Day 16: Preparations and Visitors

It's now actually Day 14 and I'm preparing for my friend, Jaime, and her son, Tom to come and stay with us here in Morocco. I'm really excited they are coming and praying for some sunny weather - at the moment it's a bit cloudy and threatens rain. It's been so nice here up until now that I'll be gutted if it all changes before they arrive.

Mart and I set off into Gueliz which is the new town part of Morocco to buy a few bits 'n' pieces. As he searches for a new battery for his phone ( two weeks's old and it's died on him already - he has no luck with phones, especially in Morocco, as many of you will know!) we stumble across a flower market and a guy selling the most beautiful roses. He presents me with a white rose ' for Madame'...charming, but I know that really he's just trying to reel me in to buying from his stall as opposed to the other 20+ selling the same beautiful flowers!

Beautiful roses for Madame

Naturally, I succumb to his charms and walk away with two lovely bunches of roses, one for our lounge and one for Jaime and Tom's room. Next stop is the pork butchers...as Morocco is a Muslim country, pork is not eaten here as a rule, but friends have told us that this tiny French butcher's shop is situated in the heart of Gueliz market, and they have the finest pork available. We walk away with as much sausage and bacon as we can manage - we  love our pork even if the Moroccans don't!

Ah, pork!

It's Day 15 and today our visitors arrive. We have cleaned and dusted till all is spick and span in their twin bedroom, and dressed it with towels and a few small added touches - hope they like it and are comfortable here. At 8.30am we set off for the airport, clutching my handmade sign saying 'Jaime and Tom' - well, all the taxi drivers meet their guests in this way, holding up a sign saying the guests' names or the riad's name, so why shouldn't we greet our visitors in the same traditional way?! At last I see them coming through the Arrivals door - relief floods my being - that wheelchair that a security guard took through a few moments ago was not for them after all! I'm really pleased to see them, and looking forward to the adventures we will share over the next few days.

After a bite to eat and an introduction to their room, Jaime and Tom are ready for the off, so we decide to throw them in at the deep end with a visit in the afternoon to Marrakech. As we drive towards the city, Jaime's nerves are already becoming unsettled - to be fair, driving in Morocco is not for the faint-hearted...no matter how many times we drive around the old city, I still hold tight to my seat and shout 'watch that bike', 'move over' etc etc as Mart very competently negotiates the madness that is Marrakech traffic! It doesn't get any better as we head into the souks. I've warned Jaime and Tom about this beforehand, but no amount of talking can illustrate the complete and utter selfishness and foolishness of moped riders as they weave their way through the throngs of people who flood the tiny alleyways looking in the market stalls at the beautiful displays of colourful babouches (slippers), materials, spices, leather and wooden goods, hoping for a bargain. Those moped riders have a death wish! Poor ol' Jaime spends most of her time jumping to one side and shouting at Tom to move out of the way - which he does in typical Tom-stylee, over-dramatic or what?! :-) 

Jaime and Tom outside the Koutoubia

After a wander around the Djemma El Fnaa and an introduction to the snake charmers, men with monkeys, orange juice sellers and the like, we return home for a lovely chicken tajine made by Mart's fair hands and lots of flat bread - which Tom has fallen in love with! An early night is in order - at 8.30pm, we all retire to bed to read and sleep...perchance to dream....

Snow-capped mountains at 7.30am

We wake up to snow on the mountains - the scene is beautiful. After a lie-in, we all have breakfast and Jaime and I bathe in the morning sun on deckchairs whilst Tom and Mart play computer games. Later we stroll down the garden and as we do so Saïd shows  us all the variety of fruits he is growing and proceeds to demonstrate in our kitchen how to slice a pomegranate he has picked off the trees in the garden. This, together with the apples and olives he has also picked off the trees in the garden, make a tasty morning treat before we set off once more into Marrakech to visit Yves-St-Laurent's stunning Majorelle Gardens. I have never before seen so many varieties of cactus in one place as we find here in the partly shaded gardens. Peace surrounds us as we wander through the bamboo tree lined courtyards - and we encounter shades of 'Majorelle blue' at every turn. Jaime just imagines staying here forever, sitting on a bench with a good book. However, Tom has other plans - McDonald's is calling!!!!

A veritable feast of fruit from the garden

As we eat our lunch the heavens open and rain pours out of the sky...it has caught us unaware! We decide to visit the Artisanal, a massive shop that has fixed price goods for sale, more convenient than always having to haggle in the souks. We make our way there, trying to avoid taxis, horse and carts, pesky mopeds..as well as the multitude of puddles now formed...of course, Jaime and I are wearing sandals, so with sodden feet we squelch our way through the streets. Jaime hears a voice to her right 'Welcome, Marks and Spencer' and another immediately afterwards 'Hello, Lady Gaga'. We laugh and laugh at the cheek of the shop sellers....they have ever more inventive ways of enticing the visitor into their shops.

'Fromage'

Mother and son contemplate life

Majorelle Gardens

Majorelle blue

Terrapin pond

An unusual cactus