After lunch

After lunch we surveyed the coast north of Essouria. Above are pictures of a south facing sheltered bay on the coast. This location was better than the previous one, there were green hills in the background and plenty of boats. On the downside there was a large sandy shore, there were lots of boats, possibly too many to make a shoot economic, all of which would need repainting and there were white painted houses in the background. There was also a swell from the ocean. I'd question if this location was significantly better than Ouarzazate.

Break for lunch

After over 6 hours in the car and only one location actually seen we had a break for lunch in the hope that it might change our luck. We had a nice seafood lunch at a beachfront restaurant near Essouria.

Starting at 7am on Tuesday morning, David, Hamid and I drove west from Marakesh to the Essouria region which is alot greener and cooler than the rest of the country. We then headed south to a sea inlet of which we had seen promising pictures. However after 45 minutes off road it was clear that we couldn't reach the location in a 4x4, so the chances of a film crew, lighting equipment, actors, extras reaching the location were slim. We turned back and headed north. We found a sea front fishing village, see the photos above, but frankly it looked nothing like the sea of Galilee;- the sea was just too rough, there was tons of rubbish every where (plastic bags) and the background was not like the green hills that surround the Galilee.

OMG

We spent 13 hours in the car today and covered 756km in search of a greener sea of galilee. We looked at around 300km of coast line, fishing villages and lagoons, it was a long day.

Later (on Monday) we visited a local Sherifs (ruler's) house. The house dates from the 9th Cen and the wood work and tiling are amazing. That's David in the photo sitting where the old Sherif used to sit and rule !

By then it was about 5pm and David had arranged to meet Salah, the casting director in the hotel. When we got back I went off for a shower, after 8 hours in the car. The temp today started at 22c at 9am and rose to 36c by lunch time, it rained about 4pm and the temp dropped. I joined in a discussion about casting and interviews were arranged in Casablanca and Marakesh. I had a pleasant but not spectacular Moroccan dinner with David at a restaurant in the old city, which included a belly dancer ! And as it's now midnight and as we start again tomorrow at 6am I'm going to get some sleep. More tomorrow.

We had a very nice lunch of lamb & chicken kebabs, David said he felt a little guilty as it's Ramadan and everyone else is fasting from dawn to dusk. In the afternoon we headed out into the dessert to see more locations for the wedding feast.

After lunch we went looking for a location for the Wedding Feast at Cana and the feast for the Prodigal Son, see above. Basically if we film the Galilee section here in Marakesh then we also need the option to film other scenes here.

With me today (Monday) are Hamid, our Moroccan Producer, that's his car in the picture above and David, the Director, that's him taking a picture of the lake.

Just when I was feeling a little negative about this location (lake near marakesh) we happened upon building on the lake side, which if framed properly, could pass for Capernium, from the outside. The pictures are of the building looking up from the lake shore and towards the lake.

So I woke up early to a beautiful sunny day in Morocco and after a quick breakfast we hit the road with Hamid. The pictures are of a lake near Marakesh a possible location to shoot Galilee. It looks OK but I wonder if it's significantly better than the lake near Ouarzazate.

Location Scouting

So it's Sun 6th Sept and having presided at the parish Mass this morning I've set out again for Morocco. This time I'm travelling with David, the Director, and we're looking at locations that look like the sea of Galilee. Interestingly there is a lake near Ouarzazate, where we filmed in July, but it is less than ideal and will take alot of work to make it look similar to Galilee. So here we are looking at other areas of Morocco. The pictures are of the Easyjet flight, which was surprisingly good and my hotel room in Marakesh, which is all I've seen so far, more tomorrow, when the real work starts.