We decided to spend a few days at Ourika Camp, said to be the best site in Morocco. Ourika was five miles south of Marrakech city centre. The weather was warm (25°) and sunny and we had been into Marrakech on several occasions so we were content to sit by the pool and enjoy the beautiful gardens.
Traditional buildings in Morocco were usually constructed with adobe-like bricks, made from local earth and dried in the sun so they blended perfectly with their surroundings.
The following day the camp site guardian arranged a taxi for us so we could do some shopping. The taxi collected us from our pitch and the guardian gave the young driver instructions of where we wanted to go. He drove us to an ATM and then on to a restaurant for lunch. After lunch our taxi collected us again and took us to a supermarket. The driver helped us load the shopping into the boot and returned the trolley to the supermarket himself. When we got back to our pitch the driver unloaded our shopping for us. The taxi cost £25 including a generous tip.
The next day we drove west across the Marrakech Plain towards the Middle Atlas Mountains. The roads were straight, but narrow and then the scenery changed dramatically when we began to climb.
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