It is with incredible sadness that I write to inform all who visit this site that Pippa has concluded her peregrinations and will no longer be posting or responding to comments on this site.
In April 2022, Pippa was diagnosed with dementia.
As I have time, I will continue to maintain this site to allow Emily’s descendants a forum for communication.
Kirk (Pippa’s husband)
It is so damn good to be back in the West. I cried at the sight of clouds when I deplaned. As I flew home from Abu Dhabi on July 4th, I was welcomed with fireworks, but I managed to sleep through most of them as I was no longer upright after 10pm. Summer thunder storms happened all weekend and I cried again. I have been to two weddings, both strangely enough in Idaho, Mt. biking, hiking, eating prosciutto, drinking delicious wine and hugging Kirk a lot.
I have been doing a lot of smiling and crying, a lot of talking, because everyone and their mother wants to know what it was like living in Abu Dhabi, and a lot of mental musing. I am very glad I took the opportunity/challenge and lived in a (very) foreign country for two years. I realize I missed out on a lot while I was gone but I had a life experience that reaffirmed I am capable of anything I put my mind to. It was both a benison and a bane.
Bane: A source of harm or ruin, curse.
Benison; A blessing, benediction.
So, the bane part:
Missing family: I missed my partner Kirk and my family. Granted, I did see Kirk every three months but being on holiday is not the same as living together. The separation was harder on him than me, as I had challenges to overcome daily, that absorbed all my energy. He was in our house, surrounded by my stuff. I missed family gatherings and celebrations.
Missing my active lifestyle: I am naturally predisposed to be outdoors. I chose/choose to live in Utah because of the opportunities to be communing with nature. I found a partner who loves the pursuits as much as I do and they include biking, hiking, backpacking, kayaking, snowshoeing, camping, skiing, and sitting outside on the back desk or at a concert. I missed all of these things so much it was painful. And it was harmful to my physical, emotional and mental health. There are outdoor opportunities in the UAE and I did a damn good job of finding those that pleased me, but there is truly no comparison. So, I missed my active lifestyle full of nature: Mts., rivers, trees, birds, snow, trails, mud, clouds, blue sky, grass, meadows, storms, breezes, and wide open spaces not filled with sand!
Missing friends: I have a lot of friends in different pods. I missed interacting with them, growing our shared experiences, making new memories, celebrating and crying with them. My life was less rich in Abu Dhabi and I spent more time alone, by choice, than I do in Salt Lake City. I missed some huge moments, including one of my best friend’s weddings and that makes me sad. A lot of my lovely AD friends are young, in their 20’s and 30’s and full of the desire to go out and party. I am not in that place. I never once went out to a ‘ladies night’ for free drinks, and they have them every night of the week. I never once went to a club for dancing. I never once went clubbing in Dubai. On the other hand, most of my friends my age, 50 +/-, were not as manic about exercise as I, and preferred the salon to the sea, the mall to the mangroves. I never went to a brunch on Friday. This stems in part from my parsimonious ways as I have a hard time spending over 50$ for a meal, and I only really enjoy a brunch after a big workout.
My shopping fix: I missed thrift shopping. That may sound absurd, but it is something I very much enjoy. It goes against my very nature to buy anything new except food and underwear, so life was a challenge. New things are expensive!!!! I am able to go years without visiting a mall and in AD it was practically a daily occurrence. St. Andrew’s Thrift Shop is the only second-hand shop and I did buy a lot of books there.
Grocery shopping: Going to the grocery store without going to the mall seems like a basic proposition. Not so in AD. The grocery store is IN a mall so you need to traverse escalators, elevators, and moving sidewalks with your purchases. Granted there are small 7-11 type stores but many of them were closed due to health and safety reasons.
Teaching was a challenge. Nuff said.
The blessing part:
New friends: I did make some amazing new friends who live in different corners of the globe. I know we will be in touch for life. Florida, Nevada, Toronto, New York, South Africa, New Zealand, Umm Al Quwain, and of course, Abu Dhabi. I have at least 20 places to stay should I want to go back for a visit.
Money: Yup. I went to AD with the expectation of saving a lot of money and I met my goal. It felt really great to be in a tax-free environment and to have my housing paid for. If you have enough self-discipline, you can save at least half of what you make every year. For the first time in my life, upon my return, I bought a brand new car. And a new Mt. bike. And a new laptop. And a smart phone……….. but I am done with that now and back to my thrift shopping ways.
SUPing & Dragon boating: What would I have done without the water????? Surely done a runner or gone insane. Little did I know I was going to get absolutely hooked on a new sport but I am in love with my SUP. (We are going out to enjoy the full moon tonight on a nearby lake.) Dragon Boating kept me in shape with 5 practices every week and the regattas were a whole lot of fun! Go Capitol Dragons! I am now convinced Salt Lake would be perfect if there was a natural lake near by. A living lake that is.
Travel: As you may know by know, I like to travel. I regret not doing more and wish I had visited Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt. I have put them on my very long bucket list. I did see all 7 Emirates and visited Oman 5 times. If I ever go back, I will make use of each long weekend to jet off somewhere.
Developing patience: Every year for my resolution I promise to be more patient. It hasn’t worked yet. But in AD I tried as there was no option. Things happen at a different speed, days or weeks later than you think they should. So I always took a book, learned to expect to wait for hours for my number to be called, and only got grumpy when people queue hopped every other time it happened!
Am I glad I went? Over all, yes. Am I glad it is over and I am home? Extremely! If you have ever wanted to live overseas and teach, AD is a good choice for the money and the prevalence of English. Just be prepared to make some adjustments and sacrifices, keep you sense of humor, and you will be fine!
It was much easier to arrive in the UAE than it is to leave. The process has been frustrating but not too terrible for me. Some of my colleagues are really ready to snap, and I don’t blame them.
The kicker in this story is that ADEC, Abu Dhabi Education Council, moved offices on Thursday. WIth 360 teachers trying to get 7 signatures, final pay and end of service bonus sorted, turn in passports for VISA cancellation, and get reassigned a place to live as we have shut of electricity and internet and sold all our furniture, ADEC packs everything up into boxes and moves across town. What brilliant timing!
My passport was turned in on Tuesday the 25th and I have all 7 signatures, my final paycheck has been calculated and I am in a 5 star hotel. But when I returned to ADEC on Wednesday the 26th, my passport wasn’t there. Major bummer. I am praying that it has made the journey to the new building and that someone can lay their hands on it. Because I can’t leave the country without it or get the final payout approved. Bit of a worry.
In order to get clearance from ADEC to leave, employees must first submit a resignation request and have that approved. The first signature on your End of Service Clearance Form—For Expatriate Employees, is your principal. Then IT to prove you don’t have any laptops or other technology checked out. After that the signatures don’t really go in order. To be assigned temporary accommodations, you must present an ADDC clearance letter (water and electricity), an Etisalat clearance letter (internet, phone and TV) and one from your apartment maintenance department. But if you have those papers you have no AC, internet, water or bed. Mohammed in housing worked wonders in securing us hotels before we had all those papers as we were literally homeless. And thank goodness for friends with couches as most of us spent at least one night with a friend.
I did everything according to the ‘rules’ and had my Etisalat paid up and cancelled on the 22nd of May. 22nd of June, sure enough, no internet. The next step was waiting two days to pick up the clearance letter saying I had pad the bill in full and service was terminated. I went to the main office, 4th floor, took a number then asked for my clearance letter and was told I must wait two more days. That’s when I started to cry. I didn’t yell, I just sat there sobbing explaining that I had done exactly what they asked and I couldn’t wait two more days, I needed it then! “But ma’am, nothing can be that quick, it must take time.” More sobbing from me. 3 more people tell me I must come back. The fourth tells me to take a seat. In 10 minuets I had the letter in my hand. Crying sometime works!!!
For your final payout, the cost of a one-way ticket to your repatriation city needs to be calculated. That worked really well if they didn’t change your city from Buffalo to NYC, or Toronto to Ontario. Thankfully mine was SLC so no headache there but those two examples above are true stories. After your ID was turned in and the flight sorted out, you then needed to go back to Mohammed and turn in your three clearance letters and get his signature. Then to immigration to drop off the passport and Emirates ID card. Next payroll for calculation of flight, 2 months salary and two months bonus. Then back to immigration to turn in your medical card. And that is where it has come to a screeching halt for me.
And ADEC hasn’t called Nirvana, the travel agent that booked all these hotel rooms, to tell them to extend the reservations until our passports are back and our money has been deposited and our flights leave. So right now, 360 teachers are technically homeless again tomorrow.
How many more days in the Sand Box??? At this point, who knows! I am off to the new ADEC building to inquire as to the location of my passport!
It is legal to drive 20 kilometers over the posted limit.
You overtake on a freeway onramp.
You double and triple park outside Starbucks.
You actually park where the heck you like, including on the sidewalk.
The new Mafwaq parking meters don’t take the new one dirham coins.
You need to go to the mall to get groceries and then take your shopping cart on an escalator to your car.
At a left hand turn, as many as 4 lanes of traffic may turn left.
You never, ever, turn right on red light and you drive through a gas station to avoid a right hand turn.
Cars exit a round-about from the center lane.
Children run and play in the back seat of the beheomouth Land Cruisers or Pajeros.
Children stand with their heads out of the sun roof while the car is moving.
Women hold babies on their laps in the front seat of the car.
Windows are tinted so darkly you can’t tell who is driving.
There are sand remval teams, not snow removal teams.
You can get arrested for kissing.
Headlines in the newspaper often concern witchcraft.
You need a sick note to take a day off work.
Maids cary school books for high school girls.
Women swim fully clothed or in Burkinis while their husbands loll around in shorts.
You take a number for a service but a local cuts in front of you and gets served.
You can take a surfing lesson in the desert.
There is a Post Office Doctor who you need to see if you get medicine in the mail.
The beach closes at dusk.
A full car wash and 4 man detailing costs 30AED/8.16USD
Men bump noses to say hello.
You live in a building that has been running on generators for two years.
No one breaks the law because there are cameras everywhere.
The men ride in the back of the bus while the ladies sit up front.
Products made with pork are hidden behind a secret door in the supermarket.
You hear the musical call to prayer 5 times a day.
Do you have anything to add to the list?????
Though it seems an unlikely place to learn to surf, it can be done in the desert. And with miles of coastline, Abu Dhabi and Dubai offer plenty of beaches to practice your new skill.
Wadi Adventure offers up some wet, wonderful fun, under the blazing Arabian sun. A water park with a twist, Wadi Adventure has kayaking, white water rafting, surfing, a rope corse, climbing and zip line, plus splash pools for the children.
Located at the base of Jabel Hafeet, a mountain know for its hot springs and caves, and the only protuberance on the skyline in Abu Dhabi’s second city of Al Ain, Wadi Adventure provides aquatic pursuits against a rocky, barren backdrop. Probably not the image you conjure up when thinking about surfing lessons. With an a la carte pricing menu, your day in the sun is not cheap. Admission is 100AED/27.25USD, and each activity will set you back at least that much per hour. Luckily for me I won admission and a free surf lesson in a SUP race, so I set off one hot June morning to have my first go on a surf board.
The facilities are state-of-the art, very clean and efficient. The beauty of learning to surf, or just surfing here, is the wave pool’s ability to pump out wave after wave in 90 second intervals at a fixed height. No bobbing on a swell, waiting for a wavelet or breaker to roll in: the waves just keep coming. The man-mad perfection is also a drawback to the beginner. Despite calling ahead and booking a surf lesson, asking plenty of questions and being assured that the wave would be ‘set’ at 1 meter, it wasn’t. It remained at 3.3 meters for the entire day I spent there. For a seasoned surfer this is a blast of bliss every minuet and a half but for the lowly beginner, crash and smash over and over.
There is a lot to learn in surfing. You need to wait for the swell, start paddling like mad, do a press-up to get your feet under you, position them just so, balance your weight, then ride the crest into the gently sloping concrete shore. Mike, our South African surfing instructor, was great and my friend Therese and I had him to ourselves. I am convinced we both would have ‘caught a wave’ if we had the entire 1,333 meter length of the pool to work with. As it was, we needed to wait till the wave broke around a wall and was small enough for newbies before we could deploy our mad skills. With less than 1/3 of the pool in front of us, and the concrete apron fast approaching, I was unable to master the technique. 
Not that I didn’t give it a valiant effort. I spent over two hours on the board and had the bruises on each bone to prove it the next day. As the oldest students Mike had ever coached, he was impressed with our tenacious attempt to learn, and, as he had no lesson after us, let me stay in the pool as long as I liked. I was throughly exhausted but not disheartened. I vow to try again, perhaps in more natural surroundings, without such an abrupt, immediate, hard end to the waves.
Now excuse me while I turn up the Beach Boys, sing along to Catch A Wave, and plot my next encounter with a plank not as forgiving as a SUP!
1. Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. This iconic, white marble building greets you as you drive over the Musaffa, Maqta or Zayed bridge, and stands sentinel over the capital city. Admission is free and guided tours are given 4 times daily. It is a magical place at dusk.
2. Walk on the beach. My favourite is Bateen Beach, on the south side of the island. Plenty of sand in a sweeping arc and BAKE has a roped off area with lounges, umbrellas and towels to rent if you can’t just plop onto the sand. Very family oriented and good for walking and swimming. Beautiful views of the bridge to nowhere, the new Hudariyat Bridge.
3. Emirates Palace Hotel. The fountains and exhibits at Emirates Palace Hotel are worth a couple of hours of your free time. Just make sure the men are in pants and the ladies in knee covering attire. At the moment the hotel is host to 40 full-scale replicas of machines designed by Leonardo Da Vinci. This is the place to go if you want to get actual gold bars out of an ATM machine.
4. Capital Dragons. Try dragon boating with the Capital Dragon team. Join the gang in front of the Abu Dhabi Sailing and Yacht club for a practice or two to see if this is the sport for you. Fun, friendship and fitness is the team motto, and I can assure you all three are on offer with this dynamic water sport.
5. Saadiyat Island Cultural District. There is always something on at Saadiyat. The future home of 4 museums, including the Louvre and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, and a performing arts center, this is destined to be the cultural hub of the UAE. Manarat Saadiyat, the visitor center, has art exhibits, music, lectures, cultural displays and installations. The Birth of a Museum exhibition showcases many of the acquisitions for the Louvre. Adjacent is the UAE Pavillion, created for World Expo 2010 Shanghai. It plays host to the Abu Dhabi Art Festival each fall.
6. Mina Port Fish Market. It won’t get any fresher than this! Dhows, tradition Arabian fishing vessels, leave the harbor every eve and return in the wee hours laden with succulent seafood. Hammour, bream, Sordid Sweetlips, (yes, that is the name of a fish) snapper and prawns in an array of colours and sizes are displayed on beds of ice. Looking is free and you can wander along the quay beside the dhows docked five deep, piles of shiny fish traps, and the ever present cats. You can have your fish purchase cleaned and cooked at the market if you like.
7. Check out a mall. though not as grand as Dubai, Abu Dhabi still has a great selection of malls. The recent extension at Al Wahda Mall makes it the biggest on island but the Marina Mall is, as its name suggests, set close to the water. No matter the time of year, there is always a sale of some sort.
8. Stroll along the Corniche. Despite some construction, seemingly never ending in Abu Dhabi, the Corniche is an excellent place to go for a stroll. A 10KM paved promenade skirts the water, with designated lanes for foot and bike traffic. Beautiful plantings enhance the setting and if it is warm out, stop at a spray station. With the push of a button, mist will cool you down. Restaurants with beach-side seating, snack stands and great views of the high-rises, make this a great spot for a gander.
9. Visit Ikea. Sounds silly but in this land of extreme heat, we try to avoid the noonday sun. You can certainly get a workout and get lost at the same time, wandering the maze-like display area. The 33,000sqm space, billed as a ‘family destination store, is the largest IKEA in the Middle East. If, after admiring the goods, you need a snack, stop for a 1 AED ice-cream cone (27cents). Located on Yas Island, there is a free shuttle to both the Marina Mall and Al Wahda Mall.
10. People watch. Wherever you go you will be surrounded by people who are different from you. With over 200 nationalities living here, you will see all manner of dress and head coverings. Kandora, abaya, sari, kurta, dhoti, pajama, and dishdash are all commonly seen. Cap, scarf, shela, ghutrah, or veil are worn on the head or cover the hair. The ghutrah, the scarf the Emirati men wea,r is held in place by an egal, a woven cord that handily hobbled a camel.
And listen to the magical, mystical, lyrical call to prayer. 5 times daily it swells and sounds around you.
June 1st was the annual Paddle for the Planet. This wet event was started in Dubai in 2011 and a mere two years later, 39 countries participated!  Their mission statement is “Uniting paddlers around the world for a one day global relay event in an effort to raise environmental awareness and give something back to our oceans.” We had over 90 at our celebration and Dubai’s event saw 600 paddlers. Donations from the event are used to protect endangered marine environments. Open to anyone with a hankering to try a paddle sport, we converged on the sandy beach in front of the Abu Dhabi Sailing and Yacht Club at 8am on a clear, hot morning. Dragon Boats, kayaks, SUPs, skiffs, and surf skis were all out in force
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And I did it! I made it into the National. Page 3. I am finally recognized for my outstanding, or should I say head standing talent! And if you didn’t know this about me, though some of you do, I am a big show off and will do my head stand trick pretty much anywhere. We had a lovely day, just playing on the water.
The highlight for me was our relay race. Dragon Boats, Surf Skis and paddle boards joined together in a hilarious, madcap, pool-noodle relay race. The blue team and green team each had one DB, 3 surf skis and 3 paddle boarders, randomly assigned. We were supposed to wait till all members of the team had crossed a designated point and handed off the noodle before the next weave of water craft left. The best moment was when the pool noodles got tossed into the wrong boats for the final leg back to the beach! Competition at its finest as no one really cared who won!
I am not sure how much garbage we picked up or how much emphasis was placed on cleaner oceans but we did some community outreach with new faces trying DB and paddle boarding. Another great day with the water community in Abu Dhabi. And as you can see we got some great coverage in the press!
Some things in Abu Dhabi are really and truly strange. I have come to expect a certain amount of frustration, confusion and perplexity when doing the simplest tasks. Getting my car inspected, insured and registered topped all measurements for sand box folly.
There is one car inspection/insurance/registration facility, opperated by ADNOC, the govenrment’s oil company. It is not far from my house and recently after school I made a bee line for the building and got in line. We get in lines a lot here and are always taking tickets with numbers on them. Once you pull up into a line at one of the 5 inspection bays, you leave your car to go inside to counter #1 to pay for the inspection. 120AED/32.67USD. Then back out to move your car up in the line. Once the ADNOC technicians take over, you are free to go inside to the air conditioning to wait, and watch your car through the glass window. Once it is through the bay, you run out and park and go to counter #2 and wait for the notice on pass or fail.
My car failed. I can understand that needing two new tyres may be a safety issue, though they looked fine to me. And there was a crack in the bumper, that had been there since I bought the car so they wanted that replaced. But I needed to have the hood painted. There was a scratch on the hood. So even if it were perfectly ‘safe’, I would have failed because of a scratch on my hood. I still can’t understand how a scratch is unsafe? Maybe for the Rolls Royce, Lamborghini, Phantom or Ferrari that drives by, it is a distraction that would cause them to swerve in and out of their lanes. Oh wait, this is Abu Dhabi and swerving is the norm.
Once my car failed I had to go back to the counter #1 to pay 40AED/10.90USD for a paper allowing me to get the car fixed. Then back to counter #2 for a print out informing everyone I had not been in an accident. If you bump into a pole, your car door gets scratched by another car, or a palm tree frond falls on your roof, you need a police report. Yup, the police need to give you permission to get your car fixed. My report came back clean, no accidents. Once you have gone through this process you have 14 days to get the work done or you are back to square one.
Funnily enough, my friends Nick and Jen had needed the hood of their black 2007 Jeep painted just two weeks before. They gave me the name of the garage that had done the work and the cost. So now I needed to go to Musaffa. How to describe Musaffa? Let’s just say that you can’t just pop by the neighborhood Checker or Riley’s Auto parts if you need new windshield wipers, you have to go to the industrial section of town. That wouldn’t be so bad but Musaffa Industrial City houses the entire population of Indian workers and is full of labour camps. So basically, anytime I go to Musaffa, it is one white woman with insane crazy white hair and 500,000 Indian men.
As I am quite handy with directions, I arrived at Anton’s Auto Shop no problem and was given a quote for 2500AED/680USD. I debated this a bit and we bartered it down to ‘below 2,000’, 544USD. I arranged to drop the car off on a Saturday so I wouldn’t miss the weekend of water sports. The car took two days to fix and my colleague Shawn dropped me off after school on Monday to collect my wheels. And it did indeed cost under 2000. 1950AED/530USD. I drove straight back to the ADNOC inspection station and paid another 50AED/13.61USD at counter #1 to have the car driven through bay 5 and ‘passed’. Then off to the insurance counter. Another weird aspect of this process is insuring your car for a year in cash. When you buy or sell a car, the insurance goes with it. I had to pay 1700AED/462USD for the next year and I am selling the car and going home in a month. Next I was off to pay the registration fees. Cheap at 125AED/34USD. But wait, I have a speeding ticket. In Dubai. At 11:40am. On a Sunday. When I was at school. And there is no arguing. At all. Rather than waste anymore time, I paid the 200AED/54.45USD fine and I was done.
Tuesday night I set out for the track to ride in circles and the car made a grinding noise, then caught and started. Same MO as we came home. Wednesday morning it wouldn’t start. Now, this made me suspicious as the bonnet had just been off for painting and now it won’t start? But my best buddy Kevin insists it is just bad timing. Once home from school I walked to the Nissan and Chevrolet dealerships to see if they could get the car looked at but no, they only deal with their brands. What kind of auto shop in the States refuses potential clients?
So I called Anton and they had their recovery, read tow-truck driver, call me. All good so far. Dr.’s Kevin and Michael were picking me up at 6:30 for dinner at Dr. Laurie’s and the recovery was going to arrive at 6. Well, we all converged on Danat B at the same time, I handed over my keys and took the tow men into the parking garage and showed them the car. Kevin decided we should try to jump it in case it was the battery. The recovery didn’t have cables, the Jeep didn’t have cables and neither did Michael’s giant Prado. Oh, well. Off to supper. But the recovery man looked perplexed. “Mam, we can’t get your car.” The tow truck was too tall to go into the garage. We ended up backing it up, and pulling it out of the garage with Michael’s Prado. Gald I was only on the 1st floor not the 4th. First time Michael had towed anything and used his truck for a manly reason. When the recovery driver asked for 200AED/54.45USD I told him we had done the hard part, and handed him 150AED/40.83USD. He shrugged and took it.
By now I was totally stressed out. I mean really freaked out so I called in sick to school then called for a Dr. appointment on Thursday to get my sick note. Dinner and drinks at Dr. Laurie’s villa was fabulous and I drank an entire bottle of red wine. The next morning I called Anton’s and the car was all fine, just needed a new battery. I am way too frugal, OK cheap, to pay for a taxi to Musaffa, probably close to 12 or 14 dollars so I whipped out the bus map and set off to get my car back. I walked across the dusty sand in my compound, ducked under the metal fence, dashed across 8 lanes of traffic and miraculously there was the 110 bus. Running to make it, I slid my 4dirhams/1.09USD onto the shelf. The bus driver looked me up and down and asked, “where you go?” “Musaffa. Why? My car”, I say, mimicking a steering wheel. He took the money. Now it is one white lady and about 56 Indian men on the bus. But heck, it is 1.09USD.
I make it to Anton’s and back home in one hour and 15 mins. 380AED/103USD poorer. Off to the Dr. where my blood pressure is 140 over 90, very high for me who normally has 110 over 60. He prescribes going to the beach. I take his advice.
So, even though I don’t regret buying a car as paying for a rental for two years at about 475-500USD a month would be like throwing money away, what little patience I have left has evaporated due to ridiculous rules and systems. Who needs to have their hood painted to pass a safety inspection???? But the GREAT news is I sold the car and my SUP board today. Cheers to me.
Two weeks to spend in Morocco and you don’t know what to see, where to go or how to get there? Maybe our itinerary will help you decide. We are fit, just over 50, and like to spend our holidays seeing and doing rather than relaxing. We are not ‘tour’ people and the idea of being on a coach with 48 other people is slightly depressing to me. We skipped the desert as I have been in the UAE for 2 years and have seen enough camels and sand dunes for quite a while. We skipped the beach for the same reason. I live on an island and spend a great amount of time on the water.
We both flew into Casablanca and had a rental car arranged, a Hyundai. The car cost 5244 Moroccan Dirhams, 608 USD for 17 days. This seems like a great deal, for we had the freedom to do what and when we wanted. It was compact, thrifty on gas, but a bit of a gutless wonder going over the Atlas Mountains. CAUTION!! I have never seen so many policemen giving tickets. Road blocks are common and radar cameras the norm. We were pulled over and clocked at 20 klicks over the speed limit, but being foreign and not having cash in Kirk’s wallet got us out of paying nearly a 50USD fine. Watch for the posted speed limit and then drive it.
Everywhere we went we paid a man to watch the car and after the first time, felt totally safe doing so. Parking to go to dinner, overnight for a riad stay, on the street for a couple of hours to look around, all you need to do is fork over a couple of dollars. We paid for the toll roads and these were fast and new so we found them worth the cost. If I were to do this again, I would do it clockwise because I would want to end up shopping in Marrakech. I saw things there that I didn’t in the rest of the country.
Day 1: I arrived in Casablanca, Kirk met my plane and we drove to Marrakech. We used a GPS to find our riad. The most we managed that night was finding some local cuisine.
Day 2: We enjoy Marrakech. A typical day sightseeing includes the tanneries, El Badi Palace, Ali Ben Youssef Medersa (Madrasa), with ample time to get lost amid the bustle of the medina.
Day 3:  I really enjoyed our morning visit at Jardine Marjorelle. Arrive at 8am to beat the crowds who will arrive on tour busses. Back to town for more shopping in the median souks, and catch sunset at Koutoubia Mosque. Eat at one of the stalls in Jemma al-Fnaa.
Day 4: We left late morning to drive to Ait Ben Haddou. Crossing the Atlas Mountains, we then explored the ancient camel caravan stop in a lush, fertile valley.
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Day 5: Â A tour of the Rose Valley, visiting an Argan Oil factory, and a drive up Dades Gorge beside the Mgoun River, made this a full day. Bad weather forced us to Midelt for the night.
Day 6: Before we left Midelt, we visited a Franciscan nunnery to see traditional weaving and needle point. We caught a 9am tour but I think they will open anytime if you want to have a look.
Day 7: We had cold rainy weather, so only spent one afternoon and night in Fes. The tannery is worth a look and the ramparts overlooking the city provide perspective.
Day 8 & 9: We were in Mecknes and the first ever guests at Riad Benchekroun. Lazy days shopping, wandering and enjoying the virtually tourist-free environment.
Day 10: We wandered the Roman Ruins of Volobilis and the blue maze of Chefchaouen. I would happily have spent another night in Chefchaouen.
Day 11: We drove to Tangier for a personal quest. Though it was great to see the Strait of Gibraltar, we didn’t do much here other than visit the American Legation and find my Great Aunt Emily!Â
Day 12: Ashila is a lovely little artsy sea-side village, only half an hour drive from Tangier. Murals painted on the riad walls liven up the ancient medina.
Day 13: The Capital of Morocco, Rabat, has enough to keep you busy for two days. We particularly liked the Archeology Museum, strolling along the Corniche and the horse guards.
Day 14: And finally, Casablanca. Having a cocktail at Rick’s Cafe and seeing the impressive King Hassan Mosque were the highlights of our visit. And walking down the beach at sunset, dodging thousands of soccer players!
Our first taste of Moroccan was wonderful. The traditional architecture was eye-opening and visiting madrasas and palaces is a great way to see beautifully intricate craftsmanship. Shopping the local souqs and getting lost is the best way to experience a city. The food was a mixed bag, hit and miss. The shopping beyond words. Our language barrier was as large as we made it and a smile and a laugh go a long way here as everywhere. We took time to stop and smell the orange blossoms and eat the olives. Well Kirk ate the olives, I drank the wine!
All the really good pictures in this post were taken by someone else, especially the last one of King Hassan II mosque at sunrise. Happy trails.
I would love to know what your favourite memory of Morocco is!
I feel like I am becoming acquainted with mosques. I had never given them much thought, and certainly not been inside one, until I moved to Abu Dhabi and visited the most sumptuous Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. I can see it in the distance from my 20th floor balcony, and I must admit it is the standard by which I judge all others. The Sultan Qaboos Mosque in Muscat, the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, and now the Hussan II Mosque in Casablanca, are all compared in my mind to the sublime, white beauty of the mosque in my adopted city.
As Kirk is interested in architecture and I am interested in seeing all that a city has to offer, we planned our day to start with a tour of this imposing building. I was very pleased that tours were offered on Fridays. They last about and hour and cost a whopping 15USD. We joined a Dutch tour group who all, of course, spoke English. Our tour guide was great, making jokes and pointing out everything of interest. When I had a chance to talk to her I mentioned my love for SZGM and she actually dissed it! I couldn’t believe my ears as she went on about how everything for its construction was imported but at Hussan II the only thing imported were the chandeliers. I reminded her that Abu Dhabi was in actual fact a desert with no natural resources, unlike Morocco. 
The mosque is the legacy of King Hassan and is the sixth-largest in the world. Built on a rocky outcropping, dashed by waves, it literally rises from the sea. Its imposing size is heightened by the location, with only sky on the horizon, and a large, empty, windswept plaza in front. It would be quite a different sight during Ramadan when 25,000 faithful gather inside and another 80,000 bow to Mecca outside. 
After living in Abu Dhabi for two years I truly believe Sheikh Zayed was a visionary leader, a true father to his people, and deserves to have a beautiful monument honoring his name. Seems that the same can’t be said for King Hassan II. His reign was associate with poor human rights, and has been called the years of lead. Protesting the corruption associated with his rule, thousands of dissidents were jailed, killed, exiled or just plain disappeared. He rigged elections, and lined his own pockets with his countries’ wealth. Our airbnb hostess, Christina, gave me quite an earful about life in Morocco under King Hussan, so it came as no surprise to learn that two assassination attempts were made on his life! You know things are bad when your own Royal Air Force opens fire on your Boeing 727! The mosque also displaced a large neighborhood of the poorest residents of Casablanca, who were then basically homeless. 
It is a lavish, beautiful building, with a wealth of embellishments, but I found it a bit cold and sterile. Evidently the roof is retractable, something I associate with sports stadiums, and I wish we had the chance to see it flooded with natural light. A photo of it open really highlights the intricate wood work, stucco detail, and marble columns. As Morocco has diverse terrain, most of the materials were sourced locally. Indeed the granite is from Tafraoute, the Cedar wood from the Middle Atlas mountains and the marble is from Agandir. With over 6,000 master craftsmen and artist hard at work the mosque was completed in 7 years at a cost of over 800 million dollars. 
It is well worth a visit in order to revel at the shear size and scope of human accomplishment. It is truly a massive structure that overwhelms with haughty grandeur yet shows lavish, detailed work and delicate touches of beauty.
Pippa's Peregrinations 
