Morocco Day 7: Marrakech Part 2

Happy Fourth of July!!

​Today was the most packed day I had so far! We were out at 8:00 and went straight to the Jardín Majorelle and Berber Museum. It was a beautiful garden that also had a memorial to Yves Saint Laurent.

We continued our city tour to a palace where a prime minister once lived at least a hundred years ago with his multiple wives and 24 concubines. Most of us feminist women on the trip were a bit annoyed.

We were taken to a place where they have wonderful products made of natural things found in Morocco like Argan Oil, rose water, and several spices. We also went to a beautiful place where they had items for the home and rugs. At 1:30, 6 of us decided to stay for lunch in the Médina. At 3, the tour director stopped at the restaurant and 4 people returned to the hotel, and two of us decided to stay and walk through the Souk. My walking buddy was Ruth from Boston. It was wonderful! First we went to a carpet place ranked #1 on Trip Advisor. Boy am I glad I didn’t buy rugs at the places our Tour Director took us to. I would have paid 5 times more for the same rugs! I ended up with three rugs and I paid a fraction of the cost, I was extremely happy!

We continued walking around the Souk and it was a much more pleasant experience than in Fes. The aisles are cleaner and wider, and there was less pressure from vendors to buy things. More importantly I felt safer walking around. Ruth and I ended up meeting a lady that came from the south of France and owns a shop where she sells items she buys from Morocco, and Marrakech specifically. She said she comes to Marrakech every three months to purchase her stock to ship to France. She allowed us to follow her around and it was fascinating to see her do business with the people there. She ended up taking us to the main square where I was able to get henna in my hands. I’m thrilled to do this because I’ve never had anything on my body and I know I’m not the type to ever get a tattoo, so this is pretty cool to me! We also purchased a mixed fruit drink which was delicious. We enjoyed our fruit drinks as we walked back to our hotel in 90 degree weather. We arrived to our hotel and sat in the lobby for a bit to cool down. While we waited, Ruth’s travel mates came into the lobby and were headed out for a walk. We asked to join them and Ruth and I quickly went to our rooms to shower and returned to meet them in the lobby. We walked across the street to the mall and walked around a bit. Then we had dinner in a restaurant. It was a nice time to share with these ladies.

I had an amazing time and I’m so happy with how things fell into place with the rugs especially. Looking forward to the next city by the beach!