2104 and 2204 Sevilla

Two of the brotherhood hoping to be able to parade

It's peesing down (notice the Spanish accent) so we're having a break and I'm catching up with the blog while Steve is snoring (not fair, eh?). Getting here started well. We walked to the bus station and caught the bus, and got in as expected at 12:45 after a pleasant drive over hills high enough to make the ears pop. The prevailing colour here is green which is gentle on the eyes after Morocco. The hills had no agriculture but did have protruding ridges of limestone at regular intervals. Once into more arable land, there were fields of barley and most noticeably, lots of new olive orchards. Also noticed many international weeds such as Patterson's curse, rape and lantana. At one point we passed a solar panel farm which took up at least 10 acres. When we arrived it was raining heavily so we got a taxi to the backpackers' hostel which turned out to be very difficult to find. We hadn't had enough to eat or drink so we were not functioning at all well. Eventually, after many wet loops of the Square we were dropped in, Steve found the hostel down a little alley. But don't allow yourself to feel relaxed yet: turned out when we checked in that we were not sleeping in that building but in another, left, left, left and one right away also wet, wet, wet. I was ultra pleased to arrive and plonk on the bed. We got organised and went for a walk around the streets hoping to catch one of the Easter processions. We ended up at the Giralda, the sister tower to La Koutoubia in Marrakech and all that is left of the mosque that once stood on the site. Now the largest gothic Cathedral In Europe, uses the Giralda as its bell tower and ARE THE BELLS LOUD!!!! I'll try to upload the movie I took to give you some idea.


From wikipedia: The motto of Seville is "NO8DO". The "8" is shaped like a wool hank, in Spanish "madeja". This makes the motto read "NO madeja DO" which is a pun on "no me ha dejado" = "it did not abandon me". This refers to the city's support for king Alphonse X in the war with his son Don Sancho in the 13th century. This motto is seen throughout Seville.

Later on we waited in occasional showers for a procession to start from Plaza del Salvador along with many hundred so of others including a film crew. Two hours later we decided it wouldn't happen. The objects that are carried are very old (14th century)and they can't get them wet so after practising for this event all year, the rain has literally rained on the parade. If all goes to plan, there can be at any one time, more than 2000 of the brotherhood (guilds) parading religious objects around the city to the Cathedral where they do penance. The parades were to go on through the early morning with the main parade at 3pm. Consequently, there was muchas noise outside our window all night - couldn't get any relief from ear plugs either. t was as if they were sitting on the end of our bed and all talking at once. At around 3am there was an almighty clap of thunder so I'm guessing it was cancelled also. We are going out again later hoping it will happen this evening but it has been raining heavily most of the day and there is still thunder. The odd photos I've taken of the brotherhood might be all we get to see. They wear tall hooded canvas garments in several colours. We saw purple, black, grey, and white with a black hood.

At about 9:30 last night we had dinner in one of the many bars that are on every corner. Can't find a supermarket for love or money but there's no shortage of bars. We were frozen because of standing in the rain for so long so the waitress got us to sit down and have a hot chocolate. I've never had a hot chocolate like this one. It was so thick, it was almost like a chocolate pudding. I noticed 2 elegant women dipping a pastry into their hot chocolates - I must try that at least once. After eating we went around to the Oasis Backpackers for our free welcome drink - my first Sangria in Spain.

Parades were cancelled. What a shame!!

Stayed at Oasis Backpackers' Hostel AU $166 for 3 nights.

2004 leaving Morocco destination Spain

Ferry from Tangiers

Okay, so last time I left Marrakech I got sick on the bus to Fes. This time the stomach cramps started as we were having lunch so we went back to the hotel where there was a good toilet and hung around the lobby for 5 hours until we left for the train station at 7 pm. After several "visits" we decided we should take the poo-stopper medication as the thought of running to the loo on the train all night did not appeal.
Some final notes on Morocco:
+all towns and cities have their own Petit Taxis and the colour is different from town to town eg Casablanca had red taxis; Tangiers, blue and Marrakech, yellow.
+Steve's hair cut he had in Chefchaouen on 6 April was so "mean" it hasn't started to grow yet
+People smoke anywhere they are including the Europeans
+I didn't see any road kill
Ubiquitous in Morocco:
+1.5 litre bottle of water ranging in price from 6 - 15 durham depending on where they are purchased
+yellow shoes
+djellabas
+satellite disks on roofs
+scooters and beeping traffic
+prickly pear and lantana used for fences and hedges

Had a good night on the train. We had a carriage to ourselves and also a carriage full of well-behaved passengers so we had a reasonable sleep.
Arrived in Tangiers at 7:30 and got a taxi straight away to the Ferry Terminal. Once there, one of those slippery characters who assume the role of "helper" regardless of how often one says no help is needed, slipped in to help us. Not sure how he did anything we couldn't have done for ourselves and he seemed to add to the confusion but there goes another 10 durham (didn't want that coin anyway). Anyway, we were given tickets for the ferry even though it was 7:58 and we had to go through passport control and security scanning and had a mighty long walk to the ferry itself scheduled to leave at 8 am. I was working out how I would argue with the ticket sellers while we went through the motions never believing we'd catch the blanky thing. I started to notice a Moroccan woman taking her time but still wasn't convinced. Fortunately the ferry was running on Moroccan time which our tour leader jokingly said was not just 8-ish, but 8-iiiiiiiissssshhhhh. The ferry pulled out at 8:15 - Phew!!!!

The ferry line was FRS which seems to be connected to Jet2 and the ferry itself was "Proudly built in Western Australia in 2008". Cost of the ferry was 370 AD or 37 EU each. Tangiers glowed bright white in the morning sun as we pulled away, unlike its reputation as a dodgy place to visit.
We went to Tarifa on the ferry and then were to catch a bus to Algeciras, included in the ticket. We were the last to tumble out of passport control and security scanning (yet again) and as we did I saw a big red bus parked near the terminal but since there was no destination sign on it I assumed it was a tour bus. The officials all disappeared when we finished our entry into Spain and it was mighty difficult to find someone who looked vaguely official but when I did, I was told, the bus had just left - it was the red bus after all. There were absolutely no signs giving information about buses. I ran around a fair bit more and finally found someone who could speak Spanglish and was told the next bus would leave at 12 and he insisted the bus was all green. Long story short, at about 12:30 we left on a bus that was not all green, did not have to pay any money, and we arrived in Algeciras and had found our hotel, the Al-Mar and checked in by 1:25. Another Phew!!!! (Tariff 40 EU or $53 for B&B)

Tarifa is a very windy city so much so that there is a huge wind farm on the surrounding hills. I'd guess hundreds of windmills.

Stomachs still dodgy. Steve is asleep but I'd better go out and get some Euros and check out about buses to Sevilla for tomorrow.

Have found if I say one word in Spanish I get about 50 sentences in Spanish at lightening pace but so far have managed to get the gist of what I need to know. It is a bit daunting I must say so I now know how to say I don't understand - no entiendo.

We had some electrolyte replacement powder and after Steve had a rest we went out to try some food; the first since lunch on the 19th. We shared a paella and then found a supermarket and bought some strawberries and natural yoghurt which we polished off in our room. Steve made the mistake of not drinking enough water when he was running to the loo so he lost energy - now let that be a lesson to youse all.

1704, 1804 and 1904

Henna hands (Khajida can do better)


Place Djemaa eating stall

Our bags were carried through the Medina in carts pushed by men who we had to tip. Everything requires a tip here. Even our tour leader expected a tip and that was something I hadn't budgeted for.

We boarded a very swish bus for Marrakech leaving at 11.45. Arrived at about 2.30 and then taxis to Le Caspien hotel again. We made sure we had a booking for one more night and got a good discount because we had an Intrepid voucher.

Forgive me if I've already mentioned it but everywhere in Morocco there is huge development going on. Streets with street lights just waiting for the houses to be built and enormous new urban developments with hotels and houses. There are still many beggars in all towns which I always find difficult to deal with. Marrakech itself is now for the rich and the poor have moved out to the fringes.

On the last night of the tour our tour leader took us to the Place Djemaa for a meal at one of the eating stalls that miraculously appear somehow out of nowhere. We were a little disappointed as Mourad said he wasn't feeling well and left us after suggesting we have a look at the square from one of the terraces. Whereas we should have been reminiscing in a quiet eating place, we were in the middle of chaos with too much noise for much conversation. It is an exciting experience in different circumstances.

On the 18th we walked to Place Djemaa again this time for me to look for the cafe Meryl and I used to sit in and eat yoghurt last time we were here. I think I found the cafe from the angle to the square, but I didn't remember it had three levels ?? We bought a couple of cabin size bags, one leather and one a carpet bag, for carrying our extra loot. We think it will solve the problem of the Nice to Manchester flight and also give us a bag to put in all things we need to declare when we arrive in Brissie.

We have become quite gungho about stepping out in front of the traffic here and trusting they will miss us. If you don't take the plunge you'd never get anywhere. Even on the footpaths there are scooters.

Today, we check out at 11 and then fill in time until 9 pm when the train leaves.

Next stop Spain.

1604 in Essaouira

Shoe souk


Jewish Star of David


Sardine boats

Lovely place to spend a birthday. We toured with a guide which also served to orientate us. This is a busy fishing town painted in white and blue. The Phoenicians were here first in the 7th century BC, then the Romans in the 1st century AD, followed by the Portuguese in the 16th century. The current medina was built in the 18th century having been planned by a French designer. The town was originally called Mogador, the Portuguese name but when the ruling Sultan saw the new city he called it Essaouira which means well organised. There were many Jews living here originally when it was the main port close to Marrakech. Once Casablanca was built, many of the Jews left Essa so there are many derelict houses in the Mellah (Jewish quarter). The Jewish properties were marked with the Star of David which still remain even though they are now lived in by muslims. The government is waiting for relatives of the original owners of these properties to renovate them - not sure how that can work. The Romans were interested in this place because of a particular shell called the Murex which yields a purple dye achieved by first drying the little animal inside and then pounding into a green powder which turns purple with the addition of water.

There are 32 million people in Morocco and only 3500 Jews according to our guide, Hassan.

Hassan took us to the Hammam which Orson Welles frequented when he was in Essa to film "Othello" in the 1950s. He insisted in calling this film a Moroccan film and it won a Palme d'Or at the Cannes film festival so Moroccans are proud about that. Jimmy Hendrix also lived here for a while and wrote one song about castles in the sand about the Portuguese Scala (fort). There are many canons still facing the ocean, each one 2 tonnes of bronze. They were donated by European countries in the 18th century especially Spain and there is one from the Hague dated 1743.

We walked to the fishing port as the sardine boats were coming in. The seagulls were busy around the men cleaning the fish. Once fish are bought, the cleaners clean them for a small fee. Everything here needs a tip. The wind was blowing this morning and it was quite cool. Essa is called the windy city; sometimes the salt spray hits the houses so maintenance is a constant problem and the decorative metal window screens rust out.

The wood used here is Thuya wood which has a beautiful pattern. We went to see a wood cooperative workshop and then a silver workshop where I was disappointed to see a boy who must have been about 10 learning the trade.

Hassan showed us the Caravanserai and explained that the camels were housed on the pebbled floor which also held the grain for the animals. He also explained that the pebbled floor is deliberately built with the pebbles raised so that the grain will fall between the pebbles and humans will not actually step on any grain since it is regarded as sacred.

Steve and I then walked around the Souks and enjoyed the fact that the traders leave you to look and do not keep hassling if you walk away. It is much more relaxed than other places we have been. We had a gelati on the main square - YUM.

On this visit I have only seen one man smoking a sheesha pipe, and I haven't seen anyone playing backgammon. From memory this is quite different from 40 years ago.

Something else I learned today was the reason why many Moroccans wear yellow shoes. Yellow is the colour of death so it reminds them on a daily basis that they may live and enjoy life but death is always close so they must be holy and close to God every day.

1504 to Essaouira

Sunset over the Atlantic


Argan tree with goats

We had breakfast on the terrace at the Riad, overlooking an orange orchard. This area is the largest orange production area in Morocco. The rows of trees are planted really close together, so much so, it is difficult to see how they could pick the fruit. The air is so thick with the smell of orange blossom you'd swear it could be cut with a knife.
When leaving Taroudant we saw huge herds of sheep and goats. There must have been a market on somewhere. We passed a group of people which obviously included a bride and then we saw many trucks with wedding guests standing up in the back; all in party mood.
We started to see Argan trees near Taroudant and all the way to Agadir they were on both sides of the road. These trees, some of which are over 400 years old, only grow in this part of the world. Attempts have been made to grow them in Brazil and other places in the world but without success. The strange thing is that goats climb these trees to eat the seeds. It is very strange indeed to see trees full of goats.
Can't remember if I've mentioned prickly pear which is everywhere but they don't seem to use the fruit.
We called in to Agadir which is a modern resort city and went to a French supermarket to buy the makings of a picnic again. We were dumped at the beach by the driver and tour leader and walked for sometime looking for shade before deciding to perch on the surrounds of a garden. Lo and behold if we didn't look up and see a restaurant owner taking a photo of us from the door of his restaurant on the esplanade. Catherine who is Canadian had a swim and said it was very warm but the rest of us had our togs too deep in our bags to bother.
When driving from Agadir to Essa, we passed a couple of surfie hangouts. There were donkeys, camels, horses and jet skis on the beaches so I guess everyone was catered for. I suppose it's not surprising that Steve was offered some marijuana (kif) at Agadir. It has happened to him four times now and each time he has been on his own. He must look like a dodgy geezer.
The road wound around the coastline and over yet another pass. Once in Essa we said farewell to the driver who had safely driven us from Marrakech to Essa with a few days break in the desert, and were led to our Riad in the Medina. This Riad is a 300year old Moroccan house and it is gorgeous although the air in the rooms is a touch mouldy.
We went to a restaurant beside the Portuguese Scala (fort) and had drinks on the terrace and then because it was cold and windy we went down inside the restaurant to eat and to listen to the gnaou? music which is a trance like music that the slaves sang when they were waiting to be transported to the rest of the world. It tells of their sorrows at their lot. This area of Morocco was on many trade routes and there were caravanserais every 30 kms to accommodate the camels and the drivers.

1404 to Taroudant

In the courtyard of the Riad in Taroudant


In Foum Zguid

We were woken at about 5.30 so we could see the sunrise but it turned out to be not very spectacular although the dunes did obviously change colour. We were away by 7 am.
I was fascinated by the number of nomad schools in the desert. We drove through rough desert for 5 hours. The first school we stopped at had 15 students attending at the time. Our tour leader, Mourad, grew up in a nomad family in this part of Morocco. His father lost all his camels one year so began teaching the nomad children. In the middle of nowhere, we stopped for a Nos nos (white coffee) at a cafe which is built on a huge ex-inland lake. This part of the drive was quite smooth so the drivers had a bit of competition occasionally. While driving through the desert, we stopped at a well and filled up the water troughs for the animals. There are donkeys, sheep, goats and camels roaming in the desert eating what they can find. Anyone who passes wells, fills up the troughs for the animals. The animals wait until someone passes to get a drink. Apparently if the animals don't return home in the evening a member of the nomad family goes to the well to water them and bring them home.
At the end of the desert ride, we arrived in a town called Foum Zguid which was on the Dakkar rally route. We waited an eternity for our lunch which meant we didn't have much time to look at the local weekly market. Picked up with the driver of the van again and crossed the Anti-Atlas mountains through yet another gorge and high pass. Arid land again but after about an hour we were back in lush agricultural soil again. We called in at a co-op of women who grow and market saffron. It takes 200 crocus flowers to make 1 gram of saffron and it is all picked and the stamens extracted by hand.
Taroudant was our stop for the night. We stayed in a Riad quite a way out of town so we were taken into the main square for a meal at about 9 pm. We were all stuffed after our camel and 4x4 experience so didn't appreciate the night market very much. Mourad thinks Taroudant is like Marrakech was 40 years ago; less touristy.

1304 to Erg Chigaga desert camp

Filling the drinking troughs from the well



We first drove to Tamegroute and visited a Zaouia which is a place for stressed people to go to listen to music and to meditate. These are used when people need to retreat from the outside world for a while. There are rooms for sleeping and fountains, etc. Next we went to the oldest Arabic library in the world. This was a fascinating place with the oldest book dating back to 1063 written on gazelle skins. There are handwritten books in all the disciplines such as astronomy, algebra, history, etc as well as the Family Tree of Mohammed and Koranic verses dated 1400. The illustrations are written in gold and brightly coloured inks and are so fine, it was difficult to see without glasses. I can't imagine how scholars wrote these in dim light.
We also toured the medina and a pottery cooperative. Our guide who was from one of the tribal groups which is made up of freed slaves, told us that they believe that "women are the flower of life and children are the flower of the heart".
We drove to the end of the road at MHamid and then hopped on camels for a 45 minute ride into the nearby oasis. We did experience riding down small dunes but it was quite a crusty bit of desert we rode through (my hips are still complaining 3 days later). It was very hot and the camelteers? suffered down at ground level. After falling off the camels, we hopped into 4x4s for a drive off road to a desert camp. It was pretty rough so our Berber driver in Frenglish joked that we were getting a Berber massage. On the way we stopped to pick up firewood for a Berber Q. Mostly the desert was stoney but there were some dunes in the distance. At our camp which consisted of three Berber nomad tents, there were dunes behind the tents so we climbed up to watch the sunset. The sand is very dry and doesn't stick on the skin. This camp is 15 km from the Algerian border and occasionally the Algerians cross over and harass the locals.
We had the BerberQ but the meat was a bit tough. Slept in the tent which was tightly pitched so it was possible to see the stars through the wool.

1204 to Zagora

Draa Valley



We began by visiting the Atlas Movie Studios (Mollywood) at Ouarzazete which, again, was involved in the movies previously mentioned. Since Intrepid (the tour company) supports Project Horizon, we visited a workshop for handicapped men and women where prosthetics are made for the handicapped and ceramics and silver jewellery is made for sale. It was here I was able to donate some children's' clothing that I had carried with me.
We stopped at a small local store and bought the makings of a picnic which we had beneath some date palms beside a small watercourse which surprisingly had many frogs in the small water pools.
Then the landscape changed again. This time we drove through the Draa Valley which is really a barren mountain gorge that opens out into an oasis which stretches for kilometres. Houses are still adobe and today I did see some adobe bricks drying in the sun. Date palm leaves are used for fences to keep animals in and to separate the small agricultural plots.
Zagora is the hottest town in Morocco but fortunately when we were there it wasn't as hot as Marrakech.

1104 to Ait Benhaddou

Our tour leader in his Tuareg clothing


Walls are decorated with Berbar symbols


From the Kasbah

We all slept well in the Gite. Fortunately the temperature didn't go below 16 degrees. We descended the mountain on a different route which was probably a good idea since there were lots of loose rocks on the other path. We met several families walking up with the elderly women riding on mules.
Back in the van with the same driver and Berber music on the MP3 player. The landscape changed dramatically today from mountainous to foothills where stone fruit and almonds are grown, to flat green land with orchards and finally little visible agriculture and red adobe houses the same colour as the surrounding land. In the valleys, any spare land which can be irrigated supports barley crops and probably alfalfa as that is what the animals are fed. There were few flowers blooming in this arid landscape in contrast to the road from Chefchaouen with its poppies and mimosa (acacia) trees. Sheep and donkeys were the animals most often seen on this route. There are also lots of eucalypts and occasional bottle brush shrubs and today I saw cabbage palms (these must all be Australian exotics).
Today was washing day in most of the villages and there was washing drying on mountain sides and on bushes alongside the rivers. Many houses had their carpets out to air or to wash lending bright colours to the red landscape. The roofs on the adobe houses are flat and also made of adobe which seems to be plonked (for want of a better word) on top of fairly thin sticks. Storks still nesting on houses and on top of broken walls, tagines on coal burners also made of pottery and many roadside stalls selling fossils which are often fakes were the order of the day.
Once at Ait Benhaddou, we checked into our hotel and then walked to the Kasbah to climb to the top. The significance of this Kasbah is that it was one of the locations for movies such as Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator, Jesus of Nazareth, Mummy I & II, Kingdom of Heaven, Babel, etc etc. The arena used for the fight scenes was visible from the top.
There were lots of souks on the side of the path up to the Kasbah. Several artists were using invisible "ink" to paint and then held it over a flame to make the picture appear. The dyes used for this was made from saffron, tea, henna and lemon as well as indigo and lemon.