Dazzled by glossy interior design and travel magazine pages I too finally succumbed and booked myself and my mother, my best travel companion, a fly & drive ticket to Morocco. Elements of the Moroccan style originate in Bukhara and in my work as tourism development expert in Central Asia I mention Morocco as a role model.
With no time to prepare myself in any way, my mother squeezed in quite a few hours browsing the net, perusing catalogues of upscale culture tour operators and the premiere German guidebook on Morocco. 2 weeks would just about cover the South, where in Nov/Dec we were most likely to find sunshine and warmth. So we started out in Agadir with a car and no other arrangements or reservations. Ideal for easy going, flexible, seasoned travellers but only out of season.
2 Western women driving alone in an Islamic country? Did we ever get into trouble? Apart from the 2 occasions I was stopped for speed driving (and had to pay a hefty fine even though my mother tried to negotiate us out of it) we could not have had a smoother, wonderful ride. Newly surfaced roads, some of the most scenic we'd ever taken, and we have pretty much done the scenic roads on this planet, next to no traffic, friendly villagers pointing the way, gas stations whenever needed. Perfect.
In Tafrout in the Anti Atlas, after our first and best Tahine in Morocco, over mint tea we got to talk to Hmed at the retro Grand Hotel Les Amandines. Hmed (Akhmed) who runs Atlas Sahara Decouvertes travel ultimately made our trip especially memorable. With great regret mother and I had come to realize that with our small car and no guide, there was no way we would be able to negotiate the desert track through the Sahara that looked so tempting on the map. Hmed proposed to take us in his luxurious 4x4 on a desert cruise and have our own car transferred. I knew right away this was a person we could trust and would get along with splendidly and indeed we had a fabulous 3 day road trip together. Just after Tafroute, a gravel road winds through the painted rocks of Belgian artist Jean Verane that lend the moonlike landscape a fascinating effect. Further down the road, mother and I chose to take the most delightful walk down the palmeraie while Hmed went shopping for our pick-nick. Magically, there was no cafe, no souvenir shop, no trace of tourism infrastructure anywhere in sight; a few men in Djellabas greeted us as they rode by on their donkey or as they wrapped up bright orange branches of fresh dates by the wayside. After Tara, we descended onto the plains that fizzle out into the Sahara. Hmed played an excellent choice of Berber music, before us the fata morgana of Lake Irikit, on the horizon the Sahara sand dunes, all bathed in the most golden light, behind us a delicious pick-nick lunch, so beautifully unrea lI wanted our journey never to end. We were no longer on a piste; how Hmed knew where to take a sharp right turn into the dunes will forever remain a mystery. Our dream of the Sahara was fulfilled when later we sat around the open fire in the genuinly nomadic looking camp, under a glorious sky, making silent wishes for every shooting star, tracing the milky way and pointing out constellations not usually seen in Europe.
 The Valle des Draa is Kasba country and the Kasba Hotel in Tamnougalt 7km after Zagora is held in a style true to the Kasba ambiente within the century old clay walls and commendable for its owner who could not have been a more accommodating and cultivated interlocuter. In Quarzazad the upscale yet affordable Kasba Bleue is run by a modern Berber couple who also owns one of the finest restaurants in town. A four hour scenic drive later, over the High Atlas where along the wayside the largest collection of crystals and fossiles in the world seems to be for sale (makes for really brilliant souvenirs) a whole different world. Marrakesh. It was everything we'd imagined and 4 days were not enough to explore the fabulous bazaars where I went into overdrive shoe and Christmas shopping. The top end Riads blew us away, classy! We ordered freshly squeezed juice at trendy Moroccon style cafe. We made really nice acquaintances in the person of Thierry, owner and founder of Akbar Delights, a boutique and brand whose select handmade fashion accessories are impossible to resist and who introduced us to craftspeople and antiques dealers. Signore Giovanni, owner of the eclectic and gorgeously restored Riad Moussika literally swept us off the street into his elegant salon where we engaged in a tour d'horizon over a superior Chablis.
Essouira, the blue and white kept fishermen town on the Atlantic ocean made for the ideal chill out, the end of a wonderful journey.
Hmed of Atlas Sahara Decouvertes
quarrdarass@avmaroc.com
www.madein-marrakech.com/vetements-chaussures/akbar-delights-article534.html
www.riyad-al-moussika.ma
Riad Watier Essaouira
www.ryad-watier-maroc.com |
