Marrakech, Morocco

So, we went to Morocco and it was awesome. 

We flew into Casablanca, yup just like the movie (although the movie was actually filmed in Hollywood), and stayed one night there before catching a train to Marrakech. Thank goodness, because the place we stayed at in Casa was a bit on the dumpy side. 

When we made it to Marrakech, it was much better. Our Riad was so nice and the city was a lot of fun. Riads are old traditional Moroccan homes that are turned into Bed and Breakfasts. It was so fun! Our shower was gorgeous, and there was a beautiful center atrium with an unheated pool (did not deter Chad though) and breakfast table. It was a great place to stay!

Our first night in Marrakech we went to the Medina and had dinner out on the square Jemma el-Fna. Chad's meat skewers were delicious and Emily's veggie couscous was just what she needed for her upset tummy.

The Riad also had birds and turtles.

We enjoyed the Cyber Park and it was the perfect garden for Lincoln to run and play in. He especially loved the fountains.

We saw this pretty Mosque! It is right near the Cyber Park and then we kept walking and found...

Camels!!!!!!

Yes, real camels walking through a real olive garden in Africa! Let's just say it was so cool. The ride was bumpy. If you ask Lincoln he'll tell you how the camel was dancing and eating flowers. He'll also share about how the camel did not eat his shoe. They were well behaved camels.

"I kissed the camel!"

After camel riding, we walked to the Menara, built in the 12th century, which was a pretty building with a nice pond. We looked up what is was after our visit there. It's some place where Sultans would meet. Pretty cool. Also, they apparently used to throw people off this balcony into the water.

We visited the Ben Youssef Madrasa on the next day. There were tons of gorgeous tiled mosaics, wooden and marble carvings, and archways. It was so pretty! This is an old sort of Muslim boarding school and is the largest Madrasa in Morocco.

After seeing the Madrasa some shopkeeper wanted to show us his scarves and wrapped us up. It was pretty funny! 

Let's talk food. Tajines are pottery dishes that they cook meals in. They are usually some sort of meat or sauce that you eat with bread. There is also a lot of freshly squeezed delicious orange juice. There are orange trees everywhere, so the juice is abundant. We ate a lot of sandwiches, breads, french fries, omelets, Moroccan crepes, garbanzo beans (chick peas)............

Tajines are so yummy!

On our last day in Marrakech we took a taxi to the Atlas mountains. This taxi had over 650,000 kilometers on it and no seat belts. We are so glad we made it to and from the mountains safely!!

We had a guide help us hike to this waterfall. He carried Lincoln most of the way and helped Emily climb up and down all the rocks we traversed. He was so nice and we would not have been able to get there without him.

Of course there were shops all along the path up to the waterfall. Chad and Emily bought bracelets. Chad's bracelet has his symbol on it (he is sort of vain) and Emily's says "forever" in Arabic. They are pretty cool souvenirs!

We give Marrakech a hearty thumbs up! We enjoyed it and it sure was relaxing!

P.S. Stay tuned for another post about Fes and Casablanca. We have hundreds of photos, but we won't subject you to that; just the highlights.