Tangier,
1am
We got the last boat from Algeciras to Tangier and
entered Morocco after midnight. We headed straight
to the bus station thinking we would get on the
first bus wherever it was going. Basically we had
no plans... it's a good way to travel. There were
no buses for several hours so we headed to a hotel
for a few hours sleep and then got the first bus
to Chefchouan at 6am. We stayed at the Hotel Bristol
(14 Rue el Antaki). Unfortunately we had forgotten
there is a time zone change from Spain to Morocco
so we actually got there at 5am and had to wait!
As we left the city and climbed into the surrounding
countryside we knew we'd made a good choice.
Chefchouan
Chefchouan was the perfect place to relax for a
few days. This delightful blue and white wash town
is very village-like. Most of the city is enclosed
with old crumbling walls with endless markets, mosques,
restaurants and people. We chilled out enjoying
the slightly warmer weather from mainland Europe
drinking lots of tea and coffee. Night times the
place came alive with a buzz that can only be north
African. We took on some locals at carim one night
and lost spectacularly.
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Chefchouan
Left: Jo & Duigs
Right: Restaurant
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Buying bananas in the Rabat market
Ruins in Rabat
Duigs at the great mosque in Casablanca |
Rabat
We realised we were never going to make it to Casablanca
to get our visas in time as the visa office closed
at midday on Fridays. So we headed instead to Rabat,
the relaxed capital of Morocco. The markets hum
here and despite a sad array of beggars and homeless,
people are friendly and there is no hassle for tourists.
It was the end of the Ramadan holiday and it was
hard to find open restaurants and shops, but the
market food was more than adequate. And we soon
learnt the best time to get out and look for food
was after 8pm. The markets then throng until about
3am, so it's no wonder no one is about in the mornings.
We stayed at the Hotel Berlin (261 Avenue Mohammed
V, 70 dirham per double) which might have been a
double for a brothel but it was also very clean,
safe and cheap.
Casablanca
The great mosque of Casablanca, plus the name itself,
were attractions enough. We also enjoyed arriving
in style on the train which was fast and clean.
We stayed at the HI hostel (120 dirham per double)
and unfortunately found out there was a public holiday
on Monday so we could not get our visas for Mauritania
until Tuesday. We met some very interesting travellers
here, a nice Italian guy gave us his guide book
for West Africa which was to come in very handy.
We had basically no information on where we were
going, it was not the most organised trip... and
the book was to prove invaluable.
We headed to Essaouria next and thought we could
go via train to El Jadida and bus down. There were
no buses to El Jadida so we returned to Casblanca
4 hours later and went via Marrakesh instead. This
exercise took us about 10 hours! We spent 6 hours
in Marrakesh, enough time to eat in the famed square
with the night market, spend a few hours in the
Hotel Central Palace, see a horrible car accident
and get on a bus. |
Essaouira
This is possibly the most beautiful seaside
town in Morocco and no wonder they filmed
a movie here recently. We later met a South
African guy who said he was paid 50 euro a
day and fed 3 meals a day to be an extra in
the movie.
Essaouira sits right on the sea with a huge
fishing port and fort like walls facing the
ocean. The town is enclosed inside crumbling
walls. The streets are filled with tourist
paraphenelia but there are some very atmospheric
quarters, old passageways that pass beneath
the houses, fantastic fish markets and a wonderful
sunny winter climate.
We met a young boy in the street that showed
us an apartment which had a shared kitchen
and bathroom and terrace, plus its own dining
room, lounge and bedroom. Only 150 dirham
per night.
We ate seafood every meal, purchasing it from
fishermen right on the water front and getting
it cooked on grills in the main square. Marriage
proposals seemed to come as part of the eating
deal!
This is the kind of place you could end up
staying a lot longer than planned. Unfortunately
we only had a few days.
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Above: picturesque Essaouira
Above: Seagulls swarm around fishermen by
the coastline
|
Laayoune and Dakhla
The push south to the border was long. There
is not a lot of overnight transport in Morocco
and we were often forced to halt for the night
because of this. By a combination of buses
and shared cars and some negotiating we got
to Laayoune about 3am. We hailed a taxi to
take us to the bus station to wait out the
cold night but the driver would not hear of
it. He spoke a little English and invited
us to his house where we drank tea and slept
a few hours until the morning when he drove
us to the bus. Surely the hospitality in southern
Morocco is unrivalled!
The journey from here to Dakhla took us through
the barren reaches of Western Sahara. The
countryside was barren and there were numerous
police stops to check our passport and we
were constantly holding up the entire bus.
No one seemed to bothered. We were continually
plagued by locust storms which entered the
open windows and dived for us. Some of the
passengers ate them or kept them in their
pockets for later!
|
Above: Our early morning taxi ride
We stayed at the Camping Moustaffa 7km out
of Dakhla. The owner was very friendly. He
gave us tea on arrival and made dinner for
us at no extra cost. |
The border crossing to Mauritania
Locust plagues |
Dakhla to Mauritania
We tried in Dakhla to get a lift with any
other foreigners heading overland. We met
a French guy coming back the other way who
had come with some Italians in a campervan.
But we had no such luck. People were full
or not leaving for a few days so in the end
the guy from the campground helped us flag
down a lift in a truck and we hitch hiked
about 80km to a cross roads. Here we attempted
to hitch hike again but it was over 400km
to the border and in the end we negotiated
with a taxi driver. The 400km was a barren
wasteland with locusts everywhere. We even
had to stop a few times to pull them out of
the engine.
At the border the police check post arranged
a lift for us across into Mauritania but the
guys that took us dumped us in no man's land
with an unofficial taxi rig who wanted to
charge 50 euro to get us into Nouadhibhou.
We sat, smoked and watched the sun set on
the desert, trying to remain unconcerned until
a local passed and agreed to take us for free.
He got bogged in the first patch of san piste
and one of the illegal taxi men would only
help us out if we paid him 15 euro to take
us to Nouadhibhou. We had little choice. After
a few more police check posts, sand pistes
and a beautiful sunset... our guy stopped
to pray... we hit the tarmac and made it to
Nouadhibhou.
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Click here for part 2 - Mauritania
Click here for part 3 - Senegal
Click here for part 4 - Mali |
