Friday
4th September
Marrakrech
Another
big day. Rabat is another of the famed Imperial Cities of Morocco
and today we had a new guide, Ali, who toured us though it's history
and beautiful architecture. We walked for hours in the Kasbah and
surrounding medina. Poor Ali started talking religion with Jim and
tried to convert him to Islam – silly thing.
At
the end of our tour of Rabat, Mohammad and his magic carpet appeared
to take us to Casablanca for a quick tour of the Hassann II Mosque,
the third largest Mosque in the world. Kind of like the Islamic
version of the Vatican. We spent an hour wandering around the mosque
as it was Friday and we were not allowed to enter. It's perched on
the edge of the Atlantic ocean and 'a gem of religious architecture'.
Then
it was the long drive to Marrakech. Mohammad dropped us off at the
edge of the old city and then we walked through a maze of alleyways
to our new Riad. Again, we were surprised and captivated by the
beauty of the Riad. Our suite overlooks the garden and there is a
rooftop pool and a variety of decks with lounges and cabanas
overlooking the rooftops of the city. As the Riad was not serving
meals we were sent to a tourist restaurant that was fairly average.
We left just as the floor show was getting into full swing – the
girl with the teapot and 5 candles on her head, swinging her hips ...
not really our thing, although she did look like a drag queen!
