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AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures
Morocco 2025 Day 9: Dadès Gorges to Marrakesh
Morocco 2024 Day 9: 23rd April (Wednesday)
Small Group (Non-cycling) Tour of Morocco.
Day 9 - Dadès Gorges to Marrakesh:
Day 9 - Dadès Gorges to Marrakesh:
Dadès Gorges (Boumalne - Riad Tumast Dades)>>Valley of Roses>Ait Sedrate Sahl El Gharbia>Skoura Oasis>Ouarzazate (Atlas Studios)>Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou>Tichka-Pass>Marrakesh (Riad Tassili Marrakech).
This is page 9 of a 13-page blog. Click Here To Go To Title Page.
Route recommendations, here are some tips on travelling to and around Morocco:
1. Traffic Directions!
Driving in Morocco is left-hand drive, and driving is on the right-hand side of the road. Do look to the correct side when crossing roads.
Speed limits are between 60 km/h within urban areas, 100 km/h outside urban areas, including expressways, and 120 km/h on highways. Do adhere to these limits, as often police are monitoring with radars; our driver-guide was careful about this.
Speed limits are between 60 km/h within urban areas, 100 km/h outside urban areas, including expressways, and 120 km/h on highways. Do adhere to these limits, as often police are monitoring with radars; our driver-guide was careful about this.
2. Immigration & Customs Requirements
For Morocco, citizens of Malaysia do not need a visa to enter for travel purposes and can stay in the country for 90 days without a visa. Click here for visa requirements for other countries.
3. Getting to and around Morocco.
Morocco is easily accessible by air as most major airlines serve Morocco and have flights to major cities such as Casablanca, Rabat and Marrakech. We flew return via Emirates to Casablanca with transit in Dubai at a fare of MYR4,430 per pax. Do note that Emirates now charges for seat selection.
For ground arrangements, we booked a 13-day guided tour through Tenere Tours at €1,350 per pax. This included stays at comfortable hotels and riads, and a night at a caravanserai luxury camp in the desert. Breakfast was included, and also dinners at the Dades Valley Hotel, Merzoga Riad and Desert Caravanserai Luxury Camp.
The guided tour included a 9-seater van with a driver-guide to take the six of us to/from the airports, and from city to city. And also the camel ride to the desert camp. We paid extra for walking tours at the Fez Medina and Marrakech Medina at €85/group/city.
For ground arrangements, we booked a 13-day guided tour through Tenere Tours at €1,350 per pax. This included stays at comfortable hotels and riads, and a night at a caravanserai luxury camp in the desert. Breakfast was included, and also dinners at the Dades Valley Hotel, Merzoga Riad and Desert Caravanserai Luxury Camp.
The guided tour included a 9-seater van with a driver-guide to take the six of us to/from the airports, and from city to city. And also the camel ride to the desert camp. We paid extra for walking tours at the Fez Medina and Marrakech Medina at €85/group/city.
For out-of-pocket spending, we exchanged Euros to Moroccan dirhams (MAD) at local money-changers in Rabat and Rissani. As a contingency, we brought along our Wise debit cards, do note that this may not be acceptable at many places.
4. Places & Things of Interest
En route were several places of interest, some of which we visited and others we did not for lack of time (Note: click on GPS coordinates for a directional map to respective places):
a. Dadès Gorges (GPS: 31.45321, -5.96758).
a. Dadès Gorges (GPS: 31.45321, -5.96758).
e. Skoura Oasis (GPS: 31.05991, -6.55717) at Skoura.
g. Taourirt Kasbah (GPS: 30.92015, -6.89958) at Ouarzazate.
i. Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou (GPS: 31.04402, -7.12956).
j. Tichka-Pass (Tizi n'Tichka) (GPS: 31.28598, -7.38061).
k. Second-most Winding Road in Morocco: Tizi n'Tichka Road (GPS: 31.31975, -7.37873).
l. Marrakesh Medina (GPS: 31.62530, -7.99334) (a UNESCO Heritage Site)
l. Marrakesh Medina (GPS: 31.62530, -7.99334) (a UNESCO Heritage Site)
m. High Atlas Mountains (GPS: 31.42999, -6.93999).
5. Food
a. Breakfast
Inclusive hotel Western & Moroccan breakfast at Riad Tumast Dades (GPS: 31.37795, -5.98104) at Boumalne, Dadès Gorges.
b. Lunch
Restaurant Nouflla (GPS: 31.04085, -7.12775) near Aït Benhaddou:
1. Moroccan Red Lentil Soup, 2. Moroccan Pastilla (meat pie) with Vegetables, 3. Chicken Tajine, 4. Vegetable Tajine 5. Mojito and 6. Avocado Juice.
1. Moroccan Red Lentil Soup, 2. Moroccan Pastilla (meat pie) with Vegetables, 3. Chicken Tajine, 4. Vegetable Tajine 5. Mojito and 6. Avocado Juice.
c. Dinner
Self-made Maggi Mug Kari (Curry Flavour Instant Noodles) (brought over from home) at our riad in Marrakesh.
6. Accommodations
7. Dressing
I brought two long pants along and four shorts. In the end, I didn't wear the shorts as the weather can get quite cold in the morning and evenings, especially with stronger winds at the seaside.
When entering mosques, men can wear shorts, but ladies have to cover up their legs and heads. Scarves and long pants are recommended; if wearing shorts, bring a sarong or something to cover one's legs.
8. Communicating with Each Other
When travelling in a group, it's important to be able to communicate with each other, especially if one gets lost from the rest.
Upon arrival at Casablanca Airport, booths selling pre-paid sim cards can be found just before exiting the luggage reclaim area. There were booths selling Maroc, Orange, and Inwi pre-paid tourist phone sim cards. We opted for the Maroc sim card as it provides better coverage even in remote areas, which I found to be true, and it only had poor or no signal at remote stretches far in the hills or desert. We got the 15 Gb card, which is valid for one month for 100 MAD. Should this be inadequate, memory can be topped up at any phone shop.
9. Communicating with Locals
At favourite tourist destinations, markets and medinas, many locals speak fairly good English, some French and Spanish. At the smaller towns, locals speak some rudimentary English, and our local guide was most helpful in translating for us.
10. Weather
The average day temperature in Boumalne-Dades was 28°C. While the average day and night temperatures in Marrakesh were 32°C and 15°C.
Useful weather forecast sites for Boumalne-Dades and Marrakesh are AccuWeather. For more detailed weather, including cloud cover and wind speed, use Weatherspark and Ventusky.
11. Navigation
I used MapMyRide to track our routes and stops. Geo-tagging of places of interest was via FaceBook or Google Maps.
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PRELUDE
The previous day, say goodbye to the Sahara Desert and head westward Dadès Gorges; en route to visit the traditional souk at the Rissani Market. And then the scenic Todgha Gorge with green oases, Monkey Paw Mountains looking like a giant monkey left its paw print on a mountainside, before ending at the Dadès Gorges.
Today, we loop back westwards and head for Marrakesh, another of the Imperial cities of Morocco. Along the way, we stop to smell some roses, AND further along this AhPek became one of the lead stars in a movie 😱.
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Today, we loop back westwards and head for Marrakesh, another of the Imperial cities of Morocco. Along the way, we stop to smell some roses, AND further along this AhPek became one of the lead stars in a movie 😱.
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DAY 9: DADES GORGES TO MARRAKESH
Small Group (Non-cycling) Tour of Morocco.
Most of the posts below are linked to my Facebook postings during the trip and are embedded here with some comments. (NOTE: Click on respective posts to link to the FB post for more details. If you can't see the posts, please log out of your Facebook first.)
Western & Moroccan breakfast at Riad Tumast Dades, which included chocolate rolls and the Meskouta Moroccan Orange Cake.
Goodbye Boumalne and the Dadès Gorges. Trooped into our van to head for Marrakesh, and will visit some sites along the way.
Refuel stop at Kalaat, with a rose flower roundabout nearby heralding what lies ahead.
The rose is a harbinger of what is to come.
Visiting the Rose Cooperative Rosamgoun at Ait Sedrate Sahl El Gharbia., which is located within the renowned Valley of Roses. Here, the harvested rose blooms are made into Rose Essential Oil, and Rose Water.
Rose Oil is an essential oil that is extracted through steam distillation, and is used perfumery. While Rose Water is widely used to flavour culinary dishes and enhance cosmetic products, and also in religious rituals throughout Eurasia.
A graphic photo of the steam distillation process for making rose essential oil and rose water:
Firstly, freshly plucked rose petals are boiled in distilled water (4), the produced rose vapour (5) is then fed into a distillation tower (6 - one with the cooling coil) to cool down the steam into liquid. This liquid mix is then fed into a separation tower (8), where the lighter oil floats to the surface to be collected as Rose Essential Oil (9). The heavier water at the bottom is drained out separately (10) to be collected as Rose Water.
Firstly, freshly plucked rose petals are boiled in distilled water (4), the produced rose vapour (5) is then fed into a distillation tower (6 - one with the cooling coil) to cool down the steam into liquid. This liquid mix is then fed into a separation tower (8), where the lighter oil floats to the surface to be collected as Rose Essential Oil (9). The heavier water at the bottom is drained out separately (10) to be collected as Rose Water.
At the rose plantation in the Valley of Roses, Kelâat M'gouna.
The Taourirt Kasbah, in Ouarzazate. We didn't visit, just stopped opposite for a rest stop.
Nearby is the Ouarzazate Cinema Museum, short of time, we didn't go in and just viewed the entrance. We are saving time for some interesting things ahead .....
..... which is the Atlas Studios. Upon entering, a large mural of Nefertiti welcomed us!
Located five kilometres to the west of the city of Ouarzazate, the studio has many indoor and outdoor movie filming sets, many of which remain in place. Because of this, the studio also operates guided tours and has become a popular tourist destination. Entry per pax is 80 MAD.
The company was founded in 1983 by entrepreneur Mohamed Belghmi.
In one of the studios is a movie set of the inside of an ancient Egyptian temple.
Here, a pharaoh welcomes us. The set looks so authentic with huge columns and walls covered with ancient paintings and ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. We felt transported way back into the past, to the time of the pharaohs!
READY..... SET..... ACTION!
I look cool, yeah?
Outdoor props: ancient wooden catapult used in the Kingdom of Heaven; and Noah's Ark.
The studio has been the production set of many of my favourite movies:
The Jewel of the Nile, Aladdin, The Mummy, Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra, and Game of Thrones.
The Jewel of the Nile, Aladdin, The Mummy, Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra, and Game of Thrones.
Another great movie of Ahpek Biker & Cleopatra - a 5-star action
movie!
Can't see me? I am on the first left row, 5th from the front 😂!
Can't see me? I am on the first left row, 5th from the front 😂!
1:00pm - Moroccan lunch at Restaurant Nouflla near Aït Benhaddou, Ouarzazate:
1. Moroccan Red Lentil Soup, 2. Moroccan Pastilla (meat pie) with Vegetables, 3. Chicken Tajine, 4. Vegetable Tajine 5. Mojito and 6. Avocado Juice.
Not one of our best lunches; the place had lots of flies - later some of our friends had diarrhoea and vomited too.
1. Moroccan Red Lentil Soup, 2. Moroccan Pastilla (meat pie) with Vegetables, 3. Chicken Tajine, 4. Vegetable Tajine 5. Mojito and 6. Avocado Juice.
Not one of our best lunches; the place had lots of flies - later some of our friends had diarrhoea and vomited too.
Stop for a quick photo shoot or two of Aït Benhaddou, Ouarzazate. It was windy, blowing sand into eyes; it reminded us of Fongchueisha (風吹砂) (GPS: 21.95027, 120.8402) in Taiwan, another windy-sandy place we met during a 2017 Taiwan Cycling Tour.
Up in the Tichka-Pass, 2,260m above sea level. With
the wind blowing, it gets even colder. Brrr.
Further down is Tizi n'Tichka Road, the second most winding road in Morocco.
Arrived at Marrakesh, just outside the Marrakesh Medina. Our
riad is within this medina, the reddish-pink walls on the right are the medina walls. The pink colour originates from the pigment of the local clay used to build these buildings, arising from this
Going to our riad, Riad Tassili Marrakech, located within
the Marrakesh Medina is like going through a maze of many turns and corners.
Our van can't go in as the lanes are too narrow, so a paid porter took our bags
in. Our riad is a fair distance away, and many times the lanes are too narrow for
two to pass, so a bit of reversing to give way is needed 😀.
Inside Riad Tassili Marrakech, it's nicely decorated, but like other riads in bigger cities, the bedrooms are much smaller than those in smaller towns. This one is just half the size of yesterday's riad at Dadès Gorges.
Tired after a long day, and lazy to go out for dinner through the maze of the narrow lanes of the medina, we decided to eat in at our riad. Luckily, we brought along Maggi Mug Kari (Curry Flavour Instant Noodles). Just put it into a small bowl and add hot water, and walah, a bowl of piping hot curry noodles is ready for eating. After weeks of Moroccan food, this simple meal tasted heavenly. Can't wait to get back to Nasi Lemak, Penang CharKoay Teow, and Penang Hokkien Prawn Mee 😂!
Ho Liao!
(That's Very Delicious! in Penang Hokkien)
(For more photos of Day 9, Click Here)
This is page 9 of a 13-page blog. Click Here To Go To Title Page.
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