14854. Marvelous summer house in a cove, light-colored, as many terraces as possible, joined by a net of outer staircase, all in lovely white pillar fences
Pictures are 226 x 400 pixels in size. A click on the picture usually brings a 453 x 800 pixel version of the picture. Numbers in front of photo descriptions are the serial numbers of the original images. Photo and copyright (c) P. Jakopin 2011.
Morocco is a large North African country
with a long Atlantic and Mediterranean coast as well as high Atlas mountain range (the highest peak
is Toubkal at 4.167 m) and the
Sahara desert.
Though air connection is normally preferred, Morocco can also be reached from central Europe by car,
the distance from Ljubljana to Algeciras, the standard port for ferry to Ceuta in Africa, is approx.
2.700 km, of which only about 30 km before Malaga is not a highway (2011). Of the whole
distance, it can easily be driven in three days, on the way back in two, 1.300 km is along the
Spanish coast. Considerable amount of Atlas is covered by limestone, where many caves are to be
found, not on this page, however.
What most appealed to the author of these lines in Morocco? Mediterranean coast is calmer,
milder, closer, more convenient and easier to grasp, but for an off-beaten-track lover it had been
discovered, and settled, by too many. The coast road from Tetouan to the east is now being
widened and modernized, all-inclusive resorts are under way. But inland and on the
northern part of the Atlantic coast things are more as they used to be in the
northern Mediterranean many many years ago. On his way the author stumbled upon
one single supermarket, Marjane before Tetouan, elsewhere you walk into the
shop, tell the vendor what you need and he will bring it to you, together with
comment and advice. Evening promenades in towns and cities are a special
delight for the eyes, show-off for everybody. Markets, from traditional souk to fruit, vegetable
and fish markets are open late into the night. Cauliflower is not a dense
greenhouse product with yellow leaves but a pleasure for the eyes and the palate,
as are tomatos, oranges, tasty small apples, many sorts of potatoes and all what grandmother used
to cultivate half a century ago. The coast, as can be seen from the pictures,
is beautiful, lonely, yet totally safe, well guarded by the military,
border guards are on alert day and (especially) night.
It is easy to make contact and once they know about you and your whereabouts
there is no problem. Lodging is easy to find, roads are very reasonable, food is excellent
and ... everything is very affordable.
14854. Marvelous summer house in a cove, light-colored, as many terraces as possible, joined by a net of outer staircase, all in lovely white pillar fences
14855. Two men in a boat, the second one with a double head - an Arabic STOP traffic sign
14856. The beach at Oued Laou is several kilometres long stretch of sand, immediately followed by a wall of summer homes
14859. Laou river, some 6 kilometres from the sea, with a snow-capped mountain (about 800 m) in the background
14860. Laou river with twin hills, against the midday sun
14861. Two donkeys on pasture
14862. Downstream view of Laou river from the road, below Aakil
14863. Upstream view of Laou river, muddy after heavy January rains
14864. Upstream view of Laou river, up close
14866. Barrage Oued Laou, view to the south from the road
14868. View of Chefchaouen from the north, below the Jebel Meggou mountain (1625 m)
14869. A village dog, probably from Agabalou, on alert at the concrete road
14870. The dog after a small snack
14871. Setting sun over the pine trees
14872. Ceiling lamp in a hotel room
14902. Side street
14903. Seagulls in the Oued Loukos estuary
14922. Armchair in a hotel room
14923. View of Larache from the opposite side of the Oued Loukos estuary
14924. Dog on the sandy beach
14925. Pine forest to the north of the estuary
14926. Yellow blooms in the forest undergrowth
14957. Place de la Libération is the main Larache promenade, it gets very vivid in the evening.
14876. Sand, waves and the sky
14878. Sand, bird's view
14879. Sand, frog's view
14880. A peasant with a loaded mare and its foal, approaching ...
14881. ... and departing
14882. Rocks at the foothill, on the beach
14892. View of the hill slope from the beach
14893. Three waves
14894. A wave, it just tipped over
14895. Beach pond, the sea, the sky
14900. Play of colors above the sea at sunset, dark
14901. Play of colors above the sea at sunset, light
14904. Water, drained from the marshy land above the coast, is eroding the hillside sand
14905. A view of the spring channel bed, the coast and the sea
14906. Partly grass'covered coast sand dunes
14907. Estuary of a brook
14908. Border guard on horseback beach patrol
14910. Sun through the clouds above the beach, late afternoon
14917. Sun through the clouds mirrored in a pond on the beach, before sunset
14921. Sun sky above an ocean wave, sunset
14927. A meadow of orange and yellow pot marigolds (Calendula officinalis) and another white-blooming grass, up close
14928. A meadow from afar
14929. Predominantly white-blooming meadow
14930. Prickly-pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) fenced village road
14932. View of the green foothill, the beach and the sea
14933. Small pumpkins, slightly larger than tennis-balls, in the meadow below the field
14934. A border guard riding on a horse to town for supplies
14938. Setting sun over a coast dune
14939. Sand, waves and the sun close to sunset
14942. She-dog from the borderguard post at the end of the road
14943. Foothill, the beach, the sea and the sky
14958. Silver Wattle (Acacia dealbata) blooms at the roadside
14959. Camomile (Chamomilla recutita) meadow
14960. Camomile blooms
14963. Le guardien of the villa, summer house of a French businessman from Marrakech
14964. Goats on pasture at the hillside just above the beach
14967. Border guard walking towards his post, Larache in the background (air distance about 8 km)
14973. Small fast-walking birds feeding on sand fauna at the water level
14975. A family travelling north on a horse, a donkey and on foot, towards the setting sun
14978. Family, moving away
14981. Four seagulls in the air
14982. Stone cone on the beach
14984. Sand, waves, sun and sky half an hour before sunset
14987. The beach, waves and the setting-sun sky
14988. Afriquia is a Moroccan gas station chain
14989. Sidi Moussa, mountain on the Moroccan side, the left part of ancient Pillars of Hercules
14992. The Rock of Gibraltar, as seen from the ferry Ceuta - Algeciras
14993. Clouds and the sea to the east
14994. View of the Rock and its eastern coastline from the south
14996. King Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud mosque, close to Europa Point
14998. Clouds and the sea south of Europa Point
14999. Clover leaves at the roadside, Perpignan