a plate and left it at the table while I went to get an orange juice. When I look back at the table, I see several sparrows sitting on the table and on my plate, pecking at my pad of butter. (At least SOMEONE is enjoying the breakfast!)

After breakfast we had to hurry to get our luggage out to the bus so the driver could pack (and I mean PACK) it into the rear storage compartment. Our backpacks come with us onto the bus and, if there’s still room, they get forced into the shelves above our seats (so that you can get properly boinked on the head by a falling water bottle when we’re driving on a bumpy road). There is NO room to spare on this bus. It has 15 seats if you count the rear bench seat as a four-seater. Up until today I’d been okay sitting back there since it is the only place where I can turn just a bit in my seat to avoid having my knees jammed tightly agains the seat-back in front of me. And because it is the back seat and the view from there is not a view, it usually has one empty seat where one of the women who sits there can keep her backpack on the seat beside her. After a week of riding the bus we’d sort of settled into a seating arrangement that worked for everyone. Well, not EVERYONE. There are two people on this tour that really don’t like each other. They’d sat side by side after their big showdown, but today one of them was first on the bus and took a seat in row 2, leaving the seat beside her empty. As the passengers filed in and took their seats, that one empty seat remained empty. And when the last person to board the bus came on, she walked right past that empty seat and squeezed her butt into the empty seat beside me. She was NOT going to sit beside you-know-who! Oh boy. This is getting ridiculous.

We made two stops before lunch. First at a big ‘dates’ store where they were happy to give us a few samples and even a short talk about dates. Then, after another short drive, we stopped at a ‘fossil’ place where they cut up big slabs of rock from the surrounding area and make them into some beautiful furniture and ornamental pieces (and a LOT of small — and questionably authentic — souvenirs).

After the fossil tour and a WC break, it was about 90 minutes to our lunch stop. We sat down at long tables under an outdoor tent at BIG tour bus restaurant, where the simple basic menu had a fixed price that included a starter, main, and dessert. Most of us were not interested in such a big meal for lunch; all we do all afternoon is sit in a tour bus, and we already have big dinners planned for us. So Naomi and I shared ONE lunch (turkey kebobs).

After lunch we made one more stop before arriving at our final destination. We pulled in to the  Carrefour grocery store to pick up a few things that we might want over the next few days, when there will be fewer options available. Of course I went to check out the beer situation but all they had was zero-alcohol beer, and I’m not a big water drinker. This Ramadan business is a bit inconvenient, even for the tourists who don’t observe it. We ended up buying a few chocolate bars and chips. Not sure that was the smartest thing to do.

Soon after our grocery stop we pulled up in front of our hotel in the town of Haroun. Looked okay from the outside. Not bad from the lobby and the big dining hall. there was a big courtyard out in the back, and even a swimming pool. And while our tour brochure had mentioned that we might have shared bathrooms, not so for us! So that was a bonus.

Best of all, the wifi worked. (Haven’t check to see if there’s hot water for showering.) So it was busy, busy, busy for Naomi and me — working hard to upload photos and write these blog posts. I queued up one of my ‘new’ Van Morrison albums, “Remembering Now”, and we enjoyed listening to to that while we sorted through our trip photos.

At around 4:30 we met at the bus. A local tour guide joined us and after a very short drive we disembarked and began what turned out to be about an hour-long hike. Very nice. Very interesting.

Dinner was downstairs at out hotel. We’d put in our orders before we left on our hike, so the food arrived at the tables right after we sat down. Food was okay. Pasta for me and a mushroom omelette for Naomi. And that was the day! We went back to the room. Naomi had a little headache and I need to finish up this blog. Which I have now done. See you tomorrow!

The alarm was set for 5:45am. The haunting nasal sound of the Islamic call to prayers started up just before the alarm went off. We ignored both for an extra 20 minutes. Then we got up, packed our suitcases, and took them downstairs to the lobby. Breakfast was happening. Orange juice, pastries, yogurt, and (very bad) coffee. A couple of little triangles of ‘cow’ brand cheese wrapped in foil in our pockets – ‘for the road’.

At 7:00am we were on the bus – ALL of us—including yesterday’s antagonists, who ending up sitting side by side in the first row! How long is this going to work?? (Amazingly, the truce held for the entire day!) It was going to be a long hard day of travel, at least 7 hours, sitting scrunched up in the back of the bus as we made our way from Fès down to Merzouga, near the Algerian border. I was wearing shorts because the midday temperature was supposed to hit 27 degrees, but it was a little too cool for my liking at 7:00am.

We stopped for our first WC and coffee break and I hauled out my little box of peanut butter ‘biscuits’ to share with everyone in the group. Dave bought us all coffees, ‘real’ and delicious coffees. Then back on the bus and on we go. We made a couple of stops to take in the sights as the surroundings changed. A very fine highway took us through cedar and pine forests, then over the snow-covered Middle Atlas Mountains. We stopped for lunch at a big roadside restaurant. Pasta for me, a Moroccan ‘taco’ for Naomi. We continued on after lunch. We stopped to take in the view of some deep gorges filled with green palm groves. At around 5:30, with the sun beginning its descent in the west, we turned off the main highway and followed a long sandy ‘driveway’ into the marvelous orange-coloured dunes of the Sahara Desert. We had arrived in the little village of Merzouga.

In front of us was an amazing ‘fortress’. Our bus backed up to the big gate and our driver began to unload the luggage. This ‘auberge’ would be our home for the next two nights. We made our way past a large pool in the middle of a courtyard that was surrounded by hotel rooms. We got the key to our room from the front desk, then went looking for room #70. We found it in another even larger courtyard, with an even bigger swimming pool in the centre of it. The rooms surrounding this courtyard were huge! Private bathrooms, too! And a back door that opened up to our own big patio – and an absolutely stunning view of those big beautiful sand dunes, literally in our backyard!

Naomi went for a long walk out on the dunes while I checked out the lobby. Dave and Michael both jumped into the (cold) pool for a little swim. I got myself a delicious Americano coffee. When Naomi got back from her walk, the hotel manager offered to take us upstairs to the roof of the hotel, from where we watched the sunset. Magical views.

After a bit of a rest back in our room it was 7:30, time for dinner. A long table was prepared for us in the dining hall. The hotel would serve us a local-style dinner; first up, a ‘starter’, which was basically a cold macaroni salad with beets, carrots, and rice. Interesting. Then came the ‘included’ main course, a ‘Berber pizza’. Several large ‘pizzas’, stuffed with beef and onion and covered with another pie crust were set on our table. The bottles of Coke were an extra charge. And for dessert? Delicious local oranges and bananas.

After supper a few of us followed our Berber host out into the desert where we sat on chairs and looked up at the night sky. We discussed the stars for a while, and then Naomi and I excused ourselves and headed back to our room. No internet access in our room (and not very good internet in the lobby either), so we both worked on our respective blog posts, typing them up in Word, with intentions to post them tomorrow when the lobby internet is a little faster.

It was a little after ten o’clock, and although we’d basically sat in the van all day, we were tired. Too tired to even start up a movie from my collection of downloaded films.

So it’s off to bed. See you in the morning.