Cascades, apes, and back to the city life/ Vesiputouksia, apinoita ja suurkaupungin elämää

The old Kasbah in Agds and on the right boss and me in oasis

Typical souk (market) and the Cascades d´Ouzoud

Berber women in Cascades d´Ouzoud, notice the rainbow!

Traditional Berber musicians

My boss got a chance to try this Berber instrument and she did not get any sound out of it.

Apes in Cascades d´Ouzoud

Boss and apes - on the right donkeys at work

Olive oil production

The campsite from the Arab Sheik

Some beautiful doors in Fes

Fes in known from its leather production and its imported all around the world!

Satellites everywhere!


Donkey in the old medina of Fes doing the transport and on the right a man making some extremely fancy chairs (where do they actually use this fancy stuff, in weddings??)

In this land you will get wet feets! Doggy got some friends during the lunch break :)

Welcome to Chefchaouen! Pretty, prettier, prettiest!!!

After we left from Sahara, we have seen many interesting things as the whole Morocco has been an adventure for us. Our Dutch friends told to us that we have to definitely still see the Cascades d´Ouzoud, before leaving from Morocco and how right they were! Didn’t look promising that we could even arrive there since the road was blocked between Fes and Marrakesh due the heavy rains (once again). An old taxi driver told us another route, which probably caused us an extra 200 km. And 200 kilometers here is a different story than 200 km in Europe! It can take you hours and hours! Well the route was nice and slow and we did not reach the Cascades anymore in that day, but the day after we managed to get there. All the troubles were worth it! Before hand we were thinking that we stay there a day or two, but we stayed there five beautiful days (and could have stayed even longer!). The campsite was crappy and the price was far over rated. There are many other campsites to stay too, so next time a better shot. Anyway, the cascades were fantastic, atmosphere relaxed and we were blessed with sunshine! The cascades drops 110 meters into the canyon in three-tiered falls as you can see from the pictures. The town Ouzoud is a small Berber village and the new generation has made a lot of effort to build the town and areas more attractive for tourists (foreigners as well as Moroccans tourists). In winters Moroccans likes to visit cascades just for a day trip or weekend and they come there with their friends and family for picnics. There are many nice cafes, restaurants and shops with traditional Moroccan souvenirs, clothes and ceramics. We bought our first Tajine from there and made also same day vegetarian tajine for a dinner! My boss succeeded it well and it has been used now many times (Hassan, our favorite chef of cuisine from Merzouga would be proud at her!).

In the cascades were also several apes to see. We were told that there were three groups of them and in each group are living around 60 apes. Such a nice creatures and you could just spends hours and look at their lives.

After seen the cascades we started to drive to Fes direction. Few nights before reaching Fes, we camped near Azrou were we arrived when it was already dark. First thing they told us was that the campsite was free of charge, including electricity, warm showers, washing machine etc. (yes, totally free of charge!). Campsite has been just few months open and it is owned by a Sheik from Arabic Emirates who also has his own tower in Dubai. Every Friday there was also a free dinner with the Sheik! Place was still much under construction, but it will become a luxury campsite. Sheik was walking there whole day around and he felt just like any of us (accepts those millions in his pocket). Even the camp was free of charge and we could have had free dinner, we continued to Fes, since you should not miss Fes, while being in Morocco!

Fes (or Fez) is a 1200 year old city and it is the spiritual and cultural centre of Morocco. World’s first university was created there, centuries before Oxfords or Cambridge. The Medina of the old Fes is interesting place to visit; it was Morocco´s first World Heritage site, it´s world´s largest living Islamic medieval city and the biggest car-free urban area on the planet! Largest mosque in Africa is in the Medina and it is the spiritual heart of Fes and Morocco itself. Alleys are narrow and all transports are done by donkeys to the shops (someone told to us that there are around 20.000 shops in the medina..don´t know if this is true or not, but many there were any way!)

They say that anyone born in Fes medina is more religious, cultured, artistic and refined. Womenfolk is also considered to be the country´s most elegant and its most gifted cooks. When the news came out that the King Mohammed VI´s new bride was from Fes, the locals were not in the least surprised.

We only managed to visit this old medina of Fes, spent few days there and got lost! You can just walk hours there and wonder around, so much fun! It is an interesting place and worth to visit again.

After Fes we drove to Chefchaouen, the same town we spent our first night in Morocco. It is probably the most beautiful town in whole Morocco with its blue painted houses (if you thought Greece is blue, this is ten times more!). My boss was waiting to wonder around there but unfortunately she catched the flu and missed this fun. Big boss was wondering around all alone and made all the pictures above. Again one more reason that she must get back to Morocco and to Chefchaouen!

From Chefchaouen we drove near Ceuta and spent the last night in Martil, before taking the boat from Ceuta back to Spain. We heard before that it is best to go to the border early in the morning, so we did the alarm already 5:30 am. It took around two hours to get us out of the border, everything is so chaotic there. Moroccans are every else calm and relaxed accept when they are driving or when they have to wait in the queue. After managing to get through the passport control, boss noticed that they forgot to put a stamp in her passport. Big boss had a stamp, but just hers was for some reason forgotten. Back to the queue, phewwwww….! While she was waiting there a woman came to her side and they started to talk in French. Boss thought she was French and the lady thought that boss would have been Dutch. Talking talking and talking and the lady asked where my boss from. She said Finland and the lady said “Me too”! It was so confusing that they still continued speaking in French before they really understood that they could just speak Finnish together. It was a small comedy in a place which had not comedy at all, so funny! And the lady lives in Finland in the village next to my boss, hah!

Few hours later we arrived in Spain and we were straight missing Morocco. No more kids waving next to the roads, no more kids coming to talk to us while we having our lunch outside, no more Moroccan delicious bread etc. Well, there is a lot we can look forward to and anyone who is hesitating to go in Morocco, I´ll say, don´t, just go and learn something from these friendly and beautiful people, see this beautiful country and it´s more beautiful nature and lands landscapes. We were lucky to have this possibility to spend there three months and we drove there over 6000 kilometers. There is still much to see and hope to get back there one day, "InsAllah"!