Yesterday was a reasonably short drive with a stop to have tea made of saffron and a picnic lunch in the middle of nowhere at 4000 ft above sea level. The place offered parking and a cafe and the sign said 'Cafe Parking' - unforgettable!
A free afternoon awaited us in Tafraout at the hotel and we headed for the pool and large deck area for about 3 hours just sitting, reading or feeding a local kitten. Actually, we're not sure if it was one or rotating through 4 of absolutely identical kittens. The rotation seems more likely - one kitten could not have eaten the amount of food handed out!
Tafraout is famous for towering granite boulders and mountains, blue rocks and almond blossoms. Almonds are everywhere here where in other places we saw dates and argon nuts. I also saw Pomegranates growing. The drive yesterday had everything from palm/date trees to cornfields and orange groves. The regional differences in agriculture are really quite interesting.
Supper was superb - Tagine with the most amazing seasonings, chicken, prunes, almonds and veggies! Cinnamon sprinkled oranges on custard topped pastry finished the meal and then we moved on to cards games in the lounge. 'Spoons' was the first game - too long to explain here but very fast, intense and wildly fun!
A good portion of today was spent walking after Rashid drove us to base points. Day tripping took us to see 'The Painted Rocks', 'Chapeau de Napoleon' and a local village for lunch in a fruit and olive grove. The Rocks were 'created' in 1984 by a Belgium artist who probably smoked too much hash - big honking' blue rocks in the middle of the mountain valley. Didn't really get it (not my style of art) but had fun taking pictures and climbing around with everyone. The Chapeau is a very tall cluster of rocks that attracts serious foreign climbers with high tech equipment.
Lunch at the local village in the Ait Mansour Gorge included salad, fresh flat bread, Berber omelets (filled with lovely vegetables and served in enormous pans), fresh oranges, mint tea and coffee. I have to say, I love trying different food!
A free afternoon awaited us in Tafraout at the hotel and we headed for the pool and large deck area for about 3 hours just sitting, reading or feeding a local kitten. Actually, we're not sure if it was one or rotating through 4 of absolutely identical kittens. The rotation seems more likely - one kitten could not have eaten the amount of food handed out!
Tafraout is famous for towering granite boulders and mountains, blue rocks and almond blossoms. Almonds are everywhere here where in other places we saw dates and argon nuts. I also saw Pomegranates growing. The drive yesterday had everything from palm/date trees to cornfields and orange groves. The regional differences in agriculture are really quite interesting.
Supper was superb - Tagine with the most amazing seasonings, chicken, prunes, almonds and veggies! Cinnamon sprinkled oranges on custard topped pastry finished the meal and then we moved on to cards games in the lounge. 'Spoons' was the first game - too long to explain here but very fast, intense and wildly fun!
A good portion of today was spent walking after Rashid drove us to base points. Day tripping took us to see 'The Painted Rocks', 'Chapeau de Napoleon' and a local village for lunch in a fruit and olive grove. The Rocks were 'created' in 1984 by a Belgium artist who probably smoked too much hash - big honking' blue rocks in the middle of the mountain valley. Didn't really get it (not my style of art) but had fun taking pictures and climbing around with everyone. The Chapeau is a very tall cluster of rocks that attracts serious foreign climbers with high tech equipment.
Lunch at the local village in the Ait Mansour Gorge included salad, fresh flat bread, Berber omelets (filled with lovely vegetables and served in enormous pans), fresh oranges, mint tea and coffee. I have to say, I love trying different food!
Back to the hotel for complete down time and then supper of couscous preceded by soup and followed by creme caramel. We are being fed well! Can no longer finish all that comes to the table except for the copious amount of water we have.
Tomorrow starts the final leg of journey before returning to Marrakech and home on Friday. Looking forward to this part - on the Atlantic Coast!
I see a rock and I want it painted Blue!
ReplyDeleteI want them all to turn Blue!
There's someone who didn't have all his Rocks in one Basket... :):)
Looks like you are having a Grand Time.