Showing posts with label MOROCCO. Show all posts

Day 2 crossing Morocco-Canaries


Hi there,

First I want to inform you that our SPOT tracker has stopped working for some odd reason and you should not freak out if you can't find ourprogress on the Spotwalla website. That machine have driven us crazyalready so we're thinking of getting rid of it for good. The thoughtof throwing it in the water is oh so tempting. Maybe I'll wait untilwe get into deeper waters so I know it will be gone down as far aspossible.

We are now around 120 NM from Rabat and we're on our 24th hour of sailing towards the Canaries.

The wind was light and made for a comfortable evening ride last night. We were wonderfully accompanied by a couple of dolphin families on two different occasions and I recorded a video with the amazing creatures which I will put up here for you to view once we're on land again. I would say that dolphins nowadays are as common to us as maybe ducks orcats are to most landlubbers, but nonetheless they still take our breath away when the graciously dance around our boat. Yesterday we also had the chance to witness them making another type of play that we haven't seen before, one where they jump straight up from the water and land hard on their sides one after another - whatever that trick is called. I have a bit of that show on the video as well. Shortly after the first dolphin appearance, we caught our first fish, or only fish so far, a 4-5 kilo bluefin tuna as shown on picture which we first enjoyed grilled in the night after sunset and today as a sushi lunch. Tasted like heaven, just like it always does when preparing fresh fish straight off the boat. The night sailing went pretty smoothly, we shifted watches after each two hour and around 9.30 am we were both upfor breakfast in the early morning rise. Our Sailomat windpilot works really good and we're glad to not have to use the electric autopilot as much as it's sucking down the batteries fast. Also we're glad thatthe wind has been pretty stable around 15-22 knots so that we do not have to run the engine at all. Now around 500 miles more to go and if we keep on like this we'll probably land on one of the islands on Saturday lunch or so. Ciao. /T

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Leaving Morocco

We're half dead today after only been sleeping for 4-5 hours - although it was much worth it. We hired a car and a driver last night for taking the opportunity to experience Casablanca - at least for a couple of hours. There were apparently no yacht marina established for smaller vessels in Casablanca at the moment so we had to take the roads to get there. It was a lovely night on one really amazing restaurant which I will show you pictures from later on. Now we're getting ready to leave Bouregreg and Morocco and head West towards the Canaries. Weather looks good with a calm sea and light wind and we're expecting to land on one of the islands in maybe four days from now. I don't know how our satellite connection will work along the way but I'll keep you posted if I have the chance to get connected. This will be our longest passage together so far and it is good that we're well prepared with loads of food, fresh veggies and fruits, tons of good books, good music in the ipod's, new sails and perfect weather. All we need really. See you on the other side.

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Oriental dancing

I have been trying to find a proper Moroccan cabaret for days now. You know: a smokey, reddish gem where you can smoke water-pipe and admire voluptuous females dancing in their bright colored costumes full of coins and bells making for a rhythmic musical symmetry. But as soon as I or we have asked anyone for suggestions on where to go to experience this, the Moroccans have looked at us like we just were saying something similar to "excuse me, do you know of any place where we can find naked, dead people and dance around them in circles" - you know that kind of look. They are really religious over here and these kind of things are not OK, at least not to talk about in the public room. So the search for an innocent belly dancing place have came to an end, at least in this city as I have no time to run around and look for it myself, through town. Therefore I figured, just like in many areas and situations in life, that I have to take the command to get things done, as oneself is the only one to trust if you want to get things done properly - so I bought some sexy oriental clothes and am now planning on giving my man a private belly dance show, at least. I really love the greenish color of this hip scarf, makes such a nice contrast to tanned skin. You think he's gonna like it? /T

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Checking off the list

For us it was important and very good to stop here in Morocco for an extended time as we still had a lot of things to do before heading for the long Atlantic crossing. The boat must obviously be safe and ready would we get stuck in rough weather far from land and Morocco has been the perfect place for finalizing some of those boat projects. Rabat has been generous with perfect dry weather, it has been cheap to hang around here and mentally it has been a perfect break, rather than staying around more in the cold Gibraltar or the Canaries, which we feel is too similar to where we left from. Basically we needed to see something different and we got positively surprised by this place. Also we've done so much stuff on the boat this week that it's ridiculous. Now only these few things left before we're ready to hit the long passage (although we'll most probably make a super short stop in the Canaries as well):

- More teak (never-ending story that goddam teak) - almost done.
- Clean out more things. Would love to throw out around 100 kilos more so we at least can see the waterline again. 
- Install the Gps antenna for the MaxSea.
- Finalize the watermaker installation.
- Find a long range wifi receiver. Any ideas on which one to choose? Hopefully we'll be able to find one in the Canaries.

Done with work for today and we'll proceed with something similar to what this beautiful Moroccan man above is doing; we'll take a break, go to bed and read a book. Tomorrow is another day and we'll exchange our vehicle from boat to train for some hours. Let's see how far we get.

Hasta la vista and good night. T&A

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Inspiring architecture

In the Mausoleum of Mohammed V, like in many other places around here, you'll get stunned by the fantastic architecture and the wonderful attention to detail. The colors they use, the patterns in the carpets and fabrics, the amazingly detailed woodwork and the colorful mosaic that Moroccan design is built up with are such a joy for the eye. This Mausoleum from where the photos are taken, is by the way one of the most famous of Moroccan monuments, as it holds the tomb of the founder of modern and independent Morocco - the father of the nation - King Mohammed V and his son. 

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More world tour

If you wanna see more pics from our journey, add us as friends on Facebook - where we'll publish pics every once in a while when there's no time for the blog. This is also the best place to get in touch with us, if we're late in responding emails. See you there! xx

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Wine sampling

Just like an alert reader already commented on: It seems like the only thing we're doing is eating. And yes, that is almost truth. Not the entire truth but close to it. Because what would life be without delicious food, new interesting flavors, tasteful preparations and in my case: characteristic and flavorful wines. Not much, huh. 

Talking of wine: As I've understood; Morocco is supposed to have the best natural potential in West Africa for producing wine due to the high mountains surrounding the country in combination with the cooling influences of the Atlantic winds - and despite the paradox of having 98% of it's population forbidden to drink alcoholic beverages, Morocco does produce and export an massive amount* of wine each year. So naturally I had to try a couple to compare with my own preferences - and I've found some simple favorites. The traditional Medallion is an excellent everyday wine in my taste and they make it good in both red (Cabernet Sauvignon) and white (Sauvignon Blanc). Wine sampling (and drinking obviously) is a passion that grows within me more for each year and I'm trying to collect my favorites in every new wine-producing country we get to. The Italian ones I picked up this summer in Sardinia are slowly running out so new replacements will be done in form of Moroccan. Not quite comparable but still they are alright. I don't drink much white wines in general but if you like em', allow yourself to try the sweet Medallion next time you have the chance, also Alex thought of it as palatable - and he usually doesn't like the taste of wine at all. For me it was perfect when chilled  - served with the wonderfully prepared sushi we had the other night and I'm definitely going to pick up a few of the small version** for our boat.  /Taru

* Morocco grows 310.000 tons of grapes annually, ranks 30th in wine producing countries worldwide.

**375 ml comes in a stylish, thin bottle as shown in picture - perfect size for one person and takes less space in the boat.

Here's by the way a short text I wrote about my absolute favorite wine, all categories - in my other blog for some year ago or so - for the ones who're interested.

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Marina Bouregreg

For all of you who have wondered: This harbor is one of the best we visited so far on our journey. Super secure with security people patrolling day and night making it feel very safe leaving the boat and going out in town. They offer great service and the fee is ultra cheap. We're paying 108 Moroccan Dirhams (9 Euros or 12 USD) per night and this is the price for all yachts between 9.50-10.99 meters. Electricity, water, wifi and taxes included. It takes us about 6-10 minutes to get to the Medina, to the old city and to the center of town with taxi (also ridiculously cheap). The harbor is pretty quiet now in off season which we are very happy for, although there are some great qualitative cafés and restaurants just on the quay.

We can much recommend this place and it is, at least for us, a perfect stop in between Gibraltar and the Canaries. 

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A walk in the Kasbah des Oudaias


Kasbah des Oudaias is the charming little town inside of the fortress overlooking the Atlantic ocean. It is filled with winding streets scattered with low houses painted in blue and white and the streets are full of life in every corner. Kids are running around laughing and playing behind different doors, you'll find cats relaxing in the sun in the grass and the beautiful Andalusian garden, in the middle of it all, is full of students and loving couples, men reading newspapers and more kids running around and playing games in the scent from full-bloomed flowers and roasted nuts from the old man selling them off his wagon in the park. Inside of this labyrinth of houses and streets, it feels like you are one step closer to the real everyday life of Rabat, one breath closer to the core of the city - and somehow you get a feeling of that whatever happens in between these heavy ochre colored walls, has nothing to do with the rest of the world and vice versa. /Taru

P.S 1: A short movie from inside this town can be found on our Facebook.

P.S 2: Obviously I wore a scarf around my shoulders as we're in a muslim country, just not for the photo.

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Afternoon tea aboard Caos - day 37

Would you have the chance to get invited for a cup of tea into our boat this week, you would most probably not get to have a taste of my homemade cookies (eh) but some real Moroccan ones. We are both addicted to this shit. The traditional Arabic/Middle Eastern sweets. Mmmmm.. some layers of crispy phyllo dough filled with sweet honey and syrup in combination with delicately chopped pistachios, almonds, lemon, cinnamon, walnuts and other spiced nuts. It is pretty healthy too, at least that's what I'm trying to convince myself of. Not sure of if anything containing syrup and nuts can be healthy when eaten in this quantity though.. Nevertheless, they are delicious. Especially when devoured with the traditional Moroccan mint tea with sugar. /T

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Welcome to breakfast heaven

Have a look at this delicate breakfast and then try estimating the cost of it. Perhaps a similar one would've been around 79 USD in The Pierre hotel, New York. Or 480 Swedish kronas in the Grand Hotel, Stockholm. Or 65 Euros in the new exclusive Mandarin Oriental on Passeig de Gracia, Barcelona. So what is the cost of the same here in Rabat, Morocco, you ask? Let me tell you: For this exquisite morning meal with freshly baked bread with sweet apricot marmalade, morning squeezed orange juice from the sweetest of fruits, the most flavorful Moroccan mint tea, six pieces of buttery and oh so perfectly prepared pastry, the juiciest scrambled eggs you can imagine and a perfect cup of café au lait - all served on silver plates accompanied with the best of service - you will have to look no further than in your pocket of coins. Here we've tried the petit-déjeuner for two people and all we had to pay for it in total was 98 Moroccan Dirhams. This, ladies and gentleman, is equal to around 10 Euros. Or 12 USD. Or 100 SEK if you'd like.

The only problem in this equation, as far as I am concerned, is that this French café is located only 25 foot steps from our boat and that it will be very hard to resist the temptation of running here for their madly incredible pastry rich on calories as soon as we open up our eyes in the mornings. A bad habit we already implemented in our Moroccan lives.

This country is ridiculously cheap! /T

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On the streets of Rabat

Rabat, the second largest city and capital of the Kingdom of Morocco - is as vibrant and colorful as I had imagined Morocco to be as a country. Comfortably noisy and lively as many Arabic cities around the world - with a warm and welcoming atmosphere. We took an interesting taxi drive (20 Dirhams - 2 Euros) to one of the main shopping areas in search for some genuine Moroccan ambiance and tasty baklavas. Interesting taxi ride, because of the fact that you share your ride with other strangers who jumps in to the car (most probably a white Mercedes from around 1985) in the middle of the busy multiple-lane roads and out wherever might be suitable. 
Arabs are very loud and intense in their way of communicating and it's always a fascinating encounter to see them in action in their home environments. A special kind of chock - especially when coming from the sea, empty on people and their conversations. In the souk we visited and on the narrow surrounding streets of it, we found some of the most amazing pieces of leather bags, jewelry, shoes, home decoration, accessories, pottery, rugs and glass ware - all delicately handmade with beautiful details. We were not in a shopping mood though, more into the eating one and while strolling around in this intense and bustling environment - we ate our way around the city. Grilled meat served straight off the street with spicy flavors. Arabic pastry and baklavas served with Moroccan mint tea from the holes in the walls. The sweet flower smells from handmade soaps and perfumes shifted place with the warm scent of grilled meat, from one bustling street to the other.
We have been told that Rabat is very calm and relaxed compared to Casablanca and Marrakech  - so I assume it was a good start for us coming straight from the tranquility on the sea. The winding asymmetries and the orange/reddish hue made us feeling very comfortable and relaxed and it's with pleasure we will be heading further into town to discover more parts of this interesting city. And most definitely we'll be back in the souk or one of the other ones very soon - to stock up on spices, pottery and Moroccan tea cups. All to make our little boat an even heavier one.

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