MARRAKECH, MOROCCO

After a six hour train ride from Sacile to Milan and a 3 hour flight, we arrived in Marrakech! We were planning to meet up and stay with Nick's Aunt Blandine, Uncle Doug and Claudie. We didn't see any of them when we arrived, so we decided to rent a car and see if we could at least drive to a place with internet to get in touch with them. After purchasing our rental car, of course ...we spotted them. Luckily, Blandine worked her magic with some negotiating and we were able to return the rental car. She was adamant that we return the rental car because driving in Moroccan traffic is unlike anything I've ever seen. It is organized chaos. Try combining horse drawn carriages, bicycles, families of 3 on mopeds, motorcycles, speeding cars, trucks piled high with junk on a winding narrow street that's supposed to be one-way while pedestrians and children are weaving past your car and you get Moroccan traffic. Utter chaos. I must say that Blandine is one of the best drivers I have ever seen. She can weave through the traffic effortlessly while staying calm and keeping her passengers safe and comfortable. It is truly a gift! Within 20 minutes we arrived to what we would call home for the next 6 days - the "humble" Merran abode.

I think I'll stay a while...

Not too shabby, huh?

Spring has definitely sprung in Morocco! They had some of the heaviest rains in history this past winter, so the flowers were in full bloom!

Don't I look right at home? :)

I don't think Nick liked being on vacation...:P

It was really hard being there for a week. :)

After having breakfast and going for a swim in the morning, we headed up to the Atlas mountains for drinks at Ramoutcho Hotel. It's an beautiful old hotel that is usually packed, but luckily we beat the crowds.

We sat out under the umbrellas with our drinks and enjoyed the somewhat cooler weather and the view.

I think this is the only picture I got with all 5 of us.

On our way back down the mountain I sat in the front seat and tried snapping some photos of the little towns we went through as we whizzed by...

The poppies were out in full bloom!

I wanted to take home all of the pottery!

For lunch, we headed to the elegant Fellah Hotel.

The gardens at the Fellah Hotel are more like herb gardens. 

Look at all that fresh mint! I am going to try and replicate the fresh mint and jasmine tea we had while we were there. It was deeeelish!

Everything in the Fellah Hotel was classy and elegant except this - a shrine for Arnold! Haha!

Yum. Fresh rosemary right behind me on the patio where we ate lunch. It smelled so good!

Did you know that Coke is sold in every country but two? Can you name the two??

As you can tell from the photo, the conversation was delightful. :) The internet wasn't working at the house, so we took advantage of any place with free wifi. "Lovely eating lunch with you all," Uncle Doug jokingly said, as we were all gazing at our phones and ipads. :)

After lunch, Blandine drove us into the city to see her favorite Souk. We passed this arch, Bab Agnaou, which is one of nineteen gates in the Medina, but the only stone gate. 

The souk sat us down, gave us tea, and a 5 minute talk on some of his new spices, oils and herbs. I bought some fun things including argon oil, sandalwood soap, and pumas stones.

Here's a few pics of the traffic I mentioned earlier on our drive home! :)

Koutoubia Mosque in the heart of Marrakech. There are no other buildings in Morocco that are as tall as that tower because you can't build anything taller than the tallest palm tree. The prayers rang out 5 times during the day.

Blandine pulled to the side of the road and Uncle Doug got out and bought some delicious macaroons. I love this picture of Uncle Doug. He's so cute. This is also where I realized that I had to be very careful taking photos of people. Most people did not want their pictures taken. You have to be discrete if you do.

We also passed by the Badii Palace that's known for having storks nesting on top of the ruins. 

There are walls around the entire Medina and you get to drive right under them! The street has traffic that flows both ways, but they all get to pass through this arch. Gives new meaning to bottleneck traffic. Can you imagine having something like this in the States? No thanks!

The next day Blandine left, so Uncle Doug, Claudie, Nick and I headed out to Jemaa el Fna (J'maf na) with Ali, the butler/chauffeur. Jemaa el Fna is the center square in Marrakech just south of the souks.

Here's Ali and Nick walking through Jemaa el Fna in the scorching heat. I still can't believe that some of the women were covered head to toe in clothing. I understand it's for religious purposes, but they were wearing GLOVES in 100 degree weather! It must have been so hot!

The view of the Mosque tower from Jemaa el Fna

We wanted to get a better view of the square and cool off, so we went up a level to Cafe Glacier.

There were stray cats everywhere! I wanted to take them all home!

We took a quick walk through the souks because it was overwhelming. There were so many beautiful colors! It was a total sensory overload. The men would stand outside of their shops and yell at you to get you to see their products. 

Next we went to a local spot called Amahane for lunch.

We got to pick out our meat, and they cooked it right there. 

After going back to the house and cooling off for a bit, we headed to the classy Mamounia Hotel. It was built back in 1923. Winston Churchill was apparently a regular guest.

They had 17 acres of beautiful gardens.

For dinner we ate at La Raffia for a traditional Moroccan meal. I had couscous with onions and raisins. (It was delicious!) And Nick had lamb cooked in a tajine.

Yum!

Over the next few days I was working through what people were calling the "Marrakech mess", so I didn't get out as often as I had hoped. I have a few random photos from a few small excursions.

Above is the Royal Theatre.

This isn't the greatest photo, but I wanted to remember the name of this place. The Complexe d'artisana was a warehouse with items that were a fixed price. You could buy anything and everything!

I felt so bad for the animals in Morocco. They all looked overworked and underfed. This little donkey had his hooves tied together so he couldn't go very far.

There were sheep and goats all over the outskirts of town.

A couple of the nights we had a few friends come over. We swam and played card games in the cool evenings. Couldn't have asked for better nights!

On Sunday, Nick had to head back to Italy for work. I tried to take advantage of the one day I had left. I headed over to Hotel Du Golf to stay with our friends. By noon we were ready to head out to the city.

We first stopped by a place called Marjane. It was the Wal Mart of Morocco. They even had a McDonoalds inside.

Then we headed back to the center of Marrakech to do some more sightseeing.

I think this is the only picture I have of Corrie, Lizzie, and me. The three of us learned very quickly how important it was to have a male with us. We (actually mostly Corrie seen in the middle) got all kinds of offers from men, if you know what I mean.

I couldn't help but stare at this woman when I saw her walk by. (and apparently others couldn't help it either) I tried to be somewhat respectful in the clothing I chose to wear. With a few exceptions, I had my shoulders and knees covered. This woman was practically wearing her underwear!

They had stands in Jemaa el Fna with cold, fresh squeezed orange juice. We chose the stand that had the quietest workers. Most of them would shout at you to get your attention. Unfortunately for them, it doesn't work on any of us. It made me wonder if it does work on anyone.

We headed back into the souks to see what we could find. I found a cute kitten I wanted to take home. :)

While the men (yes, the men) were shopping for rugs, the ladies took a quick break to put our feet up. I went to the top of the rug souk and got a picture of the top of the souks. It's hard to tell from the photo, but there were satellites covering the rooftops.

The rugs were beautiful, and realllly comfortable! I made myself right at home.

Next Corrie, Lizzie, and I headed to a henna cafe. We couldn't help but pet every kitten we saw along the way.

This place was a little off the beaten path, but totally worth it. Lizzie found it on Trip Advisor. All profits went to those in need in Morocco. We drank mint tea, had a little snack, and Corrie got a henna tattoo.

They also had a turtle named Terry on the top floor. Who else can say they fed a turtle in Morocco??

Terry the Turtle

Next we headed back over to the D'Artisana to get a few last things...I had been trying all week to take a photo of the families of 3, 4, or even 5 on a moped. This was the best shot I could get.

We found a few interesting things while we were at the Complexe D'artisana including Herpes Tester for your lips! Haha! Um, no thanks!

While the others continued to shop, I went outside and took a few photos...

That night was the last opportunity I would get to go to the night market. Rachel, one of the other wives, met up with me and we headed out. I realized very quickly that I was grateful she was there with me. The square was packed with people and performers. I don't have many photos of that night because if you take a photo of ANYTHING the performers and want money for it; they will come chasing after you if you don't pay. I tried to get pictures from farther away.

Rachel bought some treats from this booth, so the souk didn't mind me taking photos. He was quite the flirt. He kept telling me I had beautiful eyes, and a beautiful smile to get me to buy something. It didn't work, but I much preferred that to the angry souks. :)

This was one of the few places you could take a picture without people running after you. They were fishing for soda bottles!

I also saw many storytellers, men dressed as women, a man selling kittens and chicks, and acrobats. What I am still baffled by is that there weren't any women gathered around the performers; there were only men. Rachel and I tried a few times, but felt uncomfortable, so we moved on pretty quickly.

While walking through the square I could smell all the good food being served in these little booths. Men will stand in front of me and hold their menu up to my face, even after I repeatedly told them NO. A couple of them would grab my arm or shoulder to get me to go to their booth. I also had a kid try and grab my rear. I couldn't tell if he was trying to cop a feel or if he was looking for money. My guess was leaning more towards "looking for money" because there were much better looking rears to grab! Haha! He must have been pretty desperate either way! :P

The night market was definitely worth a visit. Morocco was beautiful! There's so much more that I want to do there! Hopefully, we'll get another chance to go back before we leave Italy.