Taghazout

 

Taghazout became kind of a second home for me in the last years. I try to visit this wonderful place at least once or twice a year.

Somehow this little fisher's village has something special, which makes me breathe again when I feel stressed or sad.

Taghazout is placed between Agadir and Essaouira on the atlantic cost. It's very small but well known in the surfer's world because there are some really good surfspots (Hashpoint, in the village, Anker's Point 10-15 min walking, Killer's a little more far but is it worth a journey, at noon you can see orcas there, that's why it is named "killer's", panorama's for the beginners, 5 min walking and banana beach, 2 bus stations).

If you want to surf, you can bring your own board or borrow one in one of the surfshops in Taghazout (around 10 € for Wetsuit and Board/whole day).

Another oppurtunity is a surfcamp (I advise the first one, which is owned by a friend of mine, he is a great surfer and spending time with him means always, you'll have a great time and a lot of fun!:) )

http://www.hashpointsurfcamp.com/

http://surfberbere.com/home

http://www.surfcamptaghazout.com/

The village became more touristic during the last years but untill today it is still a very likable place with very good and cheap restaurants, great appartments which you can rent on location (between 2,50 to 20 e per night: 2,50 if you know someone, stay a long time and are use to bargaining, 20 if you behave like a real tourist and/or if you want some more extravagance.

If you want to book before, there is also a youth hostel which is quite cool but comparing to the appartments it is expensive. 

http://www.surfmaroc.co.uk/auberge.php

The locals are very helpful and friendly, of course you should always have in mind that most of them want to sell something. BUT not everyone and if you are open minded, you can find real friends down here.

For the sunset you definetly should go to Anker's point, I think I can say there is no better place to watch sunsets (and I have been to lots of nice sunset places!).

For breakfast or dinner the Aftas is quite nice. It is a little cafe/restaurant at the beachside of the village and the owner's also can help you to find the most beautiful appartments - not the cheapest but always clean, not too expensive and very beautiful. They also are really good in solving any kind of problems and they're really friendly and honest! 

Furthermore there is the café Sonya's also on the beachside direction Anker's which is also very friendly, not too crowded and very delicious for coffee or dinner/breakfast.

Just two last tips: alcohol is not allowed in restaurants and also not on the street, you can drink but you have to be careful. Better inside the house! Same for kissing your girlfriend. In Taghazout most of the people are used to tourists but there are still some who don't like occidental behaviour and if someone calls the police you'll get in trouble. Just keep in mind that Morocco (and every country you travel to) has another culture which should be respected by every traveller!! Always!!!

If you can make it: spend some time in Morocco. Travel around and stay close to the locals (not always to the tourists...) it is a very great country with a lovely nature and supernice people!

Morocco - General

Morocco

Morocco, Morocco.... You are my passion, my love, my home.

I started my "relationship" with Morocco in 2010 by accident actually... But it was the best that could ever happen to me.

Morocco has something very special: you feel the African and the Muslim culture but thanks to the tourism, it is very open and developped. Nothing is fast in Morocco. You have to slow down for a while and take everything as it comes. Plans, organizations, hurry? No chance. This can be a little annoying or at least new for someone from Europe or the Western Countries but if you can let it happen, it will change you a little and makes your life healthier.

From desert to surfholidays, from Hotel to camping, souks (local markets) and Tajine (very delicious local meal): you can have it all down there.

In the following chapters I tried to collect some informations about different cities/places in Morocco and I'm sure, there will come more every year.

One information before, because this is what everyone always asks me: YES. Morocco IS safe. You CAN travel there even as a blond girl and even all alone. BUT: DON'T travel by night/darkness and be prepared: even if it is not dangerous, it can be annoying as a girl who travels alone, because you won't have ANY time alone, without someone who wants to speak o you. NO TIME. NOT ANY (I once got my surfboard and paddled out when there were no waves, just to read my book somewhere without disturbance.).

keep in mind: the culture is differnet, there is no need to wear shorts and Bikinitops anywhere than at the beach. If you do, keep in mind that the locals will see you even more as a tourist and they probably will be not amused, which is absolutely their right, since WE are the visitors of THEIR country and a little respect should be given to everyone and every place we travel to.

How to travel around: Busses run from every town to another. In town you can normally walk or take a Taxi or Motorbike. Even car rentals are usually not difficult to find.

Visa: 

From Europe: for a short term stay you just need to fill out a fourmular in the airplane and keep it (!) If they ask you where you will stay during your holidays, tell them the first spot you know. Sometimes even the name of a town is enough.

Enjoy! It is the most friendly and one of the most beautiful countries I've ever seen!

Must sees: Paradise valley, the desert, the Atlas mountains, the coast (Taghazout)

Paradise Valley

Paradise Valley is a smal Valley with lots of palms and waterfalls. It's a wonderful nature down there and some people say, the name comes from Jimy Hendrix who spent his time there in the 60s and called it a "Paradise Valley" (on the other hands, Moroccans tell a lot of stories about special places so I'm not quite sure if this is true... ;)) Anyway, this place definitely IS a little paradise. Sometimes it's very crowded and if you wanna go there you should pay a taxidriver for coming to pick you up after your trip or rent a car or something. Waiting for a taxi - which is usually the best and easiest way in Morocco- isn't the best idea in this area: we had to wait 4 hours with wet hair and no pullovers and got a nice little cold. 

How to get there: You can take a taxi from Banana Village, which is between Agadir and Taghazout/Essouira or rent a car. You could also ask a Moroccan, if he knows someone who could guide you. This can be the best way (depends, who guides you.). We did it once with a guide (more a friend of us than a guide) and it was great, he showed us much more beautiful places, which were far away and without tourists (but us...) and of course we had someone who drove us there and back. We paid him 100 dh per person (5 people) which is 10 Euro for driving from Taghazout and back & a little guided tour. I heard about people who payed 400 dh per person or more so I think it was okay. A taxi is cheaper but, as I said, it's better to have someone who is bringing you back home if you don't want to rent your own scooter/car.

                                                                             

Desert and Oasis Fint

The desert could have been amazing if it wasn't so crowded and if it would have been a longer trip. For me it was the first time in the desert so it was a great experience but after some more experiences I can say, it could have been deeper.

This first time I arrived in the desert around 0.30 with my wonderful and funny driver and my guide who was (unfortunely) a little to much into blond girls.

During the journey he always looked at me as if I was a fascinating animal (to tell the truth: you CAN travel on your own in Morocco, even if you are blond and a girl but you will have some uncomfortable moments from time to time, beeing watched by men, who tread you like an object - much more than in Europe - but you can get used to that. Speaking helps.)
 

  

no one but me.

When we arrived in the desert camp I was tired to hell (remember 15 hours of busride, the endless search for a room, the very small dinner and everything with my whole luggage) but my guide organised a really great dinner somehow so I ate in a big desert tent with beautiful carpets all over the walls.

After the dinner my guide took me to the fireplace were some Bedouins and tourists sat together, playing music and singing. It was an amazing atmosphere, the music, the fire and looots of stars. It really felt like we were surrounded by stars and their light.

Then my guide offered me a beer and asked me if I want to go for a walk with him so I decided to go to bed, hoping he would has another tent. Fortunately he had so I felt asleep and set the alarm for 4.30 to see the sunrise without any bothering guide or drunken tourist.

sunrise...

Best idea I've ever had! Well... after standing up. Before it felt probably like the worst idea ever. But when I went out of the tent, the atmosphere was totally worth it!

I was alone with the snoozing camels and I walked for 30 minutes until I didn't see anyone or anything but desert and the rising sun. 

Such a great silence :) 

When I came back from this single trip, everyone was already awake and I had missed the breakfast so I had to take my luggage and explain my flutteringly guide where I had been.

We took the camels afterwards and had a ride for a few hours through the desert direction town.

camel ride

 All in one really nice trip for 200 Euro.... Even if it would have been cheaper in a group, it wouldn't have been so cool because I could take all the decisions so it was very individual trip and the way back to Ouarzarzate was really amazing because my guide and my driver (with who I became friends) wanted to show me every city, every place in the taflilalet area - an area in the sahara with many oases)

beautiful nature in the oasis

Because I didn't had breakfast this day we had some stops in pretty cute little villages. In every village we got tea, breakfast and a few stories about the village from the owner of the café/restautant. My guide knew them all and it might have been a little arranged but it was quite interesing anyway. My driver/guide showed me a lot of places, ruins, monuments and other things until we got to a wonderful oasis, named oasis fint.

Oasis Fint

Hotel/Resto in the oasis

We had lunch there, my driver and guide had a quick nap so I had enough time to walk around see all the beauty of this oasis which was the location for some films, for example "The prince of persia".

If you have the chance to go there, you should!  The oasis fint is a wonderful place and there is also a hotel with a restaurant. If someone needs time without noise, without annoying tourists and with a beautiful nature, this oasis is 

                                              THE PLACE TO BE!

Lucky.

my two guys (guide and driver)

The last stop of this day were the Dadès Gorges and the Dades canyon. The dades is a river between the atlas mountains and the Anti-Atlas mountain range. 

We spend over 40 minutes, just watching because I couldn't take my eyes of of this mountains. My two guys explained me where and how the traditional Berber families live down in the canyon and I really want to go there to spend some time with them! But for this day it was engough, so we had to leave the mountains before it got dark.

fascinated.

Ouarzarzate

My helping angels

My trip to Ouarzarzate  was evil. I had to take a bus from Sidi Ifni at about 4.30 (the tickets need to be bought before but the locals help you to find the right bus and store). Anyway. I drove to Agadir to take another Bus from there to Ouarzarzate but I forgot that there are two bus stations in Agadir, the main one and one in Inzegane. That one is full of screaming people, who push you in their bus before you can ask, where they're going to. you can manage it, if you know where you wanna go and what could be the right price but if you're not sure, Inzegane will NOT help you. It's a little chaos and you have to be very sure, what you want. 

In my case I was lucky to sit next to 2 moroccan students in the bus from Sidi Ifni and they helped me in Agadir to find the right bus (i was really lucky: the only bus this day went 5 minutes after my arrival and if I wouldn't have catched it, I would have had to take an expensive hotel room for one night...) Anyway. The busride from Agadir to Ouarzarzate took me the whole day (from Sidi Ifni to Agadir and from Agadir to Ouarzarzate were about 15 hours busride and about 10 or 15€...) and when I arrived, I just wanted to sleep. 

But: no room --> no sleep, so I went down the road with my big backpack and looked for a room and something to eat. - Little tip from another trip: Ouarzarzate has great little restaurants in the smaller streets but you have to find them. They have no signboards, sometimes you just see some chairs outside a livinghouse. They have small prices and great food and they are super friendly and familial!

Unfortunely on that day everything was closed...

my driver :)

After 1 hour I found an open shop with desert trips and I decided to ask for the prices.
It took a while but in the end, we had a compromise. 200 € for 3 days in the desert, with breakfast, lunch and dinner, the ride down to the desert, a camel ride and a tent for sleeping. He also offered me a hotel room for the night after the desert. I found out later, that it is MUCH more cheap, if you go from Marrakesh and in a bigger group, one single person is quite expensive, because they have to pay the trip, the gas, the tent in the desert etc all for just one person. (makes sense, hum?)

Well, a few minutes later my desert guide and my personal driver arrived and took me to the desert near Zagora and on top I finally got a sandwich (thank god!)

direction: desert.

Mirleft / Sidi Idni

Mirleft, is really NOT my fav city.. pretty calm, good waves but you need your own surfboard (expensive...) and in the evening, there is nothing to do, shops close early and almost no one is round... But if you want a calm place where you have no (or less) tourists and can make your own meals: there are busses every day from Agadir.

Sidi Ifni though is a great city. It was quite calm, when I was there (March) but still the locals were up to do some jamming, cooking and surfing. The waves are absolutely nice and you're not surrounded by other travellers.

How to get there?

I took a taxi from Mirleft with 5 or 6 strangers next to me (and of course the driver...) let's say: don't be afraid of small cars with many people in it.. it might smell of sweat but it's always cheaper ;) The ride was something about 1,5-2 hours and it costed more or less nothing: 15 dh (1,50€) but I have to admit that it was a local taxi. Next to me 2 older English women (they looked very touristic) were waiting and they didn't get a taxi and later, when they got one, they had a higher (touristic) price. I had my marrocain trousers on and a scarf over my hair so they gave me the last "free" place in a local taxi (I think, the women wouldn't have take it anyway.. :D)

Sidi Ifni has some influence by Spain and you can see this in every house, it is a mixed style, I've never seen before! In Sidi Ifni and around are some pretty nice places. You can surf, walk around or just sit in one of the cafes and restaurants and look over the sea. Another plus is, that the city is not that touristic (compares to Agadir or Marrakesh). There is a camping ground next to the main city and in the season, someone told me, it's getting fuller of tourist (probably november-february) 

Very important fact: near the ocean you can get Pizza with Tuna and Olives which was the best one I've ever had in my whole life!! So, in the end: Sidi Ifni is something special and I'll definitely come back!

Souk in Sidi Ifni