We'll be back to Morocco - Insha'Allah

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From the moment we stepped off the plane, Marrakech was one of those cities where we were transported in time, culture, spirituality, where we lost all sense of the outside world, where we were absolutely charmed by strangers.

Marrakesh was founded by the Berber leader, Youssef BEN TACHFINE who came from the desert with his tribe, Sanhaja. Marrakesh is a dramatic contrast: The modern city is surrounded with beautiful gardens and the Medina, old part of the city, is one of the most fascinating sites in Morocco, albeit a little chaotic in parts!

Day one we spent exploring the sights, souks (markets), smells and sounds of Marrakech in the swealtering African sun. Marrakech is famous for its spices and potions. The photo of Alison, myself and the spice man is good example of the array of spices on offer, it was absolutely extraordinary. We even tried an age-old potion (see photo of Suse) supposedly to cure almost everything (upset stomachs, headaches, sinuses and smoking just to name a few!). Surprisingly, it seemed to work so we decided to buy some and thankfully got it all the way home through London customs so we have it to enjoy for life (the man said the 50grams we bought will outlast us!).

By night, there we were, 3 Aussie lassies being eyed off by donkeys and mules, surrounded by Moroccan men trying to sell us slippers, whilst in ore of the snakecharkers and storey tellers in the main square, Djamaa El Fna. Cous cous, tagines, lamb, chicken, slads, kebabs, breads, were just some of the cusine which we sampled that night from the local food vendors (see photos).

Day two we were game enough to spend a day trekking through the High Atlas mountains, dwarfed by snow capped mountains, smelling the fresh mountain air, with Muslim prayer calls echoing in the valley...this tranquility only momentarily interruped when our berber guide, Ibrahim's mobile rang 2000 mtrs high into the mountains - I kid you not!! Ibrahim's berber village put lunch on for us, see the photo of the amazing tagine (note - for any lucky guests coming over for a moroccan inspired dinner at ours, this is what our tagine is meant to look like!!).

That night we had a quick transition from intrepid traveller to high socialite when we had a night out at Le Comptior, one of the finer restaurants in Marrakech. The waiter was surprised by our rather large order for 3 tagines, cous cous and breads between 3 of us. I think the usual would be 2 of those 5 dishes. Luckily we had digested our feast before the belly dancers came out as there were some serious shaking, vibrating and jirating happening on tables all around us!!

If anyone needs a recommendation on accomodation for Marrakech, I can highly recommend Riad Dar Anika. Riads are traditional Moroccan guesthouses centred around a garden and their walls provide an oasis from the hussle and bussle of down town Marrakech which is only metres away. An idea of our stay - we were served our breakfast of local breads, jams, fruit and yoghurt (and Moroccan tea) on the roof terrace which looked out over the main street, afternoons would be spent in the hamman (Moroccan steam room) followed by a dip in our pool in the foyer (see photo). Tough life!

I had very high hopes for North Africa and Marrakech did not disappoint. It really was brilliant.

Lib xx

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