Travelogue: Morocco - Journey to the Sahara Part 1
Posted on Thursday, December 27, 2012
I'm kind of lazy to blog about our journey to the Sahara Desert, but it was certainly far from the comfort and glamour of our Riad. It's funny how travelling takes you out of your comfort zone. Every time I reach a new city I miss the comfort of the last one, and this repeats, city after city, missing what I feared initially.
We saw so many things on the way to the Sahara Desert. On contrary, the Medina is a 1.5 day drive there, along the winding, narrow roads over the Atlas Mountains, 7000 feet in the air, through the reddish, barren rural country sides, occasionally stopping at places such as the Tizi n'Tichka Pass, Dades Gorge, the Valley of a thousand Kasbahs, and the Skoura Oasis. I have so many photos, I don't know where to begin, but the journey was hard, long and cramped. Pictures!
Luggage being tied to the roof of our tour guide, Omar's, four-wheel drive. It is not pleasant watching your luggage fall off while you are chilling in the car -.-
Two hours drive up the Atlas Mountains, with plenty of stops along the way to take photos!
Lunch at hotel restaurant L'Oasis D'Or. Justin and I share a Tajine de Poulet, i.e. a chicken tajine. It's different from the one we had the night before at Pepe Nero because this one has a lighter sauce with what we suspect is saffron inside.
We then do a bit of post lunch trekking up this hill. It's a house up there!
Tons of scruffy kitties in Morocco :}
In the shade, the weather is wonderful. Like air conditioning. But the moment the sun touches you, it burns so hot. It's pretty confusing clothes wise what to wear, but I made do with a simple shirt, tribal knits, jeans and boots.
This is what is known as Morocco's Hollywood Town, above you can see the movie sets for many many movies such as The Mummy, Gladiator, Kindom of Heaven, etc. The filming of the movies provides a form of livelihood for the locals, be it the extra tourism, or even starring as extras for the movies!
The sun sets around 530pm. Driving on the roads is pretty dangerous because there are close to zero lights, but Omar is a steady driver, and we reach our hotel for the night, which is a rather cold and creepy place that I didn't dare take pictures of. Haha. But like I said, we have to move out of our comfort zones every now and then, and the small Moroccan hotel wasn't the worse to come yet!
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