Marrakesh to Dakhla

Marathon Day

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Back in Marrakech

Arrived bqck her yesterday afternoon and bought our tickets to Dahkla (the most southern town in Morrocco you can get to witout a visa) at the bus station. It leaves on Monday afternoon qnd gets to Dahkla 24 hours later. The weather in Essouaria was so cold and wet thqt south seems to be the thing to do. It was like a bad Scottish summer... Anyway; picked up my startnumber for tomorrow. Also my official teeshirt_ so now it seems like it,s really going to happen. Have arranged to have breakfast early so that I can arrive in plenty time for the 8.30 start in the morning (British time = Marroccan time). I got a black henna design painted on my hand this morning on the market _ it should last for 4 aeeks I;m told. Photos later _ I want to get to bed on time; have another bath first.

Essouaria to Marrakesh

Harbour

Rainy Essouria

Sea Urchins

Moved today from the Central to Al Fath(?), which has a view of the stormy sea over the wall. Had my first run. Ate sea urchins yesterday. Wonderful fish tajine today. Don,t think I,ve ever eaten so often and so well while travelling before. Food seems very...available here somehow. Maybe photos tomorrow _ I see a usb port on this puter.

Desert to City

Camel Trip

Overnight trip to Zagora via Quarzazate with a minibus (and camels) from Marakesh. More photos tomorrow.

Sheeps heads for tea...

Sitting in the internet cafe with a 6 year old practicing his french via a programme behind the counter. Today we booked a 2day trip into the mountains and desert and then plan to go to Essouaria on the coast for 3 days before the marathon. Just had delicious mutton at a stall in the big square with the brains, heads and tongues of the original keepers of the meat on the table in front of us. Bought some apricots for the bus trip as I feel I should be getting more iron inside me before the race next week.


This photo is for Janneke - the Moroccan equivalent of the scribbled 'agenda' I was always referring to in Bath to keep track of what we had to do and when.

Marrakesh Express

Arrived in Marrakech today from Casablanca. Everything fine but blogging isn,t going to hqppen very often qs French:Arabic keyboards have lots of keys in the wrong place. Haven;t run yet as when I was all reqdy to run along the boulevard this morning at dawn the hotel door was still padlocked shut so I went back to bed. Ah well; Insjallah; as they say here. Have just eaten lamb tajine at a stall on the huge square. Am reading Are You Experienced which is hilarious about backpqcking. Had a look around the biggest mosque outside of Mecca yesterdqy. I give up on this computer.... Off to wander about some more. More (maybe) another time, another place. Perhaps with photos:

Casablanca

Arrived at the airport in the early morning and 'slept' there till the first train into town at 6.30. Walked in the direction of the harbour and checked into Hotel Central, with this view from the window.










Wander about town, Maroccan tea on the way to the artdeco catherdral.














Later walked out to the biggest mosque outside of Mecca, which is also one of the few non-muslims are allowed to see inside. Not during prayer times but in organised tours.

Strange really, that every Christian church is open to anyone who wants to take a look but mosques are seldom open to non-believers.











In the evening ate in a restaurant where the waiter praised the 'special' couscous into the heavens and said I really should try it, only to return a few minutes later saying there was in fact no meat in the kitchen that day so it wasn't available. The vegetarian option was indifferent. Later heard that couscous is a dish you shouldn't really eat in restaurants, it's more a home speciality. We also briefly went into Rick's Bar (a fake remake of the bar in the film Casablanca, which was actually filmed in Hollywood) but it was busy and we left after hearing the tail end of the piano player playing the inevitable 'As Time Goes By'.

The Hassan II mosque was also visible from the hotel window - it looks a lot closer than it actually is as it's so big.