From Rome to Ad-Dakhla in West-Sahara with a Fiat 500
Observant readers might remember him: Gianluca Fiorentini, an Italian journalist and Fiat 500 enthusiast sent a detailed report on his 2011 Rome-Istanbul tour, visiting ex-Yugoslavia, historic places at the Bosporus and Greece.This time the challenge is a different one: Dakhla, Western Sahara.
Gianluca is on the road again!
On May 23rd Gianluca’s adventure starts. The first stage of the journey goes from Rome via Barcelona and Valencia to Almeria. From here he takes a ferry boat across the Mediterranean Sea. Gianluca is well prepared for Africa: The Fiat 500 was well checked and for better cooling at high temperatures, the lid was opened with a special mounting. So even the hot air in the desert can cool the engine, hopefully. Even for his security the took care with simple, but effective solutions.
Right after the arrival on the African Continent he went into the bustling activities of the Moroccan cities. The little 500 was made for those little streets and crowded market places. But he couldn’t drive on without a special car insurance as the local administration insisted on that.
From Oujda at the Algerian border it goes west through sparsely populated areas. Streets and highways are empty, nearly no traffic at all. Very rarely there’s somebody coming along. The further it goes into the Moroccan outback, the narrower the streets. And the temperature is rising...
Early June Gianluca reaches the city of Quarzazarte. During the day the temperatures reach 37 deg. Celsius (in the shade, if there were shade). Driver and car are tortured. He has to do frequent breaks to let the engine cool down. So a stage of 300km on a day easily takes eight hours.
The landscape at this point of the journey is breathtaking and frightening at the same time. It’s wide and empty. Depending on day time and insolation the stony desert glows in a wide variety between brown and beige.
Canyon of Todra, 100km east of Marrakech. (See Video 1, Video 2, Video 3)
The little Fiat attracts quite some attraction. Gianluca was offered a camel, a dromedary and a motorbike to trade. But, of coarse, he sticks with his beloved Fiat 500.
The next stages lead him to the mountained back country via Trafrout and Tiznit to the Atlantic Coast. The temperatures are still high and the streets are still in bad condition, so Gianluca and the 500 suffer a lot.
Exhausted but happy Gianluca reaches Tan Tan Plage at the Atlantic Coast on the evening of June 7th. The Fiat is a popular motive for the native people and Gianluca is enjoying the sunset on the beach.
In fact he should have started his final stage through the Western Sahara to Ad-Dakhla, but he decided to skip it. It was no easy decision, but the distances between populated areas are huge and he does not have a satellite telephone. In case of a problem it would be really dangerous.
Gianluca is on the road, despite problems with the driveshaft!
So he went north in the direction to Marrakech. But then the heavy strain on the Fiat 500 took it’s toll: the driveshaft breaks. Literally no problem, as the company Axel Gerstl equipped him with a spare driveshaft. Unfortunately at the local “garage” nobody knows how to replace it. So without further ado they decided to weld it.
Served the Moroccan way, he reached Marrakech on June 14th. Spectacular architecture and crowded alleyways.
Destination of the next stage is the main city Rabat. Gianluca has to extend his stay, after some sightseeing the driveshaft breaks again. he local mechanic argued that it’s „No problem, no problem!“ but failed with the challenge. After a five hours surgery under Gianluca’s guidance, the new driveshaft was in place and the 500 was ready for the road again. The next stages are Tanger, via ferryboat to Malaga, and finally to Almeria, Valencia, Barcelona and back home to Italy.
Gianluca is back home and becomes a poet!
A long journey, full of adventures has ended when Gianluca arrives back in Rome, tired but happy. He visited lots of interesting places during the past six weeks, marveled at beautiful craggy landscapes and had contact to plenty of fascinating people in villages and cities.
Most of all, the center of Sefrou, a little village at the branch of the Atlas Mountains, has taken a shine to Gianluca. By thinking of the nice, exotic houses, the narrow alleys and the little creek that runs through the area, he immediately starts romanticizing. Because there is that specific atmosphere that’s unique to Morocco. An atmosphere, which inspired lots of writers to poetic lyrics. So he wrote about Rabat, the Moroccan capital:
„I remember the intense activities of the fishermen at the harbor in the morning; the beautiful medina permeated by the good smell of the Thuja wood; the ancient fortifications whipped by the wind and lashed by the waves of the ocean; and the immense beach that disappears in the evening when the high tide submerges it.“
But there were truly dark moments during his trip:
Once his little 500 was stopped by four men and Gianluca feared the worst. But the guys just took a picture with the Fiat 500 and didn’t mean ill. So Gianluca breathed deeply and drove along.
Another time, on the road to Tan Tan Plage, a „mysterious outpost with the same atmosphere of an out-of-season bathing town“ (cit. Gianluca), he was really scared: The road is forlorn, the neighborhood is odd and eerily. And everywhere is this terrible smell of dead animals in the air.
In the city of Essaouira he got recompensed for his toil when he saw the first woman without covered face and legs after three weeks. It was sufficient for what he called a „strange effect“.
