Morocco - July 2011

A two-hour ferry ride took us from Tarifa to Tangier. We continued south along the coast, direction Casablanca.

El-Jadida is an old Portuguese fort, with canons, underground water reservoirs and tourist bling-bling.

The town of Essaouira was a favourite. We got lost in the medina.

Marrakesh is probably the most well-known city in Morocco. We enjoyed the spectacles in the main square (look at Atlas with a snake around his neck), the market and the palaces.

We crossed the Atlas Mountains. Our son Atlas was very proud and possesive. He claimed that every mountain and every stone were his. We walked through the thousand-year-old mud-brick village of Ait Benhadou. It has featured as a backdrop in many films.

As we continued south, the road disappeared under the Sahara sand. We continued another 200 km into the desert, in search of an advenure! We found dead camels, a lot of sand, and bedouins who live in this world of immense heat.

At dusk, a sandstorm hit us. Our guide Omar helped us to find shelter in a bedouin camp. Lucky us! After a few hours, the storm abated and we could sleep in our tent. The temperature was 2 degrees cooler in the tent than outside thanks to the fact that our bodies cooled the air inside the tent, Bizarre!

In the morning it was only 37 degrees. We took the opportunity to explore the sand dunes and play in the sand.

Omar knew some bedouins who had camels which we could ride on.

We escaped the heat, crossed the Atlas mountains at an altitude of 3000 metres, and came via Azrou to the city of Fez. Disa turned 8 years, and we celebrated her birthday in the Fez medina.

In the city of Meknes we had a superb guide who helped us through the maze of narrow streets.

Volubilis was a Roman outpost 2000 years ago.

We visited the blue city of Chefchauen and the medina in Tetouan before we reached te Mediterranan coast.

We left Morocco via the Spanish enclave Ceuta, and looked back at the African continent as our ferry crossed the strait of Gibraltar.

The kids loved Morocco. It is a great travel destination!

Sweden to Morocco

Time to hit the road again and enjoy another adventure with our Land Rover. Our goal was to drive to Morocco and to see the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara desert beyond the mountains. We drove quickly to the Mediterranean through Denmark, Germany, Austria, Lichtenstein, Switzerland and Italy.

The Alfred Nobel House in San Remo, Italy.

The Casino in Monaco.

With the Lenander family in Le Predet, France.

Sunflowers in Provence, the Roman amphitheater in Arles, the Roman aqueduct in Pont du Gard.

We visited our Dutch travel friends Marcel and Nelly at their guest house outside Foix, France.

We touched the clouds in beautiful Andorra.

Spain was a delight. We focused on the high plateau, and the weather was perfect. Our first stop was Soria, where we stumbled upon a bull run. Very exciting!

Segovia is a gem, with its 2000 years old Roman aqueduct, its fairytale castle and its cathedral and narrow streets.

We did a lot of wild-camping in the beautiful countryside. People are very friendly. And we could follow in the footsteps of Don Quijote.

Back in 2008, we named our Land Rover “Alhambra”. It means “the red house” in Arabic, and we thought it was an appropriate name for our red mobile home. Now we had the chance to visit the real Alhambra – the Moorish fort/castle complex in Granada, Spain. It is touristic, but definitely worth a visit.

We visited our Dutch travel friends Ilco and Anna, with kids Bloem, Chaia and Dunya in their home outside Montefrio. Ilco is a photographer and peace activist. Anna writes children books. What a wonderful family! Read more on http://www.ilcovanderlinde.nl/

Continuing south towards Morocco, we visited the British colony of Gibraltar, an odd place with a lot of charm (and monkeys). To get into Gibraltar, we had to drive across the airfield. And then we got a special permission to drive all the way to the top of “The Rock”. Wow!

Our final stop on the European continent was on the beach outside Tarifa. We could see Africa on the other side of the Gibraltar strait. There was an air of adventure.