Marrakech Adventures—January 28 to 30, 2019

We followed the porter with his luggage dolly out of the Essaouira Medina to the Supr@tours bus station just outside the Medina where we would take a 3-hour bus to our final tour stop at Marrakech.  It was a very new and clean bus and Liam and I got the front seat so we had a clear view of our travels.  On the way, we stopped once for a 20-minute bathroom and refreshment break. 

At the bus station next to the train station, the taxis prevent private shuttles from picking up tour groups like ours so Khaled had to hassle a few taxi drivers to take us a few blocks away to our final hotel—Hotel Le Caspien.  It was in the new area of Marrakech with a huge shopping mall nearby as well as a local bus that would take us down to the old Medina area for just 4 Dinars.

After storing our bags we headed down to the Medina by bus and got there by nightfall when all of the food stalls were in full swing.  He had arranged a meal for us that included lots of different foods ranging from appetizers of relish plates of tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, fried eggplant, and green peppers followed by meat and vegetable skewers and bread along with mint tea.

Even after eating, the different vendors exhorted us to eat more.  Liam and I went up to the Glacier Restaurant on the second floor where we could see and take pictures of the activities below.

I returned the following day and ended up buying a small leather camel for my grandson.  Initially, the price quoted was 80 dinars.  I ended up getting it for 45 dinars—probably still too high.  I explored the nearby souk that sold all kinds of goods from shoes to silver.

The red brick area is where the last night’s food stalls were.

I then had a delicious tagine Kefta lunch at a very nice restaurant and it was the same price as some of the streetside hole-in-the-wall places I have eaten at.

I decided I wanted to get a picture of a cobra so I told the fellow I would pay 20 for taking pictures of his snakes.  He agreed and then as I was doing a video, he started to put another snake around my neck.  Yikes!  After I calmed down, I did put the snake around my neck and then he took my camera and took pictures of me with the snake around my neck with the cobra in the foreground. 

I gave him back the snake and started to pay him the agreed 20 dinars, but he said 400 dinars.  I said no, that is not what we agreed upon.  He then said 20 Euros, I said no and handed him the 20 dinars which he refused to accept, and started yelling and grabbing me.  I pulled away and tossed the 20 dinars on the ground and quickly walked away as he continued to yell at me.

I then took the bus back to the hotel.

For our farewell dinner with Khaled, we had a very gourmet dinner at our hotel.  I had the beef tagine with quince.  All of the meals were well-plated, especially the deserts.

Liam and I got up early for breakfast before I headed out at 8 AM for the bus to Essaouira.  

Unfortunately, the 9am bus was full so I ended up with the 10:45am departure. The bus station is just around the corner from this train station.  Time for me to get up to date on my blog entries.

This was my first Intrepid Tour and I was really pleased with how much we saw in the 15-day tour and especially all of the hikes we did along the way.  I think my highlight was the Camel ride and staying in the Sahara camp because it was so unique.   

I was pleased that there were only 8 of us on the tour because we had plenty of room in the 15-passenger minibus that took us from Meknes to Essaouira.  The Australian and UK travelers were a fun group to be with and we were fortunate that we had no whiners or complainers among us. Our guide, Khalad provided us with excellent service and information about Morocco and its people.  

If you want to buy one of my 29 travel videos, I sell them on eBay for $5 with free shipping worldwide whenever I am not traveling.  My seller’s name on eBay is —huntforvideos.

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I have recently uploaded all of my travel videos to YouTube now that they allow longer uploads and you may want to see my travel adventures there.  That link is

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If you do go there, please subscribe to my video channel since it will help me eventually get some income there and help with my future travels. Fewer people are using DVDs so I am transitioning to streaming my travels on my YouTube channel.

Essaouira Adventures—January 26 to 28, 2019

After heading from our Gite to the village of Imlil, we loaded up our bags on our minivan and headed to the coastal city of Essaouira.  It would be about a five-hour drive, split up by a lunch stop as well as an argan oil factory.  

It was a cooperative where the Berber women would split out the nut from the argan tree and other women would use a stone grinder to render the nut into an oily mass that looked like peanut butter.

From there they would squeeze out the oil.  This oil is now very expensive and is used for flavoring cooking but primarily for cosmetic use in soaps, creams, and other elixirs.  Most bought some of the stuff, but I did not since I still had some argan lip balm.

We pulled into the bus stop and a guy with a dolly met us to haul our extra bags to our hotel inside the Medina.

We parted ways with Samir and his minivan who had driven us from Meknes to Essaouira and was very attentive to our needs and more importantly drove us safely the entire way along some sketchy roads and crowded cities.

We stayed at the conveniently located Souiri Hotel where all types of foods, goods, and entertainment were discovered during our stay.

That evening we went to a rooftop restaurant to watch the sunset and have a delicious meal.  It turns out that our view of the fortress wall and watchtower were featured in segments of “The Game of Thrones.”

I ordered sea bass and was surprised to see that I ended up with the entire fish and not just a filet like I was expecting.  This would be my most expensive meal at 500 Dinhars since I also ordered a Caesar Salad.

In the morning we got a walking tour of the waterfront and Medina with our local guide, Hassan.

At the waterfront, Max, Liam, and Khalad helped the fishermen get one of the boats out of the water.

Again it was at this spot where another segment of the “Game of Thrones” was filmed with a little girl jumping into the water and then some sort of bug was uncovered.

The seagulls loved the fish guts the fish cleaners were tossing out.

Our guide again toured us around the Medina again and pointed out where the “Game of Thrones” was filmed and even showed us the movie clip of the two segments along with the fort and by the waterfront.

We ended our tour by visiting a silver shop where they made and sold silver jewelry.  The women bought a few earrings while there which ended our tour.

In the afternoon I went for my 350 Dinhar Hamam—bath, scrub, and massage—treatment.  On my own, I would have never gone up those dark stairs for this treatment.  When I got in there though the women greeted me and told me to put on the big robe after undressing down to my underwear. 

After doing that, I entered a steam room where I laid face down on a bench while the woman lathered me up with hot water and soap.  She repeated it when I turned over.  After rinsing me off, I laid there in the steam room for a 1/2 hour before she returned and then began the exfoliation treatment with one of those rough gloves.

When I sat up and put my hands on my thighs, I felt a whole bunch of rolled-up dead skin.  She then rinsed me off again.

I then put my robe back on and changed into dry underwear for the massage portion of the treatment.  It was an hour relaxing massage.  I could not do this very often because I would run out of skin.  The entire treatment took about 2 hours.

Others went for a horseback ride along the beach area while I was getting the Hamam treatment.

I plan to return to Essaouira after the Intrepid Tour is done instead of continuing down to Agadir.  Khalid told me the old part of the city was destroyed by an earthquake and all I would see there would be modern buildings and big expensive resorts along the waterfront.

I have recently uploaded all of my travel videos to YouTube now that they allow longer uploads and you may want to see my travel adventures there.  That link is

 https://www.youtube.com/c/huntforgold.  

If you do go there, please subscribe to my video channel since it will help me eventually get some income there and help with my future travels. Fewer people are using DVDs so I am transitioning to streaming my travels on my YouTube channel.

Armoumd Trek—January 24 to 25, 2019

This morning we left the Sahara area and climbed over the Tizi n’Tichka Pass at 2,260 meters where construction was continuing to reduce landslides and straighten out some of the curves.  It was a spectacular drive complete with some snow and frozen waterfalls.

Here is our Intrepid Tour guide—Khalad Noah—near the Pass.

We then headed up the windy road to Imlil where the road ended and many of us left our extra baggage at a nearby hotel and began our 3 km walk to the village of Aroumd where we would stay with a Berber family in a Gite—guesthouse.  The family prepared some excellent Berber food for us in steaming hot tangines with vegetables and huge hunks of meat.  

That night we loaded up with extra blankets as the fires died down and got up for an early hike up to the  Sidi Chamharouch shrine—about a 5 km hike uphill where we passed other cafes along the way as well some frozen waterfalls. 

We left just as dawn was breaking with our guide Hassan leading the way. What a great way to explore this rugged area.

I have recently uploaded all of my travel videos to YouTube now that they allow longer uploads and you may want to see my travel adventures there.  That link is

 https://www.youtube.com/c/huntforgold.  

If you do go there, please subscribe to my video channel since it will help me eventually get some income there and help with my future travels. Fewer people are using DVDs so I am transitioning to streaming my travels on my YouTube channel.