Christmas in Morocco

We spent Christmas this year in Marrakesh, Morocco and had a wonderful time! Morocco as a country has it all - snowy mountain peaks, desert, long coast line, and lots of traditional crafts and a strong sense of pride in their traditional cuisine. Needless to say we were pretty excited about visiting this North African country.

For our first day in Marrakesh, we arranged a private city tour to get an introduction to the city. The most interesting part of the city was inside the old walls where the famous Jemaa el-Fnaa square can be found. 

Our tour started outside Koutoubia Mosque, the tallest minaret in Marrakesh. While we were getting our introduction, our guide said hello to a passing tour guide and commented to us that it was his cousin. He said he has over 200 cousins...and he said he knows them all!

We stopped at a traditional Moroccan restaurant for lunch with our guide. After lunch, we went to Jemaa el-Fnaa square. Unlike many of the items found in shopping areas that we've been to, these items were not made in China, but many of them by craftsmen in the market. We got a tour of the leather, metal and wood carving - it was very interesting to observe the older craftsmen teaching their trade to the next generation. Melissa even got to try her hand at some carpet making.

After the tour ended we hung around for some shopping and ended up in a rug shop. As soon as we walked in,  we were being invited to the showroom and offered a cup of Moroccan mint tea. I have read that it is rude to decline so we accepted and I told him off the bat we were just looking and not buying anything today. After a few more cups of tea and a few dozen rugs, we had each found our favorites. Melissa found a "nomad design" summer carpet and I found exactly what I came to Morocco for, a Beni Ouriun wool carpet - perfect for the winter time!  Before we knew it, we had negotiated a price and Melissa was signing her name to the back. The rugs would have to get shipped back to HK, which we have now already received..yeah!

In the late afternoon, the juice stalls start rolling in. There are a couple dozen - all side by side selling the exact same fresh orange juice and mixed juice (orange, grapefruit and lemon). Trying to differentiate from the crowd, each of the juice stands call out for you to come by and have a sample at their stand. We tried the mixed juice and it was amazing, needless to say we ordered a cup and took note of the stall number. We came back to the same stand every day.

In the evening, we found a nice restaurant with a view to watch the hustle and bustle of the market light up and carry into the night. During the day, the square is filled with snake charmers, fortune tellers, henna painting and guys hawking monkeys for tourists to pose with for photos. In the evening all that gets pushed aside for the famous food stalls.

Before heading back to the hotel Melissa made a stop at the local sweets stall.. and she tried one of everything - just not all that night!

On Christmas morning, we got up bright and early (before sunrise!) for a hot air ballon ride. This was not our first hot air balloon ride, but I was still a bit nervous at first. This time we were prepared and had plenty of layers of warm clothes and our wool hats too. As the sun rose up over the mountain range, it exposed the countless small villages and family farms that scatter Morocco's country side... it was beautiful!

There must be hundreds of these horse drawn carriages in Marrakesh. Groups of these carriages wait outside tourist locations to take you on a ride around the old medina, but like everything in Morocco you have to negotiate. We asked about the price which was about 50% more than we were quoted earlier in the day with our tour guide, but after turning our back and begining to walk away the driver relented to our price and we jumped in for a ride. The trotting of the hoofs become therapeutic after a while. You would think the streets would be dirty with all of those horse droppings, but there are bags to "collect" the droppings.

Every evening we ended up back at the square for dinner and a bit of shopping. One evening we came across Marrakesh's must have dish that was recommended to us a few times.. tangia slow cooked meat in coal embers. After seeing it in the market, the closest I will get is taking a photo.. the presentation alone straight up scared me!

 While checking in for our flight from Casablanca we enquired about an upgrade to business and we were given an offer we could not refuse!