Marvelous Moroccan Medinas

We arrived in Marrakesh and were surprised that it felt almost as cold as Denmark! Most places don’t have heat, so we had a bunch of blankets in our Riad (a Riad is just a house with an open middle area). Turns out it was just a cold snap, and it got nice and hot for the rest of our trip (especially in the sun!). Marrakesh feels similar to Mumbai, but the Riad is an amazing little oasis of peace.
We explored Marrakesh and went to a nearby cafe for lunch. We had some amazing sandwiches and tea while watching hawkers selling all sorts of stuff to (exclusively) tourists.

There are a ton of Europeans in Morocco, and it seems many come for shopping. That sounds like the worst vacation ever to me, but apparently it’s very popular. We’ve had to frequently explain to locals and tourists that we’re not in Morocco to buy stuff, which often doesn’t seem to compute. From the rooftop of our Riad, you can see the Atlas mountains. It’s one of the most impressive landscapes we’ve encountered. It’s relatively hot, dry and flat in Marrakesh, but the Atlas are covered in snow and dominate the eastern horizon. Went to the Secret Garden. It’s actually not very secret, but it was a cool introduction to Islamic garden design and a beautiful place to spend a couple of hours with all the water features, beautiful tiles and edible plants. Morocco is all about colors and patterns. After Marrakesh, we took a bus to the coastal city of Essaouira. We stayed in the Medina (old walled city), just like in Marrakesh. We didn’t have a ton of stuff on our itinerary, so we spent a lot of time wandering around the tiny streets. Most Medinas don’t allow cars, but Essaouira’s didn’t even allow motorcycles. It really feels like an ancient city.  Foods in Essaouira. We love the tagines, particularly the one’s with dried fruit! We’re also drinking a ton of mint tea and eating our body weight in bread.  There are a ton of stray cats throughout Morocco, most with vaccination markings. Almost no stray dogs, relative to some other countries we’ve visited. The city does seem cleaner this way; less poop and rodents. We had about 4 cats watch us eat one day, and this little kitten curled up behind Priscilla.  We hung out with a German girl from Berlin a lot of our time in Essaouira, and the three of us decided to take a cooking class. We went outside the Medina to a family’s house for it. It was different from other cooking classes in that we didn’t each make the dish. However, we had a good time making chicken, raisin, almond tagine, zaalouk (eggplant dish), and Moroccan style bread. Apparently, part of Game of Thrones was filmed in Essaouira. We haven’t seen GoT but when we get around to it, we’ll have to come back and look at our pictures to see what parts. For future reference, it was the city of Astapor. Someone told us this wall was featured. We came back here multiple times because it was a nice relaxing place to sit and watch the ocean break on the rocks. A view of the Essaouira Medina wall from the outside. The Medina is Essaouira is relatively small, but it’s still easy to get lost inside the small alleyways.  The port area was very photogenic, but it smelled something horrible.

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