Ouarzazate, Morocco: Our day started with a trip to Atlas Studios located in Ouarzazate. This film studio has been used in a surprising number of productions including The Jewel of the Nile, Gladiator, Babel, and Game of Thrones. Admission was nominal and we engaged one of the guides hanging around the entrance at a very…
Merzouga, Morocco: The day started bright and early with a wakeup call to see the sunrise. Fortunately, the sunrise was at 8:15 AM, so getting woken up at 7:45 AM was not a huge hardship (although that did not stop me from whining that I wanted to sleep longer and that it was cold outside).…
Sahara Desert: OK, sometimes these are too obvious, but still have to be done…
Boumalne Dades, Morocco: Staying up late at night in the restaurant at the hotel, I was reminded of two distinct characteristics of the desert as I walked back to our room: 1. The stars are really something out in the desert. Although there was a nearly full moon, the array of stars was still quite…
Read more Boumalne Dades to Merzouga: Week 2 / Day 8 / Jan 18
Marrakech, Morocco: This morning we were picked up by our guide Ayoub and began our journey to the Sahara Desert. Ayoub met us at our riad and helped us get our bags to his van. The van for the ride was quite nice and appeared to be fairly new. Much of the day was spent…
Read more Marrakech to Boumalne Dades: Week 1 / Day 7 / Jan 17
Marrakech, Morocco: The streets of Marrakesh are a constant bustle of vendors, people, cars, and cats. And, I mean cats everywhere! They are to be found on every street, in the palace grounds, walking the markets, and atop buildings. While not quite as plentiful as the cats, the vendors at every shop and market are…
Marrakech, Morocco: Within a 1 km walk of the Palais Bahia is El Badi Palace. Built in the 16th century, it was literally paid for with a king’s ransom (paid by the Portuguese after the Battle of the Three Kings). The palace no longer retains its full glory, but it is still quite impressive to…
Somewhere near Ouarzazate, Morocco: Unfortunately, this category is starting to look like it will be an ongoing series. We had the bottles of soda incident and the stepping in the fountain previously. Today we got something new. On our way to the Sahara for our camel excursion we stopped to see a kasbah (fortress) built…
Read more Dave’s continuing mishaps – Episode 3: Week 1 / Day 7 / Jan 17
Marrakech, Morocco: This morning was a visit to the Bahia Palace in Marrakech. Built in the late 19th century, this palace is of more recent vintage than the others we have seen. Just a short walk from our Riad, it was a great way to start the day. If you did not like the pictures…
Marrakech, Morocco: WiFi throughput in our Riad has been spotty at best. I will attempt to update / provide pictures as soon as technically possible.
