a marrakesh home movie

A recap in video form of our time in Marrakesh... it was like a dream.

hassan ii mosque

rick's cafe

Rick's Cafe, in Casablanca, is a recreation of the piano bar/restaurant in the famous movie named after the city. I anticipated a tourist trap, thinking it was one of those places to cross off the list - as if missing this in Casablanca would be like skipping the Pyramids while visiting Cairo. It was far from it and we couldn't have been more pleased with everything. Unfortunately for us, the pianist who usually plays "As Time Goes By" wasn't around. After lunch, we went up to the bar (which we inexplicably had to ourselves) where we watched part of the movie and had dessert. It was the first place we headed after arriving at our hotel and a perfect start to the day in Casablanca.

pictures from a moving vehicle

The sights and scenes on the way back to Casablanca were so interesting. A man selling chickens on the side of the road, sheep herders, kids hitchhiking home from school  - it's neat to see how people spend their days... so completely different from our lives in Canada.

hello casablanca

How adorable are these Gap Kids ads? I snapped these photos in Casablanca's huge new mall that had a grand opening with Jennifer Lopez performing just shortly before we arrived. - Mina

back to marrakesh

We stopped often on our way back to the city: to admire the landscape, to eat lunch, to explore a kasbah, etc... - notably, Telouet which is crumbling and has a rich history. The detail in every inch of the rooms is astonishing. 

At some point, we saw a goat-herder on the side of the road. There were about 5 or 6 goats peering over a rock and then suddenly we were surrounded by what seemed like hundreds of them. These photos and video seem underwhelming compared to the actual experience. But, it's not every day that you see a massive herd of goats scale the side of a mountain...

We ended our last evening in Marrakesh with dinner at Al Fassia which happens to be owned and operated by women only. I'm going to miss the rose water they put on your hands at the nice restaurants in Morocco - such a lovely way to start a meal. We shared the pigeon pastilla as an appetizer. I know we said that we weren't in a rush to try pigeon again but Amine (our driver/friend) said we had to have one before we left. It was pretty good!