Post #13, Oct 16th. Outside of Merrakech

Today we head for the hills, literally.  We’re heading out of town from Marrakech to the Atlas Mountains to enjoy some countryside scenery.  I’m planning to do a bit of hiking in the hills.  Judith, who is less of a hiker, will chill at the Kasbah Tamadot, a 43 room hotel owned by Richard Branson.  The story is that he bought it for his mother Eve Branson.  She was with him in around 2005 when he was in Morocco to launch his around the world trip in an air balloon.  She was able to tour the surrounding Berber villages and decided to set up a charity to help the Berber community.  The hotel was purchased for her to raise funds for the Berber community and to provide a new source of employment and training.  We’ll be having lunch there.  Judith will be enjoying some quiet pleasant reading time while I’m out hiking.  

The drive starts off on the flat lands before we reach the Atlas Mountains.  We can see the usual commerce of street vendors and my favourite, the mobile espresso dispensers.  We never stopped at one of these, but I’m sure they serve great coffee.  

There must be thousands of these roadside coffee vendors. They’re everywhere including roadside locations that are surprisingly remote.   I wonder how much business they could possible get.  

We stop at a vista to view some of the damage caused by the September 2023 Morocco earthquake.  It registered 6.9 and hit this area hard, with the fault line running by a village that we’ll be travelling through, Ansi.  The government has stepped in to help build new housing and our guide points out some of the new structures as we drive by. 

Earthquake damage is still evident in this rural community.  

 The Atlas Mountains.  The iron in the rock makes for some pretty scenery. 

We arrive at the Kasbah and I get ready to head out.  My hiking guide is wearing technical gear and I’m in capris and light runners.  We head out into Toubkai National park named after the highest peak in North Africa, Jbel Toubkal at 4167m.   It’s Morocco’s first national park.  I ask for a short walk, 60 to 90 minutes and he suggests a circular route that’s part of the Tamadote Green Circuit which doesn’t require reaching the top but still provides some great views.  I’m ready and we head out.  We set out on a path that cuts through a former forest of trees.  I say former because the pine trees seem to have died off due to disease.  

Our route starts on a gradual uphill path and there are beautiful vistas to enjoy.  But then it goes steeper, gnarly and definitely more challenging.  But I did enjoy getting out there because I have experienced a lot of over eating and a significant lack of exercise these past two weeks.  

The walk starts off easily.  Slight rise, but the ground is even and easy to navigate.

We walked through a forest of dead pine trees.  

The walk went gnarly really quickly.  I had to be careful not to make a mis-step.

But there were some great views.  This is looking back at Kasbah Tamadot where Judith was reading her book.  She did not have to worry about an emergency trip to the hospital.

The path down was also gnarly.  I did make it down without incident but I would have done better with more rugged hiking boots and not my Vessi shoes.

Back at Kasbah Tamadot, Judith and I have lunch.  It should have been memorable for the view, the good food and the fact that all of the staff are Moroccan with a heavy concentration from local villages.  

Our lunch view.  The river below is full of red silt.  

Our lunch became memorable because of the cat that came by our table.  We learned that Mishca was the resident hotel cat.  But in a strange plot twist, the cat that Judith has been feeding with my lunch (I ordered fish) wasn’t the resident hotel cat, but an impostor.  When the real Mishca came out on the deck, we learned the truth.  The real Mishca is an older cat and is very affectionate.  And the “Fake Mishca” ended up slinking away temporarily but came back to see if there were any freebies left.

Fake Mishca.  Very vocal when it came to asking for handouts.

Meanwhile I thought my raspberry and ginger sorbet dessert was pretty good.

After lunch we ended up visiting the Berber kitchen on site.  We started going the wrong way and our waiter caught up with us and became our informal guide.  There is a full time baker for the Kasbah. 

  

Inside the Berber kitchen.  There were covered ovens for baking bread as well as open fires for tangine style cooking.  For lunch we were served 3 different types of bread baked in this room:  Tanourt (a flat bread), Batbout (a soft chewy bread, sort of like a pitta) and Khobz Feran (a traditional Moroccan Bread) 

We drove back to Marrakech to get back to the old town.  We got dropped off near the official entrance of the Kasbah of Marrakech, Bab Agnaou (Agnaou Gate) built during the reign of Caliph Almouahidi Yacoub El Mansour in commemoration of his victory over the Christians at the Battle of Alarcos Spain in 1194 AD.  The gate is considered one of the most beautiful in the Muslim West thanks to its magnificent decoration, more ornamental than defensive.  It was modified during the 1700s.   

Not a great picture…but this is Agnaou Gate.

The real reason why we came back to the medina was to let Judith make up her mind if she was going to purchase an artpiece that caught her eye the other day.  We returned to the gallery to watch Judith’s inner turmoil in action. 

To buy or not to buy…

The celebration picture.  Congratulations Judith!

We wait at a busy street corner for Larrabee to come and pick us up.  We get back to the hotel just in time for tea and some treats.  We retire to our room and I’m not feeling so great.  I do a bit of blog writing, but I’m in bed early tonight.