The evening sunset over the Atlantic was not so typical last night as there were no brilliant colours streaking and slashing across the horizon...it was purely a dazzling golden glare that bought with it a sea mist resembling gold dust, a true embodiment of that fashionable hashtag #goldenhour
Crossing this bridge was totally unexpected...I am not mad on wobbly jiggly very long bridges that are a tad dodgy and uneven with a few slats missing...but having said that I crossed it...twice !
We walked off our breakfast with a wander through a couple of tiny villages , farmyards and orchards....and yes these gourds are right up in a tree. The tangled vine has wound itself right up into the branches so there they hang !
The distance we travelled seemed longer than we anticipated mainly due to the potholed skinny mountain road we had to take and we knew breakfast was still a little way off. Tummies were rumbling ! We had a snack stop at a village shop ( think 7/11 convenience store) and while the little store looks a tad ordinary, let me tell you there is nothing you can’t get once you cross the threshold. We bought a local homemade pastry snack that I know as krishlat. They are also called Ashoura. One kilo is $1.50 or thereabouts and it’s delicious and https://tmpower.su/…/قريشلات-عاشوراء-كعيكعات-kr…/r80HQjsHgAc
Here’s a link to make it....easy recipe but time consuming. I hope your Arabic is better than mine ...but you can follow the pics !
I stood in a village that was tiny, home to three families, but it was 600 years old ! Other villages in the Atlas Mountains would be much older. I wondered about that tiny village and about the many generations that had eked out a living there over time. In many respects time has stood still. The fields are still ploughed by hand, donkeys pulling the plough. The olives are still crushed with the stone mills pulled round and round , again by donkeys. There are no appliances in the kitchen and bread is cooked daily in an oven made from mud. But they have internet and mobile phones and Air Bnb and most importantly, education is compulsory and all the children were smiling !
Tin Mal Mosque is being restored slowly by the Moroccan government. It is is one of two mosques in Morocco that non Muslims are permitted into
A twelve hour day trip packed with sensational views and mountain adventures cannot be covered in one post.... justice would not be done to this incredible day out.
I cajoled nine intrepid buddies to join me and proceeded on to make the arrangements with my Atlas mountain contacts. As to be expected, the day was jam packed with unforgettable moments. The drive was over two hours and much of it is bumpy. Photos taken from a bus window as it lurches along over potholes means many deletions but the views were full of autumn colour, snaking waterways, hidden ancient villages and swathes of distant snow on the insanely rugged Atlas peaks. The day was pure blue skies and sunniness...and happiness !
This is not a good photo, it didn’t have a chance as it was taken from a moving bus...but if you zoom in to that skinny swing bridge you will see a flock of something crossing ie. goats or sheep. That’s quite a remarkable sight, a first for me even though I have travelled extensively through rural Morocco . I would wish we could have slowed or stopped for more photos...hopefully there will be a ‘next time’ !!
Recycling has become an art form for some talented artisan metalworkers here in Marrakech. Dismantled and discarded motor bikes provide the medium for these amazing sculptures. The metal flotsam and jetsam is welded into creations that are shipped worldwide.
I see so many of these enormous metal sculptures outside Moroccan artisan ironwork studios and I always wonder who buys them...too big for my suitcase and my house for that matter !!!!
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