Morocco- Xmas 2009

Aaahhh Christmas- Mulled wine, snow, Christmas trees & presents... not quite for us in 2009. For Christmas we headed to Morocco a country that do not drink alcohol (let alone mulled wine) and don't celebrate Christmas. Why you ask... well it is one of only a few places in the northern hemisphere handy to London which ticks 2 criteria; its warm and it is not on the Euro currency so it wont cost you a fortune.

We flew out to Marrakesh on Christmas eve with some fellow antipodean Christmas orphans Amruta & Suso & stayed in a flash riad (shared house) for 2 nights.

Above- With the lack of a Ranfurly Shield to hand I find a replacement....

Above- when we arrived in Marrakesh we were lead down some random side streets, including the one above on our way to our Riad. Once you arrive to the big door you don't know what to expect but once we opened up we were pleasantly surprised by what we found.

Above- Inside the Riad, where you can relax beside the pool and sip on Berbers Whiskey (Mint Tea) and contemplate your surrounds.

For Christmas dinner we were treated to 4 courses- Soup to start followed by salads as the entree, main course was 2 types of Tajine (choice of Beef or fish) with cous cous and finally followed by a 3 types of dessert. Needless to say we were completely full!

For Christmas day we headed into the Medina (ancient city walls) for a spot of shopping. There are 1000's of stalls similar to above called souks where you can literally buy anything! Bargaining is like a sport in Morocco so you need to send in your best negotiator as things should cost c.40%-50% of the first price they offer you (depending on how gullible you look, maybe even 20%).

Above- Nadia looks at yet more candle holders! No issues if the power goes off in our house I can tell you as we have enough candles to light our place up like a Christmas tree.

Above- within the Medina there is a large square by day you will find snake charmers, guys with monkeys and all other sorts of people looking to earn your hard earned Dirham (local currency). By night however it takes on a new look. They set up 100's of food stalls- the food there is cheap and delicious! For Nadia it was a hand sanitising disaster zone though!

Above- the winding road over the Atlas mountains

You can expect to be sold things everywhere in Morocco even at this picturesque spot 10,000 ft up in the Atlas Mountain range.

Above- our crew cross the river to get to the Casbah (Moroccan fortress or castle). I took this photo from behind these guys on my manly horse. I think the Moroccan guy taking us over thought I may have been a bit too large for your bog standard donkey.

Above- the view from Casbah

Nadia, Suso & Amruta

Lamb Kofta's- tasty!