Aroumnd to Essaouira

I slept pretty well considering the noise of a strong wind that developed overnight. Larry said he heard thunder during the night.

I woke early and got up to see the sunrise.

The wind was very strong and here you can see the wind blowing snow off the ridge.

The high part of Aroumnd that we would walk through later before we descended to the valley.

Breakfast. In addition to honey and apricot, they also had fig jam. There was also a very large pot of porridge and of course I did not indulge. I can eat most things but not porridge.

The sun rose and illuminated the town.

The dining room. Phones only seemed to work by the window.

After saying goodbye to our hosts we headed off back down towards the valley.

We crossed the former path of a glacier.

Heading into the high part of Aroumnd.

The three balls on top of the minaret are normally vertical. The wind can be very strong and it was still strong as we entered the town. I estimate gusts of over 60 mph.

The mosque is new.

I suspect this is the high peak. We met some serious looking hikers who looked like they might be attempting to climb it which would be quite hazardous with the strong wind. Fortunately the wind was at our backs because we would have need glasses to protect our eyes.

Still some snow hanging about. Our rooms in the house had heaters and were warm.

Looking down into the valley at the lower part of the town.

The zig-zag path we had climbed the day before.

It had to be quite ferocious up on the ridge.

Elevation of 5800 feet back at the lower part of the town. It was an approximately 600 feet descent and the path was quite rocky at times.

We got onto the bus and headed off to Marrakesh before continuing to Essaouira on the Atlantic coast..

Poinsettias at a gas station restaurant where we had a break.

It was still quite windy when we stopped to have a picnic lunch.

Lunch.

It was very windy and it looked like something bad was approaching so I took a piece of bread, stuffed it with slices of tomato and headed back onto the van.

A tumbleweed passed by. Larry from Texas was not impressed.

This town was only a few miles from our idyllic lunch spot. 

It turned out to be a dust storm initially but a few miles later it changed to rain. It was even worse than it looked in this photo. We were lucky that we were not doing our camel ride that day. If the wind picks up like this, they cancel the ride.

We reached Essaouria where the wind was even more ferocious. No bikinis were on view.

Our luggage was loaded onto a couple of carts.

The carts heading off to our hotel.

This square would normally be crowded with tourists. Not this day with thise wind.

Essaouiria is famous for its blue doors.

My hotel room.

Bathroom. We have all been suitably impressed. The internet connection here is good.

Mustapha recommended a restaurant that was a bit more expensive than usual, but it offered live traditional music as well as alcohol. We had a wonderful time and the music was so infectious that we all got up and danced. It was a great evening and we all really enjoyed ourselves. Most of us had fish for dinner.