Steph and I met Heidi in Marrakesh on Wednesday. The trip was pretty uneventful, and I wore the boot to make sure nothing happened while travelling.
The city was amazing, and as we flew over we saw some of the mansions on the outskirts with lush grounds and pools. Then there was a lot of dessert surrounding the city as well, and orchards of citrus and olive. We got into the city and the city walls were impressive and still surrounding the city. In all the European cities we’ve been to the walls are either surviving in sections or have many new gates put into them. Here the walls were still acting as walls with very restricted access between parts of the city. There were many gates that were barely one car wide, but had two way traffic.
We got near the hotel, Riad Jalina, driving down busy streets that were one car wide with motorcycles going around the car, and people walking, and shops open right next to the windows. It was chaos, but didn’t feel dangerous. Even when walking around everything tends to move slow enough that even as a motorcycle moves through a busy street crammed with people, if I were to be hit it would probably just be an annoying bump from the handlebars.
We are staying in the Medina and walked all around the markets. There was so much going on and it felt both safe and amazing. Steph and I grabbed lunch on a rooftop and had a great view of the city, with some cats coming by to say hi as well. There were cats all over the streets, and most looked healthy and didn’t care about the people.
Heidi arrived and she and Steph walked around the city some more while I rested. They said they had more people approach them, but that they still felt perfectly safe. Morocco is a much nice place to visit compared to Egypt. The tipping culture is also not much of a thing here, which is nice to not worry with. I have gotten spoiled from not having to deal with it in the UK.
I joined the others at a rooftop for an amazing view of sunset.
The next day we went to a farm that had olives, citrus, race horses, and an assortment of birds. We were there for a cooking class, which turned out really nicely. The surroundings were idyllic and the food was interesting and different in ways I wasn’t expecting. The spices were mostly the ones we knew, but the way of preparing the food was quite different. I’d never peeled and deseeded a tomato before, and wouldn’t even have considered it. The way it gave a concentrated flavor without adding too much moister was interesting and nice. We also learned that they pickle the olives with citrus, which is why we’d been surprised by the taste of the olives in our tagines. They use a mix between a lemon and orange that is very sour but also has a lot of sweet. It gives a unique and pleasant taste to the olives, which is not as strong as the brined olives I’m used to.
Back at the city we went to a hammam and had an amazing exfoliation and massage. I really enjoyed it, and it was a unique experience. They used a substance they called black soap, which has an abrasive in it and smells nice. They also used scrubbers to really get the dead skin off, and it worked really well. I went for the relaxing massage, which was lighter pressure than the ones Steph and Heidi got.
Afterwards we back to the Riad and had a relaxing evening. I stayed in the next day instead of doing the walking tour around Essaouira.
Saturday we took a tour into the Atlas Mountains, where we went to an argan oil production, hiked to a waterfall, walked through a mountain town, and the others rode camels. It was an amazing trip. The argan oil place served us a traditional breakfast with bread, oil, honey, and peanut sauce. Then we went around the production area. Then we headed up to see a local market. It was tight, and there was so much stuff. We got some dates, sweets, and citrus. Then we made it up to the valley where the guide was from. We hiked through an area with lots of canals and snow melt. Much of the snow was still in the shady areas. We hiked up to a nice waterfall and then across the valley for lunch. On the way back Steph and Heidi rode camels, just in a quick circle.
The flight back Sunday was thankfully uneventful, and we got to cuddle kitties all evening.
It's an Exciting World 