Riad Dar Beldia Marrakech

Situé en plein coeur de la médina, à quelques pas du port et de la plage, le Riad Chakir Mogador est le lieu privilégié de votre escale à Essaouira.


Cette maison d'hôtes, entièrement restaurée dans le pur respect des traditions et de l'architecture ...

... will know exactly what I’m talking
about. Funny but also can be a bit much. Today it was ok…even though I’m sure
he was offering to sell me at one point.

We found Shane
again and had lunch at a restaurant on the edge of the market square. Lots of
cats paraded under foot and it was interesting there were very few dogs around.
Just cats. Different to other places like Asia and Mexico.

There were
additions to the market square – ...

From the fun flats of Marrakech...we made our way to the High Atlas mountains for well...mountains of magnificent hiking and views.

Jebel Toubkal stands at 4200m above sea level and at that is the highest most point in northern Africa and also a bit of a mission! We made it up the mighty mountain in a few days and did some sleeping, sun burning and Scrabble in there as well. An absolutely incredible adventure!

Back down and all set to embark on a road trip to Fez!

XXX

... reminds me of India and all the experiences i had there that live on in my mind but it is an odd amalgamation of the western and traditional. The main square is a magical place where all is alive by night and oh so chilled and interesting in the day.

We did a couple of days exploration of all it had to offer and then onwards AND upwards...

XXX

... But coins are useless to me; you can’t exchange them. In fact, you cannot exchange Durhams for Euros once you leave. So a little boy was at the right spot at the right time. Connection. (Susan said a man watched all this and said “Thanks” to her. Ha.)

The rest of the day was spent in the Marrakesh airport, in the air, riding various trains, metros and buses in Madrid, and taking a walk through central ...

... ask if you may take a picture, the answer is almost certainly no. If you get a yes, it is because you've asked if they'd mind. If you ask why, they will tell you, it is against their religion. This is hard to argue against. However, one thing would easily change everything: Lots of people will ask for money if you want to take a picture. Maybe I just misunderstood, did they say it's the prophet or the profit that matters?

... run the trip. For my birthday we planned a trip out but ended up cancelling. So I spent my birthday on my own by the pool trying to indulge in the fact that I was not at work.... pretty grim place overall really. Perhaps the rest of Morocco is different but I certainly wouldn't recommend stayin a week in Marrakech as it's too hot, too dusty, too hassley and there is just nothing to do.... which for me just doesn't cut it!

... e nós nem sequer pensamos no que
vemos em relação a higiene.
O souk (mercado) um autentico labirinto,
vielas que para mim ao principio eram dúbias, deixaram de o ser ao fim
de umas horas...são um povo simpático e afável. O roubo é pena capital.
As lutas de boxe em plena praça, os encantadores de serpentes, as tatuagens, todo um comercio.
Oukmaiden
uma estancia de Ski em pleno Alto Atlas, um ar frio mas puro, pouca
neve, subimos aos 3 ...

In the last few days we have: - done a caliche ride round the old Medina - ate at a wonderful restaurant called Al Fassia (highly recommended, beautiful food an great service). - down a rooftop bus tour around Marrakech, throught he Palmeries, where we saw lots of camels and the most amazing houses and buildings. - went to the shop with 100000 spices. - visited the Saudian tombes, Palais Bahia, and the Medersa. - Ate a another great restaurnat ...

... of French than me. It is his first test as such, as Western Europe doesn't qualify as exotically challenging. My mindset is more of "this country better not be like frickin' Egypt" as we toddle off to find a taxi. I am stuck with only a bare few French words plus the lyrics to 'Lady Marmalade' as the only local language skills I have, unless you also include 'hello' and 'thank you' in Arabic. The first taxi gets rejected by me as too costly, the hardened veteran walking ...