Morocco 2007

Source Bleu du Meski

In the sun at Source Bleu de Meski

We left the cedar forest at around 7.30 this morning - there was still frost on the ground! Down from the Middle Atlas, then through Midelt and up over the eastern end of the High Atlas. Still beautiful blue skies and superb scenery especially as we came down through the Gorges du Ziz towards Errachida.

Source Bleu is about 23km east of Errachida and getting close to the desert, although it's hamada (stony desert) here. We arrived at around 4.30 and it turned out that Hassan's family live here and own the restaurant. We were all invited up to the roof terrace for mint tea - very nice. The actual campsite is only a few hundred yards from the village, down a steep roadway paved with stone. The two RV's were too large to go down so were parked up in the desert, across the road from the restaurant. The site is set on one side of the Ziz valley and is just like an oasis, with sand, palm trees, and a man made pool for swimming. The facilities were not wonderful (we decided to pass on the showers, having seen the gas water heater installation!) but there were electric hookups, not quite enough so we didn't bother. We really liked it here, it felt very relaxed. The campsite, we understand, is owned by the village and unusually there are shops inside the site. These sell the usual tourist souvenirs, carpets, and also some historical artifacts. You need, as is the case throughout Morocco, to be very wary of fakes, or at least be aware that what you buy isn't necessarily as old as it looks! There is the usual good humoured hassling from the shop owners, but it's easily fended off. You are of course a bit of a captive market, so if you make an excuse like 'I'll come back later' they will hold you to it and come to find you if you don't return! A shop outside the site (next to the restaurant) sold basic provisions.

The next day several of our group took the opportunity to join a walking trip to a ruined kasbah (fortified settlement) across the valley, others went back to Errachida for a bank & shopping, and one couple visited the local village school. We chilled out on the site - it was beautifully warm during the day, about 24°C, but below freezing again at night. In the evening we were all invited up to the restaurant for a meal (cost included in the trip), starting with vegetable soup followed by cous-cous with chicken, courgette, lemon, potatoes, and pumpkin - very tasty. As wine stocks were getting low, Hassan had offered to get some Moroccan wine for anyone that wanted it, so we were able to give it a try. It's certainly not 'top quality' but quite drinkable. The evening was rounded of with a superb musical performance by local artist Mouloud El Meskaoui. Then to cap it all, on our way back to the campsite we found that the celebrations for a local wedding were in full swing. It seemed like the whole village were joining in, an amazing end to a memorable day.

Todra Gorge

We left Meski at around 9am, everyone managed to get up the steep road out of the campsite, although one member of the group, with a tag-axle Hobby, had to take a run at it because it lost traction about half way up on the first attempt...

Carpets

We reached Tinehir, just before Todra, at around 12.30. Ray pulled us up on a (none too level) patch of ground and then took the whole group into a massive carpet showroom (the Maison Berbere) which was hidden away down a back street. We were all treated to the usual glass of mint tea (getting used to it by now!) and then a lecture and demonstration on the different types of Moroccan carpets and rugs - quite interesting really. There was no real pressure to buy, but several people did negotiate purchases.

Negotiating a purchase is one of the 'Moroccan experiences' you have to get used to, basically you need to bargain for almost everything (not general provisions shopping, although you may need to just check what the locals are paying so that you avoid getting overcharged by too much) - the seller names a price (usually ridiculously high), you counter with a ridiculously low price and eventually, all being well, you come to a mutually acceptable agreement. You need to have a maximum price in mind - and stick to it, being prepared to walk away if the seller won't come down to it (you'll often find that they will meet your price if you start walking away!). If you do agree on a price you are duty bound to buy and it will create bad feeling if you don't. If you don't agree a price, there will always be another seller to be found later.... You needn't feel guilty when the seller complains that he's making no profit and his family will starve because he's had to sell at such a low price - you can be certain that if he's agreed to sell, he's making a profit!

The pool at Camping Le Soleil

Todra gorge

We resisted the temptation to buy a carpet and were soon off on our way towards Todra. There had been floods earlier in the winter and, beyond the gorge, part of the road and some bridges had been washed away. This meant that Ray couldn't use his usual campsite so we stopped at the first one before Todra village - Camping Soleil.

This is a very good site, nice flat parking bays, trees for shade, well appointed facilities, electric hookups, a restaurant, even a swimming pool! In fact it's probably one of the better sites in Morocco and our group had the place almost to ourselves. We had a late lunch then left the group on site and drove through the village to visit the Gorge.

It is quite spectacular, despite the siting of a hotel right in the middle, the usual tourist stalls, and the big concrete parking bay for coaches. As we were visiting late in the afternoon it was fairly quiet - probably the best time to see it. The gorge narrows to nothing much more that a narrow vertical slit in the rock, we drove through and on out the other side, up the rest of the gorge as far as we could, till we came to a washed out section of road.

The next day (Monday) we heard was market day in Tinehir, so we went on our own for a visit. It, like most weekly souks, was an amazing mixture of market and 'car boot sale' with most of the goods being laid out on the ground. We stocked up with a fresh chicken, and big bags of fruit and vegetables, all for 39Dh. If we'd wanted a broken radio, a battered looking mobile phone, or a pair of worn out trainers instead, we would have had plenty to choose from!

Butchers row

Dates

Tajines

Walking out of the souk we were 'picked up' by the owner of one of the local hotels, who insisted that we go back to his hotel for tea. Having nothing much else to do we went along, just to see what would happen really. His hotel was L'Avenir, almost in the centre of the town (27 rue Zaid Ouhmed) and was a very pleasant hostel/guest house, we spent a relaxing hour or so sitting out on the roof terrace talking to Matieu the owner, and an Iranian guest. More mint tea! Matieu then asked if we would like to look around the old Jewish part of the town, we said ok.

Fatima with her loom

He took us all around the back streets, ending up at what he called a Berber school. It was an ancient mud walled house on one side of an enclosed courtyard, we went in through a low narrow opening, then up a winding set of mud steps to one of the upper floors. The whole place smelled like a stable. We were shown in to a small room where a young woman was carding wool, the was also a spinning wheel and a carpet loom in the room. Her name was Fatima, we were soon joined by her husband, Mohamed, who brought... more mint tea! Fatima showed us how the wool was carded and spun and gave a demonstration of her loom. Mohamed brought out examples of the carpets and blankets made there, we weren't in the market for anything, but certainly the starting prices being quoted were reasonable and we felt that, had we been interested, we could have had some bargains there. An interesting experience and certainly different from the usual tourist carpet shops.

Back to the campsite for an evening meal in the restaurant, lamb brochettes and a chicken & date tajine - tasty! Entertainment of Moroccan drumming was provided after the meal, by the cook and the waiters!

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