May 22, 2014 
   
SIDI IFNI to OUED BEHRIL (alternatively called Ouled Berhil on Google Maps and Oulad Barrehil on booking.com) 311 Km
Motel Cafe-Restaurant Tizint, 200dh, double with breakfast


Two Tics
 
The last two tics on our to-do list are to drive along the Atlantic coast and cross the 2,092 meter (6,863ft) Tizi-n'Test pass in the Atlas Mountains on our way back to Marrakesh. 

 
Atlantic Coast Seascapes
   
Sidi Ifni is colonial town whos whitewashed colonial style buildings are a stark contrast to the earth colored kasbah villages to which we've become accustomed. The beach looks clean and sandy. But it did not inspire awe.. We looked at the descriptions of other sea side towns in the direction of Marrakesh like Mirleft, Aglou Plage, Agadir, and Essaouira. Essaouira came recommended. So we decided to turn the car in tomorrow and take the bus over to Essaouira and linger there for awhile without the car. Today, we wanted to get close to the Tizi n'Test pass and drive over that scenic pass in the morning light. We expected to spend tonight in Taroudannt, aka mini-Marrakesh. 

The seascapes, as we drove north up the Atlantic coast, were short lived and the desert landscapes inland were uninspiring. Most the morning was spent driving just out of view of the sea. We saw some nice picnic spots in coastal coves but none which begged us to spend time.
 

What is a Tiz Nit?

Around noon, we reached the area's transport hub, Tiznit. It a small city and we stopped to take a quick look at its medina. We wandered a bit and had a bite before continuing inland. 


Frustrated in Little Marrakech

We arrived in Taroudannt and used our phone (and booking.com) to pick a hotel, Riad Dar El Mouch, inside the city walls of old town. We had the map picture but google could not locate it by the address or the hotel name. We'd have to find it the old fashion way, without GPS assistance.

It didn't take long for us to be completely disoriented in the Taroudannt maze. A seemingly friendly local came to our rescue. He guided us to a parking spot and said we needed to walk from there to the Riad. He offered to show the way. I decided to stay in car while Dave checked it out. An hour later, I became pretty concerned, Dave was still not back. Finally, he showed up. The man had initially walked with Dave toward where he said the Riad was. Then pawned Dave off to some other guy who showed him the rest of the way to the Riad hotel. Dave was led like a dog on leash further and further, "it's near, one more minute" the guy kept saying. Finally, Dave had had enough and got back without having gotten a whiff of the Riad. 

We had wasted almost two hours stalled in this town and had had it. There are oodles of hotels around but we did not want to choose any ol' one. We bee-lined out of town. We didn't want to deal with it. And we couldn't figure out what these guys accomplished by giving us the run around. In all honesty, it probably would have been an interesting stop. But, because we wanted to turn the car into the rental company by noon tomorrow, we would not have had much time to explore anyway

 
Not Just Any Ol' Motel
 
We got back in the car and circled Taroudannt's tall city wall and some markets we whizzed by looked interesting. We continued on out of town and hoped to find a place to stay soon. Orange orchards lined the road on both sides. We were approaching the national park boundary and the prospect of finding a hotel before dark was in question. Villages along the way were few and far between. We were going this way for the scenic views so we certainly did not want to be driving in the dark. A few kilometers before Oued Behril, we saw several small billboards advertising hotels, one a Palace and the other a Motel.

The dusty town was bigger than we expected. The first hotel in town looked good but had padlock on the door. We couldn't find our way to the Palace and we thought sleeping in the car might be better than staying at the fleabag looking hotel we had noticed. We passed the center of town and the town seemed to be petering out. We decided to turn back and take a closer look at the fleabag hotel, if we did not find anything before we reached a gas station we could see a few kilometers up ahead. Unbelievably, in the complex of shops, in with that gas station, was a pink motel.
 

Just What the Doctor Ordered

That pink motel was Motel Cafe-Restaurant Tizi n't and it turned out to be just what the doctor ordered. 
 
The owner was obliging and made sure we had what we needed. The room was spacious and clean and the shower was hot. Wifi was available in the restaurant and a, bigger than Olympic size, swimming pool was behind the restaurant. What more could we want? Actually, just a top sheet and extra pillows. Pronto, a brand new set was brought up. I don't know why sometimes even mid range hotels don't have a top sheet 
 
Our room looked out over an orange orchard. We had nice tomato salad and soup for dinner.