Day 7 - from Dades Gorge to Marrakech.

Actually started this post super early on day 8, from my comfy bed in our riad here in Marrakech, and then finished it on the roof top patio. Turns out if I'm not super exhausted, I can't sleep through the first call to prayer at about 5:30. In theory it should last like 10 minutes, but there are several mosques in the medina. Either they disagree about when the sun rises, or they just don't like playing all at the same time because it feels like the whole process takes closer to half an hour. And after that life in the medina starts so I can hear people moving around on the street (medina style, so really an alley) outside my window. Right now I'm mainly hearing bird chatter so it's rather pretty.

Our riad is quite a ways into the medina, which was kind of hard last night getting here, even though other people took our bags in a cart, but atleast means we don't get traffic noises all night. The tiad we're staying in is gorgeous, with an inner courtyard open to the sky, and a gorgeous rooftop terrace. We were upgraded to two separate rooms again - mom has a bedroom on the first floor, while Barbs and I are in a two bedroom suite on the second floor. And as we have re place to ourselves again, it's kind of like renting a house to ourselves. I really love the furnishings here, and wish we had room in our suitcases to bring more - the colorful textiles, and the ornate lamps are all really beautiful, and they seem to be fond of this red/orange/purple palate I really like. My bedroom opens out to both the street below and the inner courtyard, where I can see a bougainvillea in bloom, and it has this funky in room bathtub.

Anyways, to briefly recap yesterday, before I sink in to Marrakech. We were off to a late start yesterday, exacerbated by the fact that we still had to see the Dades Gorge from the day before. Being late, and the potential of having cut things from our itinerary put me in a funky mood all day. We ended up hitting all the main points on our itinerary though arrived in Marrakech last night past dark. Which all kind of feeds in to why I didn't wrote up any if this yesterday. I usually write while on the road, the suv has an iPod connection, so I was providing our music for the day.

So, we first saw Dades gorge, which is stunning - not as high as the first forge we saw, but there's a twisting turning road coming up it which photographs gorgeously. Which as some of you know is super important to me.

Getting back on our route was a bit tedious. Turns out that it was 10 days after the Muslim new year and everyone is on the streets walking to visit their families, which makes it difficult on skinny winding roads. Yesterday, we also saw a town known for it's roses, where they have a rose festival in the spring, the city of Ourzazate where a lot of movies here in Morocco get made. Ooo, and I looked up prince of Persia shooting locations and they shot both in Ourzazate, the nearby unesco world heritage site of Ait Ben haddou which we saw from a mountain top, and at the dunes of Erg Chebbi where we spent the previous night.

We spent some time going off road, both to see some kasbahs and also to cut time off of our drive to Marrakech. We drove through the high atlas mountains, which are gorgeous because they have so many different colours. Some are reddish, some yellow, green, or even purplish. We also stopped at a co-op where women from nearby villages make artisinal argan oil. I picked up a bottle to use - apparently it's the main ingredient in Moroccanoil, so it should be good for my hair.

Anyways our tour guide should be here soon so I should finish up my breakfast. Marrakech, being a big city apparently has more of a problem with pickpockets and petty crime, especially compared to the desert and mountains which are super safe, so I'll probably leave the recapping till tonight.

10 days after Muslim new year.