Morocco here we come! We flew a red eye leaving around 10:20 pm and after a layover in Dakar, we landed in Casablanca at around 7:30 am. We found the hotel that Mariame suggested and she was there to meet us around noon. How exciting to see her again! We'd worked together with All Hands & Hearts in the Philippines in 2015- eight years ago! When she talked about her home country, Morocco and how wonderful it was, she put Morocco on my bucket list. Mariame took us to many of her favorite places including the Hassan II mosque, the walkway by the ocean & the area her grandparents use to live in, now called old town. It was really special to see her face light up when she took us to see the coffee shops she use to go to with her Gpa. We went to a nice restaurant where Mariame ordered the traditional 7 vegetable couscous dish & lemon chicken for us to share. I actually really like it! Before she left, she pointed out the best place to get beignets and then we hugged hoping to meet again someday! We slept well that night after we took a hot shower & got the first layer of dirt off us. Next morning, we followed our Lonely Planet's suggested walk around the city and stopped at the first McD we'd seen since we left home. Unfortunately, they didn't have Diet Coke and the burger didn't taste like the ones at home. After we tired of walking, we hopped on the tram and rode it to the end & then back to the train station where we got our tickets for tomorrow. Finally we went to the beignet shop Mariame showed us & devoured that delicious treat. Back to our hotel, we took hot showers again…another layer of dirt gone. We called Ben & Bek's and talked to them and most of their kids. Nice ending for a great day.
Next morning, we ate our hotel breakfast & headed to the train station to catch our ride to Marrakesh. The first half hour we went through Casablanca's suburb, then about a half hour of flat, spring green crop fields. Slowly the land became more barren & shepherd with their flocks dotted the rolling scrub lands. Small villages were scattered throughout but always in clusters. We saw lots of solar panels. As we got closer to Marrakesh, there were more fields & then more housing. When we arrived, we only had to wait an hour before we meet with our Airbnb host. It was an easy walk from the train station. We were settled in shortly and headed to Djemaa El Fna and the Medina maze. It was a humongous market surrounding a huge square. In the center of the square, crowds gathered around snake charmers, musicians, tarot card readers & sadly monkeys on leashes. The markets were a never ending maze with an overwhelming amount of things for sale. It was a bit too much for us! We stopped to share a sharks sandwich & Rog also got another unknown sandwich which he of course, loved. When we could walk no longer, we spent quite a bit of time trying to find our way out of the maze. We made it back to our airbnb in time to do a bit of wash, call Jake and then finally get to bed.
We got up early the next morning so we could get into Jardin Majorelle. When we got there, we found out you could only purchase tickets online & had to have the phone number associated with your credit card to pay…which we didn't. Luckily, some kind UK girls took my phone, punched in the info and included their credit card number & phone number, then air dropped our tickets to my Books app. We handed them cash to pay for the tickets & a bit more. They saved the day! Since our tickets were for 4:30, we found a place to eat breakfast and then we headed for the Bahia Palace. It was spectacular with intricate hand laid tiles & wood carvings. Next we wandered through more souqs (markets) until at last we found a Saadian Sultan's tomb. Impressive. It was time to head back to Jardin Majorelle and get in line to get in. It was a lush garden filled with plants from all over the world. So many were blooming...even cactus. Roger had an idea which he passed on to Lucas:
#1 Tourist draw in Marrakech is
Jardin Majorelle…
Reminds us of My Farm…
Beautiful, shady, well maintained trails winding through the garden. Benches, cafe, pools with koi, gazebos, fountains, bridges, etc. We each paid equivalent of 900 dalasi to visit and we stayed for just over 1 hour. Limited admission allowed maybe 100 to enter each hour and it was totally sold out all day. Will My Farm someday be the #1 tourist draw in The Gambia? Why not?
What an opportunity that would be to showcase the best environmental practices!
We left there and stopped at the bus station to get our tickets for tomorrow. Another full day of soaking up Marrakesh!
