Wednesday, April 13, 2016 | Ursula Peter / Ted Goslinga | Africa
What a motorcycle adventure this was! Two weeks riding on the North African continent with everyday changing landscapes is not what you do every day. But this fantastic group of riders made the whole loop until the very end of the tour back in Malaga at the European continent again.
Thank you Stephan, Tom, Sabine, Izi, Sam, Suzi, Balz and of course our honeymooneers Tom and Simone for the unforgettable time in Morrocco and we hope to see you on another Edelweiss tour in the future
Now it 's time for "ausbachen" and getting ready for the next Morocco tour!!
Ciao!
Ted
Die Tour ist zu Ende 
. Manche freuen sich auf zu Hause, manche nicht so sehr. Einige haben schon den nächsten Trip gebucht, für andere war es der einzige Urlaub heuer. So ist das Leben!
Ich wollte nochmal danke sagen für die vielen gemeinsamen Erlebnisse, die guten Gespräche, die unterschiedlichen Sichtweisen, vor allem für den gemeinsamen Spass. Ich hoffe dass die vielen Eindrücke, die Begegnungen mit den Menschen, die Landschaften in den nächsten Tagen in eure Hirne und Herzen sinken und dort griffbereit bleibt.
Es waren tolle 2 Wochen. Kommt gut heim, kommt gut an und vielleicht sehen wir uns ja wieder einmal.
Liebe Grüße Inshallah
Ursula
Ted will come up with the English version after he cleaned the bikes and has done his "ausbauchen" 
Everybody is a bit sad today - last riding day. Time was flying.
We left Chefchaouen and our nice Riad and headed back through the scenic gorge, Oued Laou along the cost to the Moroccan border.
Thanks god - we had a local helper, otherwise we wouldn`t have make to the ferry. Abdul is seeing the blue Edelweiss van and there he was with all his connection with the border staff. Thanks Abdul!
entering the ferry
again Gibraltar, were we have been on the first day. Der Kreis schließt sich
Everybody is back safely in the Tryp hotel. We had a special guest on our last dinner - CEO Rainer Buck joined us. Of course he invited the group for a nice bottle of wine.Thanks Rainer!!
What a great riding day we had today! Yesterday the rain covered the area and today it all had cleared out ! With an excellent riding temperature of max 21 degrees Celsius we left Fes today to head north towards Chefchaouen again. Sad enough his will finish our "Moroccon loop" and this great Moroccon motorcycle adventure. Riding through the Rif moutains the landscape became greener and greener. Olive trees, corktrees and a lot of coloured flowers in bloom!. Morocco is unbeatable!.
We stopped for a sightseeing at the ancient Roman excavation site of Volubilis. A nice guided tour took us around the site with beautiful mosaic floors still in good shape. The Romans must have had a great spot here back in the first centuries of th Christian calendar!
A nice coffee at the terrace and we were on the road again through the hills of Mid- and North Morrocco. The lunch we had at an outside terrace just south of Ouarzazate. Then half of our group took an optional route and the other hafl the standard route. Swerving throught the mountains we finally reached the nice last hotel stop in Morrocco to join our last evening here. Yes indeed: was flying!
first picture stop
Volubilis - 2000 year old Roman settlement - beautiful, we were nearly alone - what a special atmosphere
storchs nesting there
Sam is having a coffee guest
we started our guided city tour in Fes with an explanation of the city high above the Medina
in the pottery
the mosaics are puzzled together from the backside. If you make a mistake you will realize it when everything is done. Correction impossible
handpainted every piece
the Mosque in Fes
we are not allowed to go in
some impressions along the path in the Medina
we are crossing the Atlas mountain range again today. The longest riding day on tour about 420km, that why we start early. Warm clothes are necessary, we will reach 7.200 f altitude - let`s go
first picture stop at the Ziz Gorge
lunch in Timadhite - Do you prefer beef....
....or lamb????
doesn`t matter it is delicious anyway.
While parts of the group went into the desert the evening before and stood overnight in a desertcamp, the other part of the group enjoyed the Xaluca Hotel in Erfoud with pool, Spa and a huge buffet.
We went out the next morning into the desert for a camelride....
before dinner we got invited for a glass of champagne - our honey mooners leaving our group and joining the Harley tour.
But what`s on Tom`s arm??? Tom mutated during this trip to a real papparazzi. I hope we will see all the pictures and videos
Goodbye you both, it was a pleasure to have you on tour.
it is Sam`s first time in the desert and he never sat on a camel
also camels like motorbikes
Edelweiss is conquering the Xaluca Hotel in Erfoud
Picnic in the middle of the desert. We are close to the Algerian border.
Susi is going fast, she seems to be hungry
not to bad for in the middle of nowhere
the Oberpfälzer boys are completely relaxed. I got the feeling they will switch to guided and comfortable tours
after the picnic we brought part of the group in the Xaluca Hotel and the other ones went off again for the desert camp. They have a camelride of about 1,5 h and sleep under the stars of the desert.
everybody knows the "Terminator" but this is the "Scooternator"
(Sorry- but sometimes you have to make a joke to get bad memories out of your system No further comments)
a beautiful picnic spot in the Dades Gorge - called the brain of the Atlas
for the honeymooners
the Oberpfälzer boys
Simone, Ted and Sabine
when will he realise that there is a new sticker on???
Mr. Iphone in action
This woman is baking our picnic bread
In relax mode. It will change quickly
the rest of the day later on, I have to load the luggage now. Stay tuned, we are having picnic today in the Dades gorges just in front of "the brain of the Atlas". See you later....
we had a lot of things to chat an to laugh about yesterday at dinner. Tom is imitating someone.
Guess whom??? Ok, there are some mysteries on this planet
we have to leave our hotel today - but... nobody wants to go. This hotel in the middle of nowhere is a dream of 1001 night. It is an old fort - called Khsar, renovated by its french owner and from an awesome beauty
the bathrooms are in Tadelakt - a special Morrocan technique, the illumination is a like in a fairy tale, coffe machines in the rooms making an espresso better than downtown Rome, the beds are wonderfull and food is incredible. Thanks Karo, thanks Elisbeth or who ever found this place
What a day! For the group the real Morrocco adventure started here: going over the Tizn' Chitzka pass to the more dry areas of Morocco. It is a relief to leave the hectic city traffic to the nice mountain areas! Going up the pass we had our moning coffeestop just before reaching the top of the pass. Although only about 13 degrees C, it was a comfortable place to sit and have a good cup of coffee in the sun and enjoying the views on the high Atlas mountains.
Even tourguide Ted was in the "mountain mood" and sang a Hillbilly song on the banjo! After this we were hitting the top of the pass and descending the pass we followed our way to Telout to make a sharp left turn (well....almost everybody did 
) and then drove the challenging road to the wonderful stop where we first had a tour to a Kashba with a local guide and after that, Jamel from the berber tent restaurant prepared some fantastic Tajin food for us.
Then the last part to ~Aid Ben Hadou through a stunning valley with red loam houses and a green serpent along the river. Great scenery!
Entering our "1001 night hotel," we could look back at a great day!
the boys in relax mode
After a niceevening diner in our beautful hotel, local city guide Khalid was waiting for us in the lobby for a guided city tour through the Medina (old city) of Marakech. The sun was already doing its work and so the entire group followed him through some beatiful spots and of course through the small alleys of the Souk. Here we could see how crafts people were making leather things, lamps, or other interesting things.
Afterwards he took us to a local restaurant where we had a very nice lunch in a Berber tent on a roof terrace , including a nice colling wind and a stunning view over the city center.
While some took a taxi back to enjoy some relaxing hours around the pool, others were staying at the Djemna el Fna (Place of the Beheaded) right in the hart of Marakech. This is the place where it all happens during the day but especially at night.
So also in the evening when the people build up the temporary "restaurants" on this plaza, the group took off downtown to immerse theirselves into the Arabic culture
A nice finish of a great "rest" day!!
Khalid was a perfect guide and took us to all the crafts men in the medina. Have a look...
Drechser - I don`t know the English word, sorry! amazing!!!!
Plaster art
Jemaa el Fna in the evening. Everybody had built up his foodstand. The group enjoyed dinner at stand 65. We couldn`t be with them - we were occupied, sorry!
What a nice riding day it was! Although it was a long one over a long stretch of highway, it was it all worth while!
We took off this morning from the curb side of our hotel in Morocco's capital to head for our big highlight of this day: the Hassan II mosk in Casablanca. This third big mosk of the world is really a fantastic piece of work. With an enormous stretch it can hold all together 100.000 people at a time. Build at the shores of Casblanca it is a real eyecatcher.
Our group took the tour (this is th only mosk in the country which can be visited by non-muslims) and did get all the ins and outs of the history and present remarks of this incredible building.
Crawling our way afterwards to this huge economical capital of Morocco, we reached the Tahiti Beach club at the main boulevard to have a superb lunch. Then a long stretch of highway to head south and every 10 kilometre the air temperature was rising 1 degree. So facing almost 30 degrees Celsius we entered the town borders of Marakesh where we will have our first rest day of this wonderful Edelweiss Bike travel adventure on the African continent!
25.000 people inside, 80.000 outside, 3 balls on top each of 3.700 kg, Minarett is 210 m high, Atlas cedar wood and marble from Agadir inside and much much more, just to give you an idea what an immense building that is.
We are quite an international group. Susi and Balz from Switzerland, Izi from Turkey, Sam from the US, Sabine - a real Bavarian and Thomas and Stefan from a special area in Bavaria called "Oberpfalz". 2 special guests - Tom Ritt and his wife Simone - our honeymooners. The tourguides are Dutch and German - so stay tuned
we are leaving the Rif mountains. We shouldn`t make a wrong turn today otherwise we will end up in Kif Country - the world largest Hashish production area. Marihuana fields are everywhere, 42 % of global production, 800.000 people are involved, probably Moroccos main source of foreign currency.
first stop in Ouezzane - home of the popular Ouazzaniyya Suffi order.
Sabine is enjoying the Atlantic ocean view in Moulay-Bousselham
Susi and Balz from Switzerland
the master of desaster
the most uggliest terrace maybe in Morocco with the best view ever
The most exciting thing will be the border crossing today. We will see whats waiting for us!
After 2 hours, a lot of forms to fill in, stamps here and there, signs and so on - we made it!! We are in!
Who is that good looking guy???
on the way to Chefchaouen - the blue city in the Rif mountains we had quite a scenic ride
we stayed overnight in a typical Riad in the busy center of Chefchaouen
a bakery downtown
after the welcome briefing the evening before we start towards Gibraltar
the monkey of Gibraltar. Don`t tease them they are quite aggressiv
The 2 boys from the "Oberpfalz" are normally hard riders. There motorcycle holidays are on R1200GS and with tent and sleeping bag. It is there first organized and group trip. They are still doubting a bit whether it will work out well this new experience and we will see whether we could convince them about the Edelweiss comfort of travelling.
Izi - and "old" Edelweisser
Sam from the US
view from the "rock"
entering the ferry in Algeciras - Africa we are coming
our honeymooners - Tom and Simone
last view back to Gibraltar
Ceuta
Preparing the tours
the first tour of Morocco is going to start. A day later the next Morocco tour is running. Than Christopher Columbus Tour and the Classic Andalusia Tour. Operation and the transporters did a good job so far. Edelweiss owns 167 bikes and you got the feeling all of them are in Malaga at the moment. The courtyard of the Tryp Hotel is full of BMW, Harleys and all other kind of 2-wheelers. Have a look...
loading, unloading, sorting out thing - the tourguide work together perfectly (most of the times)
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