Tuesday, August 14, 2012

To the left... no no.. to the right... pppffff

Photo Cathy Van de Moortele
The plan was to visit Palace La Bahia and Palace El-Badi. Piece of cake, if you have a street map and some common sense, one would think. The map includes street names. Very helpful, if you would also find signs with the street names on the walls. Which we didn't see, obviously. So we walked and walked and took narrow streets, that appeared to be dead end streets (yes, the locals warned us about the dead ends, but we were convinced they only wanted to attract our attention to sell us carpets or jewelry..). It's unbelievable how many little alleys Marrakech has.  And they all look pretty much the same. In the end, you see a point of recognition and you are happy to be back into the "world". No high heels in Marrakech, just loafers, shorts and tank tops. And a bottle of water. Or two. Because water is expensive if you are in need. The salesmen know you need that water, because they can tell you are dehydrated and extremely thirsty. So they offer you their best price, you agree and set that bottle on your lips and then they charge you extra. You can't return the bottle, since you drank half of it already, so you have to open your wallet again and provide them with the extra change. That's just how it goes up here. By now, we know a bit more what the prices are and where to buy or not to buy.

Photo Cathy Van de Moortele
We had an excellent breakfast on the roof terrace in the morning, so lunch needn't be that extended. Hubby had some freshly baked Danish rolls - the 10 Dirham a piece ended up in 2 Dirham as soon as we tried to leave the bakery - while I tried a warm piece of gözleme. Very strange, since gözleme is Turkish. I assume they call it something else over here, but it was exactly the same thing.

We enjoyed a lazy afternoon in the sun - yes, still over 45°C - on the roof terrace. The iPad gave me a warning to cool it down, if that's enough of a symptom of how hot this place is. No need to wear my insulin pump for several hours. Even without, I had some lows. I must really buy fresh dates, since those are much healthier and tastier than melted, warm candy.

Photo Cathy Van de Moortele
A night out in town was the plan for the evening. Maybe some sightseeing on Djemaa El Fna. There's so much activity going on in the streets, we just have to sit down somewhere and enjoy the atmosphere..

Café des Epices was relaxing. Enjoying the silence of the night, on the roof of the restaurant, overlooking the soukhs over a tuna and chicken sandwich and a cold diet coke.. what more could we wish for..

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