#20 Marrakesh
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| I wouldn't mind moving in to Palais Bahia, Marrakesh... |
Day 1 - Saturday, November 10
[Arrival at RAK airport, a first walk through the medina, and dinner at Dar Jaguar]
The first day we couldn't wait to get to our lovely home for the week, Dar Jaguar, and then get out into the medina to explore! So many bright colors and delicious smells awaited us as we wandered around for our first taste of Morocco. A theme of the trip immediately became taking pictures of cats and colorful doors.
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| The courtyard of Dar Jaguar, our home base for the week |
We also quickly learned that Fatiha, the on site manager of our riad, was an amazing cook! We kicked off a week of eating very well with lamb and veggie tagines and Moroccan wine on the rooftop at sunset.
Day 2 - Sunday, November 11
[Cultural tour of the Medina and visit to Dar El Bacha Musée des Confluences]
During the morning, our cultural guide Hamsa walked us through the medina, pointing out sights like tagine stands (chicken with preserved lemons is the local dish), the hammam water heating room where locals drop off tagines to cook in the fires, the major mosques and palaces, communal bread ovens, and the best pomegranate juice stands. We also popped into Dar El Bacha, a lovely former palace that is now also an art museum.
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| Dar El Bacha |
Day 3 - Monday, November 12
[Tea at La Mamounia, food tour, and carpet lesson and shopping at Nomad Carpet Store]
On Monday, we spent another day dedicated to exploring Marrakesh. First, the group headed to La Mamounia, another former palace that was converted into one of the world's top hotels. We toured the lobby and gardens and enjoyed some classic Moroccan mint tea on the terrace.
Then, we headed to the food stalls of Mechoui Alley off of the main square Jemaa el-Fnaa to sample mechoui, a whole roast lamb eaten seasoned only with a sprinkle of salt and cumin and eaten with our hands!
The next course was a huge homemade seafood pastilla served in a local home. A pastilla is phyllo dough wrapped around a savory filling like chicken or vegetables that is then often topped with cinnamon sugar for a sweet-savory combo. This seafood version was all savory with a bit of a spicy kick and filled with calamari, shrimp, white fish, and vermicelli - so delicious!
With very full bellies, we headed to Les Nomades de Marrakech for carpet shopping with some complimentary sweet Moroccan mint tea. They pulled out dozens of rugs to show us the different styles. The one I chose was a Berber design from Taznakht in the High Atlas Mountains - at first sight, I loved the warm colors and the different symbols of protection within it. After everyone in the group made their purchases, the staff surprised us by inviting musicians to join us. We all danced along and tried our skill at spinning their hat tassels around!
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| Me with my Berber rug purchase! |
Day 4 - Tuesday, November 13
[Day Trip to Ouarzazate to see Ben Ait Haddou and Atlas Film Studios]
Our full day trip to Ouarzazate (near where my rug is from!) involved a four hour drive up and over the High Atlas Mountains, moving from 68 degree weather to freezing snow capped mountain peaks and then back down into the sunny desert on the other side. We stopped at an overlook point to see the UNESCO World Heritage site Aït Benhaddou, a fortified kasbah complex that served as a stopping point for traders going between Marrakesh and the Sahara.
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| Snow at the top of the Atlas Mountains |
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| View to Aït Benhaddou |
We did a quick stop in Ourazazate city itself to see the Taourit Kasbah. The city hosts a lot of filmmaking business, of course, but is also a key tourist stop on the way to doing tours across the Sahara desert. Around 5pm, the group drove home back across the mountains with the added thrill of darkness descending on the winding switchbacks!
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| Kasbah Taourirt in Ourazazate |
Day 5 - Wednesday, November 14
[Visit to the Jardin Majorelle and a Moroccan Cooking lesson at La Maison Arabe]
Back in Marrakesh again, we ventured to a more upscale part of town and browsed some local concept boutiques before visiting the Jardin Majorelle. Formerly the residence of the French painter Majorelle, fashion designers Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé bought and restored the property in the 1980s. Today, the garden and villa complex is open to the public, including a fascinating Berber Museum. The bright blue color used in the decor is called Majorelle blue!
For the afternoon, the group headed to La Maison Arabe's "country club" for a Moroccan cooking class. We learned to make a lemon chicken tagine, eggplant-tomato side dish, and tomato-poblano salad. Our meal was accompanied by the most amazing Berber bread and Moroccan wine!
Day 6 - Thursday, November 15
[Day trip to the Atlas Mountains including lunch at Richard Branson’s mountain resort]
On Thursday, the group headed back into the High Atlas Mountains for another day trip. Only a 45 minute drive from Marrakesh, we visited the craft houses of the Eve Branson Foundation where Berber community locals can learn sewing, weaving, and woodworking skills. Across the valley, we arrived at Kasbah Tamadot, Richard Branson's luxury mountain resort for a lovely international three-course lunch with a view and a tour of the complex. There are 140 local staff employed by the hotel, which works out to be 5 staff per guest! There was also a shop on property to purchase the crafts produced by the craft house trainees.
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| View from the Tamadot lunch terrace - the village on the other side of the valley is where the craft houses are |
After lunch, we stopped in a mountain Berber village and did a bit of shopping - the prices were way lower up here compared to Marrakesh. I got the best deal of the trip (and my only real haggling victory) by finding a Berber rug I liked but walking away from the price, literally driving away from the village without a purchase, and then coming back with a last offer of 350 dirhams (about $35) that was accepted!
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| The day's purchases - my $35 rug and goodies from the Eve Branson Foundation shop |
Back in Marrakesh for a free dinner, I rallied a small group to go to Nomad, a restaurant recommended to me by a colleague. We had been eating traditional Moroccan food for most of the trip, so this was a chance to try a more hip, modern spin on the cuisine - a highlight for me was the ice cream made with argan oil, almonds, and honey. The meal was so good that my husband and I returned for our last free lunch on Saturday!
Day 7 - Friday, November 16
[Day trip to Essaouira and camel ride on the beach]
Back on the road again, this time we headed to the seaside town of Essaouira. The group had a pit stop at an argan oil shop to see how local women process argan seeds into oil for cosmetics or cooking and then use the byproduct for black soap. Another popular site en route is to spot the goats in trees! They're actually trained to hang out in the trees for photo ops so that their owners can collect tips on the side of the road.
At Essaouira's fish market, we had a delightful seafood platter lunch of freshly grilled sardines, sea bass, shrimp, calamari, and spider crab legs. The town itself felt like a walled European coastal village, and in fact many of the shops and restaurants had French Breton names like Morbihan, Cavaldos, and Le Breton du Sud! Again, we did a little afternoon shopping here since prices were lower than in Marrakesh.
The next treat was a camel ride on the beach at sunset through Ranch de Diabat. I rode a tall white dromedary named Sultan (dromedaries have only one hump not two like camels), who was the best selfie taking camel of the bunch! We had a lovely time taking lots of photos - especially of the baby camel in training who followed us the whole time - and even passed another Game of Thrones filming location on the beach.
Day 8 - Saturday, November 17
[Visit to Bahia Palace, afternoon at a hammam, and our farewell dinner at Dar Jaguar]
Our last full day in Marrakesh was a whirlwind! My husband and I chose to visit the famous Bahia Palace and strolled through the whole complex twice to catch all of the details of Islamic decorative art - tiles, doors, friezes, carved and painted ceilings, fountains, gardens, and stained glass.
As we wandered back through the souk towards the riad, I picked up some cedar wood carvings that echoed the designs in the palace ceilings. My husband and I then enjoyed another delicious chicken tagine, lamb burger, and date cake meal at Nomad restaurant before I headed off to our group hammam adventure at Les Bains de Marrakesh.
The hammam is the traditional bathhouse separated by gender where locals would go perhaps once a week for a good scrub. The first stage of the visit took place in a steam room with benches that I shared with two other women on my trip - we were nude or in just underwear. After a shower, we were rubbed down with argan oil and left to relax on the benches and enjoy a steam session. Then, the hammam women came back and scrubbed us with rough mitts and black soap, literally scraping off a layer of dead skin (it's so gross to see what they can get off of you!). After another shower rinse, they coated us with a clay mask and then let us steam again. We had one last shower before heading into individual massage rooms.
The massages were more of a gentle, relaxing rub with a heavy coating of oil rather than the deep tissue therapeutic massages I get at home. Interestingly, a lot of attention was paid to the feet and scalp, which left my hair nice and oily. They also don't wipe the oil off with a hot towel at the end, so we were able to let the argan soak in to our skin and hair for a few hours. After the massages, we were served Moroccan mint tea and cookies before changing and heading out for a few last shopping errands.
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| Musicians playing before and during our last dinner at Dar Jaguar |
Back at the riad, musicians were set up to sing and dance with us before our final dinner. It was a lovely way to cap off the trip, which was jam packed with activities and really gave us a great view of the city, mountains, desert, and sea!
Day 9 - Sunday, November 18
[Transit to Paris and dinner with friends at Le Grand Café Capucines]
As an added treat to this trip, my flight itinerary included a 20 hour layover in Paris on the way home. My husband and I went out to dinner at Le Grand Café Capucines near the Opéra with some dear friends and were able to get our fill of French baguette, wine, and pastries for the year :)
Marrakesh is a lovely vacation destination, and I would recommend this itinerary to anyone who wants to go! I loved the food, art and architecture, shopping, and scenic landscapes and always felt safe walking around. I definitely would love to go back to Morocco and hopefully see Fez and the blue city of Chefchaouen next time :)
Item 20 Completed 11/9-19/18
6/41 items complete = 15%
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