For Christmas this year we decided to go back to Morocco and be a little bit more ambitious this time. We finally broke down and got the kids tablets for this year, and anticipating the amount of time we would be spending on the road during this trip we though it wise to let them open them the morning we left.
We drove to Basel to catch our flight to Marrakech.
When we got into Marrakech we picked up our rental car and immediately headed out to our first overnight stop, Aït Ourir. According to Google Maps it was supposed to be a 45 minute drive from the airport, but I don't even want to think about how long it took. Unfortunately the couple in front of us at the car rental pick up snagged the last GPS, so we were left to our own devices and a map. So we were riding old school. Upon leaving the airport as we circled several times around the Marrakech medina and couldn't seem to find our way out. Then we got lost once again when we got near Aït Ourir, taking basically the only wrong turn we possibly could have. Let's just say things are not marked as often or like we are used to in other countries. But we eventually did find it and did not have to sleep in the car, so I consider that a grand success.
Pizza for a late dinner. Luckily was easy to choose as it was the only thing on the menu.
Our first delicious Turkish breakfast of the trip.
And Daniel was very satisfied to be back in the land of mint tea.
This was just an overnight stop, but it was hard to get the kids out as they were ready to jump in the pool.
Continuing the drive over Tizi-n-Tichka pass
We stopped at Skoura for a late lunch and a visit the the Oasis of 1000 palm trees
Daniel had been talking before the trip before we left about how hungry he was for an 'omlette berber', and he was in luck because at this restaurant it was one of the three things on the menu. Okay, so there wasn't really a menu, but it was one of the three things on offer.
Eating the local goat cheese, a specialty, with honey, pepper and cumin.
We had found a very insistent tour guide. In fact he had chased us down on his scooter, knocking on car window to have us pull over.
We were thinking that the visit to the oasis would be on foot allowing us to get out of the car which we had already been stuck in all day, but it was a driving visit.
A visit to a Glaoui kasba
Our tour guide had convinced us to drive over this stream on our way in, so we had to go back through on our way out. We were a little hesitant after seeing footage of cars being washed away during the recent flash flooding in the region.
After our visit to the oasis we drove the rest of the way to Dades Gorge, where we found our lovely riad.
We were able to complete the evening with a delcious Moroccan dinner.
