Credit to Rick for a fabulous photo taken from our riad in Merzouga.  Magic!

Well it’s now Day 12 (Wednesday) and we are in Skoura, many kilometres away from Merzouga and the desert camp, and about  40 km from Ouarzazate.  And we’ve just settled into our riad, Les Jardins de Skoura, and enjoyed a fabulous meal in the garden.

But the internet here is extremely slow courtesy of a massive storm a few weeks ago, which knocked out the riad’s network.  So, a truncated blog tonight with no photos, except for the one above which I’d uploaded on yesterday morning in Merzouga.

Our time in the desert combined every Saharan experience one could wish for: sun, clouds, sand storms, thunder, and even rain (we’re assured it only rains three times a year and we were there for one of them!) But also plenty of painting opportunities for our group.

The tents were glamping at its best: huge beds, power points to recharge phones, tiled bathrooms with flushing loos and a wonderful shower.

Sitting under the stars with a glass of wine after dinner last night, admiring the stars and hearing the beating of the Berber drums is a most wonderful experience.  True peace.

More tomorrow I hope.

An early morning farewell to little Switzerland after a most pleasant stay in our chalet there in Azrou,  where some of us painted, some of us swam (that would be me) and some of us played the grand piano (that would be Chris).

A pretty long drive covering close to 400 km from Azrou through the Middle Atlas Mountains to the Sahara and the Riad Madu, literally on the edge of the dunes.

Graffiti in the Atlas Mountains! (You might have to zoom to see what Omar wrote):

Then along the Ziz River with more awe-inspiring views of incredible mountains and rock formations.

And a stop to buy some fossils (that’s the second pic!  Majid and I aren’t quite fossils yet).

After a lunch break at a roadside café in Arrachidia, and still sticking with the very lengthy Oeud Ziz, we stopped for a look at the palmerie and some adobe villages.

Then another 120 km or so and we were at our destination, the Riad Madu in Merzouga, on the edge of Erg Chebbi, one of the two main Saharan sand dune areas in Morocco.  The view from our (Pam’s and my) room is hard to beat:

Most of us were in the pool soon after check-in at 4.45 pm before a sand storm dispersed us to our rooms to prepare for a sumptuous supper and bed.

Tomorrow we head to a camp in the desert so I doubt I’ll have internet there, which means Day 11’s report will be held over to Day 12 when we get to Skoura (Wednesday, Oct 10).  If you don’t hear anything, we’ve probably all become nomads and loped away on our camels.

We are two hours south of Fès tonight in a village created by the French in the 1930s to appear like a European alpine resort.

The houses are mostly wooden and stone and have sloped shingle roofs — just like Switzerland!  And amazing as it may seem, this is indeed a ski resort in the winter.  Here is our hotel:

But before we talk about today, some pics from last night’s dinner venue, Dar Roumana. What a find and worth the 10 minute trek through the medina to get there!

This morning was spent painting within our lovely riad — and what a perfect peaceful place to inspire creative juices.

There was time for a showing of the art while Majid, in full regalia, took care of our luggage.

After lunch, off to Azrou for painting in the nearby cedar forests, the biggest in Africa, and home to Barbary monkeys.

Dinner in our chalet tonight before a very early getaway tomorrow for the long drive to the desert.

This is the Fès medina taken from a lookout to the south of the old city showing how congested it is and why you shouldn’t try to navigate on your own without a guide.

So this morning we were all escorted through the labyrinth to the Palais  Glaoui where our artists spent the day in this quiet old and somewhat (actually quite a lot) dilapidated building that was once the Fès home to a powerful, despotic and somewhat corrupt (actually quite a lot) Pasha from southern Morocco.

You can see a lot of its former magnificence in the painted window shutters, the zelige (tiles or azulejos) and in the stained glass windows that signify an owner of considerable wealth.

A descendent of the original owners, Sidi Abdou is an an accomplished artist and as well as being caretaker of the old palace, he uses the building for his studio.  This is he, our host for the day:

And this is our group, in whom he was mightily interested:

Meanwhile, the four non-painters were taken on a tour of Fès to see the King’s palace, the Jewish quarter, the lookouts and the famous Fès pottery.

Dinner tonight is at Dar Roumana and tomorrow we head south to Azrou.

All aboard our bus again this morning for a relatively short hop to the hillside village of Moulay Idriss, named for the saint of the same name and great-grandson of the Prophet, who brought Islam to Morocco in the 9th Century.

Glenda didn’t get the memo about no fancy dress required:

Our destination was Scorpion House, owned and operated by Mike Richardson, a most charming and entertaining British guy and long time Morocco resident.  This is the view from his home:

Scorpion House is now pretty much completed, parts of it having been still under construction when we visited two years ago.  It is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece on multiple levels, seemingly clinging to the hillside above the ville.

After much photography, our artists, under Ev’s guidance, produced some really wonderful works as they scattered among the various nooks, alcoves and balconies of the house.

This second pic of artists at work was taken from above and is not upside down or sideways!

This was all before Mike and his assistants unveiled what has to be the best meal we’ve enjoyed so far in Morocco.  A feast of salads, couscous, kefta kebabs and chermoula sardines grilled in an amazing way that just has to be exported to Portugal.

More painting and snoozing after lunch before a display of the art for all to admire.

Then bye-bye Pogo, Rick’s new best mate, before the bus journey back to Fès.

I think it’s fair to say that we all loved Chefchauen.  Lovely gentle people, good shopping, stunning mountain scenery and well, you can’t get over the blue, no matter how many times you walk down the side streets to discover yet another photo op.

But it was time to head to our bus for the trip through the Rif mountains to Fès via some dramatic scenery, including a lake lookout where, of course, Majid had to show off his latest turban:

After a really rapid lunch at a dodgy looking restaurant, we were dropped at the blue gate entrance to the Fès medina for a three+ hour 7 km walk through some of the 35,000 alleys and 9000 derbs (dead ends) that comprise this thousand year old World Heritage wonder.

It is almost impossible to describe the sensual overload of this incredible gob-smacking jaw-dropping place, which is home to over 200,000 Fassis and thousands of tiny businesses and souks of every colour and offering you can imagine.  Plus 450 mosques.  And a wonderful medrassa (Koranic school) from the 14th century (Bou Inania), which is just so beautiful:

And a nearby mosque, not open to non-Muslims, but viewable from the alley outside:

Further on, it’s surprising who you might bump into:

Our riad for the next three nights is the El Amine on the edge of the medina — really not too shabby…

…although the steep steps to the top level were a bit of a challenge.  A wonderful dinner with a spectacular local desert before retiring for a well-earned rest. (As you may have surmised, it was a non-paining day today, but just wait until tomorrow!)

Spectacular weather.  A sea of blue.  Energerized artists.  Restaurants galore.  Chefchauen — or just Chauen, as the locals call it — didn’t disappoint.

The last photo above is on the roof terrace of the newly opened Café Clock, where some of us had lunch today, and where others will be lunching on Saturday in the Fès original of this British owned restaurant.

Even the washing is blue (and note the dog — a rarity in a country seemingly teeming with cats and kittens):

Artists everywhere:

These young lads put on a show for Pam after admiring her work:

Ev got lost in the blue maze:

There are some splashes of other colours:

Amazingly our painters didn’t run out of blue ink and produced some truly lovely works for an early evening critique session on the shaded roof terrace of our riad.

Dinner tonight at a local restaurant and tomorrow an early start for the trip to Fès.

Chefchauen means “look at the peaks” and indeed the majestic mountains of the Rif can be seen from the city.  But really it should be called “look at me; I’m all blue!”

Chefchaouen is Morocco’s popular blue-washed city and the next stop (for two nights) on our tour.  We took the long way to get here from Tangier.  But first, the amazing news is that we, or rather, Majid, got all our big suitcases into the luggage compartment on the bus and we left five minutes early at 8.25 am, having had a massive breakfast and said adieu to La Tangerina.

First stop was Tétouan, the old capital of Spanish Morocco, a dazzling white town high in the hills overlooking the Med in the distance and the Rif.

After a comfort stop we then hugged the coastline along a beautiful winding road to Oued Laou, a seaside resort town that’s worth a miss, before heading inland along a dramatically beautiful gorge en route to Chefchauen.

Majid and Lyn were happy — maybe it was the sight of some kif growing by the river (there were whole plantations of weed along the valley)!  That’s it in the green patch on the left, above the stones in the foreground of the second pic below.

After finding our way through Chefchaouen’s medina and stopping for lunch, we settled into sumptuous rooms at the Lina Ryad, right in the heart of blue-land.  Ev took advantage of the late afternoon light for a demo from the riad’s roof terrace (negotiated with some degree of difficulty up many, many stairs).

Dinner in our riad tonight and more leisurely painting in Chefchauen’s derbs (alleys) tomorrow.

Onto our bus today for an hour’s drive to the seaside town of Assilah, an old Portuguese-constructed port fortress from the 15th century.  A bit of a squeeze getting us all settled into the bus so it will be interesting to see how we manage tomorrow with our suitcases, but we’re assured everything will be ok.  Inshallah!

Our troops assembled in a surprisingly empty (of people) square for Ev’s daily demo followed by a good few hours of painting the blue and white buildings and alleys.

Later there was a lesson for a few of the group in Arabic calligraphy…

…while others explored the village and its art.  Each year there’s an artists festival here where people express their talents on the walls of the town.

The main meal today was lunch at a Spanish restaurant at the Iberian hour of 3 pm before returning to Tangier.

Off to Chefchauen tomorrow.