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Published: September 20th 2018
We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.- Jawaharial Nehru
We enjoyed a nice breakfast at Chez Momo this morning. We were served nice strong coffee and hot milk (the milk served with coffee is always hot), and freshly squeezed orange juice. Then a basket of delicious pancakes, crepes, chocolate loaf, buns with sesame seeds, and bread and olives were put on the table for two to share. What I’ve been describing as “pancakey pastry things” is what the Moroccans call crepes. They are a layered square shaped sort of, well pancakey pastry - very tasty. I like them with apricot jam. They are kind of hard to cut up so I roll them up. The pancakes I‘ve been having with honey. Then they brought a big cheese omelette for two to share. I was just going to have a little bit but it was so good I had my full half. The eggs are probably very fresh, laid by free range hens and that is why they are so good.
We paid our
Sea of taxi in Marrakech
They are beige colour. Each city has its own colour.bar bills and for the laundry we had done (we had accumulated quite a bit), and headed out about 9:15. I could have stayed here for a week, relaxing by the pool and going on walks, and enjoying our fabulous room. Chez Momo is such a great place and the area, up on the mountains, is really pretty and just very pleasant.
Today and yesterday is that Islamic holiday where people with money, including business owners, are supposed to give money to the poor. This is supposed to bless or purify the money that they have. People are supposed to give 2.5% of their available money, but Abdul said people aren’t doing this to the extent that they used to. He said there are “filthy rich” people in Morocco who don’t give at all. There was a line of villagers at the gates to Chez Momo when we left this morning, waiting for their donations from the owner. I can’t remember if I mentioned during the walk through the Berber village yesterday we ran into some girls who had small plastic drums. On this holiday the children play these drums. The girls were really cute, one was quite brave
and played for us, and the others were more shy and zipped away quickly.
Anyway, we left Chez Momo and drove back through the beautiful scenery through Asni. This time we could see the highest mountain in North Africa, Mount Toubkal (4167 metres elevation). We made a quick stop for some of our group to use the ATM, and then drove past where Abdul said Mission Impossible 5 had filmed a scene. He was with a group who had been hiking Mount Toubkal and they were held up for about an hour while they filmed. Abdul put on the Mission Impossible theme music as we passed the filming location, it was a hoot!
We continued down the windy, twisty, narrow roads, passing Tahannaout and kids on their way to school. I’ve noticed kids - boys and girls - wearing short white coats. This is their school uniform. We had a WC-coffee stop where we had another delicious coffee.
The landscape flattened out as we approached Marrakech. We passed through suburbs of Marrakech (though they are individual villages) and some nice apartments for commuters. Marrakech, Abdul informed us, is Berber for “land of God”. All of a sudden
we were at the Marrakech Medina, and we hopped out of our minibus and bade Lahssan goodbye, as he will not be continuing with us to Essaouira. We are all sad to say good bye as he was such a fantastic driver, and such a nice man. Our luggage, which had mysteriously increased in size, was loaded onto carts and we walked through the narrow streets to our riad, Riad Nesma. It is a lovely riad and we have a cute room, not the palatial size of our room at Chez Momo, but very nice. Plus there are numerous electrical outlets, and the icing on the cake, the shower head is affixed at an angle so you can actually stand under the shower and not have to hold the hand held shower head. Yay!
We were served Moroccan mint tea, and some cookies, and given our room assignments, but since we had arrived about 11 am, our rooms wouldn’t be ready for a couple of hours. We met our local guide, also Abdul, so we called him Abdul 2, and headed out for our exploration of the Medina. It was sunny and sweltering hot. At first I thought the
streets in the Medina were quite spacious, compared to Fes, but they soon narrowed and became very crowded. There are no donkeys carrying goods in the Marrakech Medina, but there are lots of motorbikes, so you have to keep your eyes open, and stay to the right. The Medina is just as crazy as Fes, packed with teeny shops of all kinds. The motorbikes race through the narrow crowded streets. We made our way to the Photography Museum, which was located in a beautifully restored riad. It houses black and white photographs from the late 1800s to the 1950s. I bought a t-shirt with one of the photographs on it, of a young Arab woman taken in 1926.
We made a stop at a place called Dar Bellarj, which was previously a stork hospital. Yes, you read that right, a stork hospital. It is now a cultural centre, displaying women’s art. It is also located in a beautifully restored riad.
We walked through the areas where leather goods and and brass goods are manufactured, and eventually made our way to the Secret Garden, which is an oasis of calm in the zaniness of the Medina. We wandered around
Medina shop
We took the photo for the name - similar to Susan’s name. the gardens for about 1/2 hour, and Barb said it reminded her of the Alhambra. I sat down for awhile in the shade, because I was really feeling the heat by this point. It was about 2:30 by the time we left the garden, and we walked out of the souk to a restaurant, thankfully air conditioned, for lunch. Some of our group set off on their own, and we (Susan and I, Matt and Nicole, Jeff and Cathy) went with Abdul for lunch at La Table de la Koutoubia, located very close to the Koutoubia Mosque. The heat had taken away my appetite, so I just ordered a really tasty mixed fruit smoothie, but I ended up sharing Susan‘s salad. I perked up considerably in the air conditioning of the restaurant.
We walked back to Riad Nesma, through the main square, Djemaa el-Fna, which is at least a 10 minute walk away. We stopped at a shop to pick up some cold tonic water. Djemaa el-Fna is pretty tame during the day, but at night apparently comes alive. We shall see tonight as we are going for dinner in the square.
After checking out our room, we
went upstairs to the roof terrace where there is a small pool, and had a refreshing dip. It sure was nice after all the walking in the heat of the Medina. Then we came back to the room and had a gin and tonic while I’ve been working on the blog. It’s time to get ready for dinner so I’ll sign off for now.
Ps, just a quick note after dinner. We walked to the square and found it transformed. What is fairly empty space during the day gets filled up with food booths and rows of tables. We went to #117, where the men working there sang us a welcoming song, and we all sat down at a long table. Each couple shared a big variety of small plates including bread and olives, cooked vegetables (eggplant, green pepper and a potato cake), Moroccan salad, veggies and couscous, chicken and beef skewers (charbroiled veggies - tomatoes, onions, and green pepper - for the vegetarians). It was tasty, and fun to eat in the square. We wandered back to our riad, and now to bed. We will have another exciting day in Marrakech tomorrow. 😊
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Faye
non-member comment
Inside the riad
So beautiful!