MCT 1603 - LAST MOROCCO TOUR OF THIS YEAR !
And so this last Morocco tour of the year has come to an end! After we start this morning with again a clear blue sky in the mountains near Chefchaouen, we were heading north to ride the beauriful coastal road to Tetouan. Riding through the valleys in the early morning is a gift to all the senses! Beautiful sweepers, some swithcbacks and breathtaking views ae all part of this final day in Morocco. After a relative quick border crossing procedure we headed for the ferrylanding in order to get the mid afternoon ferry back to the European mainland. A last stretch of highway followed to get us back to our start hotel in Malaga. A boot beer, the handover and last but not least the farewell dinner really ended the tour. Thank you Chris, Jesus, Claudia, Marton, Etai, Yael, Christoph, Erdmute and Daniel for being a great group for the last two weeks. We hope to see you again on another Edelweiss tour somewhere, sometime! Ted & Angela
The Moroccan circle is round! Back in Chefchaouen where we spent our first night in Morocco. After a amazing riding day, also the last full day in Morocco, we can already look back at a fantastic time we spent in this enchanting country!. Today we left the wonderful city of Fez in a western direction to visit the remains of the old Roman city of Volubilis. This most south western point of the Roman empire was at that time a wealthy city with about 20.000 inhabitants. And visiting this place you could imagine that the Romans liked this place on this vertile soil. Having also a nice coffee here we soon took off in northern direction throught the Reef mountains towards Ouazazane, where we had a nice and relaxed lunch. And for the last part of the day we took an amzing side loop back towards Chefchaounen, where the boot beer was already waiting! Great day in a great country!
Our last restday of the tour is coming to an end. Back in the hotel we could look back at a nice day in one of the Kings' cities of Morocco: Fes!. After a nice sleep in, our famous city tourguide Achmed and his helper Mohammed picked up the group at 09.30 in the morning under a clear blue sky and a nice temperature to walk into the biggest Medina in the world of Fes. At the program of today were a program at a pottery - and mosaic shop, a brass shop, the leather tannery and of course a stroll in the labyrinth of the Medina. A nice lunch in a former Ryad house concluded the morning program. The afternoon was used by most of the group to relax at the hotel and to enjoy the fantastic weather. A dinner in the city concluded this rest day.
The longest day of the tour sarted this morning at one of the nicest hotels of this tour in the deseert of Erfoud. Again a clear blue sky but soon we found out that the High- and Mid Atlas mountains didn't had the nice and warm temepratures of South Morocco. As soon as we left the gorgeous vally of Ziz, we started to climb to over 2000 meter and the lowest temeprature we experienced today was 2 degrees Celsius, and the highest 7 degrees. That was a quick adaption, but luckily the sun was really out the entire day , so the ride was again fantastic. Everyone enjoyed it untill the last moment when entering Fes. About 10km of very dense traffic couldn't be avoided but the day was very succesful!
What a wonderful riding day in this motorcycle paradise called Marocco! Leaving our beautiful and serene ksar hotel , the direction was minaly west today. Arriving in the town of Ouarzazate, the Hollywood of Marocco, you feel rightaway the atmosphere of movie making. A tour in the biggest film studios in the world, the Atlas studio's, were a very nice start of this beatiful day. Films like the Gladiator, Game of Thrones, Jewel of the Nile and many others were (partly) filmed here. After that we took off along the road of Kashba's , a very nice swerving and winding road with perfect tarmac. After a late coffee stop we drove into the famous Gorge dud Dades, the Dade Valley, where tourguide Angela prepared us a excellent picnic at one of the many viewing points in the valley. After the picnic everybody was able to ride their own track for the last part of the afternoon, and arriving with a welcome commitee of musicians at the hotel entrance made our "adventure" feeling complete for this day!
After a llitlle bit of a sleep in we took off by a couple of taxi's, arranged by our famous local tourguide Achmed. Already nice and warm he showed us very interesting parts of the Medina and a beautiful palace. Including a nice and relaxed coffebreak and later on a lunch at a roof top terrace, we ended up at the Djemnaa el Fnaa, or the Place of the Beheaded. This giant place is the heart of the city of Marrakech where your senses are soon in overload of all the impressions here. A nice rest day in this charming city of Morocco!
A little earlier than usual we started the engines to get to Marrakech. This because of the guided tour throught the famous en beautiful Hassan II Mosk in Marrakech. For the groups we had today two dense traffic experiences: the first through the rushhour of Rabat and getting in to Casablanca, and the second out of Casablanca and into rush hour of Marrakech! A whole new experience for the majority! But everyone did a good job!. The Haasan mosk was surrounded by a lear blue sky what gives it a fabulous contrast with the colours of the building itself. Afer the guided tour we had our lunch at an Italian restaurant right at the beach. Great food and great views. The afternoon was pretty much a long stretch of highway to get in time to the hotel in Marrakech in order to spend here two gret nights in this beautiful place. Tomorrow the Marrakech downtown experience with our famous guide Achmed!
What a great day! Arriving with a late ferry yesterday in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta we ended our great paella dinner pretty late. But this morning everybody was ready to go! The border crossing took us a good two hours and then it was nothing but great riding. Perfect temeprature, great roads and super views! Both coffestop and lunch were at the beach so it couldn't be a beeter start of this Morocco part of the tour. We arrived safe and sound in the blue city of Chefchaouen in the beautiful striking sunlight. What a views!
All prepararion is done, bikes are up and eager to immerse themselves in the North African adventure!!i
Just in between two tours it's always time at our 'home base' hotel in Malaga for cleaning up the bikes, changing tires and other nescessary maintenance. The weather is still fantastic, feels like high summer! Tonight the first customers of the tour will arrive and the rest will follow tomorrow. Both tourguides Angela and Ted are very much looking forward to do the fantastic Morocco tour again for the next two weeks !!