It happens every journal on every trip: out of synch. Sitting at the very top of the kasbah at Ait Ben Haddou, overwhelmed by the land all around, and I have not got us here yet. But I can always go back to how we came.

The town is spread out below along the river and the road, the usual non-ortho...

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Having filled up and found our way to the road for Ouarzazate, everything fell into place. Easy driving, even on the hairpin turns into the High Atlas. The main danger was men and boys holding fossils out by the side of the road, beckoning us to stop and then, some of them, running frantically after...

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The blackness of the desert sky and the way dimmer stars wink into vision until the whole dome is covered with lights is as wonderful as ever. But to get to this point we had a day of minor efforts. First to pick up the hire car; no big deal, really, but delivered with an empty fuel tank, which I su...

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The Majorelle Gardens may well be one of those places you have to see before you die, at least if you like colour and light and plants.

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Our room was all tasteful dark wood and rich shades of reddish purple. Beaten bronze basins and the biggest bathtub I have ever seen outside the Piazza Farenesi. Turned out, next morning, that I could stretch out completely flat in it. Rested, refreshed, ready for anything; off we went to the Jamaa...

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