Overview day 176 - 201
27 April - 22 May 2023
Morocco part 6 - time for a roadtrip!
We arrive in Marrakech early in the afternoon so we can aready pick up the rental car. That saves us some time the next day and we can pick up Rob’s parents ourselves when they arrive tonight. Luckily we have plenty of time because Rob has forgotten the PIN code of his ceditcard (really super handy!) and that causes a slight delay when picking up the car. Long story short, we get to take the car with us (eventually).
The plane in which Rob’s parents arrive is delayed by 3 quarters of an hour. Unfortunately, we only find out when we are already at the airport. Around 00;30 we see Piet and Elly walking through the sliding doors of the airport. Elly soon sees us, Piet needs a little longer. That might be the nerves.
Summertime, wintertime or ramadantime?
It is a short drive to our riad on the outskirts of Marrakech. We drink a cup of tea, according to Moroccan custom, and then go to bed. The next morning we hear Piet and Elly walk up on the rooftop terrace exactly one hour earlier than we agreed. Our room is adjacent to the terrace and we wonder if we overslept. But nothing could be further from the truth, Piet didn’t take his phone with him and Elly’s is still on airplane mode. So they still live in “Dutch time”. The already short night has just become an hour shorter. Oh well, you can’t blame the older generation and we’re having an extra hour of fun now.
Ready to go
After breakfast we jump in the car. We have planned a 5 night trip through Morocco and will then sleep 2 more nights in Marrakech. For a part we will follow our cycle route and part is also new to us. Our trip goes from the Ouzoud waterfalls, over the High Atlas to the sand dunes of Erg Chegaga. And on the “way back” to Marrakesh we visit Ouarzazate, which is also known as the Hollywood of Morocco, and Ait Ben Haddou. Of course, a bike ride through Marrakech is a must. We already knew that Morocco was a beautiful country, but we think we have now convinced two more people of that.
For the most time Rob is driving but now and then Isabelle takes over. This causes her to get her first traffic fine ever! Another unicum this trip. However Isabelle get’s the fine beacuse Elly is not wearing her seaatbelt*.
* We have to mention that we though it was nog mandatory to wear seatbelts on the backseats. A Moroccon guy had told us so. Turns out: it is mandatory.
Besides the fact that we see many beautiful things, it is also just a very nice holiday for us. And it’s nice to be able to really look at each other again instead of through a phone screen with stuttering images and creaking sound. For us, the week flies by. On May 4, Piet and Elly fly back home, on Rob’s birthday.
Morocco - part 6: Back on our bikes
We go back to Ourika where we left our bikes and some of our belongings a week ago. We bring a cake for the staff, who we are starting to know well, to celebrate Rob’s birthday a bit. That night we are beat. We have had as many highlights in the last 7 days as in the last two months in Morocco. A certain worried mother devotes our fatigue to shrinking brains due to sensory deprivation. On the bike everything is so much quieter and slower. You can keep your head clear and just focus on pedaling. In the Car you have to keep paying attention and you have to process all those beautiful stops along the way. And we also wanted our highly honored guests to have a good experience.
Maybe Rob’s little nephew of almost 1 feels something like that too.
more pictures of the roadtrip:
On May 5th we get back on our bikes. What bliss. We are heading to the west coast of Morocco and want to take one or more surfing lessons there. And of course it is inevitable that Rob’s rear tire punctures again. We are now accomplished bicycle repairers so the tire is fixed in no time. In the following days, Isabelle starts to develop a nasty cold so we take it easy.
The area we cycle through (west of Marrakesh) is anything but touristy and that means that it is sometimes difficult to find a place to sleep. Fortunately, we have our tent with us, we can always set it up. The first night we do that at a reservoir where we can immediately take a refreshing dip. We can also repair the spare inner tubes here, enough water to find those small holes. Night number two we spend in a kasbah that is actually closed. The owner himself is there with his family for a weekend on holiday. There are no guests or staff. But he does not send us away, instead we are invited as friends and we can stay and eat for free, of course we are invited to eat.
Tailwind
The following days we mainly have tailwinds, literally and figuratively. Fortunately, Isabelle’s cold does not continue and due to the strong tailwind we make another day of 80Km. We finally decide not to cycle to Essaouira but to a smaller village about 20Km further south: Sidi Kaouki. Before we start looking for a place to sleep, we arrange that we get surf lessons for the next three days.
Morocco - part 6: Surfing Sidi-Kaouki
The surfing is much better than expected and therefore we both have a lot of fun with it. We surf every day for 2 hours in the morning, more than enough because it is quite tiring. With a total of 6 hours of surfing experience, we have now mastered the basics. Next time we rent a surfboard ourselves and we can go into the water independently, Shaka-brah.
Essouira
After 3 days of surfing in Sidi Kaouki we go by bus to Essaouira for some sightseeing. The port town is a tourist attraction. We walk around the port where the catch of that morning is traded and in the medina we treat ourselves to lunch and some coffee. We also buy a bottle of ‘Moroccan gold’ or Argan oil. What we did not know is that the argan tree only grows in the south of Morocco and nowhere else in the world. And if we are to believe the Berber women here, the Moroccan gold is a real panacea.
Agadir
Our plan was to slowly follow the coast towards the North. We have been in Morocco for 2-and-a-half months now and our passport stamp is starting to reach its expiration date. But the wind is coming from the north so our initial plan would mean that we would cycle against the wind for a few days. Cycling against the wind when we don’t necessarily have to, we hate that. So we cycle further along the coast, with the wind, to the south. From Agadir we then take the bus to Tangier.
We make two long days on the bike so that we have plenty of time in Agadir. The second day, however, completely against the schedule, we still suffer from headwinds. A tough day but we are still in great shape. In Agadir we stroll through the city, buy bus tickets for the trip to Tangier and we still have time to surf for an hour. The second night in Agadir, Rob’s dinner ends up in the toilet bowl. Maybe it’s the tap water or something wrong eaten but that night is a bad one. Unfortunately, there is no time to take a relax day, we take the bus from Agadir to Tangier the next evening. At 17:15 we leave for the 12-hour bus ride. After two bad nights we are happy when we have set up our tent in Tangier. At 08:30 in the morning we can finally go to bed.
Chefchouen
After a few hours of sleep we check in at the campsite. Our tent has been up for a long time, but that is no problem at all. The next day we leave, again by bus, to Chefchouen. Rob still does not feel 100% fit and Isabelle is also starting to suffer from the same symptoms. Despite the fact that we are both not fully fit, we also do not feel so bad that we have to lie in bed all day. Chefchouen is also known as the drug capital of Morocco because of the hashish trade, but we are mainly there because the city is painted 75% blue. There are several theories about the “why” but at the moment everyone paints the houses and streets blue because everything is already blue and it attracts many tourists. Joost knows exactly how and why it started (that’s a dutch expression).
Morocco - part 6: Our last days in Morocco
Back in Tangier, Isabelle takes on the role of city guide and she maps out a beautiful route through the city. There are many Spanish and French influences in the architecture. In addition, Tangier, like the whole of Morocco, is a very friendly and relaxed city. It is our last full day in Morocco because the rest of our trip has been booked.
We take the boat to Genoa, Italy. Although we are both positively surprised by Morocco, we notice that we are ready for a new environment. We ate enough Tajines and Cuscous for the next few months and we did everything we wanted to do in Morocco. We can only be positive about this country. The beautiful and varied nature, the friendliness and hospitality of the people, the nice weather, it is affordable. There are very few things we can’t be positive about. But still, we will close chapter Morocco on May 22, 2023. After almost 3 months and almost 2500Km by bike, it is now time to make Italy unsafe. Bye Tajine, couscous and mint tea. Hello pizza, pasta, Italian wine, coffee and gelato. The weather forecast leaves something to be desired for the time being, but after rain always comes sunshine!
Arrivederci Morocco
Beslama
Beautiful pictures and once more thanks for letting us be part of your wonderful adventure. May Italy offer you all it’s beauty!
Thomas & Rosa 😘