My five star retreat is coming to an end, for now. Tomorrow we will hit the road again for a tour into the Atlas Mountains.
Marrakesh is a brain-breaker city and similar to Essaouria hard to describe in words. While both have World Heritage status, their charme is very different.
In order to focus a bit I visited the Museum of Photography today and passed on my way not only the largest Kutubiyya Mosque but also the endless jungle of Souks within the Medina.
The Museum of Photography covers mainly the people & cultures around Marrakesh from 1870 to 1950. Nicely arranged and very informative.
We have reached our second stage destination on this trip – Marrakesh. It was a straight forward ride along the signed cycle path; one water & coffee stop and vineyards added new to the list of gardens. No other highlights.
The Atlas Mountains are still hiding in the mist but the weather getting colder next week might help the sky to clear.
Feels good to be back in a hotel, where you get addressed by your name and the preferred pillow height has been retrieved from the system.
The first half of today’s ride took us up onto 400m in elevation and through some other kind of moroccan garden – mainly spots of olive tree plantations, potatoes, sweetcorn. But it also came with some pain in the buttock bones until we reached the plateau; felt like they were grinding on blank metal.
The second part was pure joy. Pain gone or forgotten, incline over, headwinds ceased, good music, just cruising along. I am travelling too fast for all these wonderful impressions.
Arabic is THE language in these rural areas. French and English are hardly spoken, independent of age. Nevertheless, we get along nicely but longer conversations are barely possible.
The cost of my accommodation tonight equals exactly the price of the bus ticket for me and the bike, one way from Essaouira to Marrakesh. 120 Dirham.
Essaouira is a charming town, which has not lost its traditional and historical roots despite a significant share of tourism. It feels like tourism and locals‘ daily life complement each other in many ways creating a real win-win for both sides.
The cultural density and diversity is amazing and to that extent new to me, extremely interesting and charming. This potpourri creates a remarkable melting pot of the new & old, traditional & modern, western & eastern, etc., multicultural & colourful world. Generally speaking, friendly, respectful, organized and not intrusive at all. Pleasant to be here and amazing to absorb.
While strolling through the endless labyrinth of the medina last night, I bumped into Boujemaa, a young Moroccan biker with a Trek Procaliber 9.5 from 2023. Nice cross bike. As there are not that many decent carbon bikes in this part of the world, we immediately started to chat about bikes and he took me to the best bike shop in town. Got all cleaned, oiled and 7bar back into the tires this morning. Not sure on the latter one based on the pump used 😀 but I will find out tomorrow. At 6bar the risk of snake bite goes up tremendously with my 28mm clinchers packed with all the luggage and harder hits from the road now and then. Enough bike talk but my hand-pump is a pain.
Boujemaa offered his help going forward, which is a great support for me, especially when it comes to approaching the Atlas Mountains soon.
On purpose I have limited the number of photos as it is impossible capturing cultural density and diversity to get close to any transformation of live impressions and feelings. Not my last trip to Morocco, I already believe to sense.
Tomorrow we will be on the road again, heading east.
I have heard various prayers at different times during the days since the arrival in Morocco. The morning prayers called Fajar become more and more my wake up time, currently at around 6:30am. Staying close to a mosque like last night, waking up is guaranteed. Good start into the day.
Today was the last ride along the Moroccan coastline as I have arrived in Essaouira, my first stage destination on this trip. It is a port city and resort. My first impression is very positive. After pushing the bike along some narrow busy roads through the medina, I finally ended up at my accommodation booked for the following two nights. It gives me the chance to explore this town a bit further in detail and same time allowing the body for some rest.
We left our Kasbah around 9am under hazy conditions and only after I woke up the kitchen chef. We had agreed breakfast at 8am, at that time he was still snoring. No joke!
A fast ride took me further south along the coastline to Qualidia, a stretch, which exceeded my expectations by far. Not boring at all. I know by know, where the vegetables in Germany come from when it says under country of origin: Morocco! I have also seen with my own eyes the hard work associated to it.
Qualidia is well known for its natural lagoon and I enjoyed a short walk to understand and feel how beautiful it must have been before tourism grabbed some substantial share of it.
Biker Ismail guided me out of town on his so-so aluminum road bike. It was early morning 9:30am and we had a chat as far as the traffic allowed for that. He was at a friend in Casablanca centre over the weekend and now returning back home getting ready for some work. Priorities do matter!
It took 15km to get the last buildings and developments behind us before country roads presented the scenery in somewhat hazy conditions. While it cleared up at later stage, the road took us through some forest and agriculture areas, all quite green to my surprise.
Upon arrival in Azemmour I strolled through the medina offering everything someone could think off including absolutely fresh & cackling chicken. The pigs were already dead and cut in big chunks.
I have booked my accommodation for one night only in a very nice Riad, which is situated within the historical part of the town. Plan is to keep going tomorrow morning as my goal is to get rather sooner than later back onto the road further down south.
A photo recovery 🚴♂️ tour took me to some of the places already visited yesterday while also exploring new suburbs same time. It all ended with Tea & Cake next to the hotel.
For me, Moroccan Tea has now taken over the coffee and is served at each and every corner. There is a clear distinction between the more modern coffee shops with all sorts of fancy creations and the traditional places where tea clearly dominates on the tables. Consumers are also very different and perhaps the tradition outlets will become marginal at one point in time. Cakes, cookies and pastries are readily available, most likely a left over from the French influence in Morocco.
Besides the Moroccan Tea, I had Tagine on my list and visited tonight a traditional restaurant downtown within the Marché Central area. The ambiance was much better than the dish itself but the Moroccan Samosas as a starter rescued the dinner overall.
Landing at the red eye hours in Casablanca reminded me on some tiring trips some years back, a 1:1 copy of Chennai including the interior of the airport. Great, I have arrived, back in my world.
After dozing some more hours on the sofa couch at the entrance of the hotel lobby I got my room and the bike got unboxed in no time to hit the road after a decent breakfast.
I started circling between SIM Card Shop, Bike Repair Shop (rear derailleur slightly bend from a fall over on the last mile in Bodenheim) and, long time overdue, the Barber Shop. Although there is no time difference between Germany and Morocco, there is a big big difference in time. While GoogleMaps tells you, 24h Open, you learn on the first attempt, it will be 11.30am. Long story short, I kept circling among the shops in a more and more lively traffic until my three items were sorted.
The Casablanca Sniff Tour without photos took us around, followed by a cool down in the hotel pool at the roof top. It’s small, chilly, clean and anything else than crowded.
After some very delicious, freshly made stuffed Msemen at one of the nearby streetfood stalls, it was time to get back into the City Centre, a 10min tram ride on line T1. Casablanca beer is tasty. The snacks come for free in an all you can eat order. The Smoking allowed was an interesting experience after all.
Exhausted, tired and with more plans in my head, I called it a day.