Daily Archives: October 5, 2017

Morocco 2017

Posting this a bit late but I wanted to capture some photographic highlights from our 10 day excursion to Morocco in September to review locations for the 2018 Evocative Morocco artists’ tour.

We travelled from Tangier in the north (just a short hop from Lisbon) south to the blue city of Chefchauen (via Tétouan and Oued Laou), on to Fès (briefly), then to the cedar forests of Morocco’s surprising winter ski resort in Azrou.

Next it was a long hike from the Rif through the Middle Atlas to the Erg Chebbi desert in the Sahara for two nights, including one in a tent in the dunes.  Next stop after travelling through the Todra Gorge was a wonderful riad, Les Jardins de Skoura, set amidst a date palm grove.

We then travelled through the High Atlas to Marrakech for a quick lunch before moving on to the Atlantic coast at Essaouria, a place we’d heard lots about but had never visited before on our four previous Moroccan visits.  Wonderful!  So paintable that we’ve added an extra night there on next year’s artist’ tour.

Then back to Marrakech airport for the painfully long departure procedure before the quick flight home to Portugal.

Below are some favourite pics from the repérage trip to Morocco September 2017:

Tangier

Asilah, near Tangier

Pam with wall art in Asilah (the art changes every year)

Unusual windows in Asilah

Tétouan, the old capital of Spanish Morocco

En route from Oued Laou to Chefchaouen

The blue city of Chefchaouen

Pam at “work” in Chefchaouen

  

Street scenes in the Medina of Chefchaouen

  

  Paul & Pam                                                                          Chefchaouen colour for sale

Riad El Amine, our Fès destination in 2018

Monkeys in the cedar forests near Azrou

En route to the Sahara

Riad Madu on the edge of the desert in Merzouga

Pam and Paul at the desert camp

Todra Gorge en route to Skoura

  

   Les Jardins de Skoura riad                                         Have a fresh date

The surprisingly peaceful Medina of Essaouira

Local ladies at the seafront in Essaouira

  

Essaouira port, with just one or two seagulls!

Farewell Essaouira and farewell Morocco.  À bientôt.

 

日本 – Here we come

Less than two weeks until we’re off to Japan.  We arrive in Tokyo on October 18 and then travel to Hokkaido for a nine day 下見 (or investigation) of the locations chosen for next year’s Artists’ Tour in May 2018.

Then back to Tokyo for a few days before this year’s artists’ tour — Jaunting Around Japan with Ev Hales — begins on October 30.

I’ll try to keep a daily blog going and add photos where the wifi speeds allow.

よろしくお願いします.  Cheers