2 days takes me from waking up in the sand dunes to arriving in Fez - and what a journey! I have crossed the flat plains of the black desert, seen the snowcapped peaks of the high Atlas and come right through the middle Atlas mountains. I've crossed enormous plains with mountain ranges in the distance as far as the eye can see on every side and seen fantastic cliffs and gorges rising out of the dry, rocky, honey coloured desert. And all the way there wasn't a fence in sight - the land is completely open and the roads are empty.
There were a few arab towns and villages on the way and then we came down through wonderful ceder forests to Azrou and Ifraine which were built by the French as holiday resorts reminiscent of the Swiss alps, so its all swiss style chalets with red tiled sloping roofs - what a contrast!
Travelling in Morocco, once you sort out how it all works, is cheap and efficent. On the way out a week or so ago I went from Meknes to Merzouga (nearly 400km) on an overnight CTM bus for Dh 140 (about 12 pounds) which has to be brilliant. Except that I didnt see a thing because it was dark all the way! Hence my slow return journey, taking a couple of days to revel in the amazing landscape and really get a sense of where I am. As the faster CTM buses only do this run at night I am using local buses and grand taxis for my return journey.
Grand taxis are quite extraordinary! You go to the taxi rank and ask around and are pointed in the direction of a taxi going where you want. These taxis are all identical grey, or usually fawn, coloured mercedes cars, pretty battered inside and out. Not a seatbelt in sight. They wait til they have 6 passengers all for the same destination and off they go. You pay for your seat and sit squashed like sardines with total strangers (2 in the front and 4 in the back - and although the majority of moroccans are slim, the ones who use the grand taxis seem to be the larger ones!) and are carried for little more than the bus fare to where you want to go. On the way people chat and if you are lucky (!) you get arab music to entertain you on the way..........
A couple of pit stops on the way (Midelt and Azrou) brought home the mysterious discrepancies in what your Dirham will buy. In both places I ate and slept for less than Dh100 - under 8 pounds. And cheap hotels are often no worse and can be very much better than the more expensive. For example, for Dh75 in Azrou I had a pleasant room, with a sink and a delightful balcony from which I could look down on the square below and watch the world go by. Loo just across the corridor - a good location, moroccan loos not being something I usually want to share a room with!!! And a more expensive hotel is no guarantee of a nice bathroom - quite the opposite as happened with my first "expensive" hotel in Tangier. My best deal was in Merzouga - a delightful room in a delightful small home-from-home hotel with a squeaky clean private bathroom, breakfast and 3 course dinner for Dh170 - less than 15 pounds. You have to spend a lot more to get up to european standards, but even if my budget could run to it, I dont like big hotels and would rather take my chances with the smaller ones which on the whole are friendly, clean enough and extremely good value. Well, if it wasnt for such cheap accommodation I couldnt possibly do a trip like this.
Its my last week. I wish I had longer..............there is so much still to do and see..................I am very far from home in every sense and, yes, I am content, there is nowhere else in the world I want to be.
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