Ray's Trip in the Desert after the Morocco Conference

After the conference Deneen and Dakota met me in Marrakesh for a fun (and hot) trip through the desert. Here are some photo's from the various cities we passed through. Click on any pic to enlarge, and from there, they can be enlarged again for super fine detail.

[edit] Marrakesh (Wikipedia)

Before heading out, we spent two more days in Marrakesh. On the first day, ate lunch at the Amanjena and check out the rooms, etc. -- we'll have to stay there next time :-) After that, we did some sight seeing in the Medina:

[edit] Crossing the Atlas Mountains and Ouarzazate (Wikipedia)

After Marrakesh, we headed south into the desert. To get there (and beyond), we hired a cab for the week. The first picture in this batch shows us taking a break so the car could recover from overheating. Ahmed, our driver turned out to be a gem and we really enjoyed our time together. In Ouarzazate he recommended "the little riad" run by Mme Fatima. Her pool was cool and her home cooked meals spectacular.

[edit] Tinjdad

Tinjdad is a little town between Tinehir and the Erg Chebbi desert. We were supposed to stay in Tinehir which was a larger town, but Deneen's guidebook insisted that if we kept driving we'd find a charming little place in Tinjdad. She was right, but boy it was rural. This Ksar (village with attached houses) had tons of rooms and it was really neat to walk around. Our room was one of about 10 that had running water and this was clearly the closest we got to an authentic berber living experience.

[edit] Erg Chebbi Desert

Trekking into the desert by Dromedary was definitely a highlight of the trip. Some of the roads on the way in were difficult to navigate because they were so covered in sand. In some cases, even though the car was hot, we had to close our windows because there were little twisters that left our laps covered in sand. When the car had reached its limit, we took a 4X4 for another hour long drive to the edge of the sand dunes. After some hot tea (yes, it was unbelievable to me but I was so hot I no longer cared), we mounted our dromedaries and travelled deep into the dunes for a night of food, stories and shopping (not Neiman Marcus, but Berber children selling crafts). At 11PM, it finally got cool enough to sleep and by dawn it was quite comfortable. We were able to climb a giant sand dune and get a spectacular view of the sun rising.

[edit] Midelt

It is a very long drive from Erg Chebbi to Fez and as a result, we had to stop and spend the night in Midelt. Midelt is a bit off the beaten path, but a few hours there was enough for us to see some neat rock and fossil shops and have a nice meal. Yes, the car did break down, so we stayed a bit longer than planned.

[edit] Ifrane (Wikipedia)

Ifrane is the "Hamptons" of this area. It is higher and more temperate than the desert and sports a bunch of casual restaurants and more upscale accomodations. If you live in Fez, you might come here for a weekend getaway.

[edit] Fez (Wikipedia)

We ended our trip in Fez. While both Fez and Marrakesh have medinas, Fez is the older city and one feels thrown back yet another hundred years when walking it's streets. I took a bunch of pics here because it is a feast for the eyes. The Arabesque Riad is also fabulous; food is awesome and they wash your hands between every course -- very nice. From here, we drove to Casablanca and with fond memories, headed home.