MARRAKECH
Carriage to Riad
Majorelle Gardens
After three short weeks in Europe, it came time to tackle our fourth continent: Africa. We spent our final night in Italy sleeping at the Malpensa Airport in Milan so that we wouldn't miss our flight to Morocco. After some funny customs, we finally took a taxi to an internet cafe. Someone there recommended that we stay at a place called Hotel Ali in the center of Marrakesh. After settling in and attempting to nap off our grogginess from the night in the airport, we explored. Venturing onto the streets of Marrakesh is like stepping into Aladdin-snake charmers, story tellers, silver lamps and monkeys on leashes. We quickly fell in love with the 3 dirham (about $0.40) fresh squeezed orange juice. We spent our first day exploring the souks and attempting to take it all in.
Morocco is interesting because while it is not a wealthy country, the doors, tiling and woodwork are all very intricate and beautiful. Danielle and Molly went to one of the oldest Koranic schools in the area the next morning where even the bathroom had more elaborate designs and woodwork than even the oldest churches in the US. Later that day we went to the Majorelle Gardens designed by the late YSL and fell in love with the combination of the colors and the tropical plants there, not to mention they had delicious mint creme brulee. For dinner we found a traditional riad to eat at and took a horse drawn carriage to get there. It was the best food we had in Morocco.
The next day we decided to go to the coast because this is a world beach tour, so we planned a trip to Essaouria. The trip was supposed to be 2 hours each way. We arrived at the bus station and the bus we were supposed to take was full, so we had to leave 45 minutes later than planned. While we were waiting at the station, there was a man with a scythe sitting next to us. The ride took 4 hours so we only had enough time at the beach to grab dinner.
THE SAHARA
The next day we went with a group to the Sahara desert. We stopped along the way at an oasis, a small Berber village and a few other places to "make picture," and then spent the night at an adorable hotel along a river in the Gorge Du Dades. We sipped wine on the terrace and ate a Moroccan dinner with the group, whom we got to know better. The next morning after a Moroccan breakfast (Moroccan bread, honey, butter and o.j.) and as much free coffee as we could stomach we headed off to the desert. After another long day in the van, and a bumpy roller coaster ride to a small hotel on the edge of the Sahara where we drank Moroccan mint tea and were shown how desert nomads rock the head scarf. We grabbed small overnight bags and after picking a camel to ride we were guided into the desert. Molly's camel had a nose ring and a rebellious attitude which inspired her to name him Rufio. The surrounding view was stunning and we arrived just in time for sunset. For a better view we hiked up to the top of a steep sand dune, that required us to climb on all fours. Beth bobsledded down. We ate dinner Moroccan style dnner, meaning with no plates, little silverware and everyone hovering over the tagines like packs of wild animals, since we hadn't eaten all day. After chatting with everyone in the group and listening to one of the desert men play his drum we fell asleep under the stars. We woke up bright and early, whether we wanted to or not, to watch the sunrise and head back out of the Sahara on our camels. We had a quick breakfast and spent the next tweleve hours on the road back to Marakech. That evening, after grabbing our bags from the hotel we finally got in touch with Fatima (Annie's mom's friend's friend) and took a cab to her house in the High Atlas mountains. We were welcomed with a delicious homemade meal and were happy to get a good night's rest in a real home. It was interesting to hear her perspective of Morocco, having grown up in the states. The next morning we woke up, unaware of the time change, and quickly made our way to Imlil, a small town in the High Atlas mountains. We spent the day sitting by the river, eating cherries we'd picked and relaxing in the sun.
That night we headed back to Marrakech, and off to Fez on the train. Unfortunately, although we were on the night train, it arrived at 2:00am so we had to sleep/sit uncomfortably in the cold outside of the bus station. We layered ourselves in all the clothes we had with us, not having anticipated being cold in Africa. At around 6:00am we decided to catch a cab into the city to find a hostel. We ended up choosing a room from a Moroccan family that had wall to wall couches, one bed and a bathroom that had it been merely inches smaller we would have been stuck between the walls. The hallway to our room was not much wider than Beth's head and steeper than
everest. As always, we found the nearest grocery store and stocked up on essentials like cheese, candy and wine. We took an instant liking to Fez because of its more relaxed feel and less aggressive vendors. We also received many compliments, like that we were beautiful flowers, spice girls and the best one, received by Rachel, was "excuse me, believe me, you are blowing my mind." Or "I would trade 1000 camels for you as my wife." We stayed in the old city which looks like a medieval movie set: castle walls, men wandering the streets on donkeys and the most gorgeous mosaic gates. One day we hired a young boy by the name of Mustafa to give us a tour of the city. He showed us the tanneries, a riad filled with Berber rugs, a madersa (a koranic school) and an ancient mosque. Afterwards we went to dinner where we tried such Moroccan fare as pastilla (phyllo dough chicken pastry with cinnamon and almonds) and harira (veggie soup). We loved both.
The next day we hopped on a bus to our next destination, Chefchauon, a small town in the Rif Mountains painted primarily in blue and white. We loved the periwinkle walls and huge wooden doors. We found a great Spanish style hostel called Gernika, settled in and hit the different shops for some last minute souvenirs. We had dinner and ran into friends from the camel trek. The next morning we headed out early to Certa to cross the border to Spain and catch the ferry across the Mediterranean. Another long travel day, not to mention we were unaware of yet another time change and missed a ferry we had been waiting around for for around 2 hours...time for some tapas and flamenco!!
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