To Essouaria and back with welcome guests!

Man, its been awhile again. Merry Christmas!

The past week or so has seen us frantically running about trying to get our last minute shopping done...just kidding.

We have already been given the nicest gift this holiday season, a welcome visit from family! So everyone has been checking out Marrakech.

We toured some more sights in town, surprisingly few really. However the Jardin Marjorelle was really nice. Also the Bahia Palace. The garden at Jardin Marjorelle is set in the yard of an old house of Yves Saint Lauren, the famous designer who lived here for years until his days were done. A path lined with bamboo fences winds through a giant yard filled with dozens of well established cacti and giant bamboo all carved up with various tags from travelers. A large fish pond dominates the courtyard just outside the house turned Islamic Art Museum. It is cooler and quieter in the courtyard as the plants provide shade and somehow block out the sounds of the city just yards away. This is even more surprising given the fact that it is so close to the Medina and D'Jemme al Fna.

Inside the walls of the garden are tourists looking about at the plants and the art deco house. Outside it is a much different world: taxis and cars buzz around and vendors sell all manners of fruits. The main busmall is close with all sorts of activity. Seems like old Lauren liked his tranquility, and that is the name of the game here.

It is similar at the Bahia Palace, but way bigger and... just more. A mini Alhambra in Africa.

Getting from place to place looks easy on paper here, but in practice...

This time we have a map and a much better feel for the narrow passageways of Marrakech that you cant help feeling Marion is hiding in a basket somewhere. We still get lost. Luck is with us again and a helpful young man points us in the right direction. We emerge from the streets so small they could pass for closets to a much bigger square... hold on we have been here before. Today? No, the day before? No one seems to be able to remember, but it is somewhere we got lost before. And the palace is right around the corner. A little snack is found anywhere and the palace is beautiful. So big and tiled all over. We spend some time admiring the art on the walls and imagining how it must have been all those years ago before heading down another packed tiny alley and finally back to our pad in El Fedul.

Our guests decided that maybe a beach trip was in order so we packed our bags and waved our magic wand and headed to Essouira.

Essouira, (pronounced, "suhwar uh") is tiny compared to Marrakech, sort of a training ground for getting ready to tackle the medina. A walled fortress of a city, literally. The main part of the city is contained within giant ramparts with four or five gates or babs. This is the old Essouira with the new being mostly residential neihgborhoods rolling along the coast for about 1 or 2 km north and south of the gated part. Inside the gates is all hustle and bustle, tiny streets and everything just like a tiny medina right on the beach. The beach is large and windy. Kite boarders by the dozen shoot around on the little breakers and a prison is visible on an island just out to sea. The sand is reddish and very fine, perfect for sandcastles. Since Jimi Hendrix made this town famous in '68 the town has managed to survive on music fests and tourism, as well as a small fishing community. We stayed a total of 3 nights in a really sweet apartment and managed to take in the full moon... the clouds did not cooperate for the eclipse however.

Now back to Marrakech and suddenly it's Christmas! As you can imagine, not really a big holiday out here. Even so, many holiday type objects are for sale like tinsel and stars and even plastic trees. Santa was good to the boys and made a stop here in Marrakech with some awesome Indiana Jones bags and daggers!

We miss all our friends and family who keep the fires warm for us back home and abroad. This is traditionally a time for us to be around all our family and we will sorely miss you! Hoping you all have a safe and happy holiday and a happy new year.

Love, the Moylans