Monday 25 January 2016

0404 Casablanca to Marrakech


24th Jan 2016
Finally make it to Marrakech !

Interesting camp site last night – Out in the middle of nowhere really, about 30 kms south of Casablanca.  Only 3 people in the camp site – 2 French vehicles and us.  And 10 Police live there on a permanent basis, so quite safe really !  But not much in the way of facilities, although what they had was clean……ish !!  No wifi though !






So this morning we packed up and headed out, deciding to try some minor roads across the countryside instead of going all the way back into Casablanca to get on the main roads.  And it worked – The little roads were really  good, they were interesting as we went through villages, and we didn’t have to pay any tolls.  As far as we are concerned, a much better way to go – One feels much more involved with the locals, and the scenery and food areas are so much more “interesting” than those on the autoroute. 

Biggest impressions today were first of all the quantity of cactus being grown.   They use cactus for hedges between fields, but they also seem to be growing it in bulk as a crop, although we haven’t yet seen any in shops etc like we did in central America where they cook it and eat it.  I wonder what they do with it here ?



Next impression was donkey carts – They were everywhere, especially where we passed a big market in a little town, and donkey carts seem to outnumber the cars !







Also increasing numbers of shepherds with the sheep and goats walking along beside the roads, or anywhere they could find fodder for their flocks.  Together with people wearing the traditional hooded Moroccan gowns, and the women working alongside the men in many instances, really gives a feeling of an almost biblical times atmosphere.  Very very different to almost anywhere else we have seen – It really is an absorbing and fascinating country.  The people are all SO friendly – The people on the side of the road usually wave before we do, the children all smile and point and wave at us, and those we stop and talk to (in our rudimentary French) could not be more polite and helpful.  3 days into Morocco and our first impressions are that this is a country we would like to spend more time in.  It really is very different, very enjoyable, and yet so close to Europe that access is easy.  And the further south we go, the more “Moroccan” and enjoyable it becomes. 

And this afternoon we saw many people sitting beside the road with hobbled chickens and turkeys, holding them up for us to look at (and maybe consider buying ?) as we passed !  Not really feeling in the mood to kill, pluck and cook a chicken for supper, we opted not to buy one today…….

Also lots of irrigation in the fields, which enables crops to be grown despite the arid climate and hot summers.  The greenery of the area continues to surprise, although as we got closer to Marrakech it gradually turned a lot browner. They were still fields, and had been ploughed and made ready for crops, but nothing seemed to be growing at this time of year.

We reached Marrakech in mid afternoon and went directly to what looked to be the best camp site for access into the city.  Having turned off the road onto a kind of goat track, we eventually found an absolute paradise of an oasis, with swimming pool, lounging chairs and beds, Morocco-style tiled bathrooms, and the usual friendly souls running it.  Easily the best camp site we have seen for a while.  So we drove down the road and restocked our dwindling supplies of vegetables and meat (no pork round here, but you can buy beer and wine !!),  and then set up camp.  The plan is to catch a taxi into the city tomorrow to explore, and after we have done that, decide whether we stay another day or head on through the countryside. 

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