Advertisement
We wake up, and breathe a sigh of relief. We don't seem to have developed food poisoning overnight. We chat over breakfast to an Italian girl called Valentina, who works with Delila to manage the Riad. I ask her if she's been to Australia, but she says she's too scared. We assume this has got something to do with the plethora of deadly snakes, spiders and crocodiles that inhabit our shores, but it seems instead that she's developed a phobia of our airports from watching the Australian version of "Border Security" on Italian TV. I wonder if any of the tourist promoters back home realise that this program is deterring potential visitors. At least this explains all the satellite dishes; they're here so that the locals can watch Italian TV. I wonder why they don't watch Moroccan TV. I'm starting to think that Moroccan TV must be really bad, and I'm not sure Italian TV can be much better if it's relying on Australian "Border Security" to attract its viewers.
Valentina tells us that the Riad is usually fully booked, except for now which is the summer low season. I get the impression she thinks we're a bit crazy for
coming here at this ridiculously hot time of the year.
We decide to be adventurous and set out for the Jardin Majorelle garden which we've heard a lot about. One of the staff from the Riad guides us to the edge of the Medina. Issy writes down landmarks we pass on the way, in the hope that we can use them to find our way back when we're on our own. Once we're outside the Medina navigation becomes a bit easier. The garden was originally built in the 1800s by a Frenchman named Majorelle, but then fell into disrepair before being restored in a project co-funded by Yves Saint-Laurent. It's very attractive and the shade makes it relatively cool. It's full of exotic plants from all over the world, including cactii, palm trees, and thick, tall green bamboo from China which looks like it would grow through the soles of your shoes if you stood still on it for more than a few seconds. We stop to admire a memorial to Yves Saint-Laurent. The garden's Berber Museum includes a room with stars on the ceilings, and mirrors on all the walls which make it look many times larger than
it really is.
We take a deep breath and head back into the Medina. Navigation goes well for a while, but then the inevitable happens - we get lost. We wander aimlessly through the maze for what seems like a very long time. We can't see any familiar landmarks, and the sun's directly overhead so we can't use that for directions. We discuss whether we should resort to the phones that the Riad gave us, but our own phones don't seem to have any reception so we're not sure why theirs would be any different. We're also wondering how the conversation might go. "Hi, we're lost"; "where are you?"; "we don't know" doesn't sound like a particularly promising start. Just as we're about to abandon hope we stumble across the door to the Riad. Disaster averted.
We have lunch on the roof terrace. It's way too hot to go out again, so we settle in for the afternoon taking occasional dips in the pool. We hear the call to prayer from the local mosque. Issy asks me what happens if a local happens to be driving when they hear this. I tell her I assume they have to
stop and start praying. She says she thinks that this might be a good time for tourists to cross the road. We've got an early start tomorrow so we decide to eat in. Issy's not happy. Her camera's died and we think its charger might still be in Malta.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.055s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 8; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0332s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb