Assilah was recommended by Lee, our niece, from her trip there last year and also the accom she stayed in. We knew it would be sleepy in winter but did not realise it would actually be almost closed down.
The little hotel we stayed in was only $10 a night and so cosy which was great as it was freezing at night. We could see why she loved it but it was not enough reason to stay more than one night so we hitched a ride in a sardine taxi to the next town where we had to wait at the taxi stand for an hour for our next ride.
That was fun just watching Moroccan life around the taxi stand that fluctuated in numbers around thirty or so as they ferried people from town to town so as a passenger you had to leap frog to the next destination. They would not leave until the taxi was full .. 6 or 7 passengers in a 5 passenger car. All the big taxis or Grand taxis as they are known are Mercedes. One of the drivers said that the motor is strong. It would be interesting to see just how many kms that some of these vehicles had travelled. Less fuel, less buses, happier people and it was very cheap. We were offered fresh fish along with everything else to take with us on our journey …so we popped it in our back pack hoping we could find somewhere to cook it. Joking. Watching the men wash the cars with frugal buckets of water hard at work doing their best to keep the aging Mercedes fleet clean and on the road. Never mind that you could see through the bottom of the floor or you could not open the doors because the handles had come off.
Mohommad picked us up to take us to our next destination down the coast. Moulay Bousellham was again a sleepy village but was perched up high over the Atlantic Ocean and also along the tidal lagoon that fed into the sea.
When we arrived at our accom we were gob smacked because what we had booked was a retreat away from Moroccan life…it took us by surprise. It is owned by an English woman who visits in summer for 6 months.
Meanwhile she has the staff to look after it and in between it is rented out as they treat it as a B&B. It has 5 bedrooms and we had the place to ourselves. Downstairs the staff had their area and we had all of the upstairs which consisted of a huge sitting room. Both that room and our bedroom face the pounding sea. It was a divine way to end our time in Morocco. We were fed breakfasts and dinners in their dining room/sitting room by a huge roaring fire. Of course we were by the sea so we had fresh mussels and fresh fish. I still can’t believe we are here. The cost for these two days of luxury including breakfast and dinner was $100 a night and they did our laundry. A B&B like this in Adelaide would be $250 a night easily except you would not see the Atlantic Ocean. Walks on the beach are beautiful….only our footprints in the sand. It was a wild and woolly night. I would not like to go through a hurricane it is scary hearing the wind, rain and the pounding sea. Next morning calm seas and the rain had stopped so we decided to venture out onto the lagoon with the local bird expert in his small boat.
We were told we might see flamingoes but as most had gone away not to have great expectations. It was fantastic on the water. It was very shallow in parts as the tide was turning but we managed to see about 20 different species of bird life, some tiny, some large. Hassan was excited that we could see an albino bird as they are rare. We did see a flamingo up very close as it was feeding and 5 others in the distance.
Hassan is a self taught expert on the bird life in the lagoon and he does the bird count every time he takes someone out. He lamented the extinction of some birds since he has been there but the saving of others. The fact that the farmers are taking over more of the birds habitat is a world wide problem as well. He really loves what he does.
I don’t think I have ever written the blog in a more serene place than this. I just wish the kids and grandkids are here to share it. They would love wandering on the reef at low tide as we did. Watching the local kids harvesting the mussels off the rocks. The things kids do here in Morocco would make the young ones eyes pop out. We will have fun telling them when we return next week. I was just thinking about the fact in some places where there is nothing to do it is boring in others it is restful. Why is it so?
The sun sets on a fantastic 4 weeks in one of the most amazing countries that we have visited. We managed to do it all on our own..it was easy. Never did we feel out of our depth. It exceeded our expectations as well. We certainly emersed ourselves in everyday life thanks to our new couchsurfer friends. A huge thank you to all of you for answering all of our questions it helped us understand Islam and the Koran a little. We ate the Moroccan way. We hope we respected the people and their customs. We will certainly miss the laid back way of life and the tagines and the couscous, the beaches and the Medinas... lost count of those we visited but most of all we will miss that early morning call to prayer from high up in the Minarets of all the villages, towns and cities we visited.
m'assalama (goodbye with peace)
The little hotel we stayed in was only $10 a night and so cosy which was great as it was freezing at night. We could see why she loved it but it was not enough reason to stay more than one night so we hitched a ride in a sardine taxi to the next town where we had to wait at the taxi stand for an hour for our next ride. 
That was fun just watching Moroccan life around the taxi stand that fluctuated in numbers around thirty or so as they ferried people from town to town so as a passenger you had to leap frog to the next destination. They would not leave until the taxi was full .. 6 or 7 passengers in a 5 passenger car. All the big taxis or Grand taxis as they are known are Mercedes. One of the drivers said that the motor is strong. It would be interesting to see just how many kms that some of these vehicles had travelled. Less fuel, less buses, happier people and it was very cheap. We were offered fresh fish along with everything else to take with us on our journey …so we popped it in our back pack hoping we could find somewhere to cook it. Joking. Watching the men wash the cars with frugal buckets of water hard at work doing their best to keep the aging Mercedes fleet clean and on the road. Never mind that you could see through the bottom of the floor or you could not open the doors because the handles had come off.
Mohommad picked us up to take us to our next destination down the coast. Moulay Bousellham was again a sleepy village but was perched up high over the Atlantic Ocean and also along the tidal lagoon that fed into the sea. 
When we arrived at our accom we were gob smacked because what we had booked was a retreat away from Moroccan life…it took us by surprise. It is owned by an English woman who visits in summer for 6 months. 
Meanwhile she has the staff to look after it and in between it is rented out as they treat it as a B&B. It has 5 bedrooms and we had the place to ourselves. Downstairs the staff had their area and we had all of the upstairs which consisted of a huge sitting room. Both that room and our bedroom face the pounding sea. It was a divine way to end our time in Morocco. We were fed breakfasts and dinners in their dining room/sitting room by a huge roaring fire. Of course we were by the sea so we had fresh mussels and fresh fish. I still can’t believe we are here. The cost for these two days of luxury including breakfast and dinner was $100 a night and they did our laundry. A B&B like this in Adelaide would be $250 a night easily except you would not see the Atlantic Ocean. Walks on the beach are beautiful….only our footprints in the sand. It was a wild and woolly night. I would not like to go through a hurricane it is scary hearing the wind, rain and the pounding sea. Next morning calm seas and the rain had stopped so we decided to venture out onto the lagoon with the local bird expert in his small boat. 
We were told we might see flamingoes but as most had gone away not to have great expectations. It was fantastic on the water. It was very shallow in parts as the tide was turning but we managed to see about 20 different species of bird life, some tiny, some large. Hassan was excited that we could see an albino bird as they are rare. We did see a flamingo up very close as it was feeding and 5 others in the distance.
Hassan is a self taught expert on the bird life in the lagoon and he does the bird count every time he takes someone out. He lamented the extinction of some birds since he has been there but the saving of others. The fact that the farmers are taking over more of the birds habitat is a world wide problem as well. He really loves what he does.
I don’t think I have ever written the blog in a more serene place than this. I just wish the kids and grandkids are here to share it. They would love wandering on the reef at low tide as we did. Watching the local kids harvesting the mussels off the rocks. The things kids do here in Morocco would make the young ones eyes pop out. We will have fun telling them when we return next week. I was just thinking about the fact in some places where there is nothing to do it is boring in others it is restful. Why is it so?
The sun sets on a fantastic 4 weeks in one of the most amazing countries that we have visited. We managed to do it all on our own..it was easy. Never did we feel out of our depth. It exceeded our expectations as well. We certainly emersed ourselves in everyday life thanks to our new couchsurfer friends. A huge thank you to all of you for answering all of our questions it helped us understand Islam and the Koran a little. We ate the Moroccan way. We hope we respected the people and their customs. We will certainly miss the laid back way of life and the tagines and the couscous, the beaches and the Medinas... lost count of those we visited but most of all we will miss that early morning call to prayer from high up in the Minarets of all the villages, towns and cities we visited. m'assalama (goodbye with peace)
