member of the human race

morocco day 1

sallam people, i'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaack alhamdullilah and i have never been so happy to be back, talk about stress, i need a holiday from morocco and the stuff that happened from the start right up to the end of the trip, at one point i thought i was gonna be stuck in morocco for the rest of august lol but eventually we got back home safely alhamdullilah.

it was a different trip to the ones that i have been on and the group were really diverse and different, mashallah 31 people travelled all together and seriously as soon as the plane touched down at gatwick airport i let out a sigh of relief and even one of the girls travelling with us shouted out 'white african you are offically free now'

freedom, oh what an amazing feeling, not having people asking you all sorts of questions, or complaining bout all sorts of things, not having to make sure people are on the coach or awake, so yeh i'm glad to be back...

i did enjoy myslef to a certain extent, but it really wasnt a holiday for me and if it wasnt for 00kitty, blondie, and some others i would probably have gone mad, so 00kitty thanks so much for being you and for being a shoulder to cry and bang my head on, you are a star and you deserve a medal.

any way loads to blog about and post pictures and i'm sure 00kitty will do as well, bless her she really suffered in the travelling,

there where 2 groups flying out, my group where flying out from heathrow at 6.10pm all together we where 20 people, 00kittys group where flying out from gatwick at 4pm and all together they were 11 people, on my way to heathrow around 2ish, i get a call from 00kitty telling me that when they went for checking in they were informed that air marocco had double booked the seats and that there where only 1 seat left, obviously 00kitty did all she could to sort it out, and i was having a heart attack on the mini bus thinking to myself my god what to do, and every so often i would call her to get an update, the pilot didnt want to wait any longer so he decided to fly without 00kittys group, and no one would take any responsibility for the studpid mistake which meant that 00kitty was waiting all this time at the desk, i think it was like 8 hours later that a descion was made and they where to fly the next day from heathrow at 6pm which meant that they missed the first day of the tour at morocco, they did get compensation though but still it wasnt fair on them, i will let 00kitty explain it better than me as it happened to her poor thing.

mean while we arrived at marrakech airport about 9ish morocco time and made our way to the hotel, we had missed dinner so after checking in and taking luggage to the rooms and sorting out air con and the million other stuff that seem to happen, we decided to eat out, so out tour operator took us to the nearest eating place which was opposte the hotel and we had some weird sandwich which till now i have no idea what it was filled with, this is what it looks like after we had consumed what we could:

mmmmm, our first meal in morocco, lol, we had to leave kinda fast from the weirdo restraunt cause certain creatures of the night (hardly dressed woman) make an appearance and the desperate weirdos as well.

every one was really tired from travelling so we went back to the hotel and to our rooms, heres what mine looked like:

and

i went to sleep that night praying that the next day would run smoothly...

next day woke up early, got ready and went downstairs to have some breakfast, found some of the girls sat down enjoying the weather around the pool

eventually we got on to the coach, something that really kept bothering me was people's time keeping on this trip, seriously every time we would leave later than we planned because people took there time getting ready and would stroll to the coach, and most times no one would apologise for being late, very frustrating...

the paln for the day was to visit the centre of marakech which was a 10 minute drive, visiting the koutobia mosque, saadian tmbs, al bahi palace and then make our way to the eureka valleys. heres a pictureof the Koutobia minaret which is a 70 metre tall and a major landmark, that can be seen for miles away.

Dating back to the 12th Century, the minaret is the tallest in Marrakesh, topped by 4 solid gold balls. Also at the top of the tower can be seen a wooden scaffold..our guide told us that many western tourist belive that its where they hang muslim woman from which really peeved me off because i cant stand stupid people who travel to other countries and bring there stereo typical views with them, there better of staying put! any way it's real purpose is to assist the deaf...as they can't hear the call to prayer, a flag is hoisted at the appropiate times and i thought that was amazing cause islam is really considerate of all...

we took a stroll round the gardens surrounding the mosque...

we then made our way towards the saadian tombs, i managed to take some pictures of the roads..

walked past the many souvinour shops that fill the streets...

saw more minarets designed in the same style of the koutobia minaret..

we made our way to the tombs, The Saadians were an Arabian dynasty that ruled much of southern Morocco in the 16th and 17th centuries, often successfully waging war against Portuguese invaders. Marrakech was their capital. Sultan Ahmed al-Mansour created these tombs for himself, his family and ancestors. In total nearly 200 Saadians are buried here, most in the yard and the most important in the lavishly decorated halls...

some of the mosaic tiles and calligraphy..

parts of the tomb looked similar to a mosque what with all the pillars and arches..

we then had to leave and make our way to the El Bahia Palace and on the way i managed to take pic of the doors and archways of peoples homes and buildings, so many of the doors i justed wanted to take home, absouloutly gorgeous...

we got to the Bahia Palace, built in the late 19th century, is a superb example of Moroccan-Islamic architecture. The layout of the complex, with its courtyards and mazes of rooms, is typical of the style. the way leading to the entrance was lined with orange trees which apparently where not for eating but for cooking and adding a flavour to the food..

The rooms (nearly 150!), housed Ba Ahmed , his 4 wives and 24 concubines plus servants and guards. The Palace follows the patterns of typical Islamic architecture, with central courtyards, having rooms leading off, with doorways that are placed so that you can't see beyond (providing privacy) Fountains and gardens are also typical features, along with the decorative stucco panels, tiled floors, i was fascinated by the arches so i kept taking pictures of the entrances and doorways..

Each room have ist own incredible work in arcs, ceiling, walls and floors

the ceiling is so detailed...

and the fountains in the middle of the palace..

oh to have a house with an open courtyard in the centre...

one of the girls was saying that she could have her wedding in this big open courtyard, decorate it and make it look amazing, us girls are so funny, always planning weddings and what not...

i cant resist putting up another picture of arches...

we left the palace and on the way back to the coach i found this really cool spice stall..

i loved the way they put the cinnamon together, i have to say cinnamon is my fav spice, you can put it on both savoury and sweet stuff, something new i tried in morocco is cinnamon and icing sugar on banans and oranges mmmmm..

on the way to the coach i came across this graffiti which had me laughing for like half the day..

it basiclly says 'no urinating' i have never seen a sign or graffitti like that before, i just thought it was hilarious.

just round the cornor i spotted a minature begger, she was tiny, hardly there, it was really sad, every where we went they seemed to pop out of every where and anywhere, and it was hard to tell the difference between the genuine and the liar...

i ask allah swt to never put us in a situation where we have to beg to live, i'm reminded by an advice that the prophet pbuh gave which is to read surah waqi3a every night and inshallah that will protect us from poverty.

i think i have blogged enough for today, inshallah i will blog about the rest of day which involves the eureka valleys