First of all: we like Morocco. We have arrived, both back in our travelling life and in Morocco.
I heard on the SWR Night Café: "Expectations have a big problem: they fix the future and miss out on what really counts: life." How true!
To be honest, Morocco was more of an emergency solution for us: where to go in winter without having to spend weeks travelling? Morocco was an obvious choice. Tunisia would have been great too, but Gerd didn't want to go. Greece? Too fresh in January. Spain and Portugal? The huge campsites with the masses of campers put us off. Maybe later, definitely another time.
We also heard from Morocco that there are many campers. The special thing about our thoughts is that we ourselves are part of this movement: We're travelling in a van, showing where it's nice and doing our bit. So we can't complain. But we can decide for or against a region.
However, our travelling friends raved: Morocco is beautiful, exotic, with great nature and fascinating culture!
So, heard, believed, done: ferry booked and off to Morocco!
We have now been here for over a week and a half and have to say: we are in love with Morocco. The variety of colours is impressive. The sunsets are magnificent, the colours of the bazaars brighter than bright. The many cats show that it is "our" country. We quickly felt that we had arrived in the Islamic world. Here, too, we can only report good things: Hospitality, polite people, beautiful buildings and exotic dishes with great spices.
The juicy oranges are a feast for the eyes and the palate: it's fun to peel and eat at least two of these huge, super-sweet oranges every day. (We can't buy too many of them as they "run out" quite quickly and there's hardly any room in the fridge for these huge things).
Back to camper life: So far, we've hardly been free standing. That may change inland and in the mountains. There are many towns and villages on the coast with guarded car parks. As we are self-sufficient in electricity and toilets, that suits us. The water from the taps doesn't taste that great (desalinated from the sea?, who knows...)so we separate drinking and washing water: we buy drinking water in 6-litre bottles and fill the tank with tap water for washing up and showering. Let's see if our filter system works. We still have fresh Swiss water with us from the Münsigen service station.
The pitches on the northern Atlantic coast are easy and full. We are often parked very close - on a cosy campervan course. We look for corners or edges so that we are not parked between giant white campervan walls. So far, we've managed it wonderfully. City car parks are usually intended for city visits. As we work from time to time, we've now found a nice spot by the sea. Nice and sandy. Will we ever get out of here again? Future Gerd will take care of that. For now, we're here and happy.
The weather is good: the sun shines for 8 to 10 hours and it is warm during the day. It cools down to 11 degrees at night, but the heating stays off. The wind by the sea is strong, but we are behind a protective dune. So it's great for working and processing first impressions.
As I write this, I realise how our prejudices are crumbling, how we are enjoying Morocco more every day and learning: get involved, see what you like and do more of what is good for you. A good recipe. For everything, really, isn't it?
PS: When I read the sentence from the night café again, I immediately think of another prejudice that we once dispelled here. We never wanted to travel with other people. That would restrict us. All rubbish! We met Katrin and Mario on the ferry and have been travelling together ever since. Sometimes we stroll around on our own, but we always stay in touch and meet up again and again at shared pitches. We even contributed to Mario's birthday with our obligatory birthday banana and a serenade. You really miss out on a lot when you get caught up in prejudices!
Merci for "travelling with us
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As always, you have written this beautifully, dear Heike 😃
Mario greets