Day 1 Morocco

Another early wakening – 3:37 a.m. Hope things will shift soon…

Breakfast and pack for the superfun trip back to the airport with luggage in rush hour metro traffic. The first part was the most challenging as it was towards the direction of downtown, and each train that approached was crammed full, it appeared. The only thing to do was push in dragging my retinue and miraculously there was room as people reluctantly shifted! Plaza d’Espana change was the only one involving stairs, both up and down, with the only alternative a complicated path to the outside square and a search for another elevator down across the road and down a bit, so elected to do the stairs. Other travellers were similarly searching for alternatives, I noted 😊

Madrid airport is HUGE. Did I mention that? Flight left from Terminal 4 which is quite a distance from Terminals 1,2 and 3. But, no – once navigating through checkin at counter 840 at Iberia, who were quite suspicious when I didn’t have a return flight with them (they had to record that I was exiting Morocco via Ryanair) it turns out there is also a Terminal 4s (satellite) which required boarding another underground for a 5 min journey there. It also appeared to be a full sized terminal. Having time to kill I went on a search for coffee and the only option was Starbucks – those guys are so good at locationing – the most expensive Starbucks ever at 5E. Flight was quite prompt in boarding but slower getting away from the gates so we were about 20″ late leaving – completely full flight – I think we made most of that up in the air. True to bare bones airlines, even the water was for sale enroute… needless to say I came prepared and had a lovely sandwich of leftover smoked salmon, truffle cheese with baklava for dessert!

Lovely terminal. Country outside Marrakesh looked very dry apart from the immediate area which was covered with green farming plots. Passport control was very efficient, changed a small amount of money into dirhams which are not available outside the country – about 7 dirham/CAD. Retrieved luggage and went to find my ride arranged for the Riad where we were staying – nowhere to be seen. Phone on, esim activated – didn’t work. No internet, no phone line. Over to the Maroc telecom kiosk where a representative reluctantly took the phone to play with it – handing it back saying she couldn’t fix it there, I had to go into town to an agency office. Grrrr. She kindly phoned the riad for me to ask where my ride was (it was now about 1/2 hour past my scheduled landing time so I thought they might have given up) and then sent me outside where there was a second collection of pickup drivers and mine was waiting. Egads – it was like going into an oven, as soon as you left the (warm) terminal it was a blast of heat. Found my driver and we marched to the parking lot (no help with luggage, not a problem for me but interesting) and off we went.

The usual third world driving – to turn left you just point your vehicle into traffic and the oncoming may or may not stop… we drove past KFC and McDonalds but few Western style buildings. Mostly they were brick and a max of three stories, which we learned later was traditional so that you couldn’t see what was going on in your neighbour’s compound. I was dropped at the closest medina gate and the riad receptionist came out to meet me – a short walk in a pedestrian only (well apart from tuk tuks, motorcyles and bicycles!) zone took me to the lovely riad where I was checked in, given some welcome tea (very welcome, I was feeling very dehydrated!) room not ready so retrieved what I needed from my luggage in the foyer for a quick excursion. There was a tour scheduled for 1:30 starting from the lobby and it was now 12:45 with a 15 min walk to the nearest Maroc telecom office so I set off posthaste to try and solve the connection issue.

Like a blast of heat in a furnace outside, I learned it was hotter than usual today (typical). Had to stop and ask for directions once without a map but it’s fairly easy here with French as a spoken language. Navigated across a pedestrian crossing a busy street somewhat like the driving – you start crossing and the drivers may or may not stop so you judge their impatience and continue or not depending on the assessment. Nobody ever stopped entirely for pedestrians, just wiggled around. Arriving at Maroc telecom there was one person working and several people sitting around – I was given a number and told to sit down for a possible 20 min wait. As it was by now 1:10 I had to turn around to make the 1:30 meeting but at least I knew now where the agency was.

the medina – 320 quarters each with their own bakery, mosque, Koran school, public fountain and hamman (public spa).

Back to meet up for the tour. I was told by the trip leader from CCCTS that there would be no communication outside whatsapp (to be fair, I must point out that this “do or die” was not indicated in the trip notes)… Did I mention it was hot? We had two Rashids as tour guides and set off to learn about riads, medinas, the 7.2 earthquake a few years ago in Morocco, and were schooled in medicinal herbs and cooking spices in a (fortunately air conditioned shop). Interesting.

main square outside medina with one of 7 large temples in Marrakesh, oleander in foreground

minaret

part of our tour group being schooled by Rashid under the interested gaze of pigeons. Many stray cats around the medina, but looks like they are fed with scraps.

rebuilt after the earthquake

being schooled in herbs and spices

We fortunately had a quick stop at an ATM during the tour, and then I peeled off to get back to Maroc Telecom to sort out the connectivity issue. After being issued another number and waiting, I was told by the non-English speaking rep that they couldn’t do anything for me at the agency, I would have to call in to the main office. The security guard was instructed to call for me, at least, and after about a 20 min wait I was connected with someone who took the info, and eventually told me to enter “0000” when I received a text. Hmmm. I waited, no text arrived, and I’m confused how one would when there is no internet connectivity (not even wifi at the agency). I was assured it would work, I persudaded the agent to wait with me until it did, the text (very delayed) did arrive and – lo and behold no improvement with “0000”. He told me he would send another, and lo and behold this time it did so he rapidly disappeared. I checked the phone before I left – no connectivity. With my fading battery I got chatty to problem solved for me while waiting for a second phone call to the main office and lo and behold, chatty saved the day. Euraka, I have connectivity.

Back to the riad, hot and sweaty, for a quick change then a meet in the lobby for bike fitting and then dinner. I hate rental bikes… but it would have been impossible to bring my own on this journey. Several adjustments and bikes later I have a semi-fit and others are fit to their tanks – the ebikes are indeed tanks. They did put on a garmin mount and a bag, unadvertised, and there’s room for 2 water bottles, thankfully. Another rider has converted to ebike so muscle bikes are a real minority.

Then it was off to dinner at a gorgeous spot – rooftop terrace and a try of “casablanca” beer -who could resist that? Very overpriced but not bad. Dinner in the restaurant below with musicians – far too much food, though it was excellent, and it went on waaay past my bedtime. Vegetarian tagine was wonderful and desserts were lovely. The others demolished chicken and lamb which looked very tender. I sat beside the spice roads rep, strategically, and gave her my phone number in the hopes she would let me know of major itinerary changes. Didn’t seem a lot to ask considering the cost of the trip, but the CCCTS leader seemed to think it was a big ask. We will see how it goes.

Quite a big group (24) although I suspect we will soon be two distinct groups of e-bikes and muscle bikes, 2 support vans and guides and some interesting folk. Grannies for Africa x 5 from Victoria – had an interesting conversation with one of them on the terrace. Heard some travel horror stories from the group – I got off lucky – one left a CPAP machine on board scrambling to make a connection so our start tomorrow is delayed to 9:30 to see if he can get a replacement at a store opening at 9 a.m. I am highly dubious.

terrace of the restaurarnt

masses of food, with our guide Yousef

the musicians, with amazing instruments, who twirled their fez tassels enthusiastically whenever they saw they were being watched

courtyard of the restaurant. highly tempted to jump in.

anteroom of the women’s washroom!

the hotel (riad) has similar lovely marble. Outside quite third world, with shanties and piles of garbage/discarded materials. Obviously a large homeless population.

With relief, off to bed.