Date of visit: May 5, 2015
Highlands of Morocco. The coolest place to stay on this trip.
It’s a very long way to Fez.
After Sahara, we will go to Fez and Meknes. This is the northern part of Morocco. It is a long drive from Merzouga to this area, about 500 km in distance and about 7 hours in time.
メルズーガ（厳密にはとなり町のハシラビット）出発が正午時過ぎ、休憩なしでもこの時間ですし、さらに途中は山道を通ることになります。砂漠テント滞在は予想以上に快適で元気いっぱいでしたが、当初はそこそこ疲労している、よく眠れないかもしれないということを考慮して、この日はあまり観光はせず、ゆっくりと移動。宿泊地はちょうどメルズーガとフェズを結ぶ中間点にある「ミデルト（Midelt）」を選びました。
However, it’s a long drive of nearly 400km, so we refueled at the gas station « AFRIQUIA » that marked the entrance to Hasilabit, did some shopping, and were ready to go.
El-Hood we passed on the way in.
More comfortable mountain road route than expected
Moroccan topography is simply divided into north and south by Atlas Mountains. Merzouga and Ait Ben Haddou which we visited earlier are located in south side of this mountain range, and Marrakech and Fez are located in north side. I had a strong impression from the first time I crossed the Atlas Mountains, so I thought the mountain road would be very tough, but the route between Merzouga and Fez was very smooth and comfortable in contrast to the route between Marrakech and Ait Ben Haddou. Moreover, the weather was fine and calm on this day. It was a very pleasant drive from start to finish, and it was a perfect day to recover from the fatigue of the trip so far.
By the way, this area is called « Zuiz Valley ».
There were some places where the pavement was questionable, but basically, as you can see in these photos, there were many solid paved roads, and I could drive with peace of mind.
We went over a pass on the way, but it was much more gradual than the one between Marrakech and Ait Ben Haddou. If this is the case, you can go to Merzouga by tour from Fez.
And we arrived safely in Midelt before evening.
Checked into the hotel safely. Probably the cheapest hotel in this trip. It was 15 euros for two people. But no breakfast.
We didn’t stay in this room, but the room only had a bed.
The shower is shared. But the hot water came out well and was comfortable. Rather, I think the hot water situation was the best in this hotel. Is it possible that the shared hot water situation is better?
Our room was on the top floor terrace. The view from here was pretty good.
Watch the Champions League at a nearby café-restaurant
Midelt is located in the middle of Fez and Merzouga, so it seems that tourists need to stop by here, but basically it is a small town without any sightseeing place. It is very cool compared with other Moroccan towns in this season because it is just on the way over the mountain road and the altitude is over 1,000 meters. Even so, you can stay in short sleeves until about evening, but still it gets cold at night and the temperature drops to almost 10 degrees.
There was nothing special to do, so I decided to have an early light dinner at a cafe restaurant near the hotel before 7pm. The menu was as unvaried as ever, so we ordered this janky stuff.
However, just as we were about to eat, many men suddenly started to gather, even though there had been no customers before.
In fact, it was the day of the first semi-final of the European Champions League, and the guests who had gathered suddenly were there to watch the broadcast.
GW time is just the time to play semi-finals of Champions League, so I’ve encountered many live broadcasts during my past trips, but I remembered that I’m looking forward to more live broadcasts in Morocco. It is….
日本語に聞こえなくもないという噂のアラビア語実況か！
— KOMATA.Y (@yuukoma) May 5, 2015
そう、日本語に空耳しちゃうという噂の「アラビア語実況」が生で聴けること！確かにいろいろ空耳チックな言葉が盛りだくさんで爆笑しかけました。結構楽しいです、でもちょっとうるさすぎますね。
Looking around, it seemed like there were many Juventus fans. When Juventus scored a goal in the first half, the tension in the shop was at its highest. It’s not Italian or anything, but it was very exciting. I wonder if it is the national character. By the way, everyone seemed to be happy and sad even if the play was not important, and we enjoyed watching the game while thinking that it was very different from the Japanese style of watching the game. In addition, all the guests were men except my wife. I guess women don’t come to such a place. I guess this is also the character of the country.
In the end, we watched only the first half of the game and went back to the hotel, took a shower and went to sleep.
We’re off to Meknes!
Next morning, check out of the hotel. There is no breakfast, so we have to take it somewhere. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any place in Midelt where I could have breakfast, so I decided to leave the city and head north. Fortunately, I found a restaurant serving breakfast at a gas station just before I left Midelt, so I was finally able to have breakfast there.
値段も安く充実した朝食でした。一呼吸を終えた後に出発。休養十分、この日最初の観光地古都メクネスへ向けて出発です。（続く）
