Morocco Day 7: (More) long car rides and gorgeous gorges

After a hearty breakfast spread at the hotel, charging our phones, and a good shower, we left at about 9am to continue our drive. Our second day of the desert tour was spent mainly in the car playing games as we drove from Merzouga towards Marrakech. It was a slow but relaxing day, and we got to continue enjoying more of Morocco's beautiful landscapes.

From Merzouga we first headed back to Rissani to check out the mausoleum of Moulay Ali Cherif, who was the founder of the Alaouite dynasty.

He had an interesting story, though I admittedly can't really remember much anymore.

Inside, our guide also let us take a look inside the mosque.

This was the main hall where the men prayed...

...and that small section behind the wooden wall was for the women.

Our next stop was a fossil museum in Erfoud. The small town of Erfoud has a surprising amount of fossils, and has even been dubed by arhceologists as "the largest open air fossil museum in the world." For me, it was mildly interesting; we mainly used the stop as an opportunity to stretch our legs and get a bathroom break.

For lunch, we didn't want a repeat of the previous day's meal at an expensive restaurant, so we asked Mohammad if he could bring us to a cheaper place to eat. We were driving through a small town called Tinejdad, and he looked around for a place where we could stop to eat.

We ended up at a small café and ordered some brochettes and omelettes to share, and I tried a nice local apple flavored soda pop.

We continued on driving stopping to see several Berber villages on the way.

Berber village 1

Berber village 2

Berber village 3

In the afternoon we reached the gorgeous Todra Gorges, the highest and narrowest gorges in Morocco. We got out of the car and walked through, marvelling at the limestone rocks that looked magnificent in the light. We only stayed by the main road, but more recently, the gorges have been attracting climbers and hikers who explore the canyon.

We resumed our drive and about two hours later reached these amazing rock formations known as "monkey toes." I don't know what the story or legend is behind this (or if there even is one), but they were pretty amazing to stop and stare at.

Our last stop for the day was the Dades Gorges in the Dades Valley. We passed by more rock formations and Berber villages...

...and made our way up to the top of the gorge where our hotel was.

The steep winding road up

After several long hours in the car it was nice to finally stretch and unwind at the hotel, where we just relaxed until setting out again the next day. :)