Here are some of our favorite photos from the trip (each photo is a thumbnail linked to a higher quality picture. There are three pages of photos in total):
1) After a few days in northern Morocco we headed south to Marrakesh. The landscape became more arid, the buildings started to be made of red mud and famous Atlas mountains were on the horizon. This is the Morocco of movies and stories. We had a day to explore this fascinating city so we took a tour of the souk (market). This photo only slightly captures the fantastic sensory overload of this crowded market. The man with his hand up is our more than capable guide Ahmed. As with all the souks we visited, the streets here are a confusing maze so having a guide was crucial.
2) We visited an herbal apothecary shop in Marrakesh that sold herbs for medicine, cosmetics and cooking. (Jonna bought a large bottle of Argane oil).
3) Mopeds are to Marrakesh as bicycles are to Beijing or scooters are to Rome. Every make, model and (as shown in this photo, age) can be found smoking and puttering through the tight allies of the medina.
4) No photo can adequately capture the amazing experience of being in the Jemaa el-Fnaa square at night. However, this shot at least shows the frenzied movement, the spectrum of colors, the clouds of smoke and the chaos of the crowd. We had a wonderful time having dinner in the middle of this whirlwind of energy and then just walking around to enjoy the exotic feel of it all.
5) The High Atlas mountains are a rider's paradise. Here is Jonna at the top of a long winding road about to cross the 7,500 ft high Tizi n'Tichka pass.
6) The landscape makes an abrupt change at the top of the pass. On the north side it is a lush green high tundra which is perfect for grazing goats and sheep. (There are very few fences in Morocco, so as a rider you always have to be prepared to find a flock like this standing in the middle of the road.)
7) On the south side of the pass it is a hard rock desert. We took a little used, single lane road down from the pass and had this stunning landscape mostly to ourselves for the next couple of hours.
8) We stopped for lunch in Telouet to tour the nearby kasbah (fortress). While walking through the village we saw this woman doing laundry outside her home.
9) As seen here, the landscape is very scenic around Telouet.
10) In the 1800s, the El Glaoui family was the ruling power in this part of Morocco and they built this large palace as the seat of their control. The family was supported by the French and were considered French allies. In the 1950s, the family fell out of favor when the French pulled out of Morocco and the kasbah was confiscated by the state. It is now falling into ruin.
11) The kasbah still contains some beautiful rooms which show how lavishly the pasha warlords lived in the 19th century. This photo shows the intricate tile work inside the main room of the palace. This three layered decoration (tile on the bottom, textured plaster above and engraved cedar at the ceiling) is typical of Moorish architecture that we saw throughout southern Spain and Morocco.
12) This panorama shows how large the ruins of the kasbah are, as well as the mountainous landscape that surrounds it.
13) Coke adds life, even in the deserts of Morocco. In this case a cool lunch time drink, with arabic label, in Telouet.
14) One of the many scenic canyons we rode coming down to the south from Tizi n'Tichka pass.
15) We stopped at the scenic ksar (walled city) of Ait Benhaddou and, to our surprise, there were rows and rows of French production trucks with a crew filming for the TV show Game Of Thrones.
16) This photo shows why a TV show would be filmed here. We arrived just at sunset and the site was breathtaking.
17) It turns out that Morocco is a popular location for filming. We toured the Atlas Studios film lot where multiple movies have been shot. Here is the inside of the Tibetan temple used in the movie Kundun. Imagine finding a authentic looking Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the middle of the Moroccan desert!
18) The craftsmanship of the set makers was incredible! They used styrofoam and fiberglass to mimic everything from stone columns to golden statues to wooden beams...but outside the angle of a camera shot it was all 2x4s, plywood and spray foam.
19) You may have seen it in TV commericals or in photographs. Well, we found it and we road it: the switchbacks climbing up out of the Dades Gorge. This set of switchbacks isn't very long but it is just part of a longer road winding up this beautiful river valley.
20) We wanted to explore further up the Dades Gorge but running low on gas forced us to turn around at this tight canyon and head back out to the city of Boumaine Dades.
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