MOROCCO INDEPENDENTLY: AN EVENTFUL HOLIDAY

REGGIO EMILIA - BARCELONA

WEDNESDAY' 03/08/2005

Departure by car from Reggio Emilia at 03:30 arrival in Barcelona around 14:00. Highway in France tolls alone 39.4 euros; highway in Spain 10.15 euros. Diesel up to Barcelona 140 euros. (Before starting I'll specify that in hindsight we would surely have organized the transfers differently, saving money and time;for example a flight to Seville with Ryanair, bus to Tarifa and transfers in Morocco by train or bus. But anyway by now...) Afternoon and night to recover energy spent at the FOURMULE1 French chain that's also found in some areas of Spain and that allows you to have a good bed to sleep and low prices. Clean room with three beds,the sink plus television and air conditioning all for 32 euros per room.

For exact address look on the site com A stroll in the center of Barcelona on the Rambla (this isn't the moment to tell you how wonderful Barcelona is but if you haven't already visited it as we did on a previous vacation then I recommend if you can to stop a few more days) dinner in the Olympic port area, metro stop Ciuttadella. once you arrive near the port you'll find lots of bars and small discos about in the middle is the REY DE LA GAMBA ( p.° joan de borbo' 46). Excellent place to eat very good fish until you feel sick at a not exaggerated price. Ask for a fried fish platter or a grilled fish for two people at the total price of 40 euros and I guarantee you'll hardly empty the plate. After a good sleep around 7 we set off again.

CAR BREAKDOWN

THURSDAY' 04/08/2005

We set off following the directions of a virtual friend found on turisti per caso where he advised passing via Madrid but in the end it didn't seem to us the best choice even if we saved something on the toll. We had spent a lot of money for the due checks on the car (tire shop, mechanic, auto electrician) but this one decided to spite us by lighting up an indicator unknown to us and losing power. The temptation to ignore it is very strong then the voice of wisdom or of fear, that in Arab land it would surely be more complicated to find a Renault dealer and communicate in Arabic, forces us to stop in a small town devoid of tourist interest called Manzanares (near Ciudat Real). The mechanic after the checks made by connecting their computer to the control unit of our car tells us that it's not serious...sigh of relief on our part..

But the hours pass and he changes expression;we call our mechanic in Italy to ask for advice..the fact is that we were struck by a very rare thing, according to the mechanic it was mala suerte.. I'll explain briefly: they clean a valve for us,and according to the Italian mechanic, NO reset of the control unit is needed while our Spanish technician wanted to reprocess the whole car and at that point our control unit no longer wanted to take the codes of the 4 injectors and the indicator no longer went off.

What to do, go to Morocco anyway since according to him the car has no problem and has only lost a bit of power? We and the Italian mechanic ask ourselves if it has no problem why doesn't it take the codes and can't go beyond 130 km/h on flat ground? We decide to leave the car one night at the Renault dealership and hope that leaving the battery disconnected and the engine cold the next day the miracle will take place... We're forced to go to a hotel in the area;a guy who was supposed to have a check done on his car offered to accompany us to a fairly cheap hotel he knew. The Spanish are truly cordial and warm people, they're never surly or annoyed if you ask them for information.

Back to us, he takes us to the hotel MENANO (virgen de la paz 20,telephone: 926 61 09 16 Manzanates ) two stars but for me it had at least five, I don't understand by what criteria they rate them..luxury hotel with light in the corridors that turns on as we pass and a huge room with tv and air conditioning and an equally big bathroom with a hydromassage shower. To give you an idea of the things they leave for guests besides the usual soap and shower gel there were two toothbrushes with their respective toothpaste,two shaving razors with foam and two shoe brushes..I forgot there's also a hairdryer, all for 48 euros per room. I don't want to say that it's little but in Italy a room like this they charge at least double if not triple. Out in the evening for dinner we quickly go around the town but we don't see many restaurants or trattorias...

The only one is the one in front of our hotel,it's a square where they've set up lots of little tables and you eat outdoors, it's full of people, fairly quick service and normal prices. We for two large bottles of water and a glass of beer a bruschetta with raw ham, a mixed salad and a mixed grill of meat we spent 23 euros.

CORDOBA

FRIDAY 05/08/2005

In the morning, breakfast at the hotel for 5 euros. We call the Renault dealer and after ten minutes he's in front of our hotel saying: no bueno! We pay 95 euros for the work done and with a muchas gracias we leave. The holiday is ruined, depressed we consult each other about what to do, the only sure thing is that with the car in risky condition we are not going to Morocco. After the initial daze, three Morocco guidebooks bought and hours spent on the internet learning about other people's experiences; we console ourselves by looking for a plan and an alternative holiday: Spain, Portugal and France have so much to offer and if we have problems with the car again we are not in a world and with a completely unknown language. We head for Cordoba; a city we haven't visited yet on our 2002 holiday.

We arrive and we don't have much desire to wander around and find a hotel at a more convenient price, if one even exists. As soon as we enter the city we see the hotel MARIANO at avda de cadiz 60 cordoba telephone 957 294 166 (e-mail: hotelmariano@josuba.com) Enormous building and certainly dated, nothing luxurious like the one we just left, smaller room but with air conditioning and clean. Paid 45 euros for one night. The heat is truly oppressive, we wait until 18:30 before deciding to start our visit to the city. Mistake, we should have waited at least another two hours to avoid dripping with heat. From our hotel we easily reach the old quarter on foot in ten minutes, a nice walk given the scenery if it weren't for the heat that makes everything dull to our eyes.

The city is undergoing renovation and as we wander we notice that inside there are many hotels at a lower price, the lowest seen is 30 euros for a room in the centre behind the medina. My advice is, if you're not exhausted, to park the car since it's impossible or nearly so to reach the hotels by car, carry your luggage if it's not a ton, and venture into the historic centre, ask around and then you'll choose the one that inspired you most. We always prefer to spend 5 euros more but be sure we're in a clean place. But everyone makes their own choice and knows their own wallet. In Cordoba all the places to visit close by 19:00, when you'd normally start going out. We take a wander, losing ourselves in the alleys of the Juderia and shopping here and there.

We find a tea room in Arab style that's really lovely and above all cool, we go in to take refuge from the oppressive heat and choose from the long list of assorted hot and cold teas that make up the menu. But in our wandering nothing awakens our desire to see and experience the city. The shops, seen one seen them all, full of the usual stuff; our heads are still turned towards Morocco. Tomorrow morning in the cool we'll visit the mezquita; very important note: in the morning from 8:30 until 10:00 they open the gates and let you visit for free, saving a good 6 euros. On the way back we cross the characteristic Roman bridge: I advise you to wait and see a sight that for me is unusual: thousands of birds gathered in flocks flying in the sky waiting to come down onto the trees near the river to spend the night there.

There are so many both in the sky and those that have already found a place to sleep.. There are trees that change colour covered on the lower branches with white birds and at the tips completely black. I won't tell you the exact names of the birds so as not to make a fool of myself, perhaps starlings and herons. We have dinner in the hotel restaurant which is however open to everyone, something that turned out to be wise because we take the menu of the day which consists of a first course, second course, dessert and drink all for 6.60 euros each. Good and abundant portions. Other times we've found that eating in a place swarming with tourists you don't get good service.; you eat little because the portions are meagre and you spend more than you should. I repeat, restaurant Mariano on the street.

CORDOBA-SEVILLE

SATURDAY 06/08/2005

We take advantage of the free visit to the mezquita, wonderful, and it must have been something truly splendid at the time of Arab rule (but would Morocco have been like this?) a touch of nostalgia… We take another walk around the city enjoying the morning cool and then at midday we go back to the hotel ready to leave it and head for Seville. During the journey I try again and what if we took the car to another Renault dealer to see if it can be fixed? Diego doesn't want to spend more money uselessly and doesn't want further disappointments, our itinerary doesn't change; Seville then Portugal, specifically the Algarve and then Porto, a quick stop in Santiago, a short stay in the Asturias and away towards home stopping in Bordeaux and then a hello to our beloved Nice. Goodbye Morocco.

Arrival in the afternoon in Seville, this time we head for the centre and every time I see a Hostal or pension I stop to ask the price. The centre is full of them: there's only the choice.. We find some from 25 euros a night but we ask to see the room and besides being truly squalid we're almost afraid of waking up the next morning without a kidney or without our wallet.(how mean I am but you should have seen their faces). We choose the pension hostal San Benito (at the end of Canarios in the barrio de Santa Cruz) 36 euros a night with a fan in the room, nothing special but very clean and then we're in the centre. It's not easy to park the car and since we won't need it anymore we put it in a guarded car park, 14 euros for 24 hours right near where we're sleeping.

Once again we shut ourselves in the hotel given the torrid heat and decide to go out only in the evening, but even here it will always be too early and we're forced to take refuge in a bar and refresh ourselves and wait for the hours to pass. The heat doesn't allow us to appreciate the city which is anyway very characteristic and has so much to offer. The only certain thing is that we want to see a flamenco show again (something we had already seen in Granada on our 2002 holiday). Prices range from 12 euros, up to 27 euros.. Browsing the internet a guy recommended going to a bar where they do a flamenco show every evening not for tourists but for everyone's pleasure. Coincidence, it's not very far from where we are. We look for it to get an idea of the whole thing.

The show is free, you only need to buy a drink but on Saturdays and Sundays you only drink while on other days you can also eat. We have a light dinner in the restaurant el Cordobes in a street in the centre where they have the menu of the day; in my salad I find two little worms, one walking calmly in my tomato; luckily I hadn't eaten a single leaf. At ten o'clock the flamenco show begins, they're all very young and just starting out, but they're good and the place is very characteristic, it reminds me of a story by Garcia Marquez… it makes everything out of the ordinary.

A FEW DAYS IN PORTUGAL -TARIFA

SUNDAY 07/08/2005

We leave for Portugal but we're still not sure what to do: we want new stimuli… to go or not to go to Morocco?… the fear of what we don't know holds us back a bit… we decide to go to Portugal to rest and see with a calmer mind what to do and how to organise the luggage… The journey is peaceful, finally we arrive in Salema (a few km after Lagos) at the Quinta dos Carricos campsite which we fell in love with in 2002, it's a marvel, it's very cool.

MONDAY 08/08/2005

Algarve… how wonderful!! High cliffs, coves that aren't too crowded, fresh air (we've already had our fill of heat in Spain) and above all relaxation. Diego takes advantage of it and sleeps until midday in our little tent providentially loaded among the luggage because you never know… My little brain keeps working… I WANT MOROCCOOOO!!! But how??? We spend the afternoon wandering around the coves, before heading back we stop at a supermarket to buy some meat to make the most of the barbecue we have a stone's throw from our pitch. Relaxing evening with a good book and a fresh breeze that makes us forget the heat suffered in Spain and that makes us sleep divinely

TUESDAY 09/08/2005

We wake up early (maybe 9?).The weather has changed, it's cloudy and by the look of it it's going to rain soon. We take advantage of it and go to Cape Sao Vincente, the extreme south-western tip of Portugal. Once we arrive we realise we weren't the only ones with the great idea… there's a line of parked cars that must be a kilometre long.

We park but instead of going along the road we walk along the cliff (the real attraction of the place) where we almost have the impression of being alone!! Once we reach the lighthouse, which of course is closed for restoration, we stop for 5 minutes, look at a few stalls of geodes and fossils and then flee to the car just in time to avoid the rain… ok it's decided now, tomorrow we leave for Morocco, we'll leave the car somewhere in Tarifa and move around using local transport, we won't be as free as we would have liked and we won't do everything we had organised but now nobody can stop us..

WEDNESDAY 10/08/2005

We wake up, have a quick breakfast and take down the tent in a hurry, we're in a frenzy now, we're leaving… Peaceful journey, arrival in Tarifa: it seems the only place where there's something within kilometres and there's terrible chaos; we anyway immediately find the car park where to leave the car while we're in Morocco at a price equivalent to the ferry ticket for the car alone, we accept. We then decide to find accommodation for the night, incredible, everyone is full even if willing to spend beyond what we had planned (not above 80 € anyway) we can't find a single room… we drive around like crazy for hours, getting as far as Aljazira but there's nothing to be done...ok we sleep in the car!!

FENDER-BENDER AND FINALLY MOROCCO

THURSDAY 11/08/2005

We're sleeping like angels, the last time I looked at the time it was four thirty when we're woken by a violent impact against our car. When I turn around I see a toyota that has planted its rear at a fairly sustained speed into our rear. It's a nightmare, what else can happen to us? We're well aware that things can always get worse. A German girl gets out who speaks Spanish and says she wanted to avoid the camper parked on the other side of the road thirty metres before us and didn't see us. Talking we understand that she was late and that coming out of her lane she didn't use her rear-view mirrors at all and was in a hurry. It's certain that we were anyway stationary and she rear-ended us.

Her Jeep logically didn't get a single scratch, ours I believe has been seriously damaged in terms of cost: the whole bumper needs replacing since she planted her tow hook into it making a nice hole and also the whole tailgate. We fill in the friendly accident report form while she says they'll pay us because it's her fault…. The day has started a bit badly, here we go again with the if onlys… The fact is that in the darkness of the night we hadn't noticed that cars could come out from behind and moreover I was sure that at dawn I'd be awake and that we'd be gone before anyone noticed our presence. The girl rear-ended us ten minutes before the alarm went off. Demoralised yes, but not blocked, we decide that everything must go as planned, maybe if the car stays parked for ten days in a guarded car park nothing serious can happen to it.

Let's hope! It seems unbelievable, we're on the ferry that will take us to Morocco, we can't stop thinking about all the mishaps that have happened to us. We just hope we can really recharge our minds and be able to enjoy all the beautiful and varied things Morocco has to offer us. We took the fast ferry (so they say but instead of the promised 35 minutes it takes us more than an hour, no problem) from Tarifa and we pay 97.20 euros for two, round trip. We arrive in Tangier a bit wary, after what we've read about fake guides, touts and taxi drivers we're afraid that once we disembark we'll be assailed and attacked by a horde of Moroccans. Instead it's exactly the opposite, we have a very peaceful disembarkation, we head to the left of the port where there are cash machines or exchange offices, we prefer to withdraw directly.

Done, a man kindly asks us if we need a taxi and where we're headed..we don't feel like haggling and immediately accept a ride to the train station for 5 euros including luggage, it's a grand taxi and already has a British couple on board, they're headed to the station and pay 5 euros like us. We arrive at the station and set the clocks back two hours and we're lucky (at least once in a while) the train direct to Rabat leaves in 30 minutes. Train TANGIER- RABAT 89.50 DH each. Being the terminus we find seats, later with the following stops it will fill up to the impossible.

RABAT

The scenery is varied: we see the salt flats with men busy shovelling mountains of salt, men on donkeys' backs working the land with the horse and we pass in front of a kind of furnace where they work the earth to make both vases and bricks. Our eyes are greedy for new things, in our brain this passage has given a shot of adrenaline. Of all the kilometres we travel by train beyond the poverty and a land completely far from ours we discover one omnipresent thing: their way of disposing of waste, simply throwing it outside the city or in less busy areas, wherever you look you see black bags flying, after their contents have degraded and scattered around. We conclude the last part of the train journey paying close attention to recognising our stop. We ask and jump off while a tide of people pushes to get on.

Once off, nobody hassles us and we realise that in RABAT there are at least two train stations and the IBIS hotel where we're headed is logically in the other one. We look for a taxi (we almost have to beg them) and for 15 DH he takes us to the hotel.

On the IBIS booklet (ibishotel.com) (place del la gare Rabat-Agdal telephone 212 (0) 37 77 49 19 / 26 / 41) it says it costs 440 Dh (about 44 euros) per room but once there we discover that breakfast is included and that everything has risen to 548 DH… tomorrow morning I'll eat the impossible… We allow ourselves a couple of hours of rest and then we head to the medina by taxi for 30 Dh (we're sure you can spend less).The souks are something indescribable and this is our first experience, I don't think words can convey the idea, a jumble of shouting vendors mixed with the crowd, they sell everything and in an absolutely random and disordered way, there are men dressed in a kind of fur jacket who do nothing but pour fresh water into one of the glasses they have tied to their belt, stalls full of beautiful and inviting sweets but at the same time they became nauseating at the sight of all th

e bees on top and you see people calmly eating them as if nothing were wrong. Mentally we thought we were prepared for the lack of cleanliness but today it's still too soon for our stomach to accept certain food. I've seen mutilated people, deformed, without arms, blind begging.. I've seen a seller of land tortoises, he had them from the tiniest to the normal-sized one. I've seen a child selling beautiful chicks if it weren't for the fact that they were orange, golden yellow, blue and grey… I've seen stalls with the legs, heads and innards of animals displayed next to one selling music or underwear. Beautiful the mountains of coloured spices. We don't have the courage to film or photograph what we see, nobody has bothered us, spoken to us and we don't want to create problems by photographing them.

We go on until we see an exit but we have no idea where we are, we'd like to see the two or three most important monuments of Rabat but we can't manage it in that chaos, we should take another taxi but we don't feel like it, it's starting to get dark… We wander a bit looking for a place we'd call decent to eat and we find a place that does both typical dishes, sandwiches and pizza. I have some problems with spices and make do with a margherita pizza which for being Moroccan isn't bad at all, spicy too but it's fine, Diego eats a mix of grilled meat (in the end it turns out to be three skewers, a pile of rice, french fries, another little pile of sautéed carrots and some more mayonnaise..lots of side dishes and not an abundance of meat) but all good, water and coke we pay 63 Dh for two. We immediately find a taxi and go back to the hotel square.

Opposite the Ibis there's a shop selling Moroccan telecom phone cards, we take one with 100 units paying 99 Dh for it. The station is full of phones and we manage to call home to reassure mum and dad. Straight to the hotel I start writing the account of this day and then when it's midnight Italian time, that is ten o'clock in Morocco, I throw myself into bed with the prospect of sleeping ten hours, Diego on the other hand reads until five Italian time or three local time.

MARRAKECH

FRIDAY 12/08/2005

Abundant breakfast since it's included in the room price and then we wait for the time of our train. We decided the evening before not to dedicate too much time to Rabat but to go directly to Marrakech where we think we'll stay four or five days doing some excursions in the nearby areas. Train RABAT-MARRAKECH 202 Dh for two people; departure at 10:40 arrival at about 15:20….A journey that never ends but we're lucky enough to find seats immediately even though the train is really full. Once we arrive we had mentally prepared ourselves for the assault of taxi drivers and fake guides but to our joy nothing happens. Two men ask us if we need a taxi and at our refusal they head immediately towards other people, we had decided to stop at the Ibis hotel for one night since it's next to the station and then calmly head without luggage in search of a cheaper hotel.

but unfortunately it's full, we're approached by a taxi driver driving a petit taxi and this time we accept. We ask him to take us in search of cheap accommodation, the first is called Hotel JNAN EL HARTI (rue Cadi Ayyad 30 telephone 044 44 80 00 fax 044 44 93 29) it has some free air-conditioned rooms but asks 550 Dh per room with breakfast and dinner included in the price, it's not much compared to Italian prices, we ask at other hotels in the area (GUELIZ in the ville nouvelle) but we're tired and go back to the HARTI at least for this night then tomorrow we'll see. After a nice refreshing bath and a bit of rest we're dying to see the famous JEMAA EL-FNA square after everything we've read in the guides. We're not very far, we avoid taxis and take a twenty-minute walk gently getting acquainted with the city.

On our way we come across hotels listed in the Lonely Planet but they're all full, we start to worry (the hotel is really nice, respected and served but our wallet would suffer a bit). We arrive towards sunset and the square is coming to life, people crowd around dancers, storytellers (which we don't understand since they're told in Arabic) snake charmers and everywhere umbrellas with women underneath who offer you a henna tattoo as soon as you glance at them. We wander around quite intimidated but almost immediately we understand that everything is extremely calm (Moroccan calm of course…) and there's nothing to be afraid of. You just have to be careful about who you photograph or at least know that for every photo of some character in the square you have to pay them a tip (royalties?) or argue with them.

We also go inside the medina (which we'll later discover is only the entrance) and Diego stops at a boy who offers ginger tea for the modest sum of 1.50dh. We're approached by a guy who shows off and after a couple of stupid jokes offers us a smoke but this will be the only such occasion in the whole holiday. It's the hour of prayer and the souk is filling up excessively and we're not yet prepared for this; we go out, we're hungry…We have the courage to eat at a stall in the square if you don't pay too much attention to cleanliness they're not that bad; it's a different world but I think it's nice to dive into it at least a bit, we can't judge everything from above considering our world better, they're different cultures even if I'm happy to have the fortune of being born in Italy, at least for certain aspects.

Back to the reality of the journey…I trust but not too much, at least I want to avoid the curse (intestinal problems) I eat vegetable couscous while Diego calmly eats lamb skewers and french fries. We spend 55 Dh for two. Of everything I'll eat and see in the coming days too, for someone like me who is a little fussy, but not excessively, the worst thing is their way of washing the dishes after serving you, I'm sure there's no use of detergent but not even hot water… they pass them through two basins and then off they go, already ready to be used by the next customer..I must confess I've always drunk from the neck of sealed water bottles.

When I can I gladly avoid their glasses, but when you want to drink one of those wonderful fresh and vitamin-packed orange juices that you find in the square how do you do it? There are no paper cups and I'm sure they wash and reuse the straws too…but then it's better not to think about it..and what about the cutlery? I can't eat with my hands…I close my eyes and focus on the food. And I hope…. The square anyway has a magical effect, you're not only in another world but it also seems in another time. We take a tour of the hotels around the square but they're all full, even the seediest ones, but many advise us to come back tomorrow after 10. Taxi for 15 Dh and we're back at the hotel.

AROUND THE SOUKS

SATURDAY 13/08/2005

Today we really hope to manage to find a cheaper hotel. After breakfast at the hotel included in the room price we leave heading straight for the square and the medina where the cheaper hotels are enclosed inside. We wander in search of a hotel but the souk sucks us inside, full of alleys and little streets overflowing with every kind of little shop. As you can read in the guides there's the area of babouches, the leather one, clothing, iron and similar etc..the souks are indescribable but you can wander around them easily without the help of a guide, if you get lost keep wandering, follow the crowd or at most ask for the square, they're very kind, at most in exchange for a few coins they'll offer to accompany you. We've never needed it.

I'm struck by a blouse with typical Moroccan embroidery and I don't have time to tell Diego it's beautiful that a boy immediately ropes us in and the bargaining begins, we're still too fresh and we fall into his trap. From the initial price he says we give him half and then go up, in the end we pay 120 Dh for it but I'm sure with the wisdom of the following days that I would have had it even for 60-80 Dh. We continue our discovery in the souk and I'm roped in by a boy who starts dressing me in a blue robe and puts on the headdress similar to the blue men of the desert and invites Diego to photograph me and then asks how much do you want to pay for it? Without intending to we find ourselves paying 130 dh for it because according to him it's good fabric and has valuable embroidery. They're very skilled.

Unfortunately the visit to the souk and the fact that we couldn't find the exit anymore stopped our search for the hotel, we have 40 minutes and then our room will be reconfirmed.(All rooms are vacated at 12:00). We try, anyway in the area where we are it's full of hotels. The first two and three are full, we turn into an alley that leads to a hotel sign and we recognise the hotels where we had asked the previous evening: the first in front of us and the HOTEL CENTRALE PALACE (see the Lonely Planet) we try and to our surprise it has a room with bathroom, we can even view it before accepting it and it asks 205 Dh. We take it immediately and run to vacate the room at the HARTI and change hotels.

You pay day by day in advance, I read the account of a guy who trusting his neighbour and not asking for a receipt for the money paid ended up paying the same amount twice, we however don't dare ask for it and run the risk, let's hope for the best. We really like the room a lot, it's bigger than both the one at the Ibis and the one at the HARTI, the only difference is that it's not air-conditioned, but it has a nice fan attached to the ceiling that at least moves the air. And then for twenty euros what on earth do we want….it's what we paid at the campsite in Portugal. A little rest, lunch and we decide to spend the sunset hour on one of the terraces at the edge of the square. We wander around a bit with our noses in the air and in the end we decide that the best is the closest one: Terrasse Grand Cafè Glacier.

We go up and have a tea; we find a place right near the parapet facing the Medina and so we start enjoying the view taking photos and filming completely undisturbed. Below our eyes the square transforms, from a huge noisy circus it becomes in the centre a great banqueting hall where barbecues or stoves are lit with boiling oil on top for frying. On the sides there are rows of carts transformed into fast-food places serving snails where you can eat comfortably sitting on a stool. It seems like there's fog but it's only the smoke from the mobile kitchens and as it gets dark thousands of little bulbs light up that make the square look like an enormous smoky and noisy Christmas tree. We go down and throw ourselves into the souk but in the evening walking freely is impossible, you're pressed from every side and even if there don't seem to be any safety problems, it's a bit annoying.

VISITING MARRAKECH

SUNDAY 14/08/2005

We wake up a bit sticky, air conditioning has nothing to do with a fan attached to the ceiling. We're anyway happy with our choice: we go down and walk a literal twenty steps and we're already in the square, we're inside, for a few days we're living in the heart of Marrakech and we no longer need Taxis, we're already in the centre. We pay for the night at the Hotel, since you pay night by night in advance and even if they don't give us any receipt for the payment we decide to trust them.

We decide to have breakfast in one of the Cafés listed by the Lonely Planet, the TOUBKAL but even if from afar it looks like one and the same we only understand when we're inside that there are two Cafés competing for customers, we ended up in the left one and logically it's not the Toubkal, for breakfast they have fixed menus at 15Dh each and then choose from bread butter and honey, croissant, crêpes or omelette plus the inevitable orange juice and coffee or tea. We eat and then dedicate the morning to culture.

Always on foot asking for information we observe sides of the city that would escape a taxi ride and we see the walls of the El-badi Palace where the storks nest (we're lucky, besides the nest there are three storks, after the ritual photos we continue the walk and we're fascinated by their spice shops with those coloured mountains and we're immediately roped in by a shopkeeper who absolutely wants me to handle a kind of iguana but I repeatedly say no but I agree to have a photo taken with a little turtle in the palm of my hand. I'd love to buy one, I ask the price, only 50DH (5 euros) but I think it's illegal to transport it to Italy.

To make him happy we buy 50 grams of a mixture of 35 Moroccan spices that cost 1 Dh per gram (often the prices are so low that we forget to bargain and pay the full price) Walking for about fifteen minutes we arrive at the EL-BAHIA Palace and Museum, entrance 10 Dh. The palace is still the residence of the royal family or of those who take care of it so it can't be visited 100% but it's still good for getting an idea of the Moorish style even if to be honest after seeing the ALHAMBRA in GRANADA in Spain today's seems poor in decorations, ornaments, gardens and water features..But it deserves to be judged personally.

Very close by following the signs hanging on the walls is the very important DAR-SI-SAID museum, the entrance costs 20 Dr per person, two 10 Dh tickets are given to each person which are both immediately collected as soon as you enter the first room,(why they give two instead of only one will remain an unsolved mystery in my mind).The museum contains doors, musical instruments, women's objects, rifles, tools used for making babouches and other things dating back to past centuries. Unfortunately a sign at the entrance warns us that the two upper floors, the most beautiful according to the guides, are closed for work. During our visit we're approached by a guard who invites us to go upstairs, without thinking twice we accept.

The room is wonderful and the most beautiful thing is the ceiling made entirely by craftsmen on site and the cedar that was worked and applied piece by piece to the ceiling. He also gives us permission to film and photograph, he even forces me to climb onto a chair (sorry for the vulgar definition) or rather a throne where the bride sat on her wedding day. I'm very embarrassed and since the chair is from the fifteenth century I can't wait to get down. The photos are proof of it! Naturally as we leave we give the guard a tip for having allowed us to visit the closed rooms…we understand that we're not the only privileged ones but that it's common practice to earn some money.

On the way back we pass in front of a HAMMAM that looks very clean, we immediately go in to ask for information. Even at the entrance the atmosphere is very nice and above all clean so we take a look at the prices. There are various types of treatments but we decide to think about the almost complete treatment (gommage, sauna, savonage, massage etc) at the price of 270Dh each; of course in many local hammams you pay much less but we don't want to ruin our holiday with a bad experience and moreover comparing it with a similar treatment in Italy the price doesn't seem that exaggerated to us. We decide to do it on the last day before leaving.

It starts getting hot since it's already midday and since we have the hotel in the centre we decide to cool down for a moment before lunch. The restaurant prices are very similar to those inside the souks so we decide to eat in the ones at the side of the square which offer more decent seating like little tables and also give the illusion of being cleaner; of one thing I'm certain…they're always full so the food is fresh. We head to where we had breakfast this morning but aim for the right side, the TOUBKAL also marked on the Lonely Planet. I eat couscous with vegetables again, a bit spicy, and very good french fries, Diego eats a lamb steak and fried potatoes and at the end we drink a very good mint tea, in total we spend 57 Dh. We head to an internet point (there are everywhere) and send an e-mail with some photos to our friends. We pay 8 Dh for an hour of connection.

We shut ourselves in the room a bit and wait for the afternoon heat to pass (I repeat, excellent solution Hotel Central Palace)..We go out determined to book the Soprantours bus (we've read in the guides that it's the best one) for the day trip to Essaouira and the return train to Tangier for Friday night. We don't manage to do both things: first the bus is full both for Monday and Tuesday so warning for everyone: if you're determined to do a certain route and you already know on which date you want to do it, don't wait until the last minute to book.

Regarding the train they book a maximum of 5 days before departure and logically today we're 6 days away; we have to come back tomorrow… Outside the station we find the first taxi driver who accompanied us in search of the hotel and he comes towards us greeting us happily, he takes us to the second bus station, the CTM one (the guide says this is the best and most reliable in Morocco), luckily they're full for tomorrow Monday but still have room for the day after Tuesday; we book a return trip (departure at 08:30 return at 17:00, estimated journey time about 3 hours) we pay 240 Dh in total.

Taxi again to the square and we go into the souks determined to shop but we're not really in the mood, we're a bit stressed by everyone saying come, come in, look, are you Spanish? where are you from? what are you looking for? Between us, we're looking for everything and nothing, something that catches our attention…a leather lamp or a throw to cover the sofa, we see a nice one (3m by 2m) in shades of blue-light blue..wandering around we see that the same throw can be found in more than one little shop (if you'll allow me the term)..now we'll see if we manage to bargain on the price, they start saying last price 300 Dh. Tonight we don't buy anything except 2 wooden spoons typical of the place for soup at 0.50 Dh each and two bags of dried mint tea at 15 Dh each.

Every time we wander in the souks we never manage to return to the place seen the previous time, every time we come out in a new place, in a different square…I think this great and enormous Moroccan market is truly immense. One thing that strikes me is that both the square and the souks are always and perpetually full and the majority of the people who frequent them are not tourists but I think looking around I can say that 80% are Arabs, Moroccans themselves I don't know but they're their own people who are maybe on holiday or have returned from the country where they work to see their family again…yes there are European tourists but it's not us who bring to life all the mass of people that populates the souk and the square.

I can guarantee you that in the evening it seems that all the people of the world are in Marrakech, it becomes so impossible to walk or more simply to choose the direction to follow…Just follow the current. Although sometimes you find yourself literally pressed between strangers, mostly Moroccans or Arabs, we've never felt the sensation of fear or of being afraid that something might happen to us, at certain moments we've come out in places where we were the only westerners and even in this case apart from asking us to buy something nothing has ever happened to us. While we're heading back we pass in front of the Sahara agency, we go in and ask about the two-day excursion in the desert.

A very smiley girl starts explaining the three-day one to us and when we make her understand that we're not interested she curls her nose and tells us curtly that it's the same up to Ouarzazate and then continues to Zagora where the desert is yes sandy but quite flat instead of Merzouga where on the other hand there are very high dunes. She makes us understand that the more there are the less you pay and anyway you start from a minimum of 650Dh. When we tell her that we'll think about it she practically ignores us and walks away…how nice!! Diego eats a Kebab in a restaurant (a big word) almost opposite the hotel with some chips for 20 Dh..I go back to BARI'S PIZZA…I have my usual margherita for 25 Dh. Once at the hotel we notice that opposite the reception there's a board with the programmes of the same excursions that Sahara offers but at a lower price.

We ask the lady who runs the hotel and in the end

MONDAY 15/08/2005

The hotel is really quiet; inside there's an almost absolute silence broken here and there by the singing of birds and by some tourist...you sleep well.... After an energising shower we head to the TOUBKAL where we have a mega breakfast (very good mint tea, orange juice, honey crepes and a croissant) each; we pay 14 Dh. The morning is dedicated to shopping; we calmly enter the souks and start bargaining; for them bargaining over the price is almost a matter of life and death: for example, for slippers, first I look, see if I might like them, and then ask the price; if it's worth it I can choose the colour and then try them on—for them, no; first you choose them, try them, and only at the end do you start haggling over the price.

I still haven't quite understood how low you have to go; certainly you have to be clear about how much you want to spend, go lower and then go up to the price decided in your head, and from there you don't move; if he doesn't give in you move on to another one, but generally they let you go; if you start from a ridiculously too-low price they don't even begin the bargaining and they close the discussion. The morning is better because they stress you less; whereas in the evening you can hardly move, so much do they insist that you look at their goods and make a price even if the thing doesn't interest you. We buy traditional Moroccan slippers to hang on the wall, 100 Dh. If three mornings earlier I paid 120 Dh for a blouse, today Diego and I have become smarter and we buy two for 110 DH...how low can you go? It depends on you, on your skill, time and desire.

I buy two more pairs of slippers from a guy who speaks a bit of Italian and I pay 210 DH for both. We're looking for a lamp to put in the living room but finding the one of our dreams is a bit impossible; many offer to paint it for us on the spot in the two colours we want but we throw out too low a price and we still haven't managed to buy it. We buy a small lamp as a gift; the guy starts at 240 Dh and the bargaining begins. Diego is sure he's seen them around for 40 Dh and immediately blurts out 40; he explains to us that it's camel skin and not goat, and therefore more resistant and more precious, and asks how much we're willing to pay...Diego doesn't budge from the initial 40 for at least another three or four times...Incredible, in the end he accepts and we buy it for 40 Dh.

By now we've become so familiar with the Souk that Diego teases the merchants a bit; when we pass in front of their shops and they insistently ask us which part of Italy we're from, Diego answers Stockholm, and if they ask whether it's north or south he tells them "north, very far north". The negative thing about the souks is that they seem never to end; then at a certain point you find yourself outside and you can't get back in because there's no longer a door, and so you walk in the sun for a while until you find another entrance. All calm both outside and inside, no fear. Even shopping is exhausting and in the end we're tired and no longer have the energy needed to bargain; we take refuge in the hotel.

We get two takeaway pizzas from BARI'S PIZZA, 50 Dh. A little rest at the hotel. We go out and Diego gets himself a sausage sandwich prepared by a guy with a small grill standing on the street corner; if you don't catch anything now it really means there's no danger at all. Today I really want to take a romantic carriage ride around the city walls. We approach the first one and start bargaining; we get as far as 100 Dh but he won't budge beyond that. So we tell him we'll think about it and move on to the next ones, who however ask an outrageous price and don't move an inch (are they in cahoots??), so we go back to the first one who, laughing, has us climb in and gives us a ride that smells like a rip-off to me since we only go around the walls a bit without seeing anything interesting.

The usual stroll in the square and in the bedlam of the souk and then early to bed; tomorrow is a demanding day...

ESSAOUIRA'

TUESDAY 16/08/2005

Bus at 08:30 for Essouira, arrival at 11:30 with an intermediate 15-minute stop for a tea or to go to the toilet. Once arrived we're pleasantly struck by the temperature; it won't be more than 25 degrees...finally we were tired of the scorching heat of Mrk. We walk towards the centre; all the houses are white and light blue, it feels like being in Greece if it weren't for the innards displayed outside the butchers' shops. We enter the city gate and a souk different from the one in Mrk presents itself, airy, wide, without too much crowding. We stroll calmly, looking at a few stalls without anyone forcing us to bargain for things that don't interest us.

We're struck by a shop displaying leather lamps: exactly the ones we're looking for...we realise that here they have better finishes and also cost a bit less (later we'll realise they also smell much less!! Always smell the leather before buying it). We see it, bargain, choose it and give the boy a deposit so he'll keep it there for us until tonight (it's not as if we can walk around all day with a lamp almost 2 metres long...) We resume our stroll and calmly arrive at the Portuguese walls where we take some photos; later we also manage to buy the sofa cover in "vegetable silk" that we had already spotted in Mrk, paying naturally less for it (we've understood that in bargaining it also pays to cry poverty, tell the story of our unfortunate adventure with the car and butter up the merchant and his merchandise extensively).

Now heavier, we continue our stroll and arrive at the port where first we meet groups of fishermen cutting fish and mending nets on the old walls, then beyond the tower there's a group of kids competing in dives from a pier and then hauling themselves up onto the moored boats; we watch for a while, the usual obligatory photos and then we move on. We finally arrive where the fishermen sell their fish: we're the only tourists amid this pandemonium of shouts and calls that accompany the buying and selling. We have a look around, take a peek at sharks and moray eels, then go for lunch. We come across the renowned fish restaurants of Essaouira: small little places with big communal tables where you choose the fish you'll eat (sometimes still alive in the case of shellfish) and which they then cook for you on a big grill.

I get a few baby cuttlefish while Diego picks a spider crab (a big crab with hairy legs) that makes quite an impression. We wait at our table elbow to elbow with perfect strangers and when our dish arrives we enjoy it with salad, bread, Coke and water, all included in the price which of course is to be bargained over despite there being a price list. We paid 200 Dh but I think we could have done better. While wandering through the city streets we come across a nice creperie run by French people; a tip: if you pass by, stop there, the crepes are to die for. It's now time to return to the bus station; we stop to pick up our lamp, perfectly wrapped and ready for collection. At the ctm they charge us a small surcharge for the bulky load and give us a receipt to collect it on our arrival. A beautiful and cool day but now it's back home just to pack and rest...tomorrow the desert awaits us.

Arrived at the hotel, they stand us up for the two-day excursion, saying we were the only ones and that for just two people they don't do anything...darn!! They could have told us earlier! We then run to that nasty woman at the Sahara agency: luckily there are already two couples so there's room, but instead of 650 she charges us 700...horrible...damn....but we're too exhausted to argue with someone who doesn't even listen to us. We go back to the hotel and pay in advance with a receipt for the room for our return and agree to leave our luggage in their storage, naturally free of charge!! Dinner in a hole behind the main streets and then off to bed at a run.

THE ZAGORA DESERT

WEDNESDAY 17/08/2005 Wake-up at 6:30, we close our bags and take them to the storage on the ground floor of the hotel. We stop to buy some pastries in a bakery and arrive with our backpacks at the meeting point ready for the desert. There are loads of people but we understand that many are there for the three-day excursion to Merzouga. A big minibus arrives and loads almost all of them; we remain with a French couple waiting. Finally a Land Rover, Paris-Dakar model, arrives for us, having already taken on the other Italian couple. To our surprise, our travel companions, when it comes time to settle up, find their bill has also gone up by 50 Dh each (on top of the list price) so that in the end they pay the same as us...as they say, shared sorrow...

Finally we set off; every 2 hours we take a break in some bar that our driver, Moustafa, knows and in which every time he disappears and comes back with a big narghile in his hand (let's hope he's only smoking aromatic tobacco!!) We start the climb; we didn't know that to go to the desert we would have had to cross the Tichka pass at 2260 m above sea level and where the rainy season can begin at any moment. The road is a typical mountain road and every so often we stop to rest and promptly get set upon by characters who want to sell us geodes, some beautiful, others clearly fake (I've never seen a natural ruby-red geode) or to put various animals on us; Diego of course agrees to have two iguanas put on him and to have a photo taken, then paying the Bedouin 5 dh for the trouble.

At a certain point Moustafa turns off the main road onto a road...no, it's not a road, we're practically going through the middle of the desert off-road!!! I, who am sitting in the front and already don't feel too well, experience it as a conspiracy, while Diego, who is sitting in the back, enjoys it like at Gardaland. Finally the paved road reappears and shortly after, with my stomach turned inside out like a sock, we arrive at our first stop: a fortified Kasbah on the banks of a dried-up river in the desert. We stop and are free to wander around it as we please, one hour maximum. We accept the invitation of a nine-year-old boy to be our guide after bargaining over the price, 11 dh, and we start climbing through the alleys of the city It's very beautiful and evocative, all in earth and mud mixed with straw; I wonder how it manages to stay standing after so many years.

As he accompanies us, our little guide tells us that in the surroundings they often shoot films, even important ones like Gladiator, Samson and Delilah and other blockbusters where the inhabitants of the village are hired as extras. The tour and the time at our disposal are over, so we return to the car, giving the little guide an 11 Dh tip; it melts your heart when he asks if we have a pair of closed shoes to give him, but unfortunately we're equipped only to spend one night in the desert, and so we have nothing superfluous.

Our journey continues with a stop in Ouarzazate for lunch, where we follow Moustafa's advice for the restaurant where they relieve us of 200dh for two fixed menus that are not exceptional. We set off again and at 17:30 we arrive in Zagora; the weather has changed...let's hope for the best. They take us to a hotel where we can freshen up, go to the toilet and change for the next leg, which will take place by camel in the desert. While we're there a sandstorm breaks out (what luck!!) and everyone says it's normal at this time of year...but will it be the right time to do what we're about to do??? Diego goes to a merchant across the street to buy some scarves, the kind the Bedouins use to protect their faces from the sand.

The guy starts firing off absurd prices so Diego tells him that if he wants to take advantage because we need them and don't know what to do...done, hit in his honour!! He lends them to us, all we have to do is come back tomorrow and take a look at his shop. Finally we set off but by now it's dark; Moustafa says goodbye, he'll sleep at a friend's house, and he hands us over into the hands of our two Bedouin guides who tell us we're late and that we should have arrived at sunset an hour ago. But how were we to know, it's not our fault!! We set off and as soon as we leave the village it starts to rain What????? It rains in the desert? But we're living in a paradox!! But we certainly won't stop for a couple of drops even if our Italian companions start raising some doubts.

A bit more road amid distant thunder and sudden flashes of lightning (we get about halfway), when a real downpour begins, I could call it a deluge; the camels stop, the Italian girl is terrified of possible murderous lightning and all of us, including the guides, don't know what to do. Finally it stops raining but what to do? Go on or turn back? Pay for a night in a hotel and tomorrow set off to go home, or go on and sleep in the tent we've already paid for, tomorrow see the sunrise in the desert and then set off again. As the good skinflints we are who don't throw money away, we decide to go on...

Meanwhile Moustafa arrives, having been called by mobile phone by one of the guides, and offers to take us to the camp by jeep; we girls accept the lift while the three men choose to ride camels by moonlight at the risk of getting caught in another downpour even though the sky now seems clearer. Once at the camp, our French travel companions refuse to go into the tent which, besides being full of sand, certainly doesn't smell of Chanel No. 5...but since we're soaked we have to go in and change...Our little men arrive and the guides prepare dinner for us..

They bring us a big chicken tajine with vegetables, naturally without plates as they do, and so we all have dinner together helping ourselves from the same dish; at the end they also bring us a nice sliced melon as dessert. After so many adventures it's time to go to sleep; I actually would have dreamed of spending the night "à la belle étoile" but the still cloudy sky doesn't allow it. We'll all sleep together under the same tent. So I settle onto my mattress, first spreading over it a plaid I brought from home, inflating my inflatable pillow and, lying down dressed, covering myself with my other plaid. Diego, on the other hand, sprawls on his mattress, takes one of the big wool pillows they gave us, the Bedouins, and covers himself with one of their blankets; after 5 minutes he even takes off his jeans because he's too hot...and starts snoring.

Telling this detail certainly doesn't convey an idea of what their blankets are like; maybe they've been in the tent for months, used by everyone and even by the camels judging by the smell, but Diego doesn't bat an eyelid. The other couples manage as best they can, one with their own personal sheets, the other only with a beach towel, sleeping uncovered all night so as not to touch anything. Good night

THE RETURN TO MARRAKECH

THURSDAY 18/08/2005

Diego had warned me that if they woke us up early to see the sunrise, to let him sleep and film the sun so he could watch it comfortably later. As usual I wake up before everyone else and start photographing everyone; unfortunately the sky is cloudy and I can't see the sun rise...and I collect some sand as a souvenir to take home. But breakfast time wakes everyone up and at 6 we're around the low table set up outside where they serve us tea, bread, butter and jam. Now ready and almost awake, we set off for the return camel ride (early in the morning, otherwise it would be too hot for us). The sky isn't very clear yet, there's a lot of haze and clouds here and there, but on the whole it seems reliable enough.

An hour and a half of camel riding and we arrive at the hotel we left last night, we tip the Bedouin guides (who, among other things, told us they never go beyond Zagora), return the scarves to the merchant and set off again in our jeep. The journey is quiet, we're all exhausted, Diego manages to sleep despite being in the absolute most uncomfortable spot in the jeep. While I'm in the best spot since I have the excuse that I get car sick...so I'm in the front next to the driver. We stop in Ouarzazate for lunch, take a stroll through the alleys of the old city and then we're ready to set off again for the climb up the Col du Tichka. As we climb we see the weather change, the clouds get lower and lower and we have the feeling that something else could happen to us. Once past the pass, a downpour begins, one of those you rarely forget.

To make things worse, the road is downhill and so it's turning into a torrent that we're driving on. At a hairpin bend we find a large boulder in the middle of the road that has just fallen, but Moustafa dodges it with skill. The further down we go, the more the torrent we're driving on swells and above all it carries soil with it so that everything turns red. Here and there we find cars stopped, unable to get through some dips where the water would reach the engine, but luckily we're well equipped with our Land Rover. The windshield wipers struggle to keep the windshield clean from the rain and the red waves coming from the road. We arrive at a point where the channel that should pass under the road has instead overflowed over it and, sweeping away half the guardrail, now reaches mid-thigh on some guys who are signaling us to stop.

Moustafa, however, evidently aware of the jeep's capabilities, decides to go through anyway...moments of panic, the Frenchwoman nearly faints, the car in the middle of so much water takes a few jolts, but in the end we get through unscathed. Now it's less than an hour to Mrk, this adventure is over too. Once we arrive we go to our hotel hoping the luggage and the already-paid room are still there. All ok, finally we can take a shower.

THE DEPARTURE

FRIDAY 19/08/2005

We wake up exhausted and with certain parts of our bodies hurting because of the camel ride and the too many hours spent in the jeep. By eight in the morning we're already having breakfast at the café TUOKbal and we spend the usual 28 Dh and we can't even manage to eat everything included in the menu; moreover we believe we can say that their mint tea is one of the best in the area. We spend almost the whole morning doing the last shopping for the last gifts (this year, adding it all up, we spent a bit too much but the souks make you want to buy). After buying an embroidered linen blouse, well finished, for 80 Dh, we continue our tour of the souk and are approached by a guy who tells us: since you bought the blouse in my shop, I want to accompany you free of charge to visit the tannery.

We trusted him and since we hadn't managed to go see the ones in Fes it was something that intrigued us. He proves to be very kind and as soon as we're inside the tanneries another man, described as the guardian of the tanneries, calls us over and insists on explaining everything and having us take photos since we had been his customers. We're given a sprig of mint to help cover the strong smell there is in the tannery, although I didn't find it unbearable. The men who work there are truly pitiful, immersed up to about their knees in the various liquids and sometimes in vats containing quicklime, bent double to immerse the hides in the liquid, and covered in flies attracted by the smell and the heat and the whole scene.

You wonder how much a person's life is worth in that place, I think very little, and so I'm no longer surprised if a poor donkey is forced to carry enormous weights all day without even receiving a sip of water. Those men in the vats made your heart cry and so you wonder, is it possible that they have no other aspirations in life? Can't they choose something slightly better? Perhaps his father worked in the tanneries and you end up there without wanting to, but why stay? Someone every now and then has the courage to really leave everything and go live abroad trying for a better life, others just follow the flow of the current they're in. Very cunningly our supposed guide (with hindsight I'd call him a fake guide) catapults us into a leather goods shop where they show us the finished items and the various types of leather.

Without ever having thought about it, we find ourselves haggling over the purchase of a camel leather pouf, beautiful but too expensive as a starting price..He won't let us go and in the end we buy it for 350Dh, never having had any yardstick I can't tell you if the price could have been lowered further..to us it seemed a reasonable figure considering the prices in Italy. Our guide kindly waited for us outside the shop to walk us back toward the square; at this point we're ready to pay to thank him for the service received.

The man firmly refuses our 20 Dh and starts wanting 100 (50 per person since he had been our guide and we had also taken photos), we don't let ourselves be intimidated even though we're the only tourists in the area and we explain more than once that he should have agreed on the price beforehand and then we would have been free to accept or refuse..seeing us so determined he takes the 20dh and leaves. Thinking back on it, I believe the initially kind guy had nothing to do with the shop where I bought the blouse but was just a bystander who took advantage to exploit the tourists a bit and make some money in agreement with the leather shop. We had no problems, we didn't spend more than what was right for us and at the most critical moment we stood our ground.

Maybe now I wouldn't trust anyone who approaches me but I'd stop a kid myself asking him to accompany me to the same place the guy wanted to take me. It's better that you choose them, rather than them choosing you, perhaps behind 1000 good ones there's the bad one, just like in our country. We had no problems even though it annoys me to have fallen for the tannery guy and to have swallowed his lies so naively, but I think it's due to the fact that in ten days in Morocco they proved to be truly kind to tourists, they aim for our money but in a clear and transparent way, offering us their goods and so our defenses and prejudices lowered considerably. We go to the hotel and vacate the room, leaving our luggage in storage again..as a last thing we decided to pamper ourselves in the hammam..we go back to the Ziani we had visited in the previous days and buy the almost complete package.

There are hammams for men only and women only, so Diego and I, though a bit apprehensive, separate... Once inside I immediately find myself with an Italian girl and Diego finds himself with the girl's boyfriend: at least we're no longer alone.. They seat us in the changing room where they give you their slippers and the robe and the sponge, the soap all clean and personal..We enter the sauna, a large room all in stone and marble with a vaulted ceiling and where light enters only through small holes made in the ceiling and combined with the steam creates a particular atmosphere..Afterwards you move on to the soaping where a woman soaps you up and washes you and then you move on to the gommage where she scrubs you to remove all the dead cells on your body, then shower and massage.

As a last step they put a full mask of clay or something similar all over your body and wrap you in plastic film for about twenty minutes..afterwards you enjoy a nice shower and they lead you to a typical room with lots of little couches where you get dressed calmly.. From my point of view it was all pleasant and relaxing while for Diego a bit more traumatic; his, as he described it to me, was an energizing massage made for a sumo wrestler and he came out a bit sore.

At 18:00 we arrive at the station, and we camp out, we really look like gypsies! At 20:00 the train is already here, we find the sleeper car, our compartment and settle in for the night. Outside, in the corridor, the conductor keeps passing by to check that everything is in order. The compartment is truly nice and clean, the blankets wrapped and ironed and the temperature is adjustable. Later our travel companions arrive, two Dutch guys who settle into the lower berths. The journey is very quiet and we sleep like babies.

HEADING HOME ALICANTE-NICE

SATURDAY 20/08/2005

In the berth we rested well and it's something I recommend since the cost isn't very high; when you can, travel at night on long journeys, you save a night in a hotel and recover precious time. We arrived in Tangier at 07:45, and we immediately took a taxi to the port; we knew there was a ferry at 09:00. The taxi was one of the big ones and charged us the same 5 euros they had asked on the way out (perhaps it's a fixed fare). The ferry left a bit late at 09:35, the crossing lasted about an hour, and all normal; we got off with our suitcases, everything has doubled in weight, plus we have the lamp and the star wall light which makes the last stretch to the parking lot a bit more exhausting.

In the few meters separating me from the parking lot we both have a moment of anxiety, given the small and large mishaps that happened it would have been the last straw to no longer find the car or to find it further damaged. Luckily everything went fine, the car is in the same condition as when we left it. We pay 79 euros for ten days of parking (if we had taken the car to Morocco we would certainly have spent more to ferry it over and get car insurance since Italian insurers often don't cover Morocco). With all the luggage loaded we're ready for the start of the journey home, it's about 13:00. We stop at a service station and the initial impact with European prices isn't the best: we get two steaks with fries and a coke, a small bottle of water and two small sandwiches: we spent 23.70.

It hits us hard and the comparison with Moroccan prices is inevitable, there we ate meat, fries, coke, water and tea for about 6-7 euros for two... We do about 600 km, struggling over the Sierra Nevada because of the car problem, and arrive in Alicante around 19:15, where we spend the night in the famous Formule 1 (for a room with air conditioning we pay 29 euros).

SUNDAY 21/08/2005

We set off again, 1100 km planned, to reach our beloved Nice. But the journey never ends, in France we hit traffic and bad weather, I start to no longer stand being cooped up in here and I get a bit hysterical, forcing Diego to stop in Aix en Provence. We find an Etap hotel, take a shower and go into the center for a walk and to look for a little restaurant. To tell the truth the city doesn't seem like anything special to us and restaurants aren't as common as in Italy or Morocco. We eat a plate of tagliatelle alla carbonara (it's been so long since I've had any that even these don't seem so bad) and we go back to bed.

MONDAY 22/08/2005

We wake up and take a walk around the city, maybe in the sunlight it'll be reconsidered...no, nothing special, nice but nothing more. As we get onto the highway we stop at a shopping center to stock up on herbal teas and French wine. We arrive in Nice in the late afternoon... it's always beautiful even if in this season it's a bit chaotic. We treat ourselves to a nice walk along the Promenade des Anglais to the old town, we grab a quick pizza and head back to the car...we're really going home. And already we start fantasizing about our next trip...