Day 9 - Marrakech

We had a free day today in Marrakech.  Unfortunately we learned last night that we had to change hotels, so our day was interrupted and we lost about 3 hours by having to pack up, return to the hotel around midday, wait for our leader to arrive and for everyone to be ready, and then walk to the new hotel and wait to check in.  On a positive note, we had some additional time to chat and say goodbye to the members of the group that were not continuing on for the southern part of the tour.  We said goodbye today to Irene and Beverly (from South Africa), Kate (from Wales), Sally from Ireland, Holly from New Zealand, and Steve and Justin from the US.

To communicate within the group we had been using a Whats App group to "post" what time we were going to dinner, see if someone wanted to do some activity, etc.  As we were checking out, a hotel staff member asked us if we had left a small blanket.  It was a blanket that Justin who had already left had taken from the plane when arriving in Casablanca.  So, I took a picture and sent him a message telling him that the hotel has found the stolen blanket that be had abandoned.  😀

After breakfast we went with California Kate (we had 2 Kates on the trip) and Sally to the Majorelle Gardens where we had planned to go yesterday.  It is a 2 1/2 acre botanical garden that was created the French artist Jacques Majorelle starting in 1923, and purchased and restored in the 1980s by fashion designers Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé.  There is a small Berber museum located on the grounds that we also went to.  The garden was very peaceful, with several pools, lots of palms, cactus, etc.

As we were checking into our new hotel we met one of the four new people would be joining us for the southern part of our adventure.  Mafalda is from Portugal and had just flown in from Lisbon in the morning.  After checking in, California Kate, Ben, and Mafalda joined us in taking a taxi to the main square.  We browsed as we walked through the medina until we found a place for lunch.  The lunch place was amazing inside - more elaborate than the palace, with very ornate walls and ceilings  It was also huge, with many rooms, easily seating hundreds of people.

After lunch we continued to walk for a while, before we split up with Kate, Karen, and I going to the Palace de la Bahai while Ben and Mafalda continued to walk through the medina and browse in the shops.  It was built in the late 19th century, intended to be the greatest palace of its time. The name means "brilliance". As in other buildings of the period in other countries, it was intended to capture the essence of the Islamic and Moroccan style.

The light from this stained glass window made a colorful mosaic on the tile floor.

A spice shop we stopped in on the way back

Almost everything in Morocco requires bargaining.  When we tried to get a taxi back, we asked the driver how much to go to our hotel.  He asked how much we paid to get there.  We said 40 dh.  He said "per person"?  I said total.  He said no way, that was unreasonable.   He then said 60 was the absolutely lowest he could do.  We said no thanks.   Ben then offered 50, and he said "lets go" and took us across the street to his taxi.  When we got to the hotel we paid him 50 and he said he had told us 60 was as low as he could go, but we told him he agreed to 50.  Ultimately he grumbled but took the 50 dh and drove away.

After returning to the hotel we met the others joining our group.  In addition to Mafalda, we are joined by Liz and Lucy from Australia, and Thomas from Austria.   We got our briefing for the next day.  Since we had a large and late lunch, Karen and I walked down to a small local store and bought a few snacks to have in lieu of dinner.