Before night falls. Marrakesh.

After we bid Aaron and Mildred goodbye, Soon and I plunged ourselves into the chaos of Djemma el Fna. The place was already loud and noisy.....full of activity.

We wound our way past the various street performers and dodged people and small vehicles along the way.

Neither one of us had eaten since breakfast and after a good day of walking, we were ready for at least a nibble. Time for a Djemma el Fna delicacy - grilled sheep's head. Yep, you read that right. Sheep's head.

 Wasn't hard finding a stall that sold them. You just had to look for the display :-) Of course, we got lured in my a waiter dressed in a white lab coat.








We sat ourselves down at the counter and tried to decipher the menu. Had no idea what to get but with the help of the waiter, we each settled for the combo which, if it means what we think it means, should get us a bit of this and a bit of that.  A sheep's head sampler :-)  Two Cokes to wash the meal down with.

The garden that Jacques built. Majorelle.

Iit's New Year's Eve today but more important than that, it's the start of our second full day in Marrakesh. This time Soon and I arrived into the dining room at the right time for breakfast; there were already other guests waiting for their food to arrive. Mustafa was shuffling in and out room, carrying trays of hot drinks and food.

Mustafa is very serious and focused about his job.  He never smiles or talks to the guests but in slightly odd way, he's adorable especially in his uniform with the white gloves and fez.  Makes him look very Moroccan. I've been wanting to sneak in a photo of him but there's not been the right time.

Hassan was also mingling in the room. I decided to take the opportunity and have him follow up with the local tour company regarding our trip tomorrow to Essaouira. I really had no idea how we were going to get there. I gave Hassan my voucher that had the local contact information on it and he tried to call the number. No answer. He kept trying. Still no answer.

In the meantime, our breakfast had arrived and Soon and I dived in. Even though I didn't have dinner last night, I wasn't that hungry. But as usual, I still managed to stuff my face and I'm counting that walking about the town will burn off all the extra calories.

Hop on, hop off. Marrakesh.

Bab Agnaou

I don't know what it is about being on vacation but when I'm away from my regular routine at home, I can get up at the crack of dawn without an alarm clock.  So, I was up bright early, well before 8am which is when breakfast is served in the dining room or at least that was the time that I thought Hassan told us that breakfast would be served.

Never mind what time breakfast was, I was eager to get started on the day.  I've been looking forward to being in Marrakesh for years and now it's finally happening!  So excited as always!

Marhaban! Marrakesh.

Welcome to Marrakesh! Those were the words that Salah shouted out as he drove by the terracotta red walls that surround the medina.  It was just a few minutes earlier that we had been driving into the city.

It was evening rush hour when we arrived into Marrakesh and we inched along with the rest of the traffic.

Last night, I had pulled up the website of our riad, Amira Victoria, so that Salah could get driving directions on how to get us as close as he could to the place.  From reading all the reviews about the place, the two common comments were how nice it was and that it was very difficult to find.  I just hoped that Salah could drop us off at a place that we could ask for directions to get us there the rest of the way.  I told myself I would worry about that when the time came but in the meantime, I would enjoy the ride through the city.