A big thank you to a fantastic group and 2 wonderful weeks. Hope to see again

Ted, Ursula and Pierre

Recap of a wonderful trip , Thanks Lynda...

Greetings from Lissy and Petra. They made this piece of art on the beach in Malaga - because they missed us Thanks you both.

13. Riding Day: Chefchaouen - Malaga

Last riding day already after a great two weeks in this beautiful country. Unfortunately we had to start the day with a little rain leaving Chefchaouen. A little slippery here and there but beautiful scenery and by the time we reache the border the sun came out again.

A swift and smooth bordercrossing thanks to our helpers and a sunny but windy ferry ride across the Strait of Gibraltar brought us back to the European continent

Then the last 130 km took us back to our start hotel in Malaga.

What a grreat two weekes we had with this super group of fantastic riders but above all with kind a positive attitude of everybody!

Hope to see you all on a next Edelweiss tour somehere, sometime!

12. Riding Day: Fes - Chefchaouen

Goodbye Fes! Everybody takes different experiences home from the vibrant city. We continue constantly north, direction the Rif mountains again. Morocco is green, erverythings is blooming. Volubilis, our stop in the morning, was the south-western most point of the Roman Empire. In the afternoon we reach Chefchaouen again. Feels like coming home!

Heiri with the kids? I bet they are wondering why people taking pictures of donkeys

but you know why? Donkeys are not existing in Canada

11. Restday Fes

Today the entire group decided to spend the day in Fes with our local Tourguide Achmed. We first went to a pottery manufacturer, where we could see all the processes from the Stonewash until the beautiful ceramic poterries and plates and even the mosaic tables and fountains are produced there.... all manual produced... what an experience. Later we went to the first Marrocan Koran school which was build in the 14th century and in prcatice until 1950 ies... Now it is a World Unesco Heritage. Going through the souks we of course also have seen the manufacturing of the Bronce olates and Lights and the first tannery of Fes which is in use since 750 years.  Going thirugh the Medina is an experience at itself with all the shops, and people n there 

10. Riding Day: Erfoud - Fes

Today is our longest riding day. We say good-bye to the desert of Morocco and continue our adventure along the beautiful Ziz valley. The landscape is like the Grand Canyon. We cross the 7,145 ft. high “Col du Zad” on a wonderful highway through the Middle Atlas.  We reach the Moroccan “St. Moritz” – Ifrane. This beautiful little town reminds us more of Switzerland than of Morocco. Ifrane is a favourite place for many rich Moroccans to escape the heat during the hot summer months. In winter it is a popular base for the nearby ski resorts

Jim and Priscilla in Ifrane......watch the Arabic sign saying: "no sleeping in the grass"

Jason and Jodi get prepared for the chaotic traffic downtown Fes. With them in the back nothing can happen to the tourguide

9. Riding Day: Erg Chebbi - Erfoud

Everybody was pretty much done after an exiting night in the desert, not only with stars and Berber music but also with bugs and some other living things...

We rode our camels back for 2 hours and we could experience how much you can appreciate just a coffee

The Xaluca Hotel in Erfoud as a perfect stay to cure our hurting everything.

8. Boulmane Dades to Erg Chebbi (desert night)

Today we went of with a pretty strong wind further into the direction east twoards the very southeastern point of Marocco: the Erg Chebbi sanddunes. 

First stop was a visit in the beautiful Gorge of Thodra. This enchanting gorge is always a lovely visit  in the morning light. Coming out of the gorge having our morning coffestop and then further eastbound where we had our second picnic, this time in the desert

A bit cloudy gave us the perfect temeprature for a perfect picnic.!

After finishing the picinic we rode the last stretch via Erfoud to the Erg Chebbi dunes. Wind was by times turning into serious sandstorms and we began to worry about our desert night.

But all together the wind was less strond in the dunes so at around 5 pm we hopped on our camels and headed out to our berber desert camp

Completelly sandblasted we arrived there two hours later for a nice drink and a perfect prepared dinner in the tents. 

Together with another group we enjoyed very much the camp fire and the bongo playing by our camel guys

Great evening with a great group!

7. Riding day: Ait Ben hadou to Boumalne Dades

What an excellent evening we had in Ait Ben Hadou: it even included a real Rooftop party with guitarplaying and singing under a full moon! 

This mth under a clear blues sky venice temperatures we took of to the village of

Ouarzazate to pay a visit at the Atlas filmstudio s where we had a nice and interesting guided tour through the film studio complex

6. Riding Day: Marrakesch - Ait Benhaddou

The High Atlas, which forms the natural dividing line to the Sahara, is almost uninhabited. We are leaving Marrakech climbing up on the spectacular pass road to the Tizi-n-Tichka. Along our way we have wonderful views of the beautiful valleys with their terrace fields, used for fruit and grain cultivation. Once on the top of the 7414 ft. high Tizi-n-Tichka Pass, we are in the fantastic scenery of the Moroccan mountain world. On the southern side of the Atlas Mountains the vegetation changes and we feel the nearness of the Sahara.

Leyla and Luc nearly on top of Titz-n-Tichka pass

5. Rest day : Marrakesh

Without any doubt, the largest attraction in Marrakech is the Jemaa el-Fna square, the "Square of the Beheaded". According to legend, the heads of the executed were placed on wooden spears and exhibited until only the bare skulls were left over.

4. Riding Day: Rabat - Marrakesch

We had to leave this beauiful hotel

Casablanca is our destination in the morning. Interesting traffic, well-known for Rick`s Cafe - but the main attraction nowadays is the Hassan II Mosque. A fantastic lunch place at the ocean prepared us for the 200 km stretch to Marrakesch, on the foot of the Atlas mountains.

after horrible Casablanca traffic - here it is - Hassan II Mosque

some facts:

Opened in 1993 on the prophet's birthday, after Mekka and Medina it is the third biggest mosque in the world.built right on the cliffs into the Atlantic ocean.It has an Islamic school, a museum about Moroccan history, Hammams, swimming pools, conference rooms and a library which is connected via satellite with the biggest libraries of the world. 20,000 people can pray inside the mosque, 80,000 outside on a special platform. The top of the 656 ft.(200 m) high Minarett carries three golden balls at a total weight of 8,140 lbs (3.700 kg) The biggest has a diameter of 12 ft (3,8 m). In the whole mosque area you find 25,000 columns and 124 fountains. This is the only mosque of the country which can be visited also by non-Muslims.

just to get a comparison of the dimensions of the titanic doors

the roof can be slided open. It takes 3 min. 360 loudspeakers are perfectly hidden in the columns and the ceiling, women pray on a separate platform.

erverybody is curios! Maybe it`s a cobra

3. Riding Day: Chefchaouen - Rabat

After our first night in Morocco we left Chefchaouen and continued through the beautiful Rif Mountains. We crossed the “Pont du Loukkos”, the former border between the Spanish protectorate and the French part of Morocco. We rode through fertile fields and thousands of olive trees accompanied us to the west.

Leo in action

Happy Birthday, Heiri!! 

2. Riding Day: Ceuta - Chefchaouen

What a wonderful day this have been! Really leaving the early spring cold of last week behaind us, again we woke up with a amazing view on the rock of Gibraltar but now from the other side. Ready to roll at 8.45 we headed for the Spanish-Moroccon border where are usual 'helpers" were already waiting for us. after a little two hours of running around from boot to boot with all the papers we were ready to enter Morocco.

An astonishing ride along the coast, a relaxed coffestop and a even more relaxed lunch at the seaside, the ride went on through a beautiful green valley (thanks to the rain the weeks before)

Ending up in the blue village of Chefchaouen, we could say that it was a very nice start of this tour with a great group of riders

A flat tyre right on the border - what a start. But with a group like this loading and unloading is done very quickly

perfekt dinner at the beach

Petra und Jörg 

1. Riding Day: Malaga - Ceuta

Today we split up the group in two : one is going to visit Gibraltar, the other one is going via Ronda. Beautiful weather,  clear skies, sunny and bright moods.

We have quite an international group: Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Costa Rica, US, Canada, Belgium, Spain and last bu not least: the Netherlands!.

A very good starting day for this awesome group of riders!

Patrick and Lynda

Guided City Tour Malaga

Priscilla and James up at the Castel

the bull fight arena

James and Priscilla in the Gibralfaro. The orange blossom smell like the production hall of Chanel

El Pimpi - one of the most famous tapas bars in Malaga

its Palm Sunday - they getting prepared for the Semana Santa - the holy week

Transport to Malga