Today was another long day of driving, this time to Essaouira, a coastal city on the Atlantic Ocean in western Morocco.
3.5 hours (one way) with traffic and road construction
Along the way we stopped to learn about argan oil which apparently holds the cure to most of life’s maladies. It was quite expensive and very tourist-trappy, so we didn’t buy anything.
A bit further along the way we stopped to take photos of goats in trees. We’re pretty sure they had help getting up there, but it was still a fun sight to see. Apparently this all started when goats would climb the trees to get at the argan nuts, which they love to eat. Then someone thought one goat in a tree is cool, but 10-15 would be even better. It was quite a sight.
The goat of Mark Twain
Eventually we made it to our destination and walked into a crowded fish market with fishermen selling the day’s catch right off the dock. We were persuaded to pick out our fish and let the locals clean and grill it up for us. It was a great experience. We had a wonderful lunch of red snapper, sardines, a small tomato and onion salad, bread and drinks all for less than $9.00 USD. How cool is that?
We recorded a segment on our fish market experience. Check it out…
Over the last few days we have seen many different sides of Morocco with even more yet to discover. Our beautiful Riad in the heart of the Medina has been a sanctuary from the busy streets. Our host is taking great care of us making sure we don’t get lost and coordinating tours with guides to keep us busy which is why we haven’t had a chance to share in awhile.
Thank goodness on day one we booked a familiarization walking tour of Marrakesh’s old city. The tour navigated us through several bustling squares and into back alleys where artisans were busy at work. It also helped us get our bearings. Sort of…
The Medina. Oh boy, where do we start… The narrow maze-like cobblestone streets, some no wider than a sidewalk, are lined on both sides with shops and restaurants with motorcycles, pedestrians, delivery vehicles, tuk tuks, bicycles, push carts, mules, vending carts, and more all navigating through at the same time. It operates at a high level of organized chaos with only an orchestra of honks to communicate intent as people dart past each other to get where they are going.
Inches from our tableTight squeezeCoffee to go?
We visited the Ourika Valley, a couple hours outside Marrakesh in the Atlas Mountains. A Berber couple opened their home to us and shared tea. They are both artisans. He makes musical instruments and she makes hand woven carpets. We stopped for lunch at a beautiful place along the river where we sat on cushions at a low table right next to the rushing water. From there we headed into the desert to ride camels at sunset. It was a magical day. We were exhausted when we got back to our riad, but it was worth it.
Berber rug makingPath to our tableLunch by the riverWhen in Morocco…Rex of Arabia
After an early alarm and delicious breakfast, we were off again the next day. This time in search of the Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou deep in the Atlas Mountains. This is also called a kasbah, and now we know what The Clash was referring to in their famous song. It was a long drive, eight hours total and normally done over two days, but we have limited time and want to see as much of this country as we can. The site has been the set of many films and TV series like Game of Thrones, Indiana Jones 3, Gladiator, The Jewel of the Nile, and Lawrence of Arabia, just to name a few.
Morocco has been incredible so far and we have only seen the tip of the sand dune.
We screwed up and miscalculated our Schengen Area time limit, but caught our mistake just in the nick of time.
You see, there is a rule in Europe, specifically in the countries making up the Schengen Area, which allows tourists to visit anywhere within the “area” for 90 days out of every 180 without a formal travel visa. Most travelers on vacation don’t run into any problems with this, but long-term travelers can if they are not careful.
Source: Wikipedia
We had planned our time in Spain and Portugal with this in mind. We arrived in Madrid on September 2 and would be leaving Lisbon via cruise ship on November 27. This meant we would be in the Schengen Area for 87 days, 3 days under the limit. Everything was planned to line up perfectly.
About 60 days into our trip it hit us. The “clock” stops only when your passport is stamped into a country outside the Schengen Area. Because we are cruising out of the area and there is no exit stamp when you leave a country, we will be over our limit by about 11 days. Our passports would not be stamped until our cruise arrived in Brazil. By going over, we could face hefty fines or be denied reentry back into the area the next time we visit Europe. That’s not good!
So, what can we do?
We talked through about a dozen possible solutions and the quickest, easiest and least expensive option was to skip the time we were going to spend after the Camino touring southern Spain and Portugal and fly to a country outside the Schengen Area instead, thus buying back the days we need for the cruise.
It’s a bit of a convoluted mess, but we’re flexible and open to new experiences. We spent a few hours researching and booking accommodations at our chosen destination and then let out a big sigh of relief knowing we’d avoided what could have been a huge problem for us when we planned to return to Europe next summer.
We knew this nomadic lifestyle would come with challenges. Hopefully we successfully passed our first test!
It’s official…we have completed 779 kilometers (484 miles in total) to Santiago de Compostela!!!
We are both feeling mixed emotions. We’re so glad we made it and can finally let our feet recover from the trauma we’ve put them through, but at the same time we’re a little sad it’s over. It will take some time to process all the feelings.
The good news is after 60 days we didn’t kill each other. The Camino was not a leisurely stroll and we each had moments where our heart wasn’t 100% in it, but we supported each other and understood when space was needed.
We’re proud of ourselves and what we accomplished. We’re not signing up for another Camino just yet, but haven’t completely closed the door on the possibility of doing another route some day. We’ll see. Time will tell.
We will summarize everything and post later. For now, we have a new problem to solve which we will share soon.
Day 58 – Nov 2, 2022 – Boente to Salceda (19,45 km / 12.09 miles)
Oh boy, did we ever screw up today. The less than 20 km route turned into 23. The address for our hostal in our confirmation directed us incorrectly off the Camino and to different Hostal altogether, one THAT WAS CLOSED FOR THE SEASON. Once we figured it out and rerouted Google Maps, we had to walk an additional 2 km to the correct place – 100% of it on pavement. Our feet are absolutely hating us right now. I thought technology was supposed to help us?
Where’s Rex?
Day 59 – Nov 3, 2022 – Salceda to Labacolla (16,78 km / 10.43 miles)
We are so close now…we will post a video tomorrow!
