“Storch, Storch Guter, bring mir einen Bruder, Storch, Storch Bester, bring mir eine Schwester!” An old Children’s rhyme I remember from way back then. And today we saw so many Storchs and Storch nests on the way from Casablanca north to Rabat, the capital of Morocco. It was an interesting ride, almost no traffic, and as soon as we entered Rabat, everything was super clean and neat! A welcomed side effect to being the capital I guess.

Our tour guides showed us around to the unfinished tower of the Hassan mosque, that was built from 1191-1199, until Yacoub El Mansour, the initiator, passed away in 1199 and his predecessor didn’t have the resources and the intention to finish it. It was intended to be the biggest religious building of its time, with a minaret of 88 meters in height. It is just 44 meters now and it was forgotten, the 1755 earthquake of Lisbon gave it the rest. Then it was used as a quarry for many buildings throughout town until it’s restoration. 1956, Mohammed V read the Declaration of Independence from this tower, saying that Morocco is no longer under French protectorate any longer. A major step in the history of this country!

Another interesting stop we had at the Kasbah des Oudaïa, a fortress to protect against Berber tribes, Osmanians or Spanish invaders. Its protective wall around, along with a massive gate are very impressive!

Finally we arrived at our riad for tonight, a lovely place inside the Medina – my favorite location! Ted’s friend David picked us up, we floated around the busy streets, where street vendors try to praise their goods, where people try to negotiate prices and where a handful of tourists try to hold on to their belongings, always nervous, always afraid…

With David we went to a very nice restaurant on board of an old sailboat, that was brought from India. We sat on deck, had a very tasty late lunch / early dinner before heading back to our Riad. Another fabulous day! Thank you David!

Btw: “Stork, stork good guy, bring me a brother, stork, stork best guy, bring me a sister!”

Marrakesh has 3 million people and many tourists, Casablanca has 4 million people and fewer tourists. Somehow it feels that we are in Morocco now, more than before. It seems that we are the only westerners at the hotel we stay at, it is equipped with everything you need as a proper Muslim: even a sticker next the TV pointing towards Mecca

Our tour guide Fouad and our driver Abdul picked us up at 9am to go on a 16 day roundtrip tour through Morocco. First stop after a 3 hour drive was Casablanca with the Mohammed V and the mosque Hassan II. This building was so impressive! It is the 2nd biggest mosque in Africa, the 7th biggest worldwide. And – yes – it is humongous! Check how tiny Ted looks!

We checked in at our hotel and took a walk on the beach: it seemed there were hundreds of people playing soccer! Low tide had just set in and quickly there were all those soccer fields marked in the sand. We were so fascinated that we didn’t see it coming: one big wave and we were soaked! The only dry piece of clothing was my bra – haha!

We got back to the hotel, shower, and off to dinner: of course we chose a Moroccan restaurant, which was super tasty!

When I was a child and adults talked about “a Berber”, “a real Berber”, it always had the undertone of value, price and rarity. Having a “real Berber” in your house was something you could brag about! When I was a little older I realized that “a Berber“ was a rug or a carpet, but I didn’t know if it referred to the quality, the material, the size, the pattern or the color. Now I’m an adult myself and I know that “a real Berber” is a person who lives in the Atlas mountains in Morocco. And I also know that many Berbers a shepherds, they produce wool and they make rugs (and jewelry and leather goods and many other products! And yesterday we visited a small museum where the arts and crafts of the Berber were displayed: Tiskiwin. It started as a private collection of artifacts and fills a Riad up the roof with interesting pieces of Berber craftsmanship.

Our next stop, right next to Tiskiwin is the Dar Si Said Museum, dedicated to carpets and weaving. This museum without any artifacts would be worth a visit on its own, because it is the most extraordinarily decorated building we’ve seen so far.

The carpets on display along with the fabulous samples and explanations of weaving were so interesting, we had a hard time leaving! A few other artifacts of metal work were also on display that rounded up the collection in a beautiful way.

We discovered the Mandala Society, a restaurant that is owned by an Icelandic-Moroccan couple and enjoyed lunch there, we floated through the streets of the Medina, dinner at our Riad and off we went to our nighttime adventure: the Marrakesh International Filmfestival, that screened a movie at the Jemaa El Fna, the big marketplace. We watched an Indian romance-drama-action movie with French subtitles, which was ok; the plot didn’t need a lot of words…

When you think about fashion, Marrakech / Marrakesh / Marrakesch (French / English / German) is not popping up on the list, right? Visiting the tanneries and the Souks and seeing all those wonderful handcrafted one-of-a-kind pieces of textile or leather will change your mind. And today, we visited another Marrakesh fashion highlight: the Yves Saint Lauren Museum. A $5 taxiride out of the Medina and you arrive in a quiet residential part of town where YSL used to have his studio after he discovered Morocco and fell in love with Marrakech. He spent a lot of time there, especially for inspiration purposes. The colors in Marrakech are different: loud, strong, bold, and the combinations are extremely brave, different and never seen before! Only a person with a strong character can wear those color combinations! And he, YSL made it work! Fascinating!!!

But not only his color combinations stood out, his attention to detail, haute couture techniques of the finest, gives you goosebumps!

The museum itself, finished in 2016, is a piece of art in itself.

Remember the saying: „God punishes small sins immediately”? Or do you remember images of Zeus throwing lightnings down to earth to punish any kind of wrongdoing? Well, here we are in Marrakesh, where any form of PDA (public display of affection) should be avoided, but Ted and I can’t help it: yesterday evening, just as we were about to sit down for dinner at our small courtyard in our Riad, where 6 other people, all Germans, were present, we kissed. Actually we tried to kiss to be precise, because when I stretched up to reach Ted, I took a little step backwards. Allah saw that and – similar to God or Zeus – he sent me down into the ditch = the flowerbed. I hadn’t seen this 1” step, I fell backwards and landed hard. Ouch!

But I survived. With some dirt on my clothes and a big fat dumpling-sized bruise on my butt. 🥴

Despite all this, we had a fabulous dinner and – thanks to Yanit, the chef – all of us ended up around one table where he demonstrated how you can proof if Safran is the real deal or dyed corn hair. We sat and talked and had a good time!

Appendix #1: out of those 6 people, 2 were from Austria

Appendix #2: my knee is ok!

Appendix #3: Safran Test: put 1-2 Safran strings in a glass of water and stir it. Real Safran turns the water yellow. Corn hair doesn’t 🧐

Our Riad is only 5 minutes away from Jemaa El Fna, the marketplace at the entrance to the Souks, which is the Moroccan equivalent to the American shopping mall, but totally different! There are hundreds of those tiny hole-in-the-wall stores without a name, that sell lamps, shoes, kaftans, dead chicken or laundry detergent that is filled in 1.5 liter water bottles. But not enough, you can also have your moped fixed, you can get a massage, a bathtub or a haircut. And that last thing we started the day with: a haircut for Ted

At the Souks there are many spice stores, that sell tea, frankincense and spices, there are textile-, leather-, wood- or metal workshops, but we haven’t seen a single bookstore!

And then there was this guy who did a great job dragging us to the tanneries, where the berbers from the mountains bring the camel leather for tanning. Of course they only come once a week and today is the day: Berber-camel-leather-tanning-day! We got a bunch of mint to hold under our nose and – YES – I needed that! It was very interesting and extremely stinky…

We were glad to be back in the souks, we ate at a vegan storytelling cafe, where we got lunch, but no stories, and afterwards we happened to find the „Secret Garden“, a wonderful oasis in the middle of chaotic Marrakesch.

This secret garden, „Le Jardin Secret“ is the most ancient riad in Marrakesch, beautifully restored over many years and a tranquil place to relax. And we needed a break anyway; walking around the Medina the whole day is an overload to the senses, not only the smell! The noise, the colors, everything!

Back home, Ted crawling through our front door 😵‍💫

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And if you’re not bored yet, here are a few more pictures…

What is a Riad (or Ryiad)? It is a villa, usually in the old town or center with one or more shady inner courtyards, which are relaxing, beautiful, cooling oasis. We arrived at “our” riad today after an easy day of travel. My sister-in-law Anja drove us to the airport. Checking in and the flight were easy and smooth. We were picked up at the airport in Marrakesch, then dropped off at the market place, called Jemaa el Fna. And then it started to get interesting: Jemaa el Fna is not some normal market place, it is a stage. Guys with trained monkeys, snake charmers, henna artists, market booths, everything you need or never wanted – there you can find it! Said from our Riad picked us up and walked us to our place: bigger walkways leading into smaller ones, turns to the left and right, smaller walkways leading into dark alleyways, lots of tiny hungry kittens everywhere. And at the end, a right turn, another right turn and there it is: a doorway that would have been perfect for my grandmother (she was only 4’7″). But this was the entrance to our Riad, which has 17 rooms and 7 courtyards (!). It is a lovely place and the floorpan is so complicated that I’m not sure if we’ll ever find our way out again.

Our dinner at our Riad was a very special treat: mushroom soup, freshly baked bread, 6 different salads (one better than the others) and a lamb tajine, that was so tender, we could have eaten it with a spoon. Baked apricots and plums, lots of almonds, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, etc. a whole array of spices to put this meal out of this world! It was super tasty!!!

And now were tired; getting up at 4am shows after 10pm; that’s why we‘re off to bed, dreaming of adventures tomorrow!