a gorgeous gorge

OK so maybe it was just a really steep sided river valley - but it was quite impressive (you can see the person in the photo below looks really tiny compared to the height of the cliff walls-

or check out the size of the small hotel/restaurant at the end of the gorge- vis-a-vis the cliff walls-

 

we made this stop on the road to Ouarzazate (the movie capital of Morocco also known as "Mollywood") where we ran into Nicole Kidman at breakfast at the hotel (she was filming the story of Gertrude Bell)

anyway- we had to stop for lunch along the way and here are two photos of our food... I ordered an omelet to start which was very good and then kefta (meatballs) for my main also excellent...

but the weird thing was they gave us a pre-lunch course of - you guessed it- spaghetti with cinnamon and powdered sugar...LOL - no kidding...

as we left I saw this sign outside the restaurant- which will have to serve as a way to find the lovely garden where we ate because I don't know the name of it---

we also passed through the town known for the rose cosmetics and perfumes (in a rose growing oasis area) and then on to Ouarzazate and the lovely Palais Berbere- home away from home for the stars shooting on location---

including GA - here on a set from a recent Cleopatra movie....

we only overnight here and are off early in the morning so we can get to Marrakech midday...

the amazing palms

of Morocco- the oases were incredible- oases in the most classic sense- in dry parched land- there would be these lush green valleys filled with date palms -

and along the way we also saw other palms- like the one pictured below... Aziz pointed them out and it didn't take long to see that this was no "ordinary" palm- LOL

when we first arrived Aziz pointed out the white flowers blooming on every roof top- a new phenomenon since my last visit- when the antennae were prolific... now, dishes everywhere! the used to be taxed but then there were so many cheats they built the tax into the utility rates and everyone pays so now everyone has a dish- and of course mobile phones are prolific so cell towers are needed everywhere - including along the new boulevards...like the photo taken below...

quite clever- and while it doesn't quite disguise the equipment - it is much better than just the naked poles we mostly have pretty much all over the US - although I have seen a few really tall "pine trees" in Georgia...

the date market

and we aren't talking "match.com" we are talking dates: beautiful, luscious, tasty dates! as you could see from the photos of the oases we saw on the way into and out of the Sahara, there are lots of dates available here-

so after we left the Tombouctou Hotel and took the four wheel drive vehicle back to "civilization" in Erfoud we stopped at the local (mostly dates) market...where Georgia bargained for yet another scarf, also in blue - this time Berber blue... and learned to wrap her head like a nomad against the sun and sand of the Sahara... while I went off and photograph the market cats...to each his own....

both Aziz and Mustafa bought dates to take home (they said the prices here were very reasonable and the quality much higher than in the cities- Aziz was from Marrakech and Mustafa from Casablanca)-- and we head on toward the Todra Gorge and Ouarzazate (our next overnight stay.)

Casablanca's Hassan II

So off we go and our first touring stop is the Hassan II Mosque- the stunning and enormous mosque is now open to the public at very limited times so people can see the incredible craftsmanship of the interior... but first the exterior... I have tried to have some closer in and some further away shots but I don't think those that have people in the photos do justice to the size of the place-

before we go inside here is the info from the brochure:

next up in the photos - the inside of the mosque and the baths-

we exit on to the plaza before continuing on our sightseeing in the city at the Central Market- Marche Centrale----

Aziz, our guide, took the photo of the two of us while Mustafa brought the car around to take us on the next leg of the journey... but before that we make a tour of the corniche... and see some of the damage the weather has wrought this winter- but that is for another post... already this one is quite memory intensive with so many photos of the incredible details of the tile work and marble and other materials in the mosque and the baths below it. So more later - of course!