Le Gallia Marrakech

After two days of travel to make it to Marrakech we slept late.  And then encountered our first smart @$$ in Morocco.  When we came downstairs and dropped off the key to the room - the fellow at the front desk announced, "You missed breakfast, it's served BEFORE noon."  We visited the Koutoubia Minaret and what is left of the mosque.  I was especially interested in the minaret since it is considered one of the three great Almohad towers - one of the others being the Giralda in Sevilla which I...

So after 43 hours of travel - including a whirlwind stop in Washington, DC - we arrived in Marrakech, Morocco.  We flew into Casablanca and took the train straight away.  The ride through the country side was interesting - there are a lot more cactus in Morocco than I expected.  They use them to divide off property like the rock walls in Ireland:  And it got even better when the Atlas mountain range came into view.  We decided to walk to our hotel in the Old Medina (we followed Mohammed V Bou...

We enjoyed breakfast in the hotel - and you could really feel the French influence.  We had all sorts of flaky pastries and fresh fig jam.  We went off in search of the sights, which aren't all that much to see.  We visited the Almoravid Koubba - basically a very old shrine that is supposedly an example of the origins of Moroccan architecture.  More interesting were the locals gathered out front selling leather and all the other folks milling around.  We also stopped off at the Ben Youssef Me...