All Aboard the Marrakech Express! Part I of our Adventures in Morocco...

Colin and I have been travelling pretty non-stop this summer, but I think we'd both say that our trip to Marrakech, Morocco was a total highlight.  Like Istanbul, Marrakech was one of our "must-do-ASAP's" for our stay in Europe.  And, after seeing being surrounded by the quiet civil German towns and countryside and the rainy weather all spring, we were really craving something different.  

Different it was, to say the least.  They call Marrakesh the "Red City", and it is easy to see why.  Most all the buildings are made of bright terracotta-colored stucco, and form chaotic and skinny streets that seem to somehow lead, one way or another, to the bustling souks selling rugs, leather, jewelry, slippers, spices and more.  I read somewhere that there are nearly 2 miles of secret passageways in the Medina (the old town), and could see right away how this is true.  Its ridiculously easy to get lost!  The main square of the Medina, Jemaa el Fna, is a hub of craziness - with snake charmers, monkeys, story-tellers, water-sellers, women trying to paint your skin with henna tatoos and young boys trying to lead you through the souks.

Old City Walls and Gate surrounding the Medina

Walking the narrow passage to our Riad

While the Dutch have their clogs, the Morrocans have their slippers... TONS of them in beautiful colors!

One of the crazy things we saw in Marrakech - a horse carrying a ton of furniture walking a roundabout with other traffic.

ah yes... the leather was beautiful!

These triangle shaped cooking dishes are what you use to make a Moroccan tajine.

My international bracelet collection had some growth after a visit to the souks.

I could have wandered the souks for hours... but this guy had had enough after being a good sport for a while!

more slippers...

Standing in front of the Katoubia Mosque, built in the 12th Century

On our first night, I wanted to just snap photos at the craziness of the Jemaa el Fna, but the second we showed any interest in something and stopped walking, we were surrounded by so many people trying to get our attention we had to just walk away.  Colin felt a tap on his shoulder as we were turning to get away from the crowd, and he looked back to see he was face to face with a monkey!  The monkey was reaching out to Colin from the arms of his owner and tapping him to get our attention.  Colin doesn't love Moroccan monkeys that much, so he was not exactly as keen on the Jemaa el Fna as I was... until I saw the snakes, that is...

 

I had to catch a photo of the monkey as they were walking away so we didn't have any too-close encounters...

 I used as much zoom on our camera lens as possible to get this pic!

We were so relieved that our accommodations provided a sanctuary from the chaos of the Medina.  We stayed in a gorgeous riad run by a French woman - it was perfect because she knew all the preferences of a European/American tourist, while still being able to have a Moroccan experience.  We ate all our meals by the pool since the food there was absolutely delicious and we wanted to avoid the craziness of the touristy areas outside our riad. 

The rooftop terrace had a great view of the other riads and homes compacted together in the Medina.

We loved this trip because we made it less of a sightseeing adventure, and more of just an experience.  While we did see the old city walls and tour the Majorelle Gardens, we also just enjoyed the experiences of staying in a riad and learning to cook Moroccan cuisine in a cooking class.  We had a fantastic time in the cooking class, hanging out with a hilarious British family while learning how to make a Chicken Lemon Tajine.

Majorelle Gardens

My family will be pleased to see we played a favorite Cassidy family game at the Majorelle Gardens - "Name that Plant!" All you have to do is pick a plant, imitate it, and the other people have to guess what plant you are mimicking. This is something we came up with after years of touring various gardens together on family road trips....  Colin at first resisted (understandably), but then found that he was actually quite good at it!  ; ) We had a good laugh.

The next set of pics are from our awesome cooking class.  We made two salads (one hot, one cold), freshly made bread, and a chicken dish made in a Moroccan tajine.  It all tasted so good!  We also had a pop quiz on the spices in which we had to close our eyes, smell, and guess which spices we were working with.  This was so that in the future our sense of smell would know one spice from another.  It was actually incredibly informative for this novice chef!

As you can imagine, Colin always had a front row view...

He also pleased our cooking teacher Michel by not wasting any of the bread dough by creating mini pancakes...

Our fellow students - we had so much fun together that we all exchanged contact info with the Brits!

 Part II up next!