Marrakech - Horse Carriage and Food Tour

Friday morning, our second day in Marrakech, we took a horse carriage tour of the city.

After the horse ride we visited the Menara Gardens.

The "gardens" were mostly concrete walkways lined with olive trees. It was nice to take a walk but there was nothing to see.

We visited the Medina (shopping district) again as Steph finds it endlessly fascinating and managed to find a scarf, a purse, and a painting to buy.

In the afternoon we went on a food tour of the Medina with a local chef. We tasted many foods including olives and snails.

Then we went to a spice shop and bought some saffron which is being carefully weighed in this picture.

Our food guide is Chef Tarik pictured here with his assistant (the chef is the one next to me).

Steph says:
Marrakech has changed dramatically in 20 years. The streets, even in the Medina, are spotless and the bathrooms are all updated and clean. No more squatting over a porcelain hole.

It is still colorful and noisy and the women are mostly dressed in Hijabs or have scarves wrapped around their heads. No one wears skirts or dresses or anything sleeveless. Even very young women all wear pants and long sleeved shirts. Many men wear hooded robes and you see many donkeys in the streets being used to carry produce.

But, there are four lane streets and stop lights. The traffic moves smoothly unlike India where it is completely chaotic.

We went back to the Medina and visited two shop where I bought a scarf and a Berber purse. Asiz also led us to a shop filled with antiques and rugs. The walls were lined with photos of famous movie stars like Julia Roberts. Asiz told us that he once had lunch with John Boehner and a group of Republicans.

Last night, we had drinks at The Mamounia Hotel which has been spectacularly renovated. It still looks like a Moroccan Movie set. I had a twinge of regret that we didn't stay there.

We toured the Medina with a young chef and his friend and finished with dinner on the roof top terrace at the restaurant where the chef works. He joined us wearing his chef's uniform and hat.

We sampled sweets, dried fruits, spices and various freshly picked herbs. They gave me a bouquet of two types of mint, cardamom and absinthe which I promptly tasted. They were delicious!

The Medina was alive with snake charmers and water sellers. The Cobras do keep their necks and heads erect so they appear to be watching you.

One of the chefs worked on an Oceania cruise ship until he got injured so he is on medical leave. He was on the same ship we took from Singapore to Hong Kong several years ago.

Dinner consisted of several types of salad, chicken pastille (our favorite - it is encased in Filo dough and sprinkled with cinnamon and powdered sugar), lamb and chicken tangines and lamb tangina which is lamb that has been slow cooked for seven hours. Dessert was fresh orange slices topped with cinnamon and sugar - delicious!

Saturday we are headed to the Stlas Mountains and a visit to Richard Branson's resort for lunch. We're going to stop in a Berber Village on the way.