The other reason for this post is the recent trip last weekend to Marrakech, the capital of Morocco. Back in August, one of Shanna's co-workers told her about a cooking class she took there. They take you to a local spice market where you buy your spices, then they take you back to the class and show you how to cook a local dish. Ryanair, a European budget airline, had some low cost trips there, so we decided to book it.
The downside to Ryanair is the airports they fly out of are rarely major airports. For Marrakech, we flew into the main airport, but we left from Karlsruhe, which is about an hour north of Stuttgart. Our flight was also late in the evening. So Friday night, after Shanna got off work, we drove to the airport. One of Shanna's co-workers had heard her talking about it and was interested in going, so he and his wife met us at the airport. This was one of those times were it was good we weren't European citizens. If you had an EU passport, you had to wait in the main line. If you had any other passport, you had to go through a different security line...and there was no one in that line. So we breezed through security and before we knew it, were touching down in Marrakech. When we stepped off the plane, the first thing we noticed was the weather. We'd left Germany with it being 50 degrees and raining. Here it was clear and 70 degrees. I have to admit, I was surprised by the airport. I was expecting dirty chaos, like we saw in the Cairo airport, but it was exactly the opposite. It was clean, efficient, and a really nice airport. It took awhile to get through customs, but after that our driver met us outside security and took us straight to the hotel. One thing about Marrakech that did resemble Cairo was how people drove. They have lane dividers in some places, but people completely disregarded them.
We got in late, so we went straight to bed. The next morning we got up, and headed straight up to the rooftop for breakfast. There wasn't exactly a view from the roof, but the rooftop itself was pretty, and breakfast was delicious.
The weather was perfect. It was 70 degrees with a nice cool breeze blowing. After breakfast, we headed up to the main square. We were meeting our friends to take the city tour at 11, so we had plenty of time. We got there early, so we decided to walk around the square. There were all kinds of vendors out, including snake charmers. I *hate* snakes. And these weren't just any snakes...they were Cobras.
Needless to say I made sure we gave this section a wide berth when walking through the market. There were also a lot of juice stands setup with freshly squeezed fruit juices. Just like Istanbul and Cairo, the fruit grown in the area tastes amazing, and so do the juices. After strolling around the market, it was time to head back to the bus stop area to meet Dom and his wife, Katie. The tour was interesting. We drove around for about an hour, seeing both the new town and old town. It was amazing the difference. The new town was very modern and clean...the old town was the exact opposite. We visited the opera house, the royal gardens, the grand entrance to the old city section. While we were not going there, we even saw signs for the interstate that led to Casablanca!
One nice thing about Morocco is, due to the long time France occupied it, everything is written in French in addition to Arabic. While neither of us speak French, we could sometimes make out certain words. With Arabic, we would have no idea what was written. During the tour, the guide touted the reforms introduced by the current King, Mohammed VI. Specifically, reforms to provide more rights to women, including the right to get divorced, to not be forced into marriage, and he removed the "head of household" designation that men automatically had, and instead designated family responsibility to be 50/50 between the man and woman.
The tour finished up back where we started. We were hungry at this point, so we walked around the main square until we found a place that had a nice roof top terrace to eat lunch at. It was here that I discovered a common local dish called Chicken Tagine. A Tagine is a clay pot that has a triangular top. You can cook all kinds of food in there, but my dish had chicken cooked in spices with olives mixed in. It was, without a doubt, one of the best dishes I've ever had.
Of course, no dish there is complete with out fresh squeezed juice. After lunch, we left the square and headed to the Souks, which were the local open air markets. You could buy ANYTHING here. From trinkets to food to paintings to livestock. We strolled around until we came to the spice section. Spices are one of the things Marrakech is known for, and Shanna had a list of spices she wanted to buy. It was incredible how potent the scent in the area was. It was also amazing to see SO many spices piled high. You just pointed out what you wanted, and the merchant would scoop it in to a bag. Based on friend's advice from back home, we brought plastic bags to wrap it all in. The last friends who came said their clothes took four washes to get the Cumin smell out.
I can't remember everything she bought, but Shanna was probably most excited about the fresh Saffron she got. It's grown locally, and is incredibly expensive in Europe. Here, though, it's significantly cheaper. It was getting close to the end of the day, and it had been hot all day, so we decided to part ways with Dom & Katie, and head back to the hotel. We got cleaned up, then headed down to the hotel lobby for dinner. There are two types of places to stay in Morocco, a hotel and Riad. Riad's are former houses that are converted into Bed & Breakfast type places. We were staying in Riad that had six rooms. The main "lobby" used to be the center of the house, and was beautiful. So we sat there, enjoyed dinner, and with my iPad, watched College Football from back home. Technology can be amazing sometimes.
The next day we got up early and headed next door to the Riad that was hosting the cooking class. Eventually everyone else showed up, and we had about 10 people or so. Most were from England, and there was one couple from Denmark. Our cooking instructor sat with us first, and explained the Chicken Tagine dish we'd be cooking, as well as some other dishes that we could try at home. He gave us all a booklet with recipes in them. We then headed out the hotel and next door to the spice shop. We didn't end up buying spices...they had already done that. But he did show us the various spices the shop offered, and explained each one. We also got to smell them all. When we were done there, we walked next door to a local baker. From the outside, it looked like a run down building that we never would have walked in alone. But once you were through the door, you saw a guy standing near giant wood fire oven. The way this bakery worked is you would make the dough at home, and bring it to him. While you were out shopping and running your other errands, he would bake the bread for you. When you were done, you came back and picked it up. Later in our cooking class we would make bread, and they brought it to him to bake.
From there we headed back to our class. At this point a different instructor took over, and she walked us through the entire process of preparing the chicken, mixing the spices, chopping the garlic and vegetables, and cooking it in our Tagine. At this point I decided we had to get a Tagine in the Souk before we left...things cooked in it were just too delicious to pass up. She also had us add some "garnish" to our dishes in the form of rolled up tomato skin made to look like a rose. I couldn't cut it in one giant piece, but Shanna did and it looked great. When the meal was finally done, it looked and tasted amazing.
After lunch, as we were leaving, the instructor presented us with a bag each. Inside they had given us our own Tagine! Now we didn't have to go buy one. We headed back to our Riad and dropped our stuff off, then headed back out. It was around 2pm now, and we were meeting Dom and Katie at 4pm in front of the tombs in the old city. Since we had time, there were some places Shanna wanted to visit. One of them was labeled as "Craft" something from the outside. It turned out to be a mini mall of sorts. You walked in, and the entrance had these beautiful tiles all over the wall. From there you had a small restaurant to eat at, and various shops to go through. I really didn't care to go through the shops, so I gave Shanna all the cash, and I sat at the restaurant.
From there we headed over to another market area and walked around there, buying some fragrances and more spices. Finally it was close to time to meet up with Dom and Katie. More than once this trip I was glad I downloaded an offline map to my phone. There were never any street signs posted. So even though we knew from the paper map what streets to turn down, with them not being marked, the GPS and the offline map on my phone were invaluable. We left with PLENTY of time to get there, and ended up just barely making it at 4 because of how hard these tombs were to find. They were so hard to find, in fact, that Dom and Katie never showed. We got there right at 4, and waited until 4:30. At that point, the tombs were only open for another 30 minutes, so we just headed inside. They were kind of interesting, but without markings, I think it would have been more interesting if we had a guide and knew what we were looking at. The entrance price was only 10 Dirham, though ($1.10), so it's not like I was too upset about it. It was still kind of neat to look at.
When we left, we ended up cabbing back to the hotel. We had dinner reservations at 8pm that night, and we were wiped out from walking around all day in the heat. After a nap, a shower, and a fresh change of clothes, we took a cab to the restaurant. The food was OK. I enjoyed my steak, but Shanna's Couscous dish was enormous. She also ordered Ginger Ale, and at first sip, she thought it had alcohol in it. Turns out it didn't, but it was made from fresh ginger, so it didn't taste at all like the typical Canada Dry ginger ale. I had a great half bottle of Moroccan wine, though.
The next day was the day we left, but we weren't scheduled to leave until 1:30. Our Riad offered spa services, so Shanna & I signed up for a Couple's Hamam and Massage. I'll admit...had I known what the Hamam entailed, I would have opted for just the massage. I hate being hot, and that's what the Hamam is all about. We walked into the room in just our underwear, and they started cranking the heat up. There was so much steam in the room that you couldn't see more than a foot in front of you. Once your skin was nice and slick, the lady came in and washed you down with water. She applied a layer of this lotion that smelled like Aloe, and then let you relax with it on your skin for a bit. She came back in, rinsed it off, and then went to town all over your body with a rough piece of cloth. Basically it felt like she was using sandpaper everywhere. When she finished that, she rinsed you off again and put this black soap stuff all over you. And finally, she showered you completely off.
We then dried ourselves, and hopped up on the massage table. This lady could really work the muscles. At one point, when I was on my stomach, I felt her massaging my lower back, but she was standing in front of me. It was then that I realized she had hopped up on the table and was getting my back that way. She hit muscles I didn't even know I had. When it was all said and done, my skin was softer than it'd ever been, and my muscles were completely relaxed. Well worth it! Shanna & I had an amazing lunch at the Riad next door to us where we had our cooking class, then took the shuttle to the airport.
We had a lot of fun on this trip. Pretty soon we'll be at a point where Shanna won't be able to fly, so while we don't have an immediate trips planned, any ones we take will involve either the train or driving. So check back soon!
To see pictures, click any picture above except for the ultrasound picture, or click here.
Congrats on the baby news!! So happy for you. Love reading about your adventures.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mrs. Lazaroff!
ReplyDelete