Fossils galore in the part of the Sahara we visited. They are embedded in slabs & are really interesting.

We took paddles, balls, & determination.

Our group has explored some great places while on the road in Morocco. We have travelled along the Atlantic Ocean from Casablanca to Tangiers. Then started to explore the mountains from Tangiers to Chefchaouen(blue city.) and then travelled through more mountains enroute to the Sahara Desert. There is a river which provides water for Date Palm groves. And irrigation for crops. And then there is the desert. It really looks like the scenes from Lawrence of Arabia. We rode camels to an overnight camp in the desert and experienced amazing sunset& sun rise- along with a very cool 1.5 hour camel ride.

We drove from the port city of Tangiers to mountain city of Chefchaouen. Blue!

Smallish city, beautiful. Shepherds tending their flocks around town.

Lovely hotel – NOT Holiday Inn Express. Chilly❄️

We joined our tour group – Intrepid Travel – Hassan is our fabulous leader. We trained to Tangiers. Fabulous city.

We are spending 2 days in the capital city of Morocco before heading to Casablanca to join our 15 day tour.

Good Choice. Fabulous oceanfront. Safe- so far😄 . Excellent RIAD (large traditional home turn hotel) with fabulous brekkie. Moroccans eat lots of olives, tomatoes, cheese, yogurt & interesting crepe-like things. Tasty. OJ is ALL fresh squeezed – forever spoiled. And mint tea.

Yesterday the surf was ferocious. Today calm.

There are expanses of cemeteries with prime oceanfront vistas. They are in various states of repair. Lots of brightly colored tiles – no granite.

Cats everywhere/ very cute & well fed. No dogs.

OMG …markets go on forever – every knock-off know to humankind.

Dinner last night / good & interesting. Fabulous & hearty soup, boiled egg, corn meal pancake, crepe, mint tea. Cost:$2.50. Located in a cute cafe near our riad. Owner spoke French – whew! Much easier to understand than Arabic😄

And, next time you are in Morocco – cars do not always yield to pedestrians- careful! In fact, our taxi driver (aspiring F1 driver,) almost ran over a pedestrian ( big swerve, screeching tires) …all part of the adventure!

Ok – let’s take the good with the bad.

Algeciras is the busiest port in Western Europe- translated …pretty dingy & run down port town. We walked along the waterfront – the promenade nice, ports bustling, businesses along the walk – frightful. We knew we were in trouble when we asked how far to waterfront…reply was…no one goes there 😳 Then we asked for a restaurant recommendation/ there is a crummy Chinese restaurant that might be open 😳😳 …obviously these guys were not from the chamber of commerce.

Turns out they are right / not a cafe to be found. We bought nuts & cookies from a convenience store & that was dinner.

The hotel was adequate & we caught a 7am bus out of town. …some times you win & sometimes not!

I

Sometimes… it is not easy getting from point A to point B. It took us two days, two bus rides, high speed train & a ferry to get from Granada to Rabat Morocco. The good news is that it was a pretty trip.

Now that we are in Rabat – we are beginning to explore.

The surf is gorgeous.

Architecture very interesting.

Markets a sensory overload

Bargain g with taxi drivers an ongoing acquired skill- we have not mastered.