Although I slept extremely well, Ann had jet-leg and was restless. At 0600 she gave up, made some tea. I joined her on the couch and we watched some TV and just enjoyed the sunrise on the ocean; lightning was incredible. At about 0730 the call to prayer started; at least it wasn’t two hours like the middle of day for the sabbath (no offence).
We had zero plan for the day, just in case we were tired. That being said, we shopped all day. When I say shop, I really mean just getting lost in the mall, Medina and everywhere in between.
We set out just looking for a couple beer for the room. We scored some German beer and Moroccan wine, just a 20 min walk away. We check out a variety of wet and dry markets; just normal Moroccan’s going about their lives. The olives were 18 dirhams ($2.50 CDN) a kilo and absolutely amazing!
We enjoyed a beer on the balcony of our apartment, the view was stunning, the wind was fresh and we felt very relaxed.
To our surprised, we heard a knocking at the door. It was the owner of the apartment, just seeing if everything was ok or if we needed anything. After hearing his interesting life story, he took us to the roof and oriented us to the city. He was very friendly, helpful and gave us some good advice.
We waited out a rain storm and then headed out for more exploration. We headed to the grand mosque and people watched... in the rain.
The ocean was very beautiful, blue and there were many locals fishing.
We wandered to the Marina mall; a Western style mall full of American stores, and fast food. Not that we wanted American style fast food but it was quite expensive but packed full of people eating KFC, Burger King, McDonald’s and a variety of other hamburger / taco joints. To me, this is always a sad sight.
We ditched the mall for the Medina and vowed to get lost again; a feat that really is impossible to plan. We made a quick stop at the famous Rick’s Cafe.
We barely made it into the Medina before I could not proceed anymore without eating some local street meat! The crowd illustrated a must have desire, the smell was intoxicating and the price was exactly right; 8 dirhams (just over $1) for a bbq sandwich; another 50 cents for amazing looking fries. The locals were clearly having fun, enjoying life and having a mid-afternoon snack. Ann’s French enabled the transaction even though I’m sure I could have ordered something.
We got the sandwich, loaded with lettuce, tomatoes, pickled onion and olives; not to mention the incredibly smoky beef bbq patties seasoned with a variety of spices. It was insanely good, fresh. I saved half for later but unlike shawarmas it did not age well.
The Medina is like stepping back in time. People were going about their busy lives cooking, selling and men were enjoying mint tea on almost every corner. People were incredibly friendly and we must have heard the word welcome over a hundred times. For a non-tourist area, it was heartwarming to be so welcomed into this ancient area of the city.
The city is full of street cats, this one reminded us of Bella in her younger years.
We wandered around for hours, just looking. The things you see in a market like this is incredible. You can almost hear the clip clop of horses on the cobblestone. Rain was a mess!
Fresh, old and new.
Cheap and expensive!
Pizza for dinner, cheap, had potential, but it was not great.
The local wine was very tasty!
