| Marrakesh Morocco, 16 - 19 November 2007 |
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| Marrakesh is crazy cool - full of music, smells, colour and entertainers! I loved this city. We celebrated Renee's birthday here in Nov 07, and it was like a breath of fresh air, after having been to so many European destinations, to see a place that was so different. We were staying just off - arguably - the most famous and fantastic square in the world. The UNESCO protected Djemaa El Fna, which is thronged with performers, musicians, snake charmers and other weird and wonderful inhabitants, smoke rising from the food carts and music drifting over on the wind. We had to navigate this craziness everyday, not to mention a cavalcade of OJ sellers who would try to tempt us with their delicious juice. We gave in fairly regularly - it is the best OJ I have ever tasted! With it's palaces and the amazig market, I spent the time trying to imagine I was in some kind of Arabian fairytale! And the Riad where we stayed (a traditional residence, turned into a B&B) certainly helped play into that fantasy, not to mention having dinner in a Sultan's Palace! Of course the constant hassling from hawkers and people trying to sell you their wares quickly brought me back down to earth! |
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| First OJ of the day! |
| Snake Charmes! Amazing! I sneakily took this with my zoom. They want you to pay money to take pictures. |
| Into the Souks (markets) and back streets, and work is beginning for the day. Donkey's are still widely used, as well as small carts. The streets are too small for cars. |
| The architecture is amazing also, this doorway was in the souk |
| Morocco is well known for its lanterns. These were all strung up in the market. |
| Spices for sale |
| Renee and I on a caleche (horse drawn cart). We took a tour of the city walls, which was interesting. We actually saw very little of the walls themselves! |
| Some of the walls. If you catch it in the right light it glows red, and if the day is clear you can see the Atlas mountains in the background. No such luck for us on this occassion! |
| Bab Aganou, one of the old gates in the city walls. |
| One of the surprising things about Marrakesh are the storks! Their enormous nests line the city walls. |
| The main mosque in Marrakesh, Koutubia, with it's minaret lit up in the dusk light. You can see the minaret from pretty much all over the city |
| El Badi, the ruins of a magnificent palace built by one of the Kings. It used to be decorated with rich Italian marbles and tonnes of gold, four oange gardens are sunk in the middle and a man-made lake. |
| Me being a teapot in El Badi palace |
| The Saadian Tombs. This burial place of 60 Saadia Sultans was hidden for many years, and were only rediscovered in 1917. Really amazing! |
| El Bahia Palace was still intact, and the detail was just gorgeous, all the tiling and carvings was just amazing and so decadent! |
| Courtyard in El Bahia Palace |
| Me in El Bahia palace |
| The B&B where we stayed, a traditional Moroccan residence called a Riad converted. Our room was just off this main room. How cool is that! |
| It was ALL about the palaces with us. We had dinner in this fabulous restaurant which was a renovated palace. We arrived to a glass of champagne and traditionla music, then a 6 course meal of yummy moroccan food. |
| Djeema el Fna alive at night, with the Koutubia mosque on the glowing skyline!!!! |
| The food stalls at Djeema el Fna |
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