Our second day in Marrakech, we woke up and went exploring.
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| Mosque El Mansour looking nice in the morning light. |
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| A donkey making his morning delivery rounds. |
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| A shopkeeper sweeping the entrance to his store. |
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| Fabric all hung up and ready for the days shoppers. |
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| A little boy helping to set up his family's market stall. |
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| A pile of tagine earthenware pots, and the arrow pointing the way to the main square: Jemaa El Fna. |
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| A little boy and his red balloon. |
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| A man checking the entrance of his market stall. |
Once we got to the main square, Jemaa el Fna, we tried to find a quick breakfast, and ended up getting some of the best orange juice I've ever had.
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| Fresh squeezed orange juice, and only 4 dirhams - $0.40! |
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| Just check out that look of delight on Chris's face. |
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In the Jemaa el Fna, there was so much weird touristy junk being sold. But I love the outfits of all the sellers.
Look at that straw hat, great for blocking that hot Moroccan sun. |
We left the open square, and decided to wander the labyrinth-like passages of the souks. I can't count the number of times I got completely turned around in here. It's a good thing Chris has a pretty innate sense of direction.
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| These zippy little scooters blow right past you. If you're not paying attention, you might get your toes clipped by one. |
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| I loved this gaggle of women and babies getting in their morning chit-chat. |
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| This gentleman looked so wizened and weather-beaten. But also stately and statuesque at the same time. The photo is a bit blurry as I was trying to be discreet and quick about snapping it. I need to hone my street photography skills. |
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| I'm obsessed with the street lamps here. |
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| Babies riding on the front of motor scooters isn't an uncommon sight. At least this kiddo had a helmet to wear. |
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| So much intricate detail! It's overwhelmingly beautiful to see. |
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| Again with the street lamps, Marrakech. Nice work. |
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| Chris taking a minute to look at a map and get oriented. Note the empty cups from two more of those orange juices. |
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| Soda delivery by donkey. |
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| This Moroccan sunlight, you guys. I can't get enough. Just that golden light drenching everything! A photographers dream. |
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| I wanted to get my hair done at this Coiffeurs, simply because of the hand painted linen sign. |
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| Street lamps and wood-cut roofs. |
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| Women perusing their local produce stand. |
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| Again with that sunlight. And the woven wicker lamp! I'm in love. |
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| Such rich colors in the textiles here. Still loving that deep Majorelle blue. |
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| Woman buying green beans. |
We left the souks and started walking toward Jardin Majorelle (YES, like the blue color I love!) It's a garden planted and landscaped by French artist Jaques Majorelle (inventor of the shade of blue) in the 20s and 30s. Since 1980, it's been owned by fashion designers/icons Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé. When Saint-Laurent died in 2008, his ashes were scattered in the garden.
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| Do you see what I mean about that SUNLIGHT?! Look at how it's just drenching her! So glowy. So perfect. |
On our way to Jardin Majorelle, we saw a woman in a park bending down near a little pit, and putting meat down there, so we went to check it out as she walked away. Turns out, it was a litter of wild puppies!
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| OH LOOK AT THAT FACE! I wanted to cuddle them, but they probably had loads of diseases. |
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| Seriously so many puppies. |
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| Oh, these little guys were rascally. |
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| HA! This fight! |
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| Get him, little dude! |
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| This guy was chubbier than the rest. I think he stole most of their food. |
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| Here's Chris, being KING OF THE PUPPIES! They all wanted to play with him so bad. |
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| Attacking his red shoes! |
I would have adopted all those puppies, if we could. So sweet. So hungry. I hope they were all scrappy enough to get by, and they're still roaming the streets of Marrakech. Not likely, but a girl can dream.
We finally got to the garden, and this place, guys! As a lover of cactus and succulents, this was such a delight.
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| Majorelle blue as far as the eye can see. |
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| After walking around this place for a while, I told Chris that I wanted our home to be painted in Majorelle blue, teal, and yellow. I still want that. One day, when we own a home again and aren't renting. |
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| This cactus plant was calling my name! (Someone else carved that in. It was freaky to look down and see my name pop out at me.) |
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| I like these weird stripey vines. |
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| This is the house at Jardin Majorelle. I want to live in it. Forever. |
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| Seriously, that yellow and blue combo. Do you love it as much as I do?! |
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| Hi there, little bird! |
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| I have no idea what this cactus is, but I like it! |
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| The light coming through this trellis couldn't be any better if it tried. |
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| Don't you just want to sit here with a lemonade and a good book? I do. |
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| There's truly something about the sun in Marrakech, people. It's not just me, right? |
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| Dappled shadows EVERYWHERE!!! |
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| (Of course I had to ask a stranger to take a photo of us. How could you pass up that light?) |
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| Aw man, look at him! What a guy. |
We left the garden and walked back to our riad in the Kasbah quarter, passing some of the best doors and awnings I've ever seen along the way. Such curb appeal!
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| I love the chalk tic-tac-toe on the wall. Kids are the best, man. |
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| Down that dark alley on the left is where our riad is. Not going to lie, it felt a little sketchy walking there at night. Haha. |
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The Fatima Hand on the door of our riad. This is a common symbol in both Muslim and Jewish communities and, with it's all-seeing eye, is intended to protect the home from negative energies/evil spirits.
In Judaism, the five fingers represent the five books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy).
In Islam, the fingers represent the five pillars of Islam (1-Shahadah: sincerely reciting the Muslim profession of faith, 2-Salat: ritual prayers properly five times daily, 3-Zakat: paying tithes for the poor and needy, 4-Sawm: fasting during the month of Ramadan, 4-Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca).
We ended up buying a small Fatima hand that has hung on the inside of our front door ever since. |
We took a bit of a break at the riad, and then headed back out to grab some dinner.
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| This is near the Mosque el Mansour. Look at all the smoke in the air from restaraunts grilling up meats. |
We looked for dinner at the Jemaa el Fna, which becomes a bustling food center at night! Our dinner search was only half-hearted, as we were still taking in the sites.
Not finding anything that jumped out at us, food wise, we ended up grabbing some drinks at a cafe with great views of the square.
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| Arabic is such a beautifully written language. Chris got a soda, I think it was apple? And I got a Pepsi. Of course. |
We checked out some pottery shops on the hunt for food.
Just near the pottery shop, we found a small restaurant that was absolutely packed with locals. So we tried it. INCREDIBLE. He made these super delicious kefta sandwiches, and they were only like 20 dirhams, so 2 bucks!
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While we were eating there, Chris started chatting with a man named Abi. (That's him in the back.)
You guys. This is such a weird story.
He said he was the owner of a nearby Riad, and invited us to come to have some Moroccan mint tea with him, which Chris enthusiastically said yes to, surprisingly. On the walk there, I started getting really nervous. Like, what if this guy was going to mug us or beat us up?
So, we get to his Riad, and he starts making the tea in the kitchen. Chris turns to me and says "I'm not going to have any, just in case anything is in it. One of us needs to be coherent." Um, so I'll just go ahead and be the one that gets drugged. Perf. This is how I die. No big deal.
Abi comes back with the tea, which I hesitantly drink, and Chris pulls the "it's against my religion" card. (It's herbal mint tea, btw. Totally allowed.) We have a little chat and I tell him that I want to buy some traditional Berber makeup, like kohl eyeliner, while we're here. He says, "Wait! I have something to show you" and disappears again.
I haven't passed out, so by this point, I'm assuming I wasn't drugged, but we're still being a little wary. He comes back with a tray of various little pots of liquids, powders, etc. He grabs one filled with clear crystals he pulls out one crystal, breaks off the tiniest little sliver of crystal, and drops it into a mug of hot water. Then he holds it up to my face and says "Inhale this."
Um... Okay, what are my options here? Who even knows what this is? I look at Chris, and he's just staring back at me. I've stalled for so long at this point without saying anything that I don't really see any way out. So I inhale it. (Chris told me later "I was so surprised that you did it.")
Turns out it's some weird form of crystalized Eucalyptus, and it clears out your sinuses so well! Awesome for when you have a headcold.
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So Abi is not a criminal looking to drug and rob us. He's just a nice b&b owner that wants to show us some hospitality. He then shows us various herbs, perfumes, makeups, etc. He suggests a stand in the souks called Herboriste Avicenne, where we can buy all these traditional Moroccan things. So we do! We go to it the next day, which I'll write about in my next post. 6 months from now, as is par for the course with this blog.
Meanwhile, although we didn't die/get mugged, it's probably not best to follow strangers home in a strange country, and consume whatever they give you. Lesson learned.
Until next time,
Kami & Chris
The Pseudo-Londoners
