Wallamble

A black bear was found today hanging out in the tree at our local library

Interestingly, he would have had to walk almost past our house on his way from the reservation to the library…gosh wouldn’t it have given you a fright if you’d seem him!

🙂

Awards…

• Best navigator – dad – with a data card he truely can take us anywhere!
• Best walker – Eli – no complaints and even in pretty shoes!
• Most adventurous food lover – Lach “the weetbix man” has become the “Lamb Tangine & banana king”!

Next time we need another week so that we can hang out and relax on the beach to recover but it truely was an amazing trip 🙂

After a crazy night last night we slept in.
Then it was go go go! The craziness didn’t stop – even in the final hours…

The final Moroccan breakfast for E&B (N and Lachie could not face another Moroccan breakfast and so chose to kindly pack (N!) and play Minecraft (L!).

With 35 minutes to spare there was time for a final  quick dash into the markets within the medina. The boys went for bananas for our monkey man and to get cash out, whilst the girls did the important stuff and attempted to do a little shopping. With only limited success, it was time to start our trip home.

First to our Riad to settle our bill, say a huge thank you to Lahcen and Mohamed for all their help and hospitality and to grab our bags.

Then a dash through the medina with our blond hair and wheely bags (must have been quite a sight!).

Then haggling for a taxi and ending up in a petite taxi which is only meant to carry 3 people – let alone 4 people, three wheely bags and carry on bags.

We jumped in – only to find a road construction truck had parked our taxi in. A little patience whilst drivers were found and vehicles rearranged.

Then we were off! Only to be pulled over by a police officer for having 4 people in a 3 person taxi. Fortunately the policeman was dealing with another car first, so after waiting a few minutes the taxi driver took off anyway…eek! he has to sort that out later 😦

Then we reached the entrance to the airport and its car park, only for the taxi to stop. Time to get out???

A dash through the airport car park as the taxi driver refused to pull up at the terminal with 4 people in a  3 person car lest he get a fine.

We checked in, went through security and immigration all pretty quickly by international standards 🙂

Over due for western food we had pizza and then boarded our flight to Casablanca…now nothing to do for an hour but chill aboard our flight 🙂

Luckily it was smooth sailing from there.

We flew Marrakesh to Casablanca.
We flew Casablanca to New York.
We spend an hour and a half in immigration and customs (the computers were down).
It took almost two hours to drive home from JFK.

Luckily…
The flights were on time 🙂
All (including the big ones!) behaved extremely well 🙂
All was well when we finally arrived home 🙂
It was a smooth end to a wonderful holiday 🙂

Today the aim – was to enjoy the wonderful sights, sounds and people of Marrakesh!

First up breakfast…yummo! a traditional Moroccan breakfast.
(check out poor Lachie’s face – he is over Moroccan pancakes by now and ready to get back to his weetabix!)

We headed out of the medina

Saadian Tombs

a walk through the Jewish quarter

Then Palais Badii

Home for a rest

Lunch at Rotisserie de La Paix in La Ville Novelle
(where Eli & Lachie got chased (happily) by a goose)

Through the brightly coloured serenity in Le jardin majorelle with its Yves Saint Laurent memorial

A caleche (horse-drawn carriage) back to Jemaa El Fna (the main square)

through the streets of the ville novelle in Marrakesh (new town)
(notice the last one where it has a speaker in the tower of the medina – this is where those 5am calls come from!)

A wander around the Jemaa El Fna square past the stalls and snake charmers to get a little henna work done for Eli
(yes – it looks nothing like its picture – and to think we have it for three weeks!)

and through the souks of the medina, back to the hotel with a mohito (or two…) by the pool.

then a crazy crazy rush to get to the Fantasma – the spectacular of local dance and horseman ship….first stop through Ali Barber’s cave

First we got to meet the team demonstrating the traditional music and outfits from regions around Morocco.

In the spirit of sharing Lachie show-cased a little NJ style break dancing…

Then there was the horsemanship show that included belly dancers and a flying carpet!

After telling us we had to be there at 8:30pm, the show didn’t start until 10:45pm and we were in the car post-show headed home at 11:30pm…as E+L put it there was a whole lot of waiting…it was interesting to see but we certainly wouldn’t recommend this as a highlight of Marakesh.

Another interesting day 🙂

After waking up in our serene oasis in Ouarzazate, we had a traditional Moroccan breakfast

Then off we went.

First stop in Ouarzazaate (the Moroccan Hollywood – or Molly wood as we like to call it!)

was Taourirt Kasbah (which is on the 50 Dirham note)

Musee de Cinema- for a fun look at some of the props and sets from movies filmed in the area…

Past all the film studios

To view AIt Benhaddou, the stunning UNESCO listed kasbah

and the typical roadside stalls

Through the super-steep super-windy and picturesque Tizi-n-Tichka pass

where we stopped midway at a local BBQ restaurant.

Precariouly we chose our pieces of meat – a mixture of lamb and beef. Which they then cooked for us and we happily ate it. It was not the best meal we’d had, but it was a fun experience! Except for poor Eli who was a little under the weather due to either the high altitude or the twisty-windy mountian roads.

Further through the High atlas mountains and the scenic Tizi-n-tichka passand past the Berber villages

Late afternoon we arrived at our riad in the medina in Marrakesh where we will spend our final two nights.(Lachie was chuffed to be thrown in with the luggage!)

After being greeted by tea and cakes, we rested briefly in our room before heading deeper into the medina, past the souks

to Jemaa El Fna to check out the main square

before a yummy traditional Moroccan dinner at La Salama watching the sun set

before heading home back through the square, past the souks, to a well earned night sleep 🙂

Up at sunrise, to watch the sun rise over the desert and see the colour of the sand change…

Pack up the tent and breakfast

Back on the camels (jimmy hendrix & Bob Marley) for the 75 minute ride back to Merzouga

where we had a little more breakfast and changed at a beautiful hotel on the edge of the dunes

and jumped back in the car

past wild camels

we stopped to try camel milk in Rissani
(it didn’t get a very positive response from anyone)

Along the road of a thousand kasbahs in the Dades valley

Todra gorge

Lunch at Tinerhir at La Petite Gorge where we had Berber pizza with our tangine.

Views seen along the way

Through Kelaat Mgouna  and the valley of the roses.

Amongst the Palmerie at Skoura for a quick walk

On to our hotel in Ouarzazate. A serene little paradise after the craziness of the drive.
We attempted a swim at the hotel but it was a little too cold.

Dinner at the hotel whilst we watched the sun set.

Another awe-filled day 🙂

Some cool signs we saw on this trip…