On the second day in Morocco my friend Liz and I decided a day trip out of the city was in order. A lovely couple from our Riad decided to join us and I imagined a trip for just the four of us. I should have realised that for 200 dirham it wouldn’t be quite that exclusive!
We were taken by taxi to a petrol station near the Koutoubia Mosque, where we joined about 15 others on a minibus.
It was a nice trip but rather cheesy. We headed into the Ourika Valley.
Ourika Valley with the Ourika River. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Our first stop was at a herb/argan oil place. Although touristy, it was genuinely interesting and I bought Amber perfume, which I love (still haven’t quite worked out what Amber actually IS though!).
Onto our next stop, which was truly cringe-worthy. A beautiful Berber man guided us round a ‘traditional Berber house’. I don’t like being shown round people’s houses when I’m not a real guest. What need do I have of gawping at someone’s bedroom or storeroom? I was glad to leave simply because I felt it was a plastic experience.
We headed up the valley to go see some waterfalls. This was huge fun, with local daytrippers as well as international visitors.
Clambering ensued, to reach a small and then a larger (just) waterfall. They weren’t spectacular but it was fun watching our guide scamper around sure-footed as a mountain goat, helping everyone from slip-sliding middle-aged women to a five-year old girl. Moroccan men showed off by leaping from rock to rock, while women with high heels or backless slip ons tip-toed up and down, much to our amazement.
I have no photos, as they died in my memory card crash. Hot and thirsty, we tripped back to the city and headed for our rooftop haunt to watch the sunset and the world going about its business.
The sun begins to setThe sun dips a little lowerAnd it’s gone…
It was a touristy, fun day. I wouldn’t particularly recommend the trip we did but it’s a nice punctuation if you’re only going to be in Marrakech and want to see something else of Morocco.
Our third and final day started early-ish. The Majorelle Garden was top of my list of things to do as, along with the Ben Youssef Medersa, I had missed it last time. I had read that it’s super busy by 10 a.m. so my original plan was to be there for eight. That didn’t happen but thankfully it was still quiet when we got there at 9 am. I really would recommend being the first in, as by the time we left, it was getting busier.
You can read about the gardens here. It’s a gorgeous walled garden, filled with water features, the famous ‘majorelle’ blue at every turn and urn, and is delicious in its clever walkways and bowers.
It is also very difficult to photogrpah! Here’s my poorly attempts at capturing some of the delight.
We returned to the square – well, it was time for coffee and, of course, more people-watching!
Next up was some actual shopping rather than simply ‘souking’ up the atmosphere. Liz wanted a rug. I didn’t, as there is no space for any more. We headed for the carpet section and I was immediately distracted by a cute little kitten.
I don’t like cats but how could I resist this little mite?
Liz bought a rug and, inevitably, I did too! I have a high atlas one (traditional deep red kilim) but simply couldn’t resist the Berber colours and designs.
Once you have decided to buy a rug, it’s a hugely enjoyable process. The key to it is to start with a rough budget in your head. If you can afford to spend £100, for example, don’t go crazy and spend double the amount!
Choose your shop, accept a glass of mint tea, sit back and let the show begin. As many rugs as you want to see will be arranged in front of you. Then you narrow it down to two or three. If you don’t think they’re quite right, look at more until you stumble across ‘the one’, the rug that makes your heart sing.
Yassin gets out the first kilim, the one that eventually became mine by accident!
Once you have it sight, start the negotiations, keeping hold of your budget and feeling confident that hard-bargaining on both sides is all part of the fun. If you can’t get down to a price you’re comfortable with, then be prepared to walk away.
But don’t walk away too early as a tactic!
I don’t know why I thought I would come away empty-handed. As Liz bought her big rug, I salivated over another that she had rejected. Alas, it was way outside my budget so I negotiated on a smaller one instead. We were all happy!
Yassin and his Dad
We couldn’t leave before trying out a traditional Berber wedding cloak!
More shopping and then lunch. Yes, you’ve guessed it – more people-watching.
Lunch above the spice market
We wandered around and deliberately got lost. Now that we had done our essential shopping, we were happy just to discover.
We found the dyers’ souk
By this time we needed a rest. On the way back to our Riad, I took three of my favourite photos of the weekend.
This photo makes me want to write a mystery set in medieval Marrakech
Shed full of random bike parts
Our pretty Riad was the perfect place for a rest.
A pool you would never want to dip in!
Before we knew it, it was time for our final night in the Jemaa el-Fnaa. The food from the stalls is far more interesting than what we had eaten in restaurants and I only wish I hadn’t been so chicken before!
And so the long weekend drew to a close…back home to cold old Britain!
I went to my Dad’s for lunch yesterday. He’s a fantastic amateur photographer and is in a camera club. This means that he has real motivation to get his editing ‘just so’.
I have been struggling with exposure recently – selective areas of photos taken in bright light being too bright, leaving shadowy areas with virtually no detail. I had started to use the ‘fill light’ slider in the RAW editor but Dad helped me even further with a quick tutorial in using the RAW editor a bit more thoroughly and then in Photoshop using the dodge and burn tools.
Here are some results. Dad rightly pointed out that many of my Inle Lake photos from Burma featured the fishermen in silhouette. While this can add drama, in these particular photos, that wasn’t necessarily the case here. Here’s the difference I’ve just made by using the ‘fill light’ (highlights) slider as well as the recovery slider to achieve detail in the background hills. I upped the contrast and also used the clarity slider gently.
After: more colour/detail in the fisherman and in the background hills?
Using the dodge and burn tools, I managed to get rid of some of the distracting overblown exposure in these photos. In the first one, it’s the yellow urn that was way too bright. I used the magnetic lassoo to grab the area of the urn I wanted to work on and then used the burn tool to take some of the brightness off. The upshot is that the leaf curling down is now also in contrast and more visible. It’s a tiny bit of work but it makes a big difference to the viewing experience.
P.s. Here’s another great edit I’ve done since writing this post – cooled the temperature a tiny bit (from a tip in the April edition of Digital Photo), and reduced the blare on the white t-shirt by using recovery and the burn tool
Last weekend I was in Marrakech. My friend and I arrived after dark and after storms, so we woke on Saturday morning unsure of what would await us outside.
This was the wonderful blue sky that greeted me as I opened the door of our room.
First stop was to find our way back down to Jemaa el-Fnaa, as we had become pretty lost the night before. After many digressions into souk alleyways we made it and headed straight for the Cafe de France balcony, which gives a great view of life happening down below. It was to become a regular haunt in our short stay.
All along the rooftops are satellite dishes and people working/having a breakMy Dad swears he recognises this face from his last trip to Marrakech!We had no idea how this cart had fitted into the souks in order to emerge from them!A helping hand…Another helping handAncient and modern together
I could have stayed there all day – not only was the people-watching magnificent but the coffee was superb. Best of all there was shade for me and sun for Liz – the perfect arrangement! But the Ben Youssef Medersa, the tanneries and the souks were calling.
When I visited Morocco in 2002 with a travel company that still claims to be all about ‘small group travel’, even though we were in a group of 24 (begins and ends with ‘e’), our local guide promised we would visit the famous Ben Youssef Medersa (or Madrassa as it used to be – why the change, I wonder?). He failed to deliver on his promise two days running, so this architectural gem was top of my sight-seeing list.
I could quite happily have spent a few days contemplating life and studying in one of the tiny rooms off the courtyard. Here are my snaps. If you go to Marrakech, I would recommend it as a ‘must see’.
Happy me in the medersa
We had a lovely lunch break nearby and I couldn’t resist taking sneaky snaps. There are so many interesting, craggy and beautiful faces in Marrakech but it’s not a place where I feel comfortable asking to take people’s photos – it’s hard to get your hands on small change and many people who would make for the best pictures would need a little ‘thank you’.
So these are my sneaky lunchtime ‘world goes by’ photos.
We strolled through the streets to go and visit the tanneries. My advice? Don’t bother! Before we could find the classic views of the vats of colourful dye we were gathered up into an impromptu tour of one man’s ‘patch’. It was interesting enough but the photos weren’t even worth keeping and I can’t say I learnt anything about the process that made it worth the smell. If anyone knows how to find the section that gives the classic views (I visited them last time I was there), do post a comment with info!
A bit more ‘souking’ followed – we weren’t necessarily interested in buying. Rather, wandering around the ancient alleyways is a major sight-seeing joy in its own right. Here’s today’s selection of pictures. There will be more tomorrow!
Our final stop in our crammed day was the Menara gardens. Personally, I wouldn’t bother going again but I imagine if you went in the early morning or at sunset, the view would make up for the fact that this is a rather dull garden with a big resevoir and a building that frames pictures of the snowy mountains rather nicely.
The highlight in these gardens was being ‘mobbed’ by a group of about 30 very enthusiastic school children who all wanted their photo taken with us. While we were joining in and finding it good fun, when their teachers arrived, they were horrified that the kids had ‘bothered’ us. They explained in French (and I was chuffed to understand) that the children were from a rural area and hadn’t met many tourists!
We forfeited the sunset on our second evening in favour of going for a beer in a hotel off the square. It was an expensive stop (about a tenner for two beers served with lots of gorgeous nuts and olives) but absolutely worth it, as it had been a hot day of wall to wall sight-seeing! If you find yourself needing a beer stop, then head for Hotel Les Jardins de La Koutoubia
Tomorrow – a trip to the mountain waterfalls with no photos, the Majorelle Gardens, rug-buying and some sunset pics.
Getting lost in the souks is an absolute must in terms of the Marrakech experience. To be honest, you probably won’t have a choice! If you do, then do just go with the flow. Worst comes to the worst – accept a tag-along ‘friend’ and pay them a bit to help you find your way again.
My friend Liz and I arrived at our Riad at about 8pm, so by the time we were ready to go out and eat, it was pretty dark. Armed with a hand-drawn map of the ‘short cut’ to the Jemaa el-Fnaa we set out. Within seconds we were confounded. I had been so laid back and ‘non preparing’ about the weekend break that I all I knew was that we were somewhere north east of the souks. Beyond that, I simply figured that we’d find our way with what the Riad staff provided us…should have known better as I’ve been to Marrakech before.
The alleyways around our Riad were straight out of the middle ages – dark, narrow and mysterious. At night, with lads lurking and eager to ‘help’, it could have felt dangerous. But do you know what? It just wasn’t. We smilingly shook off offers of help and found our way into the souks. At the northern end some were beginning to pack up for the evening. Eventually we stumbled upon the main artery, still packed with people at 9pm.
And out into the heaving, smoky square. The Jemaa al-Fnaa is a sensual feast. Musicians and story-tellers attract huddles of locals, keen to enjoy the evening’s entertainment. The smoke rising from hundreds of food stalls forms ever-shifting clouds, stinging the eyes and making the mouth water (and I’m not even a meat eater!).
I was a right old chicken on that first night, refusing to eat the street food in case my stomach rebelled. How foolish I was. It was the best food in the city, something I only found out on the last night. Take it from me, eating in the square offers the best choice, particularly if you’re a veggie who gets bored of unseasoned five-veg couscous and tagine after a couple of days!
Here’s some night time photos of the Jemaa el-Fnaa.
Tomorrow, it’ll be onto souks, sunsets and people-watching!
I went to Marrakech for a long weekend last Friday. First off, I have to recommend cheap breaks website Ice Lolly. My friend Liz had used them before and she found a brilliant deal – just £350 for four nights and flights.
It was the perfect getaway. Liz has lovely children and they are now old enough for her to have a girls’ weekend away without feeling guilty or starting to miss them.
We both needed a break from the miserable weather and we couldn’t have timed it better. Marrakech had storms and rain on Friday but we didn’t arrive until about 8pm, once they were over. We woke to brilliant blue skies on Saturday and they stayed that way all weekend.
You can’t expect too much from a £350 break – our Riad is billed as four star but was a bit dusty and worn around the edges. For us (keen backpackers, not bothered about luxury touches) it was absolutely spot on.
I don’t have pictures of Riad Amsaffah yet, as I have temporarily lost my photos, but I should be sorting out the photo issue tomorrow and will gleefully post as many as I can. And by the way, the ‘delete after download’ option will now always be unticked by me; I’ve learnt my lesson the hard way. My download failed but the delete went ahead despite this. I understand from the ever helpful internet that they will still be on the memory card (as long as I don’t use it). Unfortunately the free software I downloaded didn’t recognise my camera as a drive, so I’m waiting for a card reader to arrive tomorrow before I can sort it out. I mention all of this, as I hope that other bloggers can learn from my mistake!
So until I have sorted out my own photos, I’ll resist writing of my sun- and souk-filled days in Marrakech.
In the meantime, here are my top tips:
1. Take a canny bottle of your favourite spirit from duty free if you’re partial to a sunset drink. Mint tea is glorious but there is something so lovely about a ‘proper’ drink at that time of day and the rooftop locations around the Jemaa El Fna don’t serve alcohol.
2. The gates to the souk all close by 10pm at the latest, so if your Riad requires you to walk through them from the square, make sure you leave yourself enough time! We did but it was very close on the last evening. Taxis are surprisingly expensive and the drivers aren’t keen to haggle.
3. Budget to buy a rug. Sitting down to drink tea and be presented with a fulsome range of kilims is a great experience.
4. Visit the Majorelle Gardens, as they are stunning. But go early. By 10 a.m. they get busy and it’s a small place.
5. Get lost. Allow a whole afternoon simply to wander the souks without worrying where you are. It is like stepping back into the middle ages and is the most absorbing sight-seeing possible.
Back in January, I trooped off to the Isle of Wight with a bunch of strangers for a walking weekend. Today I am remembering that mild, sunny weekend with great fondness, as sit in my living room wearing a huge jumper, with a woolly scarf wrapped around my neck. For here in Britain, as we head toward the end of March, it is a shudder-inducing 0ºC outside.
I had only ever been to Cowes before, in the height of summer, sailing for the day with friends who own a lovely boat. I wasn’t expecting much; I didn’t think the Isle of Wight would wow me given I’m from Scotland and have been many times to the Peaks and Cumbria.
I recommend this lovely pocket island for a weekend visit. The walking was superb – strenuous but across chalky clifftops with big wide skies.
We were all delighted by the sheep dogs who leapt up onto the back of a quad bike to hitch a ride rather than run:
Even working dogs need a rest.
The sun was glorious – it looks cold here but it was beautiful.
We spotted a red squirrel who stayed still for ages but even so it was hard to get a decent photo among the spikey branches.
A twinkle in his eye
And I loved the cattle; reminded me of being in Scotland.
I like this view for its perspective and the feeling of the unknown waiting behind the crest of the ridge.
Do you know where you’re going to?
At the end of the first day’s walk, we passed by a crazy little garden. It’s a bizarre way to try and raise money for lifeboats!
We stayed in a FANTASTIC manor house; Northcourt Manor. Our group was so large that we rented out the entire house but it’s possible to stay as an individual as a B&B guest. I will be returning, as it was a little haven.
After a Burns’ Night Supper and Ceilidh on Saturday night, I was well and truly ‘grouped out’ by Sunday morning. Rather than going on another walk, I decided to explore the garden in the crisp winter sun. It was so warm that after I had taken enough photos to fill a book, I sat in a sunny spot, coat and jumper flung to one side.
The garden was full of contrasts – the remnants of winter mixed with the promise of spring.
What other little pockets of secret loveliness can people recommend in the UK?
How often do you look at your favourite photos? And how do you look at them? Is it always on a computer screen? On Facebook, Flickr?
If you love your photos, then it’s worth thinking about how you look at them. There are so many details, subtleties and perspectives in a printed photo that don’t stand out on the screen.
In the past few years I have been making photo books. I make two kinds. The first is a ‘best of’ book and I try to do these every six months. It makes me pick through my portfolio, sifting and sifting until I find the best 20 or so.
Here’s a few from my last ‘best of’ book. I’m due to create one for the second half of 2012 but haven’t quite got round to it yet, so this is early 2012, when I had just bought my first ever DLSR. I love these photos because they represent that first flush of excitement of having a decent camera.
The second type of photobook I create is the holiday portfolio. And thanks to a fantastic offer from Albelli (my favourite) I was able to create a treasure trove of 120 pages of memories of my recent Burma trip. It arrived today and it’s amazing. Photos really do look different on the printed page.
The unique rowing style of the Inle Lake fishermen
My Burma chronicles are nearly done but the memories will live on forever. The more I have written, the more I want to make sure I go back in 2015, ideally as an election observer (unlikely, as there are far better qualified people) or simple to join in with celebrations, which I hope will come with change.
2015 feels a long way off still and anything could happen. In the meantime, I will dwell on the final leg of my trip, a relaxing visit to Inle Lake.
In my head, we were going to be staying right on the shoreline, watching the sun set over this beautiful lake. Had I thought about it a little harder, I would have realised that unless you are an ‘exclusive’ traveller, this would be unrealistic. Why would we want the banks of this lake spoilt by clusters of backpackers hostels and guesthouses?
Sensibly, whoever has developed the burgeoning tourist trade here has made sure that a nearby village has become the restaurant and guesthouse hub. It’s a sweet place…relaxed, friendly and delightful to cycle round. It reminded me of a little places like Banos in Ecuador (I’m talking 1996 by the way, so the comparison may be redundant now!) or Panajachel on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala (ditto!).
The highlight of a trip to the lake is – of course – a trip on the lake. The light was stunning, even at 8 a.m when we set out. There is a clarity out there that – again – put me in mind of South America and Lake Titicaca. When we set off, I was nervous that a day on a powered long boat would feel like being on a tour bus, as there were dozens of them, all jetting off at the same time down the canal leading to the lake. How could this be a peaceful day? As soon as we reached the lake I remembered a key fact from my guide book. Inle Lake is 13 miles long and 7 miles wide, with hundreds of tiny canals winding away from it to little settlements and villages. Other tourist boats were soon lines on the horizon and we only felt the tourist scene at the major sites, such as Indein, the biggest village on the day trip trail.
The on shore visits were fine rather than mind-blowing but that’s not important. The magic of came from watching everyday life as we streamed past. The fishermen seem like a tourist cliché, given how many award-winning photos of them appear in our press and online, but when I put the camera down and just watched them, the elegance of their rowing was a joy to see. Once in his ‘spot’ the fisherman stands at the end of his low, long boat (which were similar to Oxford punts) and balances on one leg, with his free leg woven around a long oar. This leaves both hands free to handle the nets. It amazed me that this style is unique to Inle, as it seemed such a sensible way to operate on a calm lake, as it means no pause in fishing when they need to move the boat a few metres this way or that.
As we motored down the canals, the variety of life on the banks or at the edges of the waterline was fantastic, from a man riding a water buffalo, to people growing veg in floating gardens.
Just as we were all enjoying the ease of swanning about in a motorised dugout, (relative) disaster struck. The boat I was in cracked over something as we puttered along a shallow canal. ‘Oh,’ said Bernadette, who was at the back, just in front of the boatman, ‘we’ve got a bit of water coming in.’ A ‘bit of water’ turned out to be fast-flowing and within seconds we realised we were sinking fast. Thankfully, the second boat for our group was behind, not in front and they arrived just in the nick of time. As we held bags and cameras aloft and urged the others to grab them from us, we stepped into their boat and looked round. What had been a boat just seconds before was now a wreck.
Thankfully, Paddy prioritised photos over sitting down safely! We thought she was mad at the time but I’m grateful now, as it’s funny to look back on it. I should point out that accidents are very rare indeed, so do not let this put you off an iconic tourist experience!
We motored on to the lunch stop and borrowed a friend’s newly purchased fisherman’s trousers. I inadvertently caused hilarity among the waiting staff when I emerged from the toilets with the trousers on back to front. Sorry, no photo to show but needless to say I was immensely grateful that Will had bought them just before lunch. As Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood would say, I had a soggy bottom, which is never a good thing.
Our biggest concern was for the poor boatman. This was a borrowed boat, as his had engine trouble earlier on in the day. Over lunch, we discussed with our tour leader how the accident would affect him. Time taken to med the boat would mean him losing about two weeks’ worth of income. So we decided to club together to help out. It was easy for us to do and when we gave him the money the next day, it was clear that it meant alot to him.
There’s not much more I can say about my wonderful day on the lake that my photos can’t, so enjoy I hope you enjoy this final gallery.
Footsteps and Photos 