The roads were very narrow and extremely crowded in the cities and particularly in Marrakesh, where the Riad where we were staying was in a maze of streets far too narrow for our bus … so we did a lot of walking.

As well as people, donkeys, handcarts and bicycles there were hoards of motorbikes which appeared to travel in packs. This impression was, I suspect, gained because they were ubiquitous and being unable to pass each other on the crowded streets they eventually each caught up with those in front.

The streets are very crowded

At the place where we stayed in Marrakesh the window of my bedroom had a pair of wooden shutters which totally blocked out the light and the noise. On one memorable night I was up every ten minutes or so throughout the night and had the option of keeping the light on or opening the shutters to let in some light and air from outside. I could hear the motorbikes roaring through the streets non-stop all through that long night.

The view from my bedroom window in Marrakesh

There was no getting away from them and they gave way to no-one. When we heard the familiar roar we would dive for the sides of the road and flatten ourselves against the walls until the mob had passed us, only to have to repeat the manoeuvre minutes later.

The donkeys were more polite and moved at a slower pace but, like the motorbikes, they were an irresistible force which we had to get out of the way of.

Colourful produce on a street stall

The streets were lined with stalls selling an amazing variety of goods which were often spread out on the roadway, adding to the chaos. As a large number of stalls and shops seemed to stock the same items it was easy to walk away from one stall, confident that we would find very much the same thing elsewhere. This tended to make bargaining easy and Morocco is probably a good place to learn to do this … but I felt deeply sorry for the traders who gave the appearance of being desperate to make a sale at almost any price.

Berber beads and the ubiquitous fossils

Whenever our bus stopped at some lookout or lay-by which appeared to be totally devoid of people we would suddenly be surrounded by men and boys offering us polished fossils and Berber headscarves. I don’t know where they were hiding - they seemed to appear out of nowhere. Once again it was easy to bargain; we knew that we would be offered the same or similar goods at the next photo stop.