A Photo Journal: 4 cities

From my current vantage point of my villa in Zanzibar, Tanzania, it's a bit of a struggle to recall all the details of the last ten days of our visit to Morocco and the 24 hour stopover in Itstabul, Turkey.   

Current location: Beaches of Zanzibar

With my toes covered in the powdery white sand, and images of kids frolicking in the Indian Ocean filling my mind, its tempting to just skip a bit of this journal blog.. just Be-In-The-Now.  Insistently, our story calls me to keep a complete account.    

But I can allow the sea breeze to persuade me to keep the prose short and stick to a more visual presentation.  

Over a two week period we we visited four distinct cities, most of which would appear on a great number of travelers' bucket lists; Marrakech, Casablanca, Istanbul and the lesser known but equally intriguing, Essaouira on the coast of Morocco.  

Marrakech, Morocco

Marrakech, with it's famously persistent salesmen, pickpockets, and con artists, tends to wear down the traveler.  With that in mind we only booked a 4 night stay.  Luckily Marrakech, also has it's beautiful side, the elaborate souks, amazing architecture, a variety of good restaurants, and of course the heart of ancient city, the famous Jemma el Fna,  a large open space which fills, as night falls, with snake charmers, monkey performers, story tellers, food stalls, acrobats, fortune tellers, musicians, and more.  

Eating at a cafe overlooking Jemma el Fna.

Zuki enjoying having a snake around her neck.

Koutoubia Minaret, on the South West of the Jemma.

The bustle of the Jemma at night, where lively food stalls fill the air with savory aromas and excitement, is captivating.  

Always busy with the local crowd, stall #31

Street Food:Loving the quick food and great people watching in the Jemma.

Playing the bottle fishing game in the Jemma

North of the square are the souks, where hundreds of alleyways are chock full of all sorts of beautifully displayed wares for sale.  We wandered for hours.  Morocco, with it's wide range of handicrafts, including leather bags, shoes, jewelry, beads, antiques, lanterns, housewares, and of course carpets, was really the first place I was tempted to send a bunch of "stuff" home.  My constant refrain, "Keep life simple" helped me, but oh I enjoyed looking.  

Spices fresh from Morocco

Maintaining our tradition in Morocco, we rented a private Dar (apartment with courtyard) for our 4 nights in Marrakech.  It was super cute and in a great location, 10 minute walk to Jemma el Fna, which was immensely helpful for finding our way home.  

Lovely touches of Moroccan Decor

Our Kitchen and courtyard

Upstairs living area

View from our bed to the date palm in the courtyard

The four days allotted was the perfect amount of time in Marrakech.  

Essaouira, Morocco

Upon our first wanderings through the old medina of this costal town, I was enchanted.  I had heard about traveler's tales of laid back Essaouira, but it wasn't until I saw the beautiful colors, smelled the sea, and heard the calls of the countless seagulls, that I understand its lure.  There was such a noticeable lack of hassle after Marrakech that it was almost disarming.  The sea seems to define Essaouira, with its blue colors, fresh seafood, and the countless seagulls that fill the sky.   We stayed 5 nights and I think we could have happily spent many more.  Luckily the rainy weather of the last two days helped ease our departure.  

The port

The white washed walls of Essouira.

The town is full of gorgeous cats; everywhere you look.  The kids literally counted 173 cats in one afternoon of wanderings.  

Such beauty in the combination of architecture and colors.

Argon oil is produced by women all over Morocco, but in Essaouira, we were able to learn about the production and the kids gave it a try.  

We were also lucky enough to connect with a great traveling family, who have settled down for 2 months in Essaouria.  The kids enjoyed a few playdates, which gave the parents time to exchang travel tales and information.  It is refreshing and somehow reassuring meeting up with like minded families.  

Casablanca, Morocco

The largest and most European city of Morocco, Casablanca, was made famous in the west by the movie by the same name.  Even though the name is one in which its simple utterance conjures exotic images, Casablanca doesn't have a lot to draw tourists.   Our flight out of Morocco departed from Casablanca, otherwise we wouldn't have thought to include it in our itinerary.  

We had the perfect amount of time between our arrival in the late afternoon, and our departure the following afternoon, to fit in a visit to the Hasssen II mosque, the main draw of the city for most foreign visitors.  It is beyond impressive and is the only mosque in Morocco to allow non-muslims inside.  It is so large that Peter's Basilica in Rome could fit comfortably inside and the cost of construction is said to be $750 million.  

Hassen II Mosque, with the tallest minaret in the world

Istanbul, Turkey

I recently read a quote about Istanbul.

"They say that if you only had a moment to see the world that you should spend those brief seconds looking at Istanbul.  During that glimpse of time you will see the past, the present and the future of many different cultures reflected on this city."-- unknown

Hagia Sophia: the church of Divine Wisdom, 6th Century

The Blue Mosque

The ceiling inside the Blue Mosque

Well our "moment" in Istanbul was definitely brief, but that short time was sufficient to give Turkey a definite place on the "countries to return to" list.  We would love to discover more about this exotic and attractive country.  

As I have said before we are not city people, but surprisingly, we all enjoyed our time spent in these four beautifully different cities.