Morocco Day 1 - Marrakech

The sunrise as seen from 30,000 ft

We took the 6:30am flight from Gatwick to Marrakech

This is the Kouboutia Mosque, the largest Muslim mosque in Marrakech, was built in the late 1100s. The style of the minaret on top is said to have inspired many of mosques and religious buildings of other denominations throughout Spain and Eastern Europe. The Muslims pray like 5 times a day. At each time, there is a caller at the mosque who calls the Muslims to prayer. This call is broadcast throughout the city via loudspeakers. If you look close in the windows, you can see the modern day megaphones.

We ate our first meal on the terrace of a cafe that had this amazing view of the hustle and bustle of the market place.

Arabic Library

This is the Jardin that is next to the Kouboutia Mosque

First Camel Sighting!!!!

Spices in the market - the guy who owns this shop puts the powdered saffron, paprika, tumeric, etc. into these cones.

Smelled do good!!!!

The view of the Kouboutia Mosque from the Jardin. Can you see the moon to the right? It was only about 4pm and the moon was already showing.

Me, Jess and Darby - my travel buddies!

There were tons of these carts selling nuts and dried fruits. Gotta say it reminded my of when Kelley and Megan ate all those dried apricots before dance that one day. LOL!!

This was at our first hostel. It had a central courtyard with rooms around it. A two-story beautiful home down a rather sketchy alley. It took us almost half a day to find it. These kids were trying to "leading us" down the sketchy alley and we didn't believe it was the right way until we confirmed it with about 5 other sources.

So, I spot this monkey in the center of the marketplace and try to get close to take a picture. The handler sees me and insists that I take a picture WITH the monkey, whose name is Coco, by the way. I was more than a little shocked!

This is the Moroccan flag. Red with a green star in the center.

After our day of walking around Marrakech, we decided to sit at a cafe on the terrace, enjoy some mint tea, and watch the sunset. It was breath-taking watching the sun go down almost directly behind the mosque.

At night, the market turns into what can only be described as the food section of a county fair. Tons (like 50+) booths selling everything from soup, meats, veggies, and even snails

We enjoyed a veritable FEAST! I had lamb kebabs, olives, and Moroccan tomato salad. It was spectacular!!!