Marrakech 30th October. Day 1

While we have been in Rabat we have met numerous people who have given mixed views of Marrakech. So after returning from the UK for Mums 80th birthday party we decided to make a trip to see for ourselves.
An early start for the 07.40 train (which was 20 minutes late!) and it was raining quite hard.  We arrived to blue skies and dry warmth.  The guide book put petit taxis between 10 & 15 dh depending on distance. We never paid less than 20 dh!  That said we did manage to find the Riad where we were staying. I’m always pleasantly surprised when I find a jewel amid general mayhem. We checked into a warm welcome from the manager Hassan (who also provided us with mint tea a street map and ideas for sights to see) and set off for a wander.  The map was helpful for streets (sic) but fell short for the hundreds of Dars– alleyways. The first task was to exit the Mouassine area to the first main road. This was quite a feat in that even the smallest alley took motor cycles, larger ones had hundreds of shops (a souk area) which meant wares on show outside which slowed the traffic down. Here amidst the pedestrians were donkeys pulling cement carts, hand carts over laden, bicycles, cars, taxis, and the frequent beggar sitting in any space available.  We were so concerned about not getting lost we failed miserably to take snaps of these areas. Jemaa el Fna square above looks quite empty by comparison.
  We did manage to find La Koutoubia 70m high.  It is interesting that it is the oldest of the three Almohad towers built. The others being the Giralda in Seville, and the Hassan Tower here in Rabat. All have been visited on our travels.
  Next stop via another souk and the crowded bus station was the Saadian Tombs.  This was the burial site for the dynasty of the same name, who, ruled Morocco from 1554-1669.  They lay unforgotten until the French did an aerial survey in 1917 and were then restored for viewing. The site is quite small and we had to queue to see the interior tombs .
The El Badi (Incomparable)  Palace It is mostly ruins now but in its heyday must have been astounding.  The shear size parallels places like Dover castle but was far more than defensive.  Rooms for receiving foreign diplomats with sunken pools, summer pavilions and a large central pool with fountain.  Around the ramparts storks now nest.  We didn’t have time to do it justice having been misled by the guide book which said it was open ’til 17.45 when it actually closed at 17.00!

We wandered back to the Riad through Jemaa el Fna Square to see snake charmers and monkey handlers foot painters and food stalls.
Dinner that night was a typical Moroccan meal at the Riad and quit delicious!
Images are in Picasa.

Casablanca 8th October

Decided on a day out of town and so took the train to Casablanca with a picnic lunch.  Rather a lot of bustle when we arrived but we managed to find our way to the old town (Medina) and walked through the souk towards the Hassan II Mosque.  Building began in 1980 and it was inaugurated in 1993.  It is absolutely colossal second only to Mecca!  St Peter’s in Rome could easily fit inside it. With it being Friday we weren’t able to take a tour inside and better descriptions are found elsewhere so just help your selves to our snaps.  We meandered back through the souk and along Art Deco Streets past the Law Courts and French Consul in the modern part of town to the Park de la Ligue Arabe where we “snaffed” lunch.
  During the afternoon we took a petit Taxi to the  Habous Quarter which is a New Town area being built in the 1930’s.  This was by far the most European style seen so far with neat but haphazard streets and exceedingly clean souk.   We stopped for afternoon tea overlooking the village green. Ever the opportunists Malcolm was asked at least 3 times if he wanted his shoes cleaned by itinerant workers.  He did succumb so everyone was happy.
Apart from a non eventful train ride home that completes the Casablanca day out. If we had another day or two I’m sure we could have filled it.
  Images are in Picasa.- maybe not today as this looks as though it's corrupted and the wifi is poor

More of Rabat...

As I said earlier Sale is on the other bank of the river and this is where the Marina is.  The present King keeps his boats here and there is a band of cleaners which always have something to do looking after them.  Next door to the Marina is a huge building site which will eventually be luxury apartments  and the facilities to go with them.
The present town of Sale is the dormitory area for Rabat. Together with its own shopping areas and Souk.  In my opinion a more pleasant place to shop with as much variety as Rabat.
     Thursday we tried to find the Palace Gardens.  An easy map reading exercise became a nightmare.  Imagine the scene...a very warm morning building to the usual  even hotter day, and uphill cycle into town and then meandering through the main roads to the site we are visiting.

   When we arrive at the first gate the security man tells us we need to go to the official entry gate, off we go , only to be told that this is the wrong one and we should be at ...we set off again (third gate lucky) and here the police guard asks for our passports we tell him they are on the boat in the marina and that we only have credit cards and our EU health card as identity (which he accepts!)  He tells us to continue. Just 300 metres down the road and a car stops to tell us they want us to move our locked bikes.  Back we go to complete this task  and the same security guard now asks us to go to the office to complete formalities. The civil servant here doesn’t really want to know (he is holding a bunch of passports so we don’t hold any interest  for him) he also gives us directions and off we go for the second time The whole area is enormous with wide roads and hardly any traffic.  Of course we want to get close to the palace and have a quick look.  Unlike other visitors we do not have a palace guide to explain the fact to us—I guess we didn’t need one for viewing the gardens ? So we are watched by : the security guards, palace guards and palace police (not to mention various sundry security men just milling around). No one approaches us so I’d say this is a good result!
 We take a couple of snaps and continue our walk. .  The Palace Gardens are immaculate. Not a blade out of place and many gardeners around doing their job. There are plenty of seats if only the public/visitors knew that it is a public Garden . Images are in Picasa.

Tour Hassan Rabat, Morocco.

Next visit we took a Petite Taxi (They are Blue  smaller than the ‘Grand white Mercedes and MUCH cheaper!) Anyway the destination was the Hassan Tower. With Grand Mosque and Mausoleum.  This had a mounted guard at either entrance and other foot guards at strategic doorways.  On the way home we found the Marjane supermarket which seems to be the only place to buy beers!
Writing all this up has reminded me that I can STILL only put one image per entry so please look on Picasa for the rest, however,since some avid viewers have had 5 invitations so far I shan't go there again for a while!

Rabat, Morocco.

What weather! Really blue skies and sun all day . This is more like it! Low 30’s during the day and low 20’s at night,  Just my cup of tea.  We had a day to recover our body clocks and chill out.  Then we set about exploring Rabat. Our first trip was though the souk (market) . A warren of tiny lanes for pedestrians which were packed with tiny shops . Some had a cooker and were preparing and serving food, Others had live chickens and were selling both chickens and eggs. Fish , herbs spices fruit veg , absolutely , everything.
Next we  tried looking for a tourist office - Ha! they didn’t have one but we were sent to the National Office of Tourism a (pretty major taxi ride) where the lady behind the desk told us that  the tourist office had been moved and kindly wrote the address down for us,  Another  taxi drive and we found that although it was called a tourist office it was just a desk.  At this point all we wanted was a map and the main tourist attractions.  She went to her cupboard and ooops no town  maps and no information-all she could offer was a map of Morocco-which we  took with a big smile. Hey ho back to the boat and after sorting the wi-fi  we printed our own  with the biggest attractions.
I was not happy about finding mixed information on the Lonely planets website.  At least 3 of the 20 attractions were to be found in Rabat (Malta!)

Next day we cycled to The Kasbah de Oudaias where we were lucky to be caught by an English speaking guide.  His name was Hassan and it was his day off school. He informed us that the whitewash and blue colours were symbolic of the Koran.  He took us round and pointed out the door knockers which had the occupation of the inhabitant depicted or a lucky hand.   It was tranquil and cool wandering around the oldest part of Rabat .  We had our picnic in the Andalusian Gardens.

Rabat the Passage

We left the anchorage in Portimao harbour for Rabat around lunchtime, after coffee with the Follies. Winds no greater than 10-15 knots were forecast for the first day and, with quite light breezes in the harbour, we sailed out with just 1 reef and full headsails. There was soon 15-20 knots from just aft of the beam and we were flying along, sometimes reaching 8.5 knots. We kept waiting for the wind to drop back again, thinking it was a coastal effect but it didn’t—if anything it was still increasing.  Finally, after more than 3 hours of  averaging 7-8 knots, we decided to put in the other 2 reefs and furl the yankee. This was a timely decision, as the wind was soon 20-25 knots and we were still doing 7 knots. We wanted to arrive off Rabat near high tide in the early afternoon of the third day but, at this rate of progress, we were likely to be far too early. We were rolling quite a bit in the big seas and neither of us felt like eating a proper dinner that evening, even though it had been pre-prepared. By the early hours, conditions had moderated quite a bit and I (Malcolm) finally ate the meal at  0400!! By mid-morning the winds had become light and rather variable and that remained so for much of the day. Occasionally we had to motor sail, when progress became too slow but generally it was a pleasant  relaxing day in the sunshine. It remained quiet throughout the second night  but the next morning we found we had been boarded during the darkness—by a flying fish, which was now baking on deck! We should have fried it for breakfast but somehow didn’t get around to it. The winds became ever lighter as we approached the coast - again we adjusted our arrival time by intermittent use of the engine when the going became too slow.
  Finally, at around 3 p.m .we arrived off the entrance to the Bou Regreg river and called up the marina to ask for a pilot to guide us in.  As luck would  have it they were just guiding another English yacht out, so were with us in a matter of minutes. The harbour bar is often very treacherous but we had picked the perfect day and time for our entrance and there were no waves breaking on it at all. Once in the river, we were warmly welcomed by all the fishermen in their brightly coloured wooden boats that we passed. Our first attempt at  mooring to the reception pontoon was less than brilliant but after a second approach we were soon safely tied up, to be greeted by a large group of assorted officials. They were all incredibly friendly and after less than an hour all the formalities had been completed, mainly in French but with a little English. The dog that they were using to check for drugs was a huge Alsatian called Wolf but  our companionway steps were just too steep for him, so they contented themselves with a quick tour around the deck. After all this was completed we moved into the perfectly sheltered marina and were soon tied up between 2 unoccupied German yachts. Our other neighbours were an Australian couple and another couple from the West Coast of the US, both of whom had been cruising for quite a few years.  While our pontoon was quite full, the next one had just 6 yachts on it—5 of them belonging to the King. Because of that, security is very good, yet not at all oppressive and the marina, part of an waterside village development which is in its early stages, is the best kept  one we have ever been in.

Portimao 12th -26th ish Sept 2010

Time in Portimao was quite pleasant. Back to civilisation, almost like the UK, all foods available with our friendly market stall holders who remembered us from the spring. As it was the tail end of the season there were plenty of tourists in Praia de Rocha—without the noise late at night (and no Shearwaters to wake us up !)
A job list was finalised and the long toll began. The Staysail was checked and packed ready to take to Canvas Mike for minor re-enforcements. The offending guardrail was removed ready for the rigger. At this point Our dear friends Anton & Denise turned up to take us for lunch! Wow what a treat we combined a full blow (The Thai mint and coconut dressing was so good with the Prawns that I asked for it with my LAMB chops ( yes lamb after almost a year without !)out with a pleasant walk to view Denises favourite windmill and returned home happy and replete.
Our next visitor was Simon who had returned from Spain a day early and noticed we were around. It being Friday he suggested Pappa Jorges and then a classical concert in town. Jobs then overrun and dinner was needed before a late night concert so Pappa Jorges held over ‘til next week. The Concert was superb (as usual) and we were joined by some new friends for a nightcap afterwards.
Sometime here we realized that we could no longer ignore the fridge/freezer problem . We asked the American long term residents Bill & Marylyn who the could recommend and set about fixing an appointment. Meanwhile Malcolm had googled a sewing machine mechanic who lives in Lagosh to come and fiddle with it. Another Ex-Pat who really had a feel for his work. He was very impressed with the mechanical changes (motor) and bobbin winder which had been done in the past. Only a very minor adjustment was needed to the bobbin mechanism and it was behaving as it should. After making some new hatch covers to match the new Bimini I now realize why Jerry said that the Top-Gun material was so hard to work with.
It was good to catch up with the Follies over dinner (& I managed to use up some more meat before it went off) they have spent the summer doing their 10 year service and are almost ready to go back in the water.
Another walk around a Barragem (in blazing hot sun) with Anton & Denise followed by dinner in another mountain Hamlet on the way up to Monchique. Traditional Portugese 'Wild Boar'. To the chirping of a large Parrot - see Picasa.
While rechecking the joints on the loo system we also checked the bilge and found that the automatic pump had been left of (during generator repairs). Next we needed an obscure item from a locker and eek discovered a leak ! From the hot water pipe …(whatever next you ask…) so off went the water pump and I set about drying bits which had got wet. Meanwhile we searched the spreadsheet to see if we had items to fix the problem. YES good ‘ol Yan HAD thought of everything. We found a hose connector and new piping and a repair was soon made! Phew!
The job list got shorter and shorter and still no sign of a fridge mechanic so we called another chap who assessed the situation and scratched his head before adding some more gas and taking many readings (pressure and temperature) He returned a day later and flushed the system to replace said gas with some from his own supply. Yes this worked and the system is now ready for filling again.
Meanwhile Anton & Denise had been trying to phone us and couldn’t so had made a surprise visit for lunch and another walk. It was a cool day and far better for walking which this time took us to Alvor and a traditional Portuguese Restaurant. Followed by a long walk to the harbour entrance. On the way we are pretty sure that we spied the ’Flying fish’ at anchor but too far out to shout a greeting. Back along the beach and as the photo (© Anton) shows a washed up polythene bag (NOT)
So today being Friday and the main jobs finished it is time to start looking at the weather and conditions for Rabat. The Follies are being re-launched today and they think the wind is good for South. I write this before I really know but am anticipating leaving tomorrow so wanted to get the blog and pictures done for this stopover.
9 NB self -Must remember the OOO setting on the email...)