MARRAKECH Christmas 2012

We took a three hour daytrip to Marrakech (by train from Casablanca) and enjoyed the scenery along the way..the old villages, the animals and kids, the farmer's wagons being pulled by donkeys, the green fields contrasted by the dry rocky terrain etc and then as we approached Marrakech, the beautiful Atlas Mountains with snow in the upper reaches. These mountains have no roads or trains to cross them and if you want to get to the other side and approach the Sahara, you have to go around. Those areas (Ouarzazate) are where movies such as Lawrence of Arabia, the Mummy, Jewel of the Nile, Black Hawk Down, Babel etc were filmed with the seemingly endless sand dunes in the scenery. We enjoyed the ancient Medina that was absolutely amazing with its endless alleys (Souks), tiny shops with leather, gold, wool, pottery, metalcraft etc where these things are not only being sold (hawked) but also being made from the primary materials. We had a "guide" take us deep into the maize of shops to where they were processing and dying wool for the clothing (being dried on the rooftops), scarves, accessories etc. We bought a very nice leather coat for Kay, a new leather "Turkish Saddle" for my parents, a couple of rings and things for the family and ended up in a great restaurant for an early dinner before making it back to the train for the return trip. What a place this was and how totally exhausted we were after a full day of sightseeing and "combat" shopping.