Morocco Trip - Day 5

March 25th, 2016

Our last day in Marrakech was sunny and warm.  We decided to walk to the medina and on the way pass through Park El Harti which was supposed to be one of the nicer parks for children.  Inside are two enormous dinosaur slides made out of concrete.  They look really cool from a distance, but when the kids climbed on them they found out that the slides had been all hacked up and you could no longer slide on them, such a shame.  As well, all the swings had been taken down.  Verdict: lame park for kids, but a nice park for strolling through.

Park El-Harti

Rylan sistting on the head of the large cement dinosaur

Two cement dinosaurs

Once inside the walls of the medina we visited the Cyber Park Moulay Abdessalam which according to many websites was on the list of top places to visit with kids.  Again the Cyber Park is a nice place to walk around, but there is nothing for the kids to play on, although there is free Wifi.

Next we found our way to the Saadian tombs. The entrance price was really reasonable again, only 1€ per person and kids under 12 were free.  This royal necropolis was built in the 14th century but renovated and enlarged by Sultan Ahmad al-Mansour Saadi in the 15th century.  Al-Mansour died in 1603 and a few decades later when Moulay Ismail took over Marrakech he had the Badi palace destroyed and the tombs of his predecessors sealed up so that the people would forget about them. The tombs were not discovered again until 1917.  The two main mausoleums contain the tombs of 66 members of the royal family and outside in the gardens are 100 more tombs of princes, their wives, soldiers and some jews.

Cyper Park

Koutoubia Mosque

One of the gates to enter the Medina

Saadian Tombs

Some of the tombs outside 

The main chamber where the Sultan Al-Mansour is buried

more tombs in the garden

After visiting the Saadian Tombs we walked over to visit the El-Badi Palace that was also commissioned by Al-Mansour when he came to power in 1578 to be the home of the royal family.  It took 20 years to build and was once the most spectacular building in Morocco.  Sultan Ismail systematically looted the palace of all its fine building materials to construct his own palace in Meknes.  Now all that is left is the shell of the building, but it is easy to imagine how amazing it was during the Saadian dynasty.  The entrance fee is only 10 MAD (around 1€) and you can pay an additional 10 MAD to see the Koutoubia Minbar which is a pulpit made of cedar and covered with gold and silver.   We didn't pay to see the Koutoubia Minbar which I regret now, but the kids had fun exploring the palace ruins and from the tower you get a great view of the medina, the Atlas mountains and a lot of nesting cranes.  The palace is also used to display artwork from local artists.

Graffiti Wall

There are some art installations by local artists scattered throughout the palace

Crane perched on the walls of the palace

 

Dozens of cranes are nesting on the walls of the palace

You can see the Atlas mountains in the distance

Since it was our last day in Marrakech we decided to stay in the Medina for lunch and do a bit more shopping and then take a horse-drawn carriage back to the hotel.  Shopping without our guide was actually much easier than I thought it would be, in fact I think we were able to get better prices.  We picked up a carriage in Jemaa el-Fnaa Square and got a ride back to the hotel.   Back at the hotel it was finally sunny enough for the kids to use the outdoor pool, but the water was so cold that they could only bear to stay in for a few minutes.

Riding through the medina on a horse-drawn carriage

Walls decorated with pictures of the kings of Morocco 

The Moroccan tea set I bought on our second day in Morocco

The next morning we left for the airport right after breakfast.  This time we just took a taxi from right outside the hotel for 120 MAD.  I am so glad that we were able to visit Morocco before we leaving Spain.  

Morocco Trip - Day 4

March 24th, 2016

Before we left for Morocco I wanted to book at least one excursion away from Marrakech.  There are dozens of companies that offer day trips from Marrakech.  The prices varied greatly, but it seemed like the services offered were about the same.  In the end I booked a day trip to the Ourika Valley through Authentic Tours Marrakech.  The Ourika Valley was only about an hour drive outside of Marrakech while the other excursions into the desert or to the coast would require 4 or more hours of driving.  I assumed the kids would not enjoy it as much.

The communication with the tour company was very efficient.  Due to rain, I changed the date of the excursion from Wednesday to Thursday at the last minute.  Our guide, Mohammed, was waiting for us with a big SUV at 9:00 in the morning.  He was very friendly and explained a little about the sights we were passing along the way.  Maybe the highlight of the excursion was a visit to a Berber house where we were invited to have tea with a Berber family.  First we got a tour of the property and Mohammed explained how this family lived.  Then we sat down to have fresh mint tea and homemade bread prepared by the woman of the family.  We enjoyed our tea and bread while trying to communicate with the Berber family.  For the first time in 3 years I was really able to use my French.  In Paris I found that almost everyone spoke to us in English, but in Morocco knowing French was extremely useful.  Even those who could speak English were much more fluent in French and when I switched to French I found that we got much better service.

first stop on our way to the Ourika Valley

Entering the Berber home 

the bathroom and shower

Area for animals 

This family must be ready to sell souvenirs

Stone for grinding flour

the kitchen

Grandmother preparing the mint tea 

bread with butter, honey and olive oil

After our visit with a Berber family we headed into the High Atlas mountains and got to see how the heavy rains from the previous days changed the landscape.  The river in the Ourika Valley was flowing very quickly and had turned a muddy brown colour and several parts of the road were flooded.  It was not a problem for us in the SUV, but we had to stop and rescue another driver out of a big mud puddle.   Once we reached the small town of Setti Fatma, we met our local guide, also Mohammed, who would take us on a hike up to the waterfalls.  The sun was shining and it was almost too hot as we made our way across the river and up the side of the mountain.  We passed several makeshift shops and rest stops along the way.  There were a lot of other groups making the same climb so it was pretty crowded at spots.  The climb was pretty steep and slippery in some areas, but the kids were ready to run up the mountain.  Our hike lasted about two hours and then Mohammed took us back to the restaurant where we had parked and we ate lunch right on the edge of the river.  After lunch Mohammed, our first guide, drove us back to Marrakech.

muddy water pouring into the street

The river downstream

The SUV we travelled in 

One of the many precarious bridges crossing the river

Listening to our local guide Mohammed

Walking through the berber rugs

A stone carver

A clever refrigeration system

Looking down on the village

having lunch by the river