Spring Break is here for many of us. Do you travel during the break, or do you prefer a stay-cation? It's funny....my family and I generally travel during the spring break week when we're overseas, but when we're stateside we stay home. Why is that!? Especially when there's so much to see and do in the States. I guess cost has something to do with it.
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| a village along the N9 Highway to Marrakech with a cool rock formation |
Traveling overseas can be costly as well, but when you're paying for everything in the local currency (Monopoly money, as we call it), it doesn't seem to hurt as much...... I know that makes absolutely no sense, but it's true!
During the 3 years we were in Morocco, we travelled to some pretty amazing places during the week long school break. The first year took us to Zagora, on the edge of the Sahara. The very long and arduous drive took us through some stunning vistas, and provided wonderful photo opportunities, not to mention the experience of a completely different area of Morocco. We traveled with another family, carvanning along the roads, taking in the lovely scenery and enjoying each other's company! They especially enjoyed my throwing handfuls of candy to unsuspecting children on the roadside as we drove through small villages. Everyone came out of their homes to stand and wave at us as we passed through, so I decided to start throwing candy in return! The joy in their eyes for such a small token gave us so much pleasure. We ran out of candy long before we ran out of villages of children!
Day 1: We drove from Rabat to Marrakech, a trip of about 3 hours. On arrival, after checking into our hotel, and settling into our room we decided to go to explore the main square, the famous Jemaa el Fna, and the medina.
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| Royal Mirage Hotel |
The square was beginning to get crowded, as is usually the case for this time of day.
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| Jemaa el Fna |
During the daylight hours Jemaa el Fna is less crowded but with plenty of shoppers and tourists, but at night it comes alive with acrobatic performers, snake charmers, water sellers, fortune tellers, dentists (yes, they will pull your tooth right there in the middle of the square with an audience gathered around!), stalls and stalls of food vendors, and the most delicious fresh squeezed orange juice that you've ever tasted, drunk from a communal glass! Here you can have your fill of typical Moroccan fare such as goat head, snails, tagine, cous cous, brochette, and kefta. It's truly a case of sensory overload!
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| hundreds of separate food stalls |
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| this one has tasty goat's head......mmmmmm.....I guess |
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| snail soup? once again...mmmmmm... |
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| now this I can attest is THE best fresh squeezed orange juice ever, even from the communal glass |
Once we made it through the madness of the square, we wandered into the medina with its many souks (shops). Here you can find just about any souvenir or trinket you can think of, and the real sport of the purchase is the haggling of the price. Some find this practice exhilarating, while others find it downright agonizing, but it's part of the experience so you have to give it a try! Personally, I'm pretty good at it, and my husband leaves all the haggling up to me! I purchased a beautiful saddle bag-type purse, decorated with old coins from Morocco and European countries for about 400 dirhams ($50). An excellent price, considering the vendor started out at 1000 dirhams!
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| how could anyone ever choose from so many? |
After having our fill of hawkers and shoulder to shoulder people, we decided to return to our hotel via a horse drawn carriage. A nice way to end a lovely evening, and probably wise to get a good night's sleep before the next day's journey to our second destination of Ouarzazate.
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| carriage ride back to the hotel |
Day 2: We traveled over the snow capped High Atlas Mountains and through the Tizi n Tichka pass, along a breathtaking and white-knuckle 2-lane highway, heavily traveled by passenger cars, buses, tourist SUV 4x4's and huge trucks. I'm so glad we stopped to look back at where we had come from! Amazing!
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| snow-capped High Atlas Mountains |
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| the long and winding road |
Ouarzazate is a small town but is home to Atlas Film Studios, where Hollywood movies have been filmed for more than a century, including The Kingdom of Heaven, Black Hawk Down, Hidalgo and Gladiator, just to name a few. Our overnight stay here was made complete with a tour of the local kasbah. A kasbah is a fortified dwelling place for a whole family consisting of many generations, providing a safe haven for people and animals, and from the elements of weather. The construction of the kasbahs in this region are made of mud mixed with chopped straw, dried in the sun, and built around huge support beams. As long as the area gets little rain, these "bricks" will stay in tact for years.
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| Kasbah of Ouarzazate. The bricks in the foreground are for anyone to use for simple repairs |
Days 3-6: The next day, we continued on our way, following the Draa River to our final destination of Zagora. Once again, breathtaking vistas and curving, twisting roads were our companion. Our stay in Zagora was fun-filled, beginning with a sunset camel trek through the beautiful local Palm Grove, a trek into the dunes on ATV's, and a stop at an amazing observatory in the desert away from all light pollution. We were able to view Saturn and its rings and the full moon which seemed close enough to reach out and touch it. You too can visit this observatory here. Our stay in the Palais Asmaa was also quite relaxing and enjoyable, even with the camouflage toad.
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| the road to Zagora |
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| sunset camel trek |
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| ATV's in the desert dunes |
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| Sahara Sky Kasbah and Observatory |
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| cool, military frog |
We were given full VIP privileges (having a husband who speaks fluent Arabic is an advantage), enjoying our own private dining room, with our own staff of waiters who catered to our every need.
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| private dining room |
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| Palais Asmaa courtyard view at night |
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| bougainvillea and pool |
Days 6-7: All too soon it was time for us to begin the journey home. We left Zagora promising to return, but we never did. It's a really long trip! But I am so glad we had the experience. We stopped in Ouarzazate for lunch, and then on to Marrakech for the night.
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| storm over the oasis along the River Draa |
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a common sight in the rural areas.....women do all the hauling of fodder for
their livestock or wood for cooking |
Our final evening of entertainment took us to Chez Ali, a cheesy tourist attraction showcasing all the different tribes of Morocco featuring their typical dress, dance and music. A meal of roasted whole lamb is brought to the table for everyone to indulge, along with harrira (a wonderful, thick tomato-based soup), and Moroccan salad (cubed cucumbers, green peppers, onion, coriander and various spices). After watching various dances and listening to all the different types of music, everyone gathers in the arena seating for the main attraction, fantasia! Fantasias are displays of incredible horsemanship and are performed according to precise rules. Riders gallop at full speed in the arena, and at a specified time, fire their very ornate weapons in the air. The horsemen also perform impressive stunts on their horses, thrilling everyone in the audience with their amazing skills. A one-time attendance should suffice any desire to hearing the trilling of the ghayta (a wooden double-reed instrument that makes a horrible sound), or further viewing of gyrating tribal dancers who insist on pulling unsuspecting visitors into their ranks, making them dance too!
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| "mishwi", or roasted lamb |
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| poor guest made to dance |
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| horsemen of the Fantasia |
A great trip that has provided lasting memories.
How do you like to celebrate Spring Break?
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| How about a camel trek to Timbuktu? It only takes 52 days! |
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