In the late evening I'm leaving Marrakesh for Zagora - I want to see the dessert. I had to check out from my hotel before noon and had to find a luggage storage for my backpack. It wasn't easy. The only facility that work 24 hours is located in the main bus station. NOTE: Lonely Planet is wrong about saying there are lockers at the train station - actually there are no lockers. You can leave your luggage at Supratours office but it closes at 7 p.m. so it doesn't work for my late departure. It also seems that all - not only international - CTM busses leave now from around the company's bureau located near the train station.
After finally getting rid of my backpack I zent for a stroll in the labyrinth of medina's narrow streets and I got lost. It was quite hard to find the way out but finally I managed to get out of the medina walls and caught a bus that took me near the Djemaa el Fna square.
May 14, 2008 12:00 AMDay trip to Essaouira
I had to get up early this morning to catch a bus to Essaouira, a middle-sized town located on the Atlantic coast. Although the journey takes 3 hours I decided to make this journey a day-trip. There are no individual sights in Essaouira, but the tozn as a whole, and especially its compact medina is really charming. Apart from the medina also the port is worth visiting. Go as far as you can - if you can stand the awful odour of seagulls' feaces and rotten fish - and find yourself among the locals with no tourists around.
Essaouira is much calmer than Marrakesh so you can take rest from ubiquitous motorbikes, that ply the medina, and the smell of fumes.
In the evening I went to Djemaa el Fna again to have dinner and I chose a stall that was advertised by a local guy speaking, among other languages, my native Polish. His command of Polish was limited to the entries of the menu but still I was quite impressed.
Be aware of what you order as very similar things have totally different prices - e.g. one species of fish costs 20 dirhams while a mix is 70 for the same quantity. It's so just to rip off tourists. If they want you to pay more than you should just insist and they usually give up with the lozer price.
May 13, 2008 12:00 AMMedina and the souqs
I didn't sleep well this night. About 4 a.m. I was woken up by a muezzin calling people for prayer. There are two mosques near my hotel and I'm afraid they compete in loud prayer calls.
In the morning I went for a walk through the medina to explore the souks, i.e. shops scattered all over the place in narrow lanes of the quarter.
I already have tickets for the tomorrow day-trip to Essaouira - 65 dirhams one way - and for the day after tomorrow to Zagora - 120 dirhams o/w. I'm going to spend a day or tzo in the dessert.
In the evening I went to the Djemaa el Fna square again to take a fez shots. It's e great place for taking pics, especially after dusk. The place is lit so well that you even don't need a tripod. It seems I'm carrying my tripod zith no need...
May 12, 2008 12:00 AMGoing to Morocco
I´m just to leave Spain and fly to Marrakesh. My plane departs at 6 p.m. Today I had a nice stroll around the town of Girona with my host Lluis. Girona is a charming medieval town with a beautiful views along the Onyar river that divides the town into two parts. Now ít´s raining here. I´m wondering what the weather is like in Morocco. I hope Marrakesh will welcome me with sun. The plan for today is to find a hotel and look around Djemma el Fna. Bye, bye Girona...
continued:
I arrived in Marrakesh before 7 p.m. and had no problems finding a cheap hotel - only 60 dirhams, but there's only cold shower. The location of the hotel is really great - literally several steps from the very centre of Marrakesh - Djemaa el Fna square. Just after leving my luggage I went to the square to see how the show looks like. The show takes place there every evening qand night. This is the place where you can totally immerse in Moroccan culture and become part of the show. Enjoy!
May 11, 2008 12:00 AMBeginning in Gerona
Another journey started today afternoon. This is going to be my longest solo trip so far and the destination is Morocco. Now I´m in Girona, Spain from where I have a flight to Marrakesh tomorrow afternoon. Unfortunately I was a bit too late to catch this charming medieval town in warm light of the setting sun, but still I managed to take a fewdecent pictures.
Going around the town is much easier for me as it's my second visit to Gerona. The first one was when I was going back from Tenerife with my friends and we spent a fez hours in the town just walking around. Gerona is much nicer now in May than it was in Winter - there are more people in the streets and it's visible the town lives. I was als nicely surprised with the sunny weather as the forecast was a bit moer pessimistic.
In the evening I met my host who gave me accommodation for the night: Lluis was very nice and also prepared a great dinner.
Dec 12, 2007 12:00 AMA farewell to Canary Islands
We got up as early as 5:30 a.m. to pack all the things and fold the tents. All that stuff took us less time than we expected. We had taxis called at 7 a.m. and were obviously given a small look-around drive when going to the airport and were ripped off a bit. I guess taxi drivers are generally all the same all around the world.
We arrived in Girona at 2 p.m. and immediately took a bus to the town. It cost 3.90 euros for a return ticket and the ride lasted half an hour. After having a quick look around in the old part of the town we headed for something to eat. Now I think it was one of the worst pizzas I've ever had, so it's better you never eat at Garbi located in Placa Pompeu Fabre. In the evening we returned to the airport to spend the night there as our flight is scheduled for early morning.
Dec 11, 2007 12:00 AMA lazy day at beach
Today we rushed to Playa de Las Americas for unceasing sunshine and fine-sand beach. Playa de La Tejita, the beach located just a few minutes of walking from our campsite is not a bad one but it's unbearably windy and thus more suitable for wind and kite surfers rather than those whose prime aim is to sunbathe.
The sun started shining strongly about midday and we enjoyed it till 4 p.m. This was the deserved moment of leisure after several days of early wake-ups getting us out of beds sometimes at 5 a.m.
Dec 10, 2007 12:00 AMIn the realm of the devil
Barranco del Infierno means Hell's Ravine and it was our destination for today. We lost more than two hours to get to Adeje where the track starts. Traffic jams were horrible on both ways there and back.
The first part of the hike along the ravine is marked on one of the slopes of the ravine and is under strong and uninterrupted sunlight during most of the day (that's why you need sunscreen, a hat and a bottle of water). The second part leads through the bed of the ravine which is shady and humid, the ground is slippery so we needed sturdy trekking shoes with good soles (the staff will check if you have proper boots, and if not, you won't be let on the track).
At the end of the ravine there is a waterfall (the highest and probably the only one on Tenerife). It's unbelievable how enormous power water can have and what it can carve in stone.
The name of the ravine is hundred per cent adequate as it's scorching hot on the slope and you're hopeless to hide from sunshine burning your shoulders.
Dec 09, 2007 12:00 AMPyramides of Guimar
Getting up quite early for the fourth consecutive time we arrived in Guimar at about 10 a.m. When walking towards the pyramides we came across a Sunday market at which all kinds of locally grown fruit and vegs were sold.
After eventually getting to the pyramides we learned there are students tickets available (not mentioned neither on the website nor in the LP guidebook) and this way we paid slightly more than 7 euros per person instead of 10 (which is the normal adult fare).
The pyramides are a mystery themselves as it is not clear whether they were built for ritual purposes (like e.g. pyramides in Central and South Americas) or are just structures that were erected as agricultural facilities.
After finishing with pyramides we took a bus to Candelaria, a costal town whose only attraction is a huge Basilic that houses a figure of Virgin Mary, the most revered one on Tenerife. In Candelaria we also went to the beach for a moment to take a look at its coal-black sand.
As it was still mid-afternoon we decided to take a bus to the capital city of Tenerife. In Santa Cruz we just had a stroll around and visited the fair of local craft that was held there at that time.
Dec 08, 2007 12:00 AMOn the top of Tenerife
To see the sunrise on the very top of Pico del Teide (3718 meters above the sea level) we had to get up at 5 a.m. nd set off from the refuge half an hour later. Although we missed the track when climbing up (and this way lost about 20 minutes) we managet to get on the top of Mt Teide before the sun appeared on the horizon. But a much more unique phenomenon than the sunrise itself was the shadow of Mt Teide cast on the colourful sky.
To get down from Pico del Teide we had two options: either to to take the cableway or to climb down. We chose the latter one and this prooved to be the right decision. The landscape was great and was changing much from the top of the mountain all the way to El Portillo, a tiny village from which we had a bus taking us out from the national park. The best vistas were at the altitude of about 2500 metres, where a unique view of something like a semidesert opened.
In terms of distance hiked today we estimated it at about 30 kilometres or even more. We got back to our campsite through Los Christianos, one of the main tourist resorts on Tenerife.
