Lunch in the Ziz Valley
After leaving Errachidia and travelling along the Ziz Valley we stopped again at the Maison Vallee De Ziz for lunch. This hotel and restaurant was a road side stop but our guide knew that they served good meals. In fact, we were never disappointed with any of our meals during our two week tour of Morocco.
I think I actually amazed my wife and daughter with some of the meals I ordered. They were quite out of the ordinary compared with some of the food I like and order when we are dining out here in Australia. This trend continued into Spain, the next leg of our journey. I will write about that here in a few weeks’ time.
Meanwhile, please forgive me for posting a photo of my lunch. I will try not to bore with such things too much.
Scenes of the River Ziz Valley
In recent posts here on my travel site I have shown photos and written about our holiday in Morocco several years ago. Today I feature another set of photos of the River Ziz Valley in south eastern Morocco. Our tour guide (who was excellent – Peregrine Adventures) stopped our mini bus near the edge of the gorge so that we could get out and look down into the valley. After many hours of driving it was good to stretch one’s legs. I also liked the opportunity to take plenty of photos, too.
A feature of the gorge is the many date palms growing in the valley. Said, our wonderful guide, told us that the 140 kilometre valley had over one million palm trees, and he assured us that they had actually been counted. I would not like that job – even if paid in dates. Someone came to our bus and sold us a few boxes of dates. we enjoyed sharing the large, delicious dates for many days after that.
The last few photos in today’s post show several mud houses and some of the local people. They were immediately below where I stood on the cliff edge. I was able to get close-up views of them with my zoom lens.
In the coming days will be sharing more photos taken on this tour.
Dates from the River Ziz Gorge in Morocco
After travelling through the Atlas Mountains from Midelt we travelled through Errachidia until we came to the River Ziz Gorge. Our tour bus stopped near the edge of the gorge in one spot so that we could get out and wander over to the edge of the gorge to get some good photos.
The River Ziz Gorge is truly spectacular and meanders through this part of Morocco for about 140 kilometres. One of the features of this gorge is the enormous number of date palms. In fact, our guide told us that they number over one million trees. And yes – they have actually been counted! I don’t think I would like that job – you just figure out why!
Soon after stopping our bus a local date seller came along and we bought several boxes of the local produce. For the next few days we enjoyed sharing in this delicious fruit.
Further reading:
Errachidia in Morocco
A few years ago my wife, daughter and I went on a two week tour of Morocco. (You can read through recent posts here to see some more photos I took during our holiday. Stay tuned because I have many more photos to share in coming days.)
One of the towns we travelled through was Errachidia as featured in today’s photos. This town is in south east Morocco.
Atlas Mountains in Morocco
One of the many things I learned about Morocco on our tour there several years ago was that it is far from being a country of hot deserts and sand – lots of sand. Sure – we saw plenty of sand on our tour, but I will write more of that in a few days’ time.
Morocco is also a country of great beauty, not just in the stunning architecture, but also in the grandeur of its mountains. Several times we passed through and over the Atlas Mountains which divide the east from the western parts of the nation. These mountains are truly immense and grand, and being the middle of winter when we were there (December) the highest passes were very cold.
While we didn’t actually see it snowing while we were there, we saw plenty of snow on the higher peaks (see photo below). Whenever we emerged from the tour bus to stretch our legs, or grab a coffee or take a few more photos, we would always grab our coats against the bitter mountain air.