Monday, 28 June, 2010 --- Day 07

Stats
Day dist: 92.04
Total odo:366.4
Temperature: under 30C

Up at 9:45. Finished work on computer and went to the central market to victualize.
At 12:30 I hit the road. The bulk of the urban environment was over soon but urbanization did not finish for another 14 kms.




At 21 kms I entered Mohamedia. Since I am taking the “route nationale” and not the highway, I pass through all the major towns on the way


A pretty beautiful town. Just like all the towns I’ve seen so far. I must say I’ve reached a conclusion about the Moroccians. Just like the Italians who will always produce something of good taste, the Moroccians, in their own way do the same thing.


A better neighborhood


I biked on and the ride became pretty interesting

A beach on the Atlantic ocean


La route nationale


In the US 90% of people that live under the poverty level have a car and a color TV, 60% has two cars, and almost 100% has a cell phone. In Morocco, it appears that 100% has a satellite TV. Just take a look at the photo below of a shanty village.


I thought that it is belfries of X-stian churches that have the privilege of being chosen by storks. I guess I was wrong. Muslim minarets are an equally good choice.


Finally, at 61 clicks (16:11) I decided to take break for a late lunch and a short nap.


Within a couple of miles from my lunch break the environment looked a lot more taken care of. Soon I saw signs indicating that the huge staked out (by a wall) area on my left was the royal palace. I thought I would take a picture but as there were several soldiers along the wall I waited for the right opportunity. At some point when I thought that no one could see me, I stopped and went for my camera only to see a soldier come out from behind a bush. Instead of my camera I pulled my water bottle pretended to drink and carried on. Taking a picture in front of the soldier would be looking for trouble. The best I could do was the following


The beaches started getting more beautiful




Finally I reached the goal and entered the city outskirts


By asking I went to the old medina


Where I found “Hotel des Oudaias” to spend the night.

After getting settled I went for a walk.


Finally it was time to go to bed.

Sunday, 27 June, 2010 --- Day 06

Stats
Day dist:11.47 km (city)

Up at 10:00. Went to Internet place to update the site. It is a lengthy process because there are a lot of pictures and takes a long time uploading. At 12:00 I returned to the hotel and took my stuff downstairs for safekeeping and went out to internet again for about one hour. After that went to a café in Jemaa el Fna square where I stayed for about half an hour just watching all that was going on in the square and also smoked a couple of cigarettes (you can buy loose cigarettes in Morocco.)


Finally, I went back to the hotel, took Spithas and my stuff, and rode to Majorelle garden. I did not have much time left because I had to deliver Spithas to the cargo agency before 15:00. I wish I had though, the garden is so beautiful. Had I known I would have skipped the cafeteria and spent the time there.

Yves Saint Laurent memorial

I biked to the agency by the train station, delivered Spithas, and then went to the station myself to buy my own ticket. The train was leaving at 17:00 and it was 15:30. I thought I might run to a nearby internet café and finish the job, but the closest one was far away and as I had to carry all my stuff I judged it to be the wrong move and stayed in the (very beautiful) station reading a computer book till 16:30 when the train arrived at the platform and embarked on it.



I was among the first ones and had plenty of option as to where to sit. I really did not know which of side the train the sun would be. I had no idea where North, South, etc., were. I gambled and sat on the right side and I won the bet!!! The ticket purchased did not guarantee a seat. Soon enough, the train was full and people were standing. Not having gone to an internet café paid off. The train left at 17:00.

I took a nap for about one hour and the rest of the trip, another 2 hours and 15 mins I just watched the scenery and the people around me.

When we arrived I went to the agency and claimed my bike. The employee who was a biker himself showed me his bike and told me that with that bike that he owned for 15 years he had biked around Morocco with it.

Once on Spithas I knew where to go. I rode to Casa port and went to the old hotel. The owner was happy to see me and gave me the same room.

After putting my stuff away I went to the nearby internet café till midnight.

Saturday, 26 June, 2010 --- Day 05

Stats
Day dist: 11.78 kms (in the city)
End day odo: 262.9 kms
Noon temperature: 27 C

Woke up at 10:00 and worked on the computer arranging all the pictures I had from yesterday. Took another nap and finally at 13:30 I left the hotel on bike headed for the train station to obtain info regarding my return to Casablanca. Looking for the train station was an opportunity to take a closer look at the city and yesterday’s impression was reinforced. It is indeed a very beautiful city.

Photo of the city hall


When I arrived there I stopped short from entering. The two guards at the entrance would not allow me in with the bike and they actually meant it. I protested saying that my intention was to take the bike with me in the train to Casa and how could I do that if I was not even allowed to enter the station with it. If only Greece had won the match with Argentina thing would have been so different. One of the guards explained to me that I would have to go to an agency which was a few blocks away and they would arrange for the bike to be separately shipped. The whole thing turned out to be more complicated but I will leave out the details. Spithas can be shipped for a small additional fee, which, ironically enough, is more that what my own ticket costs.

Train station


After the whole thing was settled I biked around in the area
Mohamed V avenue


The only building that I’ve seen so far that is not red.


Avenue that leads to Jemaa el Fna square


Buggies parked near a hotel


I biked back to the hotel and left Spithas behind to go visit the “Al Badii” palace.

Some interesting pictures on the way


This is what leads to the palace entrance


The “Al Badii” palace seems to have found new denizens. There were storks all over the place.


View of what is left from the interior


The sultan stork


From there I walked to the nearby palace of “Al Bahia” and here is the entrance.


Inside the palace






I walked back to the hotel and got some interesting pictures on the way


After resting for a while at the hotel, I went out to the square again and here are some pictures

Blind mendicants


Marrakechian chefs cooking at the square


I walked around a bit got something with meat to eat, bought two ice cones, and decided to sit at a café and watch the people go by. There were no empty seats in any of the cafés, so I went to the café at the terrace of the corner building. It was already night and the spectacle was really worth it. More interestingly I stroke a conversation with some café patrons. It was a multinational milieu, a Colombian girl, a French guy from Bearitz, and two local engineers. I was interesting. At around midnight we split and I went to my hotel next door and this is from where I am writing all this to you.

Friday, 25 June, 2010 --- Day 04

Stats
Start at BEN GUERRIR End at MARRAKECH
Day dist: 75.47 kms
Riding time: 3:59
Avg speed: 18.8 kms
Max speed: 40.5 kms
Beg day odo: 175.36 kms
End day odo: 250.0 kms
Avg Temperature: 33 C

Was up at 8:30, very happy thinking that today I will only have to bike 80kms. I worked on the computer and at 10:00 I hit the road. First I stopped to victualize and take a quick look at the town. People are nice and it was a beautiful small town.




I biked on at a leisurely mood. The country was flat, it seemed to me to be continuous plains, and a lot of agriculture is taking place. Thirteen 13kms later on my left there was a several kms long military camp. I waved at the sentries and they did not seem to have any problem waving back. I refrained from taking any pictures though, just in case.

This is how the scenery looks like


Train speeding through


The never ending road


At 12:50 and 36 kms later I decided to take a nap under a tree and near the railway tracks (the train woke me up twice!!!)


I passed a couple of towns the prettiest one being Sidi Obou Othmane, where I provisioned w/ water and bread.


I also biked by a gazelle preserve!!!
The following picture is dedicated to all the gazelles.
Gazelles this is for you


Finally as I approached Marrakech N9 ended into a modern highway




And I finally entered the city. The buildings were beautiful and the streets wide. An architecture different from the one I am used to and very appealing too. All buildings everywhere have a similar color. If I were a girl I would give you the precise name of the color, but I am not and all I can do though is call it a shade of red or a shade of brown. This uniformity is very beautiful and it looks to me that what they are trying to do is imitate the desert.



I biked through the city which is so astoundingly beautiful that I decided to walk the bike and enjoy the view. It is absolutely amazing, the colors, the architecture of the buildings, the town plan, and the very wide streets and avenues. I put it in the same league as Buenos Aires, Bogota, San Francisco, Vancouver, and Istanbul.

I walked for quite a while till I arrived at Jemaa el Fna Square, to look for a hotel. I ended up at “Hotel Des Amis” which is a very descent and friendly place located near where the action is. The funny thing is that the price I paid was the same as the price I paid for the dump yesterday. But what can you do? Nothing much. Now I know why Papariga is so much against monopolies.

For the rest of the day I walked around and retired relative early to take a rest.

Here are some pictures of Jemaa el Fna Square where the action is. The square bustles with acrobats, story-tellers, water sellers, dancers, snake charmers, and musicians. By night food stalls open in the square turning it into a huge busy open-air restaurant.



Snake charmers


Local band


The Souq(market)







View of the entire square


Mendicant