Fès to Marrakesh was a six hour train ride.
One beautiful station to another.
And then it was the end of the calm and into the storm!
Marrakech is a high energy city, and I reached the limit of what I could handle!
The Medina is smaller than Fès but has a huge beating heart in the centre called Jamaâ El Fna.
I borrowed an aerial photo to give perspective I couldn’t get on the ground.
The place is a din of drums and snake-charmer flutes. And demands for money for photos. I kept my distance!
There are rows and rows of little stools for henna customers.
And rows of wagons selling fruit juices.
And then the souks full of shopping opportunities!
My favourite time was early before the shops were open and the you could walk down the street.
Koutoubia (12th Century) Almohad-style mosque.
Bahia Palace (19th century) is a sprawling complex of courtyards, rooms and gardens. A large part of the garden was closed for restoration, but the rest was stunning.
And then another palace!
El Badi Palace (16th century) had the remains of the garden walls, pool and an ornamental orange orchard.
And storks.
Jardin Majorelle was a garden designed by artist Jacques Majorelle. His former painting studio is now a Berber Museum which contains over 600 objects collected by Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint Laurent.
The Berbers are the oldest in North Africa, and the museum was amazing. But no photos allowed.
Madrasa Ben Youssef (1565) was another amazing architectural gem. It was a school for four centuries.
They were showing a film about the restoration, and it was an amazing combination of ancient craft and modern science.
Next was a photography museum.
It exhibited original photos from 1870 to 1950 on Morocco.
They were also playing a documentary film called ‘The Berbers of the high Atlas Mountains’ shot in 1957. It was amazing as most the people filmed had never seen a foreigner.
Then some mint tea on their rooftop terrace.
One day I hired a driver to take me to the Ourika Valley in the Atlas Mountains.
Then I had a guide take me up to the waterfalls. It was about 162 m up and took about 1.5 hours.
I was grateful for his help on the spots where it wasn’t stable. He also spoke excellent English and I really enjoyed him. At 65 he is the oldest and most experienced guide.
And where there are tourists, there is shopping!
A ‘Berber’ frig with cold running stream water.
And then up where we could see the first and second falls together.
Back down at the river it was time for lunch.
Lamb Tagine, and for entertainment, watching people cross the rickety bridge. Some hesitant while the waiters ran across with trays of food!
Argan oil production and a Berber house.
I’m enjoying the different design interpretations for the Riads. Some traditional elegant, some more modern. But always a similar breakfast.
A bakery when you are hungry is dangerous. But this was soaked in honey and I didn’t need much.
