Aït Benhaddou is a UNESCO World Heritage site and a former fortified village made of clay. People no longer live there but it is used for shops and even movies like when we were there. We really enjoyed having a look as it is truly a unique and beautiful place to visit. We first looked at it from a distance to take it all in before climbing through the village to the top of the hill and to see the granary. The girls really enjoyed the spectacular experience even as it got a little warm.
We started our tour of Morocco by heading out of Marrakesh and into the High Atlas Mountains. They are quite beautiful as the foothills are covered in farms and various trees. The higher elevations where snow can be seen, are a bit more barren but have a beauty of their own. We stopped often to pat animals and to take in the views of the landscapes. We also stopped at a market predominantly owned by women which sold all sorts of artifacts. The girls really enjoyed it, plus we learned about argon oil production.
We walked to dinner to a nice little restaurant overlooking the Koutoubia mosque. It was really pleasant to sit on the balcony and watch the sunset. Dinner was quite good and we felt relaxed as we walked back through the market to the hotel. It was quite interesting to see how people sat around in various circular groups either talking or watching a performer. It was a vibrant and inclussive place to be.
We walked through the Medina and the bazzars with all of their colours and smells. It was really busy and felt hectic but most of us enjoyed it. We got to try on some traditionally dyed scarves, sample various oils and taste different olives. The olive seller was actually the subject of a BBC documentary and rightfully so as he was quite a character in a lovely way. His olives were fantastic too. We had lunch in the midst of the Medina with a view across the city which was fantastic.
After a good sleep we had breakfast at the riad and went out to meet our guide for a tour of the Medina in Marrakesh. The girls were a little disappointed to not be able to go swimming but it was really cold so it wasn't an option. The disappointment was quickly forgotten though as we started by touring the Bahia Palace and its gardens. It is quite a beautiful palace with lots of mosaics throughout. After learing about the palace we went into the city and stopped in at a local bakery where MV got to try her hand at putting a loaf of bread into the wood fired oven.
We got up and headed to the Porto airport where we went to the lounge to relax for a bit. It was quite busy as it the airport is quite small and has a limited number of lounges. We ended spending a bit more time there because our plane was late arriving which created a little bit of a problem for us in Madrid where we had to rush to our connecting flight. We made it in time, but our bags didn't. That meant in Marrakesh the first thing we had to do was deal with the lost baggage people, and we weren't the only ones as about 20 other people didn't have their bags make the connection from all sorts of flights. Let that be a lesson, don't connect through Madrid with connections of an hour or less and expect your bags to make it. Luckily our Moroccan guide Aziz and driver Ali met us and took us to a shopping centre where we all got new clothes. They were a little wild, but actually we all really liked them. It was a bit of a stressful start but Aziz and Ali really helped us through it and our Riad was really nice as well.
