The medina of Marrakech is arguably the most famous in all of Morocco. There are miles of narrow covered streets lined with vendors offering leather goods, ceramics, metal lanterns and wall decorations, shoes and every kind of trinket that a tourist might want to bring home as a souvenir. In this time of Covid, there were more vendors than tourists, but we were told that the situation is improving. We shopped a little too, but paused when we arrived at the big plaza (Jamaa El-Fna), and admired this historic square, which has been featured in books and movies (Hitchcock’s “The Man Who Knew Too Much”).
I have mentioned the congestion of the streets and that I am amazed that I haven’t seen more accidents or people injured by automobiles. In the medina today, we decided to take a horse drawn buggy ride back to our riad. Part way through the ride an older Moroccan man was bumped by one of our horses and knocked down. He was shaken up but otherwise okay. Of all the opportunities for injuries that we could have encountered by bus, scooter or automobile, the first one we see is by a horse!
Casablanca
Casablanca wasn’t on our original itinerary, but several of our group were nostalgic about the old Humphrey Bogart movie “Casablanca” (the night prior to our day trip we sat around our riad eating pizza and viewing the old black and white favorite). So we all jumped in a car and drove north to see what the city had to offer. We weren’t disappointed. We toured the incredibly ornate, third largest mosque in the world, Hassan II Mosque, built prominently on the waterfront. We ended the short trip with lunch at Rick’s Cafe, a “Casablanca” themed restaurant that made the trip worth while.
We leave Marrakech and Morocco tomorrow and fly back to Malaga, Spain. We have just a few more days of sightseeing left as we make our way back to Lisbon, where we’ll fly home. Once in Europe, its so easy and inexpensive to fly to other parts of Europe. For our flight to and from Morocco, we found excellent fares at http://www.kiwi.com. We booked separate one way flights. From Malaga (which boasts a nice modern international airport) to Tangier, we flew Air Arabia Moroc, and our flight tomorrow from Marrakech back to Malaga is with Vueling Airlines ($142 total, one way, for Carrie and I, including 2 checked bags and assigned seats!). Not bad. Some of our frequent flyer friends try to book one way flights only and claim that the strategy saves them money and allows them more versatility.
Digital Postcards 
Love the idea of visiting the medina- did you buy anything? I don’t think I’d be good at haggling, too much British reserve perhaps!
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We loved the medinas, but the closeness of the streets, the smells and the “stickiness” of some of the vendors were quite eye opening to us. We aren’t hagglers either, but when you see something you like, and they want way too much for it, you can’t help but start arguing for a better price. We did buy lot of small souvenirs such as ceramics and leather goods, and we even bought a beautiful Berber carpet in Tangier (shipped home). We purchased the carpet for a third of what they originally wanted. Our guide said it was the “COVID special”, as they were hungry to sell their products.
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