Sunday, May 15, 2022

Morocco: Marrakech, Day 1: 24 Apr 2022

Customary mint tea poured high.

 What would you do if you landed in Marrakech and walked into your hotel to see this:

The Courtyard:  Pure Bliss!



Entryway to our Room!

We had to wait awhile for our room and enjoyed exploring our hotel:
Almaha Riad.  A riad is  small boutique hotel, house style popular in the olden days:  always has a courtyard (open air area-usually with a fountain) and several common rooms downstairs and bedrooms upstairs.

Lunch 

Afternoon sightseeing with our guide Mustapha included Koutoubia Mosque (non-Muslims can't go in we had to look from outside), Bahia Palace, The Djema El Fna square the "greatest spectacle on earth" with snake charmers, drummers, jugglers, a market, food, fortune tellers.

My first impression of the city, overwhelming, traffic, hustle & bustle, fights in the street!



Koutoubia Mosque is in the center of the city & you can see it from most anywhere.







Intricate wood carving - a feature of all mosques


Fountain in the center



Gorgeous tile everywhere--in the olden days Morocco's traded sugar for Italian marble.  I think the Moroccans got the better deal. 😉


This is the Djema El Fna Square.  We were warned to not take pictures as the locals get mad and demand a tip.



At the end of the day we enjoyed a glass of wine on the roof.  Some room had access to their own patio on the roof (ours didn't)


Pictures from below are day 2, when we had time to enjoy the roof after sightseeing.  Cats everywhere, this one followed us around asking for food.



Even David enjoyed the pool.  Look at the rooftops of Marrakech in the background, full of satellite dishes







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