Day 9 October 23, 2024 Valley of Birds to Marrakech 197 miles
We both had a lousy night sleep so a nap on the bus already sounds like a good idea. We are up a little earlier this morning. Breakfast had lots of choices but nothing outstanding. The temperature is cool and looks like rain.
We drove about 1.5 hours to the first bathroom stop. Turns out they only had Asian style toilets. Connie was very glad she elected not to go. This section was relatively flat with mountains in the distance. Drove along several miles of continuous houses. They belonged to different villages but you could not tell one from another. Connie napped most of this drive.
We drove through the village of roses. They have a big festival every year celebrating roses. The whole town smells wonderful at that time. Lots of rose related products sold here. A statue of a vase of roses is at both ends of town.
A short drive took us to the Atlas Film Studio. We got a tour and explanation of how they could change sets to be whatever and wherever you needed to be. Amazing what they could do and how easily. Another movie was being filmed out a ways but we couldn’t go there. All very interesting.
Next stop was the fortified city. Connie and another lady opted to remain behind. When the others returned several said we made the correct choice. The “stairs” were made from pieces of rock stuck in dried mud. Uneven and irregular, well you get the idea. We had to buy our own lunch today. We split a skewer of chicken and that worked very well.
When we left the restaurant we could not believe how many tourist buses and vans were parked in the area. There was hardly room to walk between the vehicles. One man was trying to help direct traffic.
It’s two hours to the next stop. What a drive that was. We went over the mountain range again. The highest elevation was 7250 feet. The road twists and turns a lot. Some are serious switch backs. The road is in great condition but narrow. There is very little room for error. Lots of traffic too. Cars, buses and trucks are all sharing the road with a few street vendors. New construction is also underway so big equipment is along the side. At some time or other huge cuts in the mountain have been required. Many of those have cement ditches to help carry the water down the mountain. Another spot had a major landslide that they routed traffic around. Snow falls here in the winter making the road impossible to drive until the road is cleared.
We saw several large trucks carrying cattle somewhere. The cattle are up high in the truck bed and covered with netting to hold them in place. Sometimes it takes a little while to realize they are live cattle.
Villages are scattered all over the mountains. They are up little gullies that look like they could slide down any time. It did rain on us a little bit. All the locals were happy with that. Even with the rains over the last few weeks the rivers are very low.
We made one last restroom stop that was long enough to buy two magnum ice cream bars. They cost about $3.00 each.
On to Marrakech. The roads are getting wider and traffic is increasing. We arrived at the hotel with about an hour before departing for dinner. We are going to the home of a local family who will prepare the meal. The house was very large and modern. The food was delicious. The mother and three daughters all introduced themselves. All spoke English. Her brother-in-law was also there. He owns a restaurant in Mexico.
Spoffords Travel 