bergaust.org Blog

With Norma and the kids away, I thought that it made some sense to do some weekend travelling. I heard some good reviews so I thought I would head out to a nice beach town, Oualidia.  It’s about a 3 hour drive from Casablanca.  I packed my tent, sleeping bag, and everything else I would need to stay over the weekend.  Unfortunately, I got tied up in the office and didn’t leave until after 6:00 pm, which put me arriving in Oualidia after dark.  I couldn’t find the campground, so I just decided to spend the night in a local hotel.

Hotel Hippocampe (212-523-36-61-08)

They showed me a pretty plan single room and said it would cost 1100 MAD for the night. I kind of laughed and said that was way over my budget.  As I was preparing to leave, the receptionist said, “how much do you want to pay?”  I replied that I could do 500 MAD.  After speaking with her manager, they offered the room for 600 MAD with breakfast included for the next morning.  It definitely pays to negotiate   The hotel was actually quite nice, complete with tons of flowers, a large pool, and a good view of the ocean.

The next morning after breakfast I took a stroll along the beach and hired a boat to show me around.  We kind of drove all over the bay, which was still having the morning fog lift off.  He dropped me off at a large sand bar, and I crossed over to the Atlantic side.  Spending some quality time relaxing is just what I needed after a pretty busy week.

Footprints in the sand

After reconnecting with the boat, I headed back to shore and ordered up a large lunch of oysters and fried fish.  Oualidia is well known for its oysters.  Essentially the town is a saltwater bay, which makes perfect conditions for oyster farming.  The guide book says that over 200 tons of oysters are produced here annually.

Class O oyster for lunch. Mmmm…tasty

After picking up a few dozen oysters to take home with me, I decided to hit the road and head back to Casa.  Overall, a great outing, and one that I hope to repeat in the future with the rest of the family.

Some of our friends that are leaving Morocco this summer decided to give our kids some friendly turtles.  One of Erik and Joseph’s favorite activities is trying to find them scattered throughout our yard.  We can usually find the larger one, but the two little ones can hide pretty well. They like eating hibiscus flowers, lettuce, and pretty much anything else they can get their hands on.  The first time I saw them eating I was surprised to learn that turtles have pretty big tongues.  I guess you learn something new every day.

For the 4th of July weekend we decided to head out of town with some friends and visit Essaouira.  It is one of Morocco’s most well-known beaches and has the reputation of being less touristy than Agadir.  After a 4.5 hour drive on Friday morning we arrived and hit the beach right away.  It didn’t take long to realize why it is known as a wind surfing Mecca.  The wind was really strong and constant, blowing sand all over the place.  The kids had fun digging in the sand, and Erik like jumping in the chilly waves.  However, the strong wind with accompanying sand quickly became too much for Joseph and we decided to head back to the apartment.  While the beach was stunning, the waves just the right size, and the water not too deep, the temperature was really too cold for swimming for any length of time and the very strong gusts of sand made the beach pretty uninviting for small kids.

That being said, we had lots of fun in other areas of town.  We spent quite a bit of time walking around the medina and open markets, and even went on a camel ride.  Joseph started complaining that the camel was too big and asked to get off.  I pursuaded him to stay put, and he settled down fairly well.  However, given the fact that he hadn’t taken a nap and the gentle rocking of the camel, he quickly fell asleep in my arms.

Our small caravan. We are on camels number three and four.

We stayed in a great three bedroom apartment that was located just off one of the main squares in town.  At 120 euros it was a great deal (http://www.jackapartments.com/eng/index.php).  The place was within walking distance of pretty much everything that we wanted to see, including some impressive Portugese defense walls.

We visited a small museum, which was very well done.  It had a nice selection of art, musical instruments, wood and textiles, and pottery items. 

An amazing lute on display at the museum 

Overall we had a good trip, although as I mentioned previously, I wouldn’t recommend the beach for those with little children.

So, for work I had to visit a few prisoners in Marrakesh and Beni Mellal. Rather than making two separate trips, I thought that it would make sense to combine them into one. The last time I went to Beni Mellal as I was looking for hotels I found Riad Cascades D’Ouzoud (http://www.ouzoud.com/en/).  There is a hotel Ouzoud in Beni Mellal, but the riad mentioned above was a different place. The website looked really interesting, and I thought that it might be good to see the waterfalls on my next trip.

The riad was great, and I had the chance to meet a fun couple from London and Ireland.  I would definitely recommend the place again, although I’m not sure that it is worth the 2.5 hour drive to get to the falls. I spent about 10.5 hours in the car over the course of a day and a half, which was quite a bit.  The waterfalls are also very removed from the main highways, and there were lots of winding roads.  That being said, it was really interesting seeing a totally different part of Morocco.  The tall mountains and gorges reminded me somewhat of Yellowstone.  It only took about 20 minutes to hike from the top to the bottom of the falls.

Yesterday we decided to drive south along the coast for about 1.5 hours to the town of El Jadida. It too has a world heritage site, the Portugese Cistern (see below), which the kids enjoyed seeing. After touring an interesting old Portugese fort, checking out an art exhibit, and grabbing a bite to eat, we changed into our swimsuits and hit the beach.

This is our first time going swimming in Morocco.  While the water is not nearly as warm as El Salvador, the temperature was okay after a few minutes of adjusting.  Joseph didn’t stay in the ocean for very long – he started shivering pretty quickly.  However, Erik enjoyed running in the waves and swimming with his dad for as long as possible. We of course made a sand castle, which a big wave promptly knocked over. We only stayed at the beach for about an hour and a half, but the kids were pretty tired after seeing the fort before.

Overall, this was a great day trip, and the architecture, history, and welcoming water would make this a great visit to do again.

The underground cistern. The bottom image is actually a reflection in the water.

Erik sitting on top of one of the fort’s high points

Ready, set, aim, fire!!

Erik running in the waves

Building sand castles

This morning we went to the Chellah in Rabat, which is an interesting combination of Roman and 14th century Merinid ruins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chellah).  It is basically a large enclosed area that has a couple different sights like an old mosque, madrassa, gardens, and most interestingly over 450 storks and other birds living all over the place.  Of course Erik and Joseph had a great time climbing through the ruins and chasing butterflies.

While somewhat hard to see in this photo, all the white dots in the background are actually birds.

Kids playing around

A sample of some of the roman ruins

A fun view of the old mosque (notice the stork’s nest on the minnaret)

On the second day of our trip, we thought it made sense to visit the imperial city of Fes, which was unlike any other city that we have seen so far in Morocco.  The city is split into several parts, but our favorite section would have to be the old medina, which is basically a minature labyrinth of shops, riads/hotels, houses, and anything else you can imagine. According to our guide, over 400,000 people call the medina home, and we can certainly understand why so many tourists get lost once inside.

Panoramic view of the medina (click image to enlarge)

These are the tanning pots, which are used to dye all kinds of animal skins various colors.

Just a really cool door from the King’s palace

One of the many beautiful aspects of Morocco is the detailed handicrafts.  The amazing mosaics created in Fes are some of Morocco’s finest. Below are a series of images that show how clay and water transforms into works of art.

Raw clay from the nearby mountains

Mixed with water

Spun by hand (well, and foot too) into various items

Baked using olive pits twice – first to set the shape, and secondly once the color and glaze has been applied

These are some sample tiles that will then be broken into mosaic tiles. The nearest stack has not had the color yet applied.

Artisans break the tiles into smaller, uniform shapes

Using molds, or outlines on the floor the bits are assembled upside down in basically a giant jigsaw puzzle

Some cement is applied, which then is left to harden

Once dried, the finished product is polished and ready for use 

After seeing the ruins at Volubilis, we headed towards Meknes, one of Morocco’s four imperial cities.

My favorite photo from our trip, which shows Chris and Joseph outside one of the gates leading into Meknes.

The famous Bab Mansour, the largest gate in Morocco, which is opened on special occasions.

An inside view of Moulay Idriss’ underground prison.

Breakfast in the riad where we stayed – for $80 it was not only a great deal, but also the ambiance couldn’t be beat.

For work I had to make a trip to Beni Millal, which is a city nestled against the Atlas Mountains.  This was my first time seeing them, and I was stunned by their beauty.  Being able to see different parts of Morocco for my job is certainly a nice perk, and I am amazed by the variety everywhere.  I haven’t made it to the northern coast or to the desert yet, but I’m sure it’s just a matter of time.

As you can see by the photos below, I went to see a beautiful fort that overlooks the valley below.  A beautiful family parks lies just below the fortress, and the sound of rushing water and the wind flowing through the trees makes me want to spend more time in the outdoors.