12th-19th March 2019. A trip "Imperial Cities of Morocco" arranged by SAGA. There were 29 elderly people on the trip. I have tried to show the people of Morocco and avoid the teeming hoards of tourists. The light was hard with bright contrast except in the dark souks.
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| 1. Marrakesh (The Red City) | Tuesday 12th March | 04:25 train to Gatwick in cold wet weather | 3.25 hour flight to warm, sunny Marrakech |
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 Marrakech Airport Concourse roof |
 Marrakech Airport |
 On the way to the Palm Plaza Hotel |
 The Palm Plaza Hotel |
 A traditional Moroccan Dining area in the hotel lobby |
 My bedroom |
 Bathroom |
 Loo with bidet |
 My Balcony |
 The Main Lobby |
 A Lounge |
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2. Marrakesh |
Wednesday 13th March | A tour of of the sights of the city | |
 Passing by |
 A City street |
 Front doors |
 Sorting money out |
 Police Post |
 A feral cat |
 Entrance to the Mellah (market) |
 Mellah Square, Bab el Mellah |
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 Mellah Square |
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 Caravanserai |
 A Trading Shop in the Caravanserai surround |
 More Stock |
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 Spices |
 Ocelot Skins? |
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 Who buys all this spice? |
 No photos! |
 Knee protectors |
 Guarding the load |
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 Male First Aid post |
 Scarves |
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 Silver |
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 The Jewish Quarter |
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 Not a religious Muslim! |
 Location Log of our visit |
 A public Drinking Fountain |
 Slat Al Azama Synagogue |
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 Inside |
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 Covering the Torah Scrolls |
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 Jewish Mementoes |
 Brass Main Doors |
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 Carpets for sale |
 Down into the labyrinthine Mella
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 Argane (a local nutf or perfume medicine etc) Herboristorie |
 Medecines |
 Cures for any condition |
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 Map of Marrakech |
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 Bahia Palace |
 Ancient Lift |
 Column top |
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 Bahia Palace, the concubines each had a room 6ft X 10ft.tiled all over |
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 She bought a local dress |
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 Photoshoot |
 Various decorations |
 Guide |
 Fireplace |
 Retro Camera |
 Sore feet |
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 Herbal Remedies |
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 Charity |
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 Moulay El Yazid Mosque |
 Saadien Tombs |
 Saadien Tombs |
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 Video Show |
 City Gate |
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 City Gate |
 Palais Arabe Restaurant for... |
 ...a 2 hour lunch in an empty traditional restaurant |
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2 Marrakesh |
Evening | Around Djemaa el-Fnaa Square | |
 Lamps |
 Immigrant/tourist? |
 False Ray-bans for sale. "Shockram" means Thank you and No thank you |
 Cafe de France balcony from which I took shots of the Djemaa el-Fnaa Square |
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 There are 200 odd licensed carriages in the city |
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 Haggling, should have agreed the fare |
 Hour of prayer |
 Friday Prayers at Koutoubia Mosque |
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 Koutoubia Minaret |
 Smoking is Haram! |
 Sitting on his sandal |
 Remains of an earlier mosque |
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 Djemaa el-Fnaa Square.
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 Its mine! |
 Chasing a photographer for money, small change needed |
 Traditional water sellers posing for tips |
 Juice bar |
 Cuddle a monkey? |
 Carves' Heads |
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 Djemaa el-Fnaa Square |
 Snake Charmer |
 Sweets, cigarettes etc |
 Modern Morrocan |
 Henna Hand painting "Mehndi" |
 A "Singer" |
 Geotags |
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3. Marrakesh |
Thursday 14th March morning | Jardin Majorelle and Berber Village | |
 To Jardin Majorelle |
 Drivers fooling about |
 We set off in 3 carriages |
 Jardin Majorelle |
 The garden was packed out by 1100am |
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 Love |
 The shop |
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 Backlit
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 Everyone wants a selfie |
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 The Berber Museum |
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 Mint Tea ceremony in the cafe |
 Mint Tea (hot handle) |
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 Summer house |
 Rubbish Recycler |
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 Off they go |
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3. Agounsane |
A Berber village in the afternoon | ||
 Atlas Mountains |
 Agousane is too small to show on most maps |
 The Village Women's Co-operative |
 Rug for sale |
 The Women |
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 The Infant school |
 The Teacher |
 The infants. They spend the morning with the Imam, the afternoon at school |
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 Grandma doesn't want to be snapped |
 Mud and straw walls, cane, mud and plastic sheet roof |
 Main Square |
 The Potters workshop |
 Teenage kids |
 The potter with foot driven wheel |
 Prickly pear dying from cochineal beetle |
 Main street |
 A cow in the ground floor |
 Dung heap |
 To the Potters house |
 The Hall with chickens |
 Bathroom |
 Inner Courtyard |
 The Parlour (bedroom?) |
 Mint Tea Ritual |
 Sugar chipped from a sugar loaf |
 Minimum hospitality that everyone provides visitors. Nuts, bread, olive oil and tea (green tea with mint) |
 Quern to grind corn |
 Matriarch Fatima |
 Infants coming home |
 Village Mosque |
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4 Rabat (Blue and White Kasbah) |
Friday 15th March | Kasbah, Chella Roman Ruins and Mausoleum Mohammed V | |
 Hotel Doorman says farewell |
 Passing Marrakesh Railway Station on our way to Rabat |
 Kasbah des Oudayas, Rabat |
 Kasbah des Oudayas, a city within a city |
 Main gate to the Kasbah |
 The Green outside the walls |
 An Old Fountain |
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 Library |
 To the harbour |
 The Harbour used by Barbary Pirates |
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 Outside the Mosque |
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 Cafe |
 To the Garden |
 Andalusian style garden |
 Hassan Tower? |
 Water Pump to irrigate the Garden |
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 Chella, Mausoleum to Hassan II gate |
 Inside the gate |
 Dragon Tree |
 Our radical Guide |
 Ruins of Chella Roman ruin |
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 Hassan's Tower |
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 Buskers at the gate |
 Mosque at the Mausoleum of Mohammed V, the previous king, back in Rabat where we will be staying |
 Ruins of the previous mosque |
 Royal Guard |
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 Wealthy Visitors |
 The Mausoleum |
 Hassans Tower |
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 Entrance |
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 Very low light |
 Not much room for the guard as we squeeze past |
 Water surrounds the tomb |
 Off to barracks |
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5.Rabat to Fes |
Saturday 16th March | Volubilis Roman Ruins | |
 Our Guide in Meknes. we had set off in a cold sea mist |
 Meknes outer Town Gate, Bab el-Khemis |
 Bab Mansour |
 Old Jewish Quarter is behind the wall |
 A beggar |
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 Agdal Basin Reservoir
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 Parc Benhlima |
 Taxi |
 The Granary is beyond |
 The Granary Wall |
 Our Guide escaping (for pictures) |
 The Granary Entrance |
 One chamber of the vast Granary, cooled by a garden on the roof, thick walls and water running within the walls |
 A water pump |
 Grain is fed in from above |
 Large interior doors |
 Royal Stables for 3000 horses |
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 A Meknes Gate, Bab Mansour, the largest gate in Africa, looking towards the New Mellah across Ladhim Square |
 Inside Bab Mansour now a shop |
 Ostrich Woman |
 A monkey for cuddles |
 A Snake Charmer |
 Horse rides in Place Ladhim, Meknes |
 Through to the actual shop |
 Entrance to the New Mellah |
 Tagines for sale |
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 Arabic, Berber and French signs |
 Mixed Spices |
 We did not see anyone wearing one |
 A Snake Charmer |
 Dead cow ready for the butcher |
 Levitation |
 Into the wall to pass beyond |
 The wool market |
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 Our lunch stop for... |
 ...another traditional meal |
 Damascene metalwork, pottery and embroidery being produced |
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 The craftsman |
 The Roman Empire. We stopped at Volubis on our way to Fes |
 Volubilis Roman ruins main street, the Town Gate is at the far end |
 The Arch of Caracalla, Volubilis |
 House of Orpheus |
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 Mosaic Floor with a horse ridden backwards |
 Pi dog |
 Comfort break at Barrage Sidi Chahab |
 Fisherman |
 Mementoes Stall |
 Barcelo Fes Hotel for our stay |
 View from my room in the Barcelo Fes Hotel at night |
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6.Fes |
Sunday 17th March | Medina, Madrassa, Jewish Quarter etc | |
 Location Log of visit to Fes |
 Overview from the "Southern Tower" |
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 Pottery Works |
 Raw Clay |
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 Ladies Loo |
 Old Style Shops |
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 Street Cleaners
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 Litter picking donkey |
 Olive Oil Drums |
 Butcher in the Fes el Bali market |
 The Camels head indicates camel meat for sale |
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 Bker |
 Making Filo Pastry for Samosas |
 Preparing Fish |
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 A kaleidoscope |
 Wash house |
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 Banter with the tourists |
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 Kairouine Mosque. All Mosques are barred to non Muslims |
 Outside |
 Inside |
 Plaster work |
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 Kissing the Kings hand top right |
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 Caravanserai... |
 ....now a Wood Museum |
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 Madrassa Koranic verse |
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 Chndelier |
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 Carpet and Textile shop |
 The scarf suits you |
 Looking out |
 Smelly Leather Works |
 We were given mint to help with the terrible stink |
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 Skins drying |
 Swishing |
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 Drying vertically |
 Self inflating pouffes |
 Moroccan Porn? |
 Moroccan Salad before Lamb Shish Kebab for me at lunch |
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 A donkey piled high with leather skins rushed past but I was too slow! |
 King Mohommed VI's new palace at. Fes el Jedid |
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 Andalusian style Jewish Quarter |
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 I think we missed out the Synagogue and Jewelry shops as people were tired out |
| 7.Fes/Marrakesh | Monday 18th March | via Casablanca | A very long drive |
 The Journey back (location log) |
 The Avenue Hassan II, Fes. The Promende |
 Hassan II Mosque, Casablanca. The tallest Minaret on earth |
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 The Corniche, it looked rather tired |
 Old and new housing, Casablanca |
 Royalist Cafe for lunch |
 The Royal Family photo outside (propaganda) |
 The only granite outcrop |
 A Country Farm |
 Casablanca Sea Front by satellite |
 Cork Oaks with sheep grazing underneath |
 Back to the Palm Plaza |
 Opposite the hotel |
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8.Flying Home |
Tuesday 19th March | Marrakech to Gatwick no delaysbut food ran out on plane | A smooth journey home |