The Interior

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This is only the briefest of outlines, I hope to have some time soon to update this. At the moment it's a bit of a rush to get packed to go off to Turkey while I'm not trying and failing to pull dead lambs out of sheep or trying to save the life of a snotty calf without a mother. Happy Easter, by the way.

There weren't any direct buses at the time I wanted from Larache to Meknes, so I thought I'd go to Rabat, see a couple of museums and get onto a bus in time to find somewhere to stay in Meknes. Safe plan, but the bus station was out of town so I didn't get to see any of Rabat and the bus from Rabat to Meknes was quite an experience. One of the many low points was the window in front of me falling out - I spotted it going (see picture for the type of window) so I grabbed hold of it. And hold it. And hold for about half an hour, because the bus driver didn't want to stop. I found a nice place to sleep but I was violently sick in the night because of a dodgy kebab I'd eaten. The next morning I met someone to share a taxi with to go to the Roman Ruins at Volubilis. They were quite impressive.

We got the train to Fes and spent the next day looking round the amazing medina - tanneries and a couple of palaces hidden away inside.

My original plan was to get a bus across the mountains to the desert, spend a day on a camel and then cross the mountains again to Marrakech. This wasn't going to work as I didn't have time, so I got the train to Marrakech. This was slightly frustrating, as for the first part of the jouriey was back towards Rabat. I didn't get off to see Casablanca: neither its mosque nor Rick's bar. I didn't have any problems finding anywhere to stay until Marrakech, where I arrived at about 9pm. Masses of students from British Universities had done a sponsored hitch hike through Europe to Morocco. However pleasant they where, the students managed to fill up all the cheap accommodation. I slept my first night on the roof - perhaps the outside air helped me fall in love with this magical city.

I spent a day wandering around the souqs with a retired truck driver from Suffolk and then went to the the amazing Cascades d'Ouzoud the next day in a taxi with some students from Leeds. We went swimming in the plunge pools and dived into some of the waterfalls - amazing.

On my last day I wandered around Marrakech some more, taking in all the entertainments and smells. I bought a fez, some babouches, a linen shirt and a scarf - all good fun bargaining. I also bargained for some amazing carpets and I'm sure I would've got 'good price' if I'd actually wanted to lug one back with me. I saw some artisans at work and then went round the Museum and the Medersa (religious school) next to it. I saw a couple of palaces, but one of the ones I really wanted to see was shut.

Got the plane back to Gatwick, got my visa sorted (my passport should arrive back safely tomorrow) and I'm off to my sister Shelagh's for Easter.

There aren't any photos in this blog yet: I suggest you go to Photobucket with the username antpitt and the password witherholme

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