Morocco

Asilah - Our last day in Morocco - May 11th

Asilah was a very pleasant city to spend our last day. We walked around the medina in the morning. It was very pleasant. The shops were closed and practically no people. We came back in the evening and the place was packed, the shops were open. 

 View of the medina in Asilah.

 Can't get enough of the doors in Morocco. They are great!

 The medina had wonderful art on the walls of the buildings. It was everywhere.

The port.

Street lights of every design are in all the cities. These are along the port in Asilah.

We stayed two nights in Asilah. The second night this huge overland tour vehicle parked up next to us. Thank goodness the tour group was not that large. The people sleep in pop up tents on the roof. They only used half of the tents. The group could have been twice the size.

When we arrived in Morocco our GPS stopped working. Our final solution was downloading the maps.me app on the tablet and the maps for Morocco. It worked great with the added bonus it works offline. Bill had to adapt our GPS holder with cardboard and duct tape to hold the tablet. We might continue to use it in Spain, I have downloaded all the maps.

Morocco

Sights around Morocco - April 27th thru May 8th

This post is just some random sights around Morocco. So far my posts have been on specific places we visited, but there is a lot more to see. These photos represent the everyday sights we have enjoyed.

 One of the things I wanted to see was the goats in trees. I had no idea where they were, but we saw them. A large herd of goats in the argan trees, munching away.

 You see people along the roads everywhere. You think you are in the middle of nowhere and people are walking or standing beside the road. Usually when you get further down the road it's market day in the next village.

Overloaded vehicles are the norm. It is amazing that they can get that much stuff on one vehicle.

The medina in Essaouira. This was the most laid back market that we visited. The merchants did not constantly try to sell us their stuff.

 View of the medina in Essaouira from the port.

Typical highway thru the mountains.

 A kasbah in Skoura.

The mosque in Agdz.

Storks in a tower. They are everywhere.

Colorful buildings - This one is the reception building for a campground we stayed in.

Taghazoute, a Moroccan surf town.

 Fishing boats - They all look the same.

 Drinking Moroccan mint tea while watching the sun set into the Atlantic Ocean.

Morocco

Marrakech - May 6th and 7th

Marrakech is a large, very busy city. I am sure we could have easily spent a week seeing the sights, but our day and a half was enough. The problem with the cities is everyone wants to sell you stuff and we don't want to buy (the sprinter is just to small for any more stuff). It gets a bit much. We are tired of saying la shukraan (no thanks) numerous times to get the sales person to leave us alone.

We visited the Bahia Palace, built in the late 19th century.

A small inner courtyard.

 A large back courtyard of the palace.

 Most of the ceilings were painted in ornate designs.

This hallway ceiling was simple, but very bright.

Most of the doors were beautifully painted.

An example of the tile work on the floors. There must be inspiration for a quilt design in there somewhere.

The palace had lots of arches.

 Koutoubia Mosque is the largest in Marrakech.

 Jemaa el-Fnaa - a popular large square in the medina.

Shop display of argan oil. It is made from the kernels of the argan tree. You see shops selling the oil everywhere in Morocco.










Jardin Majorelle - a botanical garden in Marrakech.

One of the pathways thru the bamboo garden.

The color Majorelle Blue, a special shade of cobalt blue, is used everywhere in the garden.

 The villa in the gardens where the french painter Louis Majorelle lived.

 There is an extensive cactus garden within the gardens.

Looking up, the gardens were a cool, shady place to spend the early afternoon.