EmmJays Travel Journal
April 1969
Gibraltar to Morocco
On having left the European continent by ferry to Ceuta it was just a short drive through two border posts, one Spanish and the other Moroccan. We were now in North Africa. The culture changed dramatically from west to mid-east in a matter of minutes. The women were clad head to toe and only their eyes were visible. The men wore djellabas and a few also wore turbans. Driving through the country side we saw camels so we decided we needed to take a ride on one of these very smelly and arrogant looking beasts. It was an experience to say the least.
Tangier, Morocco
In Tangier we spent the day in the casbar (market). Men ringing bells were selling water. We stopped to watch a man make these absolutely fabulous donuts. We had to bargain for everything we bought which was also a harrowing experience. The prices were extremely reasonable so the bargaining was merely a formality.
In Tangier we spent the day in the casbar (market). Men ringing bells were selling water. We stopped to watch a man make these absolutely fabulous donuts. We had to bargain for everything we bought which was also a harrowing experience. The prices were extremely reasonable so the bargaining was merely a formality.
The countryside around Tangier was like the outback in Australia. There were gum trees, bottle brush and wattle. We were expecting kangaroos to jump out from behind the trees but instead camels loped out. The Arab men were very curious but it was difficult to get a read on what they were thinking as they just starred at us when we stopped. The women showed interest from a distance. This was the sixties so the Arabs thought we wanted to buy hash and offered it to us wherever we went. No one smoked in our group so the offers fell on deaf ears. Drugs for Dopes ... that's why it is called Dope.
Rabat, Morocco
The sun shone with a great deal of intensity so we headed for the market. We entered the old city through huge stone gates. The Medina was enormous and chockablock with an array of goods. I bought a pair of hand made suede sandals and my friend Robin bought a caftan. We got the hang of bargaining for everything, so much so that we even bargained for oranges. The camp was on a horse racing track. The next day some of our group headed for the beach. The was a cemetery there that went all the way down onto the sand. Our group were literally sitting on tomb stones. The next day everyone headed back to the beach except Robin and I. We went back into town and found a cafe where we had couscous and some delicious locally made bread. I would much rather explore than sunbathe.
We were then off to visit the King's residence. We ended up in an area by the palace that unnerved some of the guards. They came over to us on white horses, looked us over and then returned without saying anything. The horses were those beautiful Arabian stallions.
Marrakesh, Morocco
On the way to Marrakesh the van broke down. Our new fan belt had broken and a blade had broken off. We stopped by a water hole where the guys tried to repair the van. The water hole was a very busy place...camels, donkeys, dogs, cows, bulls, goats, sheep...you name it, they all turned up. Within a matter of three hours we had our own zoo. The bulls were fighting, the donkeys were on heat, the dogs were barking, the sheep scattered in confusion and the goats were eating our van. We limped into Marrakesh. Marrakesh is known as the red city. All the houses are painted a peculiar red colour and there was dust and dirt everywhere. It was distressing to see so many of people with deformities. We were told that the water was unsafe to drink here and we had to boil it before using it. Two of the girls in our group got sick from it.
We saw mud huts with dirt floors and there were very few cars on the dirt roads. There were buses but they were in terrible condition. We even saw camels pulling ploughs and for the first time we saw white camels. Donkeys were the main mode of transportation. The Atlas mountains separated us from the Sahara desert and they were less that twenty miles from us. The children became very hostile in one of the villages and they threw stones at us, so we left them be. This is their home and we had to learn to respect their privacy. In this case they were too ill-at-ease to deal with us. Tolerance was very much lacking on both side.
The Medina was enormous. We saw snake charmers, story tellers, history readers and lots of stalls. You could eat anything from a kebab to donuts or if you were game enough there was snake, horse and camel meat, and all types of figs, dates and fruits. I sampled some camel meat and figs... yummy. The French Quarter was clean, well designed and affluent. The people who lived here, both Arab and non-Arab wore western clothes and they had European style stores and restaurants. The markets were clean and a lot more expensive. At the camp, which was not in the French Quarter we had to deal with 'the hole in the ground' style loos. This also served as a shower stall. It stank in there.
Atlas Mountains
The next day we headed for the mountains. High up in the mountains we stopped in a small village where we were served hot mint tea and walnuts. We noticed the people washing their clothes in the local river. The water was very cold and there was snow on the mountains. I bought some amber from a vendor and I even bargained for it. Once again the houses were made of mud. We watched wood carvers and we were fascinated by their skill. We spent a few more days in the mountains and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Fez
On the way we stopped in a small village and saw children, starting at about age 4 and up to 17, weaving carpets. The carpets were beautiful and we were very grateful for the hospitality we were shown. It was still very hot. Fez, our destination after this village is the oldest city in Morocco. It was once the imperial city where the King used to live. When we got there we found cobbled streets snaking through the casbar. We spent an entire day looking around and we saw a lot of carpets, hash pipes, clothing, brass and silver ware and food. We had mint tea with four Arab boys and one of them wanted to show us a 'blue man' from the Sahara, so we followed him ... he just wanted to take us to his uncle's shop. We thanked him and looked around the shop. He earned himself a few coins from us that day. He must have been about nine years old.
Rabat, Morocco
The sun shone with a great deal of intensity so we headed for the market. We entered the old city through huge stone gates. The Medina was enormous and chockablock with an array of goods. I bought a pair of hand made suede sandals and my friend Robin bought a caftan. We got the hang of bargaining for everything, so much so that we even bargained for oranges. The camp was on a horse racing track. The next day some of our group headed for the beach. The was a cemetery there that went all the way down onto the sand. Our group were literally sitting on tomb stones. The next day everyone headed back to the beach except Robin and I. We went back into town and found a cafe where we had couscous and some delicious locally made bread. I would much rather explore than sunbathe.
We were then off to visit the King's residence. We ended up in an area by the palace that unnerved some of the guards. They came over to us on white horses, looked us over and then returned without saying anything. The horses were those beautiful Arabian stallions.
Marrakesh, Morocco
On the way to Marrakesh the van broke down. Our new fan belt had broken and a blade had broken off. We stopped by a water hole where the guys tried to repair the van. The water hole was a very busy place...camels, donkeys, dogs, cows, bulls, goats, sheep...you name it, they all turned up. Within a matter of three hours we had our own zoo. The bulls were fighting, the donkeys were on heat, the dogs were barking, the sheep scattered in confusion and the goats were eating our van. We limped into Marrakesh. Marrakesh is known as the red city. All the houses are painted a peculiar red colour and there was dust and dirt everywhere. It was distressing to see so many of people with deformities. We were told that the water was unsafe to drink here and we had to boil it before using it. Two of the girls in our group got sick from it.
We saw mud huts with dirt floors and there were very few cars on the dirt roads. There were buses but they were in terrible condition. We even saw camels pulling ploughs and for the first time we saw white camels. Donkeys were the main mode of transportation. The Atlas mountains separated us from the Sahara desert and they were less that twenty miles from us. The children became very hostile in one of the villages and they threw stones at us, so we left them be. This is their home and we had to learn to respect their privacy. In this case they were too ill-at-ease to deal with us. Tolerance was very much lacking on both side.
The Medina was enormous. We saw snake charmers, story tellers, history readers and lots of stalls. You could eat anything from a kebab to donuts or if you were game enough there was snake, horse and camel meat, and all types of figs, dates and fruits. I sampled some camel meat and figs... yummy. The French Quarter was clean, well designed and affluent. The people who lived here, both Arab and non-Arab wore western clothes and they had European style stores and restaurants. The markets were clean and a lot more expensive. At the camp, which was not in the French Quarter we had to deal with 'the hole in the ground' style loos. This also served as a shower stall. It stank in there.
Atlas Mountains
The next day we headed for the mountains. High up in the mountains we stopped in a small village where we were served hot mint tea and walnuts. We noticed the people washing their clothes in the local river. The water was very cold and there was snow on the mountains. I bought some amber from a vendor and I even bargained for it. Once again the houses were made of mud. We watched wood carvers and we were fascinated by their skill. We spent a few more days in the mountains and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Fez
On the way we stopped in a small village and saw children, starting at about age 4 and up to 17, weaving carpets. The carpets were beautiful and we were very grateful for the hospitality we were shown. It was still very hot. Fez, our destination after this village is the oldest city in Morocco. It was once the imperial city where the King used to live. When we got there we found cobbled streets snaking through the casbar. We spent an entire day looking around and we saw a lot of carpets, hash pipes, clothing, brass and silver ware and food. We had mint tea with four Arab boys and one of them wanted to show us a 'blue man' from the Sahara, so we followed him ... he just wanted to take us to his uncle's shop. We thanked him and looked around the shop. He earned himself a few coins from us that day. He must have been about nine years old.
Morocco to Algiers
On leaving Fez, Paul our driver took the wrong road and we ended up high in the Atlas mountains again. The views were fantastic but we were 200 miles out of our way. One road had been demolished by an avalanche so we had to take a detour which took us even further out of our way. The roads were dangerous so it took a long time to get back on track again. We reached the Algerian border at night so we camped at the border. The border officials helped us by shinning their torch lights on the ground while we dug our tent pegs in. The ground was like concrete and it was getting very cold. The toilet was on the Moroccan side, so each time we needed to go, we had to take our passports with us. The next day the officials bid us farewell as we headed for Algiers. Lining the roads there were small children selling everything from duck eggs to broad beans.
Algiers, Algeria
When we reached Algiers we camped on the beach. It was night and in the morning we discovered that Paul had made a marvellous location choice ... we were camped on the Army's riffle range. The Army men, mounted on the most beautiful horses, came over to check us out and they told us that we should leave by 6pm the next day as they were scheduled to start shooting practice then.
Algiers was nineteenth century with a splash of sixth century. The French basically run this place and everywhere we went it was very much like the French Quarter in Morocco. We looked around and had a good time back at the camp. We packed up before 6pm so as not to became Swiss cheese and headed toward Constantine.
Constantine, Algeria
Fantastic! The city was built on the face of two huge cliff faces. Bridges crisscrossed the abyss. This is the birthplace of our alphabet. The views were spectacular. The city used to belong to the Venetians until the Romans invaded and plundered its wealth. It was clean even though there were run down homes and obvious poverty. Gum trees were in abundance and the overall design of the city made it very picturesque.
Algeria to Tunisia
Leaving Constantine we headed for Tunisia. We did not quite make the border so we camped on farmland. The owner was pleased to have us and so was his 50 kids. In the morning we were surrounded by sheep and goats and a hoard of kids. The kids only spoke French and they indicated that they wanted us to give them some of our stuff. They eventually agreed to take our maps of Italy, which we bought in Germany. They really liked these maps. The next day when we were getting ready to leave the kids brought us a huge can of goats milk for our breakfast.
We finally crossed into Tunisia and we clung to the coastline for most of the day. It was cool and quite breezy. The homes, so much in contrast to the ones we had seen over the past few weeks, were all painted white and were adorned with intricate tile designs. There were beautiful gardens spotted throughout and the streets were clean. A good number of the women dressed in western style clothing and we saw little to no tattoos on their feet, as we had seen in Morocco and Algeria. Once again the French influence was everywhere. Many of the men wore djellabas and turbans and quite a few wore western clothes.
Tunis, Tunisia
The camp was super. It was on a yellow sand beach with crystal clear green water. We got into catamarans and spent the day on the water. In the late afternoon we went to the airport to change some money and were lucky enough to see the Czar of Persia arriving. The casbar was hidden behind a huge arch way but it was too touristy so Larry, Betty and I went to a restaurant for a coffee. On foot for the rest of the day we looked around the town itself. The people basically ignored us so it was hard to strike up a conversation. That night we left Tunis.
Tunisia to Sicily
The ferry left North Africa and headed out into the Mediterranean for Sicily. There was no customs check; my first experience with a virtual border. Sicily is not very big in size but it was certainly very interesting. I guess its claim to fame is that it is the birthplace of the mafioso.
Palermo, Sicily
We camped at Palermo in amongst lovely tall trees and pineapple groves. There was a catholic cemetery nearby so we checked it out. Human skeletons were hung up on walls and there were empty coffins at the rear of some of the tombs. The place looked as though it had been ransacked. Some of the bodies had only half decomposed. They were partially clothed and some were children. We asked a priest what had happened and he said that the bodies had been removed to protect them from vandalism, but he would not tell us why they were hung on the walls. We had to pay to see this display and we felt that it was a very disrespectful way to treat the dead. We left this macabre place and headed into town. Palermo was a very interesting place to explore. We walked around all day just taking it all in. Later we drove to the other side of the island via the coast. We were high up on the cliffs above the beaches below but as we got closer we found them to be dirty and unkept. We reached Mesina and had a bite to eat in a local restaurant while we waited for our ferry to arrive.
Sicily to Italy
After disembarking the ferry we drove high up into the mountains of southern Italy. We could still see Sicily and the views were incredible. We were headed for Salerno. Leaving the mountains, we once again camped on a beach, this time in bungalows rather than our tents. The owner of the camp was very friendly and he brought all the campers together for a sing along. Many of the women wore black and the young dressed very smartly. The young men behaved like schoolboys and it was difficult accepting their antics. The girls were pestered constantly.
We were on our way to Naples and the scenery was magnificent. We passed through Amalfi, then over and around high hills to the coast. The women were very fat, in fact the fattest I had ever seen. Italy was also quite expensive compared to the North African countries we had just left. The men have some very creative driving habits and they seem not to realise the chaos they create. On the way to Naples we stopped in Pompey to look at some ruins. This city was ruined by Mount Vesuvius when it erupted some time ago. Some of the treasures had been restored and they gave you a window into the past. There were a lot of statues, large and small, that the Romans had built. The people in this area made beautiful vases and lamps. This was a good day to explore.
Naples, Italy
Naples is a sea port and it seemed crowded. We camped in the crater of a volcano. Obviously the volcano was no longer active, but the ground was hot and in places smoke rose from it. There were boiling mud puddles to maneuver around. One night we all ventured into a cave which was incredibly hot inside and it reeked of sulphur. The floor of the crater was covered with white ash and in the background we could see Vesuvius. There were deposits of lava most everywhere. It was a fun place to camp.
Rome, Italy
We took the Apian way to Rome. Lining the way were tombs and ruins. We motored right into the Vatican City. The Pope had just completed his audience with the Faithful one half hour before we arrived, so the crowds had dispersed somewhat. We drove into St. Peters Square and parked right in front of the cathedral. The fountains were elaborate. We saw the Swiss Guards as they performed their duties in the City. This place is the mecca of art and it is mostly out in the open for all to see and enjoy. A great place to spend a day on foot.
We camped on a hill known as Antenne. It overlooked Rome. We went into town that evening and drove around the Coliseum, then parked and checked it out. The next day we came back to go inside. I tried to imagine what it would have been like when it was in full operation. I sat down on one of the stone seats and just looked all around. This was fantastic. We also visited the tomb of Victor Emmanuel. We came back to the tomb the next day just to take in the view. From one of the foyers I could see the Forum, the Coliseum, St. Peters, the Sistine Chapel and so much more. We checked out everything as well as taking in the view from the Spanish Steps. Wow!
Off the next day to the Catacombs. The bones were arranged in floral patterns on the ceilings and walls. There are over 4000 bodies arranged like this over a total of five acres. Cappuccini was designed by a French friar a long long time ago. Later we took the Apian Way to another set of catacombs. There were no bodies or bones on display, just gravestones. We were lead by a Priest who carried a candle, through narrow corridors of 'body holes'. It was cold and dark. The Priest told us that the 'Three Wise Men' were buried here but we could not see their graves because the area was closed. I enjoyed this city tremendously and wanted to stay a few days longer but we had to go north. Three days was not long enough time to see Rome.
The month of April had come to an end, but we had more exploring ahead of us.
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