Another long day on the bus - 530 km from Fez to Marrakesh in 30 degrees, but the bus is air-conditioned, thank goodness. We drove through the Middle Atlas Mountains which rise up to 8,000 ft. They border the Sahara, which is 9 million square km (almost the same size as the USA) and it moves 800 km per year.We drove through various different landscapes. At first it was much tidier and more fertile looking country. As we drove west we could have been in the Mackenzie country(see photo) with a similar climate - hot dry summers and cold winters with snow.Once again we passed lots of villages and herders with their Barbary sheep with long ears and tails. The herders typically squat in the shade while watching their stock. Their adobe houses are very primitive with stones holding down the roofs and copious plastic covering hay and wood stacks.It got progressively browner, rockier and drier as we headed west. The soil also changed to an ochre colour and there were some enormous houses seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Where it was flat and there was water, there were crops of citrus fruit and sugar beet, with a sort of border dyke irrigation.
The towns we passed through were very bleak- pastel shaded blocky buildings with barren ground all around, and often rubbish. Nothing nice about them at all! About 100km from Marrakesh the landscape was flat and almost desertic and we saw camels, as well as sheep, goats and donkeys.
We are in another 5 star hotel in Marrakesh with an enormous pool. I have just had a lovely swim at 7.30 pm with the pool all to myself and the palm trees floodlit. Very romantic?
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