Marrakech & the Oukira Valley

Saturday September 11th - Tuesday September 14th

I'm not sure anything quite prepares you for Marrakech and especially Jemaa El Fna -- the  enormous and chaotic public square, complete with snake charmers, monkey trainers, fortune tellers, vendors of spices and the best fresh squeezed orange juice,  surrounded by the endless narrow, winding streets of souks. At night it turns into one big alfresco dining hall  where you can sit down at one of hundreds of tables, make your selection and have dinner cooked right before you.

Before arriving our group stopped outside the medina to visit gardens created  by the artist Jaques Majorelle  and now funded by a bequest from Yves St Laurent.  It's a tranquil oasis that includes gigantic bamboo, the most amazing cactus plants and water lilies.
And in the midst of all this greenery,  small buildings  of brilliant blue and yellow along with colorful pottery.  No wonder Yves St Laurent loved this place so much  he had his ashes buried here.






Marrakech was incredibly hot, but our guide said it was nothing compared to the 122 degrees of the   previous week.  Still, we somehow managed to see the official sights including the opulent tombs of the 15th century Saadian  rulers where the men and children were buried in separate buildings from the women.  But, it was the souks -- selling everything from clothing and jewelry to pottery and produce--that were the highlight.  When the sun begins to set, that's when the action really starts.

The next morning it was out to the Oukira Valley in  the foothills of the Atlas Mountains.  We visited a small village and  spent time with a local family learning  more about their daily lives.  Among the household residents were a cow and chicken who had their own place within the living quarters.   At the end of our visit, we were given  a demonstration of how the traditional Moroccan mint tea is prepared--you would not believe the amount of sugar they use-- which was served accompanied by bread, jam and the butter they had just made.

I decided to stay another two days in Marrakech and was lucky enough to find the Riyad El Cadi.  It's hard to believe that amidst the chaos of the medina, you could find such tranquility.  Over the next two days, Julia and her staff (she's the the owner) made me as if I were a guest in a private home.   The riyad is actually Julia's family home--her father had been a diplomat in Morocco--and is filled with antique pottery and weavings from Morocco.   Julia, not only arranged for a porter to "pick me up" in  the central square, she also had him escort me to and from dinner at a wonderful French-Moroccan restaurant that  I would have never found on my own.

I closed out my visit with dinner  at La Mamounia  which had been Winston Churchill's favorite hotel.   The food was great and the gardens amazing.  If you're in Marrakech, this should not be missed.  I think I would have liked Winston.

The next day it was back to Casablanca and my new home on the MV Explorer.  But I hope to be able to return someday to explore more  of this land "where the sun sets."  As they say in Morocco, "Inshallah."