The sun rises on a new day as we leave the tranquility of the countryside behind for the glitz and glamour of the big city.
Our journey today takes us over the High Atlas Mountains through curvy roads, testing the skill of our driver. Fortunately, Mohammed is up to the task.
After several hours and a couple of rest stops, the city comes into view. Mostafa puts on the Crosby, Stills and Nash recording to welcome us as we immerse ourselves in yet another new culture.
We are in another guest house, the Riad da Vinci. It’s charming but there are many floors, no elevator, and is not convenient to the City Center. Mostafa leads us through the winding alleyways of the medina. We tromp up three flights of steep stairs to the rooftop terrace, where we have a delicious lunch. We are given our room assignments and time to settle in. I am in bleu, on the patio / poolside level, two flights down from the roof. The rooms have names, not numbers. Each room is different.
I like my room. The plugs are convenient to the bed and I can open the shutters to see the pool area. I settle in and watch the live stream of the queen’s funeral..
We leave for the Secret Garden at 5:30 , about a ten minute walk through the souk, and spend time there and later walk on to explore the food market stalls for dinner.
As it turns out, there’s a spot at the beautiful secret garden for drinks and we can order alcohol! Ann and I order a Casablanca beer, perfect on a warm day. The weather has been perfect, by the way.
We’re given time to wander the gardens.
Mostafa knows a guy who makes the best nougat in town…we taste. Many of us buy.
Our street food consists of harissa soup, a specialty we’ve had before, followed by the sweet dessert. that accompanies it. I forgot the name of it. Another stall offers us a hard boiled egg sandwich with olive oil. I get a quarter sandwich. We taste perfect calamari rings. We finish off with ginsing tea – not at all to my liking. Mostafa touts the health benefits. Ann described it as tasting like cough syrup.
We finish our exploration by riding home in tuk tuk vehicles Each car holds four passengers. We find the street leading to our riad by the presence of Mama Kitty and her babies cuddled up in a pot.
Time for bed. More explorations and adventures in Marrakesh will continue..
We have three days here, then many of us (Ann and me included) return to Casablanca and fly home. Others will continue to the Atlantic coast for the post tour with one more week of exploration. It’s sad that we are almost done with our Moroccan adventure.