Ourika Valley Day Two

There is ice on the puddles when we set off on a morning hike above the town. Lahcen, our guide, takes us first past the waterfalls, which we have all to ourselves at 9.30am. We then proceed up steps to a town on a ridge way above. Our path is still in shade as the…

Ourika Valley Day One

We breakfast early to join a tour to the Ourika Valley, an easy day trip for people from Marrakesh to escape the summer heat and noise. At sunrise, shopkeepers are mopping their storefronts; cats are crunching through bony meat scraps. The journey south passes hedgerows of bamboo and eucalyptus. On the valley slopes are Berber…

Essaouira to Marrakesh

Christmas Day is a travel day. We’re lucky to take breakfast before a power cut. We read on the roof terrace in the company of menacing herring gulls until we’re evicted. A short wander around the city, then it’s back in the coach to Marrakesh. With only one bus ticket arriving by email we have…

Essaouira Day Two

The beach stretches south from Essaouira for many kilometres. The wind is low on our two days here but surfers make the best of the poor waves. There are a few sun-loungers and cocktail bars followed by a large number of camels and horses, with hawkers persuading passersby to take a 10-minute ride. The beach…

Essaouira Day One

The Supratours coach, from the depot near Marrakesh train station, is comfy, with fast WiFi; the route to Essaouira on the coast is smooth, along highways past parched and barren, rocky fields separated by olive and orange groves, and cactus, the Atlas Mountains beyond. Sheep and goat herds, a dozen or so, are led between…

Marrakesh Day Two

Left to crumble for over a century until rediscovered and restored from 1917, the Saadian tombs date from the same period as yesterday’s sites, the Ben Youssef Medersa and El Badi Palace. The oldest complex was erected under the orders of the Sultan Abdallah Al-Ghalib in 1557 as a tomb for his father, Muhammad Sheikh,…

Marrakesh Day One

Dar Taliwint is a late 19th-century riad, a former architect’s home, tastefully adapted as lodgings by its French owner, Lénäick, who has maintained it for 22 years. Our base for three days in Marrakesh, the riad is on a quiet street close to the Bahia Palace, just outside the old Jewish quarter. We’re woken by…

Catania

31/10/20 Caught an early Halloween morning train to Catania, often overlooked by visitors who fly in, then dash north for touristy Taormina or south for splendid Siracusa (my base) but it is full of gems. The centre is a short walk by the coast from Catania Centrale. I head straight for the famously rowdy fish…

Modica

17/10/20 I returned to Siracusa for a month, working remotely, which gave me the chance to visit some areas missed off last month. The first was Modica, often included in a circuit with Noto and Ragusa. Of the three, it’s the least impressive but it’s a handsome town, quiet in my low-season arrival. With the…

Siracusa

27/9/20 With just a morning to spare before we need to take the airport bus. We head away from Ortigia to the ancient Basilica di San Giovanne Evangelista, dropping in on the contrastingly modern Basilica Santuario Madonne Delle Lacrime on the way. The Madonne Delle Lacrime is a striking 120m-tall conical tower that dominates the…