Weekend break in Marrakech
Hi everyone,
Lany and I got back into London just before midnight on Monday night (our plane was delayed a little), but fortunately our cabbie was waiting so as soon as we grabbed our bags we rushed home to try to get some sleep before working Tuesday. Poor Lany had a workshop to present, so she was quite dead!
The weekend was fabulous however and getting some sun on our skin was priceless (never mind that the airfares were super cheap!).
Lany flew out last Thursday early in the morning, so it was a bit dicey with all the snow etc around, but there were no delays for her. I then flew out Saturday morning (my flight was about the same time, 7:45 in the morning which means a 5am taxi to the airport!), so got in around midday. It was pretty warm despite being the middle of winter, with all the locals walking around in thick coats. I arrived at Lany's place to the smell of cous cous being prepared, which I absolutely destroyed for lunch!! (I was starving after being up so early).
After lunch I got changed into jeans, thongs and a t-shirt, and we headed to the souk to do some shopping. Sars, I got you some little candle things, but nothing large (we were wary of not having much luggage space), mum - got your pants and dad - got you a couple of shirts (not tshirts, moroccan shirt thing - you'll get the idea when you see them on Skype camera or something). We also did some shopping for ourselves and our new apartment, specifically picking out a number of large blanket-type things for couch covers and accompanied cushion covers, a big bowl and serving plate, and some small stuff like a jar, salad servers etc. No pashminas this time, does anyone still want those things? (as I'm sure we've delivered at least 20 to Aus over the last few years).
That night we headed out of town to the 'resort-retreat-house' in Tahannout. I've taken some pics of the changes but it's getting more established now and the amount of food they're getting out of the garden is amazing. They're growing lettuce, parsnip, beans, eggplant, oranges, olives, some spinachy-type thing, figs (well soon, they are growing), carrots, herbs, tomato, capsicum, passionfruit, plus some others are in the works. The view of the mountains is absolutely spectacular at the moment as they've had quite a lot of snow lately, so they are white, contrasting with the red/brown (warm) earth on the plains below. Sorry, but the camera just doesn't pick it up so I don't have any good photo's to put up.
The cutest thing is that they have a little pair of owl's who've made their home in the cactus garden mound, so they are on the wall all the time. For some reason one decided to stand on the other! (hard to see in the picture, but it was funny).
That night we sat around the fire and snacked before having a late (fairly small) dinner. I was completely dead so we weren't up late and hit the sack early. In the morning Lany's dad took us for a drive to a valley near the house which is very pretty. It's a little bit touristy as there seems to be a lot of hotels and cafe's etc, but with the river running through it it's fantastic to see. I loved the bridges that had been built, and the cafe's next to the water - plenty of photos to take! A lot of the cafe's have lines of tagine pots sitting on coals, ready to cook lunches, it's great to see.
On the way home we stopped at a cafe place near the house to get takeaway..... it was tagine! Takeaway Tagine! It was a vegetable tagine because they already had a meat dish ready for lunch - a roast thing that was just AMAZING. It tasted so amazing, I have the recipe and now need to learn to cook it.
In the afternoon the temperature was 25 (or so) in the shade, hotter in the sun - and this in the middle of winter! Lany and I tanned for a while before I jumped into the water for a quick dip. While the water was still cold (17 degrees) so I couldn't stay in more than 10 secs or so, it was fine in the sun. It was the middle of winter, so I can't complain.
Sunday night we headed back into town to the apartment before heading into town to have a look around. Marrakech is changing SO fast, there's stuff being built everywhere. We also experimented packing in case it didn't all fit and chilled with Lany's folks.
Monday was another trip to the souk to get a few more items before going home for lunch with Lany's parents and cousin, and final packing. While it was fairly busy at the airport, we didn't have any major issues and got back ok to England's 5 degrees (warm by the recent standards).
Snow is expected in the next day or two, with it getting colder again next week. Why did we leave the sun?
Oh, Lany's cat - Looky - is very cute when he eats... rather than put his feet on the floor and reach his head into the bowl, he leans in with feet on the bowl edge. It looks cute so here's some pics.
Anka
The cutest thing is that they have a little pair of owl's who've made their home in the cactus garden mound, so they are on the wall all the time. For some reason one decided to stand on the other! (hard to see in the picture, but it was funny).
That night we sat around the fire and snacked before having a late (fairly small) dinner. I was completely dead so we weren't up late and hit the sack early. In the morning Lany's dad took us for a drive to a valley near the house which is very pretty. It's a little bit touristy as there seems to be a lot of hotels and cafe's etc, but with the river running through it it's fantastic to see. I loved the bridges that had been built, and the cafe's next to the water - plenty of photos to take! A lot of the cafe's have lines of tagine pots sitting on coals, ready to cook lunches, it's great to see.
On the way home we stopped at a cafe place near the house to get takeaway..... it was tagine! Takeaway Tagine! It was a vegetable tagine because they already had a meat dish ready for lunch - a roast thing that was just AMAZING. It tasted so amazing, I have the recipe and now need to learn to cook it.
In the afternoon the temperature was 25 (or so) in the shade, hotter in the sun - and this in the middle of winter! Lany and I tanned for a while before I jumped into the water for a quick dip. While the water was still cold (17 degrees) so I couldn't stay in more than 10 secs or so, it was fine in the sun. It was the middle of winter, so I can't complain.
Sunday night we headed back into town to the apartment before heading into town to have a look around. Marrakech is changing SO fast, there's stuff being built everywhere. We also experimented packing in case it didn't all fit and chilled with Lany's folks.
Monday was another trip to the souk to get a few more items before going home for lunch with Lany's parents and cousin, and final packing. While it was fairly busy at the airport, we didn't have any major issues and got back ok to England's 5 degrees (warm by the recent standards).
Snow is expected in the next day or two, with it getting colder again next week. Why did we leave the sun?
Oh, Lany's cat - Looky - is very cute when he eats... rather than put his feet on the floor and reach his head into the bowl, he leans in with feet on the bowl edge. It looks cute so here's some pics.
Anka
posted by Anthony Hawke at 7:06 pm
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