Monday, January 3, 2011

The Road to Marrakech


So right after Christmas, we spent four days in Marrakech in La Palmeraie--actually a palm grove that's an oasis.

 













Here's the patio of the apartment we stayed in.















And the orange tree just beside it.














Tuesday we went to the souks in the medina.  Marrakech is much more of a tourist destination than Rabat so there are lots of random offerings by guys of stuff to buy--and they're fairly persistently.

Wednesday we drove to the foothills of the Atlas Mountains to Terres d'Amanar, an adventure park--no rides but with adventuring activities for all ages, ranging from a zip cord traversing from one hillside to another across a valley several hundred feet below, to a kid's playground with similar activities that the girls loved.


 

The reception was housed in a reproduction of a Berber tent.












And there was a sheppard tending his flock on the grounds.





 The scenery was spectacular.  Here's No. 1 son.  You can barely see the snow-topped mountain peeking out between the hills in the foreground, the bit of blue mist merging into the sky.














 
At the end of they day, they light a fire to keep away the chill of the desert evening.


 As you might guess, the seeds of a story are planted and growing.

Wishing you une nouvelle année joyeous
Judi

5 comments:

  1. Pretty landscape- palm trees and cactus. The adventure park sounds like fun. Did you do the zip line?

    Does some of your story idea take place in that tent? *nudge, nudge*

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  2. Yes to the tent. And I'm thinking a trek through the mountains might be 'interesting'. And other stuff.

    No one did the zip line. I'm not keen about heights and Joe decided against it.

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  3. What an interesting place. A far cry from the frenzy of Six Flags. I would have totally gone for the zip line :)

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  4. It was definitely a lot of fun. We went on a buggy ride, too. I've got a video, but it's on my iPhone, so I'll have to wait til I get home to upload them to YouTube.

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  5. Can't wait to see the videos Judi. It looks like you're all having a wonderful time. And you know me ... I would totally have done the zip line!

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