Morocco: Tiznit and Tan Tan

We were very tempted to stay longer in Essaouria (pronunciation Essa-we-ra), where we had our first dip in the Atlantic (wee bit chilly), but we stayed strong and drove on south to Tiznit along the coast road which took us through the Atlas Mountains.

Tiznit seemed a strange, partly abandoned town, with a vast half-built train station and 4 huge hotels on each corner of the main junction, 3 of which looked like they’ve been closed for years.

Our hotel was on the edge of town, so we took a stroll around town to find the huge walled medina and an outdoor cafe for couscous.

In the hotel that was open, the Idou Tiznit, we asked if there was a bar, told no, but we could have coffee in the entirely empty reception area with glamorous brass light fitting, or in the equally generous-sized and vacant outdoor area around a 4-clover shaped swimming pool.

The huge and glamorous bar with tall bar stools set around a curvaceous island bar was all closed up.

The next morning we went back to the Idou for breakfast and then drove on to Tan Tan, a desert town near the start of Western Sahara.

The distances and scale were astounding and we drove for hours through the anti-Atlas Mountains, an arid and dusty landscape without seeing a soul.

Suddenly a busy town would arise out of the sandy landscape, the same colour as its surroundings, like sand castles.

We passed many riverbeds which were completely dry, like this one in Tan Tan with shrubs & trees.

There was some impressive highways investment going on too, with 100s of kms of dual carriageway being built alongside the existing N1.

If Dom Cummings wants to recruit ‘the best Project Managers to extend the dual carriageway beyond Newcastle’ he’d do well to look in Morocco.