Marrakesh

After a great breakfast Monday morning (crumpets, omelettes, bread, jam (strawberry and apricot) and pastries) we were raring to go. We wandered down to Djemaa el-Fna, the square, where there was all sorts of activities happening; men dressed in red with castanets, snake charmers, horse and carts and lots of people selling things everywhere.

Of course next we had to go into the souks, where merchants try to sell you everything from shoes and scarves to leather goods, wood and metal crafts. An amazing site and although we spent an hour or two looking, we didn't buy anything.

I thought we should do the obligitory sight seeing  next, so armed with our map, we headed off past the Koutoubian Mosque.

We crossed the road, dodging the scooters, motorbikes, cars and carts (an adventure in itself). We were going to see the Saadian Tombs, but took a wrong turn ending up at a metalworking souk and the spice souk.

Thinking we'd save the Tombs for another day, we went into the Bahia Palace, where my travel companions sat in the garden whilst I wandered through, (then went back through again once Cam decided he would actually look) and then headed back to the Riad for a while (which turned into all day, as we didn't go out again but booked another day here so we had more time). Dinner was a beautiful chicken targine with salad.

Tuesday morning, we walked down to the square with two English couples who were staying at the riad, and then went to the artesian souk, where Matt had a practical lesson in rug making and we looked at the prices of items so we knew how much to offer in the souk (bartering is not my strong point).

Then it was off to the souk again for lunch and some bartering. Although I did well on a couple of items, I'm sure they all saw me coming, but we had a good time and ended up with a small bag, chess set and marble game.

Tuesday night we went out for tea at a Riad just around the corner. Cam and I had fantastic fillet steaks with pepper sauce and Matt had his regular spaghetti bolognaise.

Wednesday saw us back down at the souk, searching for leather bags. Matt got into the swing of things and bartered for some wooden items. The guy there made us both a figure for a necklace. It was fascinating to watch him use a small hand-operated lathe and a chisel to create the pieces. (I didn't the camera to take photos of it)

After a full day of bartering, we headed back to the Riad with lots of parcels and lighter pockets. We did venture down again to see the square come to life at night with heaps of food stalls, mobile restaurants, monkeys on leads, snake charmers, henna tattoos and lanterns. Very pretty but so busy. We stayed for about half an hour and then went back to the quiet of the Riad and had our final dinner in Marrakesh. (Lemon chicken targine with salad and fruit salad for dessert).

Friday morning we said goodbye to the staff of the Riad and left for an all day drive to Ceuta.