??? Characters

Driving along the coast from Agadir to Essaouira was too uninteresting for us, so true to our motto, we turned off again. At the town of Aourir, we took the small P1001 road to Tamzergourte, along the Oued Ankrim to Aqresi. Then we continued on the P1004 to the waterfalls of Imouzzar. But if the riverbed has no water, the falls are unlikely to have cascading water either. And that's exactly how it was, all dry cliffs. So we continued on to Tiskji and followed the dry riverbed of the Oued Tamri, with ups and downs, until we reached the town of Tamri, where we rejoined the coastal road. This approximately 90km detour was extremely winding and led us through a wonderful and varied landscape with breathtaking views of the fertile valleys of Morocco. As often happens, we were the only tourists.

We noticed that many road signs are written in three languages. In Arabic script, Berber script, and 'normal' script. Since 2011, Berber script has been recognized as the official script and language, which is also taught in schools because 40-60% of Moroccans have Berber backgrounds. Now these characters are also publicly visible.

At the 'Camp Esprit Nature' about 14km outside Essaouira, we set up our tent among olive trees - in the middle of an area that evokes images of Provence. From this dream location, we visited a cheese cooperative and the seaside town of Essaouira. Souvenirs from Essaouira? Yes! Bread, 2 cheerful T-shirts for Louis, and a roof covered in huge, fat seagull droppings!