Even More Morocco!

On our first full day in Marrakesh, we went to the Jardin Majorelle and the Yves Saint Laurent Museum. Both were very cool, despite the long lines we waited in.

We visited the Jardin Secret on our second day in the city. It was a great place to retreat from the surrounding souks.

Colin had this bench all to himself!

The Jardin Secret was only restored recently. It was built in the 19th century, and was one of the largest riads in the Medina of Marrakesh. This door was hand painted - beautiful!

The afternoons were quite hot in Marrakesh so we would siesta at our riad. The decor was much more modern than the place we stayed at in Fes.

Like our Fes riad, our Marrakesh riad served an excellent breakfast each morning. We had the option of eating in the courtyard or on the rooftop terrace (as we did in this photo).

The Palais El Badii was built in the 16th century to commemorate the victory of a battle against the Portuguese. We spent a few hours exploring the grounds.

Colin enjoying the shade in the old palace wall.

Hello from the palace tower!

Close by the place were the Tombeaux Saadiens. About sixty members of the Saadi Dynasty are buried here. This room was the most impressive.

Some other highlights of our time in Marrakesh included Jemaa el Fna (especially Stall #71 for spiced tea!) and going to a hammam.

More Morocco!

We continued our road trip, passing through many small towns along the way. These are the remains of an older town.

We walked around the Todra Gorges and spent a night in the Dades Valley.

Ait Ben Haddou (the darker brown buildings in the background) is Morocco's most famous kasbah (and also a UNESCO site).

We climbed to the very top of the kasbah, which offered great views of the town and valley below.

To get to our final destination, Marrakesh, we had to cross the Atlas Mountains once more. The drive was very scenic.

When we reached Marrakesh, we splurged on a fancy meal at Le Jardin. We ate tagine for three days straight so fish was a nice change.

Morocco!

Colin ventured with us to a new country - Morocco! After a long day of travelling from Toronto via Paris, we were welcomed to the Sofitel in Casablanca with an unexpected room upgrade and snacks. Colin liked the marshmallows the most.

The next day we did a quick tour of the Hassan II Mosque - the third largest mosque in the world (and one of very few mosques non-Muslims can visit). We then took a train to Fes. 

Our train was delayed because of heavy rainfall. Colin was pretty tuckered out by the time we arrived at our riad.

The Riad Mazar in Fes was beautiful, and the staff were incredibly friendly. Breakfast was included in our room rate, and it was scrumptious!

We did a half day tour of Fes, at the recommendation of our riad, and it was the highlight of our time there. We learned a lot. Unfortunately, we didn't take any photos of Colin since it was raining, and the alleys in the Medina were packed with people.

The next day, we embarked on a three-day desert trek. We started by driving through the Atlas Mountains.

We then ended up at the Sahara, where we took a camel ride to a desert camp for the night.

The two camels in the foreground were ours.

More from Morocco soon!