Wild ride to the north Mediterranean coast of Morocco

We got out of Fez early in the morning. It was another spectacular day with beautiful deep blue skies. Something of interest that we have noted during our time in Morocco is the lack of chemtrails in the sky. It’s either clouds or clear. Occasionally we can see a high altitude plane. Anyway, back to the ride.

We know a visit to the city of Chefchaourn, the Blue City, is a must on any tour of Morocco. We decided to bypass it and save it for the next visit. The deserted North Mediterranean Coast and curvy roads through the mountains getting to it intrigued us. Seems not many people go this way. This would be off season for them, so deserted. We found an open hotel with incredible views of the bay in the small town of Cala Iris. But first let’s talk about the ride there.

Using maps and a GPS can sometimes be confusing and conflicting. For our navigation worldwide we use the free app called maps.me. You just download current maps onto the app and it doesn’t need internet to run while you’re riding. It’s always best to know exactly where you’re going when using any GPS. Sometimes it likes to find the shortcuts. And boy did it find us one. We came to a fork in the road and it looked like the main road went straight. The GPS also confirmed this so we decided that was the route. We continued on. Rounding a bend in the road we found a gravel parking area with outstanding views of the valley. There was a large map of what we were looking at. Stretching out from the overlook were neat, green terraced hillsides. Growing on the hillsides were probably olive trees. In the distance were a couple small lakes with mountains in the distance. There was also a vendor there selling coffee/tea/snacks. We pulled off for a leg stretch and a cappuccino. The road conditions changed slightly to more broken asphalt. We didn’t think much of this because it’s quite common. We started getting near the village of Taghzout. It was here we realized it was definitely a shortcut.

Rounding a bend in the road we saw the road in front of us blocked with people. This was reminiscent of some of the protests we came across in Mexico and Central America years earlier. We slowed down and enter the melee. Come to find out it was nothing but the Market Tuesday Tagzot. There were vendors packed in on both sides. The width was wide enough for a van, which we spotted in the distance in front of us. We were down to a crawl. Surrounded. But we were surrounded by happy smiling faces. Our visors were already up showing our smiling white faces. Greetings were being shouted at us. Along with “welcome to Morocco”. My feet were next to the ground acting as skis for stability. People were so close sometimes touching us. Hands were outstretched wanting to be touched. I tried to oblige but most times needed both hands for control. It was a fantastic yet stressful experience riding through this small marketplace. Feeling so welcomed and being so stressed all at the same time. It makes you feel alive. Then the small broken tar road turn to dirt. Then to one of the steepest cobbled ‘S’ turns I have ever navigated. Steeply to a tight right followed immediately to a steep left. It was still packed with people. Melanie started to loudly say “beep beep beep”. I entered the first steep, handle bar lock cobbled turn. People in the road. On the right side, I couldn’t even reach the road. It was a foot below my right foot. Staying tilted slightly to the left was necessary. I increased the pressure on the brakes just slow even further. The cobblestones had a fine coating of sand on them. The front tire started to slide. I let up slightly and then tapped the brakes again. They held. People cleared a slight path for us to maneuver down this tight area. Buildings next to the road on both sides. People everywhere. And then we were out of it on a dirt road.

We stopped to catch our breath, me to rest of my hands and the motorcycle just to rest. Looking at the map we realized our mistake. This small dirt/sand road would continue for several more miles. It crossed the mountain until we got back to the main road. It was either go that way or back to the market. There was no question as to the correct answer to either one of us. The road ended up not being too bad. There were only a couple of rocky places and a couple of muddy water crossings. Soon we hit the main road. And what a great road. It curved back and forth. It went up and down through the mountains. New black tar stretched out in front of us showing us the Mediterranean in the distance. Boy was it fun. We finally got to the coast and found our hotel.

We are greeted at the gate of the hotel. Us and the motorcycle were ushered inside. The hotel, the Maison d’hôtes Les Iris, in the Al Hoceima National Park, was beautiful. It was a well kept hotel. It had a commanding view from the hill. The view overlooked the marina and the crescent shaped bay on the Mediterranean Sea. It appeared the Marina was a mix of military and fishing boats. The majority of the boats were fishing boats. There is very little activity. A small store and two restaurants were also closed for the season. We had made sure our hotel had a restaurant and it was open before we booked. We’ve been surprised before but there was nothing else here. The host showed us the nicest room in the hotel, which he gave to us. We would also be the only guest at this hotel for the two nights we would stay there. The downstairs sitting area and dining room were decorated in traditional Moroccan reds and blues. Our host would serve us a wonderful chicken tangerine both nights, along with a bottle of red wine. Our bike was parked outside between the garden and an elevated covered sitting area for nice weather.

The second afternoon I decided to sit outside and play my ukulele. Soon after I started I could hear a dog howling, as if in pain. But also sounded like a dog howling to a siren. I stopped playing and went searching for it. But soon after, lacking confidence in my ukulele playing, I concluded that my playing was making the dog howl in pain. We got a good laugh out of that.

We had decided to take the small road along the coast towards the ferry port. The morning we were leaving, we heard that the road was closed due to a massive landslide. There was no way around it. That means we would have to backtrack. Disappointed, we headed towards Tanger Med where we would be catching a late afternoon ferry back to Spain.

Goodbye for now Morocco. You have treated us well. And of course, as we had expected, the Moroccan people that we interacted with were the highlight of the trip.

Cheers until next time,

2WANDRRs