Marrakech By Air

On Sunday, Michelle and I woke up well before the sun to start our amazing day with the company called “Marrakech by Air.” We headed to the square at 6:45am to take out money from the cash machine and wait for our pickup at 7am. At 7:05, we had not yet seen our ride and were approached by a woman asking what trek we were doing. She spoke very little English but what I got out of her babbling in French was that our ride was late and that we should go with her on a three day trek. We tried to explain that we were only going on a 5 hour trek and she insisted we call to make sure we still had a reservation. The man from the “Marrakech by Air” explained that a couple they were supposed to pick up before us was late and they were running behind about 10 minutes and would be there in just a few minutes time. This news sent the woman away and in a few minutes our ride did indeed arrive.

We road in a SUV out to the edge of Marrakech with a middle aged couple from France and a Mother and her autistic daughter from Spain. The culture and language mix was great. French, Spanish, and English all in one vehicle. The tour guide was fluent in French and spoke pretty good Spanish and English as well. He was able to explain things and crack jokes in all three languages so that everyone was always laughing and having a great time.

The sun rise over the Atlas Mountains

Michelle and I enjoy our coffee and sweat rolls while we watch the sun rise

Our first stop was on the side of the road between two ridges of the Atlas Mountains. We watched the sun rise over the mountains while enjoying coffee, tea, and a sweat roll. Our hot air balloon came drifting in and we watched it land a short distance away. We were driven out to the balloon and helped the balloon land. Two couples exited the balloon and the six of us climbed in. In an instant we were let free and the balloon quickly rose into the sky.

Our balloon floating in over the Atlas Mountains

The French, the Spanish, and the Americans

All aboard the hot air balloon!

Turn up the heat and up up and away we go!

Our view from 4,000 feet!

The flight was amazing. The climb was smooth and effortless. We watched the ground disappear from below us but did not feel any turbulence or pressure changes like one would feel in a plane. We reached an altitude of just over 4,000 feet. We could see across the Atlas Mountains and we floated over numerous small Berber villages. The pilot continually cracked jokes in all three languages about how this was only his second time flying a balloon, how the small holes around a village were from where he had previously crashed, how he had run out of propane and it was good that we had eaten so much couscous last night so that we could help produce the gas needed to fuel the fire, and pretending to loose one of the crucial ropes off the side of the basket, only to later find out that rope needed to be let loose for landing purposes.

An airial view of a Berber village. Look at all the animals!

Our balloon's shadow over a Berber village

Michelle and I having the time of our lives!

Our decent near a Berber village with goats grazing nearby

After about an hour in the air, we made a gradual decent over fields of olive trees before landing in a field near a small Berber village. Several children from village gathered to watch the landing. The ground crew and trailer were present when we landed and they quickly took to the task of loading the basket onto the trailer, deflating the balloon, and loading it into a large land rover like storage box.

Michelle and I watch as the balloon is deflated, rolled, and loaded onto the trailer

Michelle and I enjoy breakfast in Berber village

Next we climbed in the vehicle and were driven out to another Berber village to enjoy a traditional Moroccan breakfast. The village was small but the tent we ate in was beautiful. One of the Berber men put a young goat kid under the tent with us so we enjoyed our breakfast in the company of a very friendly and cute goat kid. Michelle was in love and after greeting everyone the goat curled up on top of her feet under our short little table.

Michelle loves her new little goat friend

Our beautiful Moroccan breakfast

Our little goat friend is our special guest during our Berber breakfast

After breakfast I got to experience a traditional Moroccan bathroom, a small room with a squat toilet and a water spicket inside. The roof of the bathroom was made from an old hot air balloon; how appropriate. After everyone experienced the squat toilet we loaded ourselves back in the SUV and drove out to the Palmaries of Marrakech for our camel trek.

 

Our camels wait for us around a pile of hay

The camels were gathered around a pile of hay when we arrived. The adults were saddled with thick cushions and blue blankets and several calves were mixed among them. We climbed aboard our selected camel and started our camel trek.

All aboard the Camel Express!

Our camels were tied to the camel in front of them with the lead camel lead by a Moroccan camel man. He lead us out into a forest of palm trees for a short camel trek. It was nothing like the original camel trek I had envisioned where were would ride for a day out into the Sahara desert, spend the night in a tent in the desert, and then spend a day trekking back. Instead our entire ride was only about 30 minutes. It was just well as the slopping position needed to sit on the back of a camel was already starting to hurt my back after only 15 minutes of riding. I couldn’t imagine riding for hours at a time in such a position.

Our group aboard our camels

Michelle and I loving our camel ride!

 

Michelle's camel was very friendly

On our way back to the Camel Camp

Michelle loves her camel

The baby camels were so cute!

When we returned back to the camel camp, we gave one of the calves some loving attention before saying our goodbyes to the camels and camel men.  We were driven back to the square in the Medina where we were originally picked up. We thanked the driver for such an amazing experience and paid for our adventure. We said goodbye to the other guests and headed back to our hotel.

Goodbye camels! Thanks for the ride!

We loved the baby camels!

Our selected carriage horses

After checking out of our room, we wondered around the square before finding a decent deal on a horse drawn carriage. We chose a pretty grey pair of horses that looked to be in decent condition and bartered our price down to 70 Dirham. We had the carriage take us up to the Ali ben Youssef Medersa on the North side of the Medina. On the way there I noticed one of the horses had a very obvious head bob associated with a significant front limb lameness. I mentioned this observation to the young driver but he assured me it was not a problem. I tried explaining that I was a veterinarian and his horse was in pain and needed treatment but he didn’t understand or didn’t care and proceeded through the rest of the carriage ride in silence. We were dropped off as close to the Medersa as carriage could bring us. We wondered through the souks, continually bombarded by Moroccan boys trying to offer to show us the way. One boy wouldn’t leave us alone we tried to loose him by stopping into a few shops but he would always stop and wait for us. Finally when he told us to turn right and follow him to the Medersa, we turned left and headed to the Mosque where we knew we weren’t allowed to enter. I pretended I just wanted to take pictures and the boy finally got the point. Instead of just disappearing be cussed at us in the few English cuss words he knew before finally leaving us alone. After I snapped a few pictures of the Ali ben Youssef Mosque tower, we turned around and headed down the street to the Medersa.

On the way to the Ali ben Youssed Medersa

Our matching carriage horses. The horse on the left
was 3/5 lame in the left front

Our beautiful desert

On the way to the Medersa, were stopped by a man who handed us a card with information about his restaurant with a roof top terrace. We were hungry and the terrace looked pretty so we agreed and climbed four flights of stairs to the top of the Terrace. The terrace had a good view of the Ali ben Youssef Mosque tower and we enjoyed the view during our meal. Our waiter did not speak any English so with the help of hand gestures and a couple of British ladies sitting next to us, we managed to decide on something to eat from the foreign menu. We shared a 3 course meal of soup, pastilla, and a long “c” word which was a fruit pastry desert.



A view of the Ali ben Youssef Mosque

On the terrace of the cafe where we ate lunch

Inside the Ali ben Youssef Medersa

Finally we managed to find the Medersa and we explored the beautiful central courtyard surrounded by numerous student rooms on two floors. Some of the rooms were very small and closterphobic. Most of the rooms were about 6’ x 6’ and many had windows overlooking the courtyard or facing out from the Medersa. We awed at the five color zellij walls, stucco archways, cedar windows, and Italian Carrara marble. This Quaranic learning center was once the largest in North Africa. Today it said to still remain one of the most splendid.

The beautiful architecture inside the Ali ben Youssef Medersa

The courtyard inside the Medersa

A view of an entrance to a student room

A look inside the beautiful palace that houses the Musee de Marrakech

Next we proceeded to the Musée de Marrakech where we looked at Moroccan art inside the beautiful Mnebhi Palace. Our visit was short as we were running out of time. Finally, we quickly visited the Koubba Ba’adiyn, a small 12^th century koubba, or shrine. The keyhole arches are more of a Hispano-Moresque architecture, similar to that found in the medersa.

Michelle compares her henna to that of the large contemporary art piece

The Koubba Ba'adiyn shrine

Snake charmers in the Djemaa el-Fna square

On our way back to the square, we attempted to visit the Mouassine Fountain. We found ourselves wondering down many dead end streets filled with artisans creating their crafts. We refused to follow any of the young men wishing to show us the way as we did not trust they would bring us to the right place and we knew they would demand money in return. Instead we continued to wonder in a general southern direction until finally we hit some of the major souks feeding into the square. We watched some of the performers as we made our way through the square. Finally we stopped back into our hotel to pick up our bags and head to the taxi stand to catch a taxi to the train station.

We caught the 7pm train back to Fez. Michelle and I slept most of the way home and finally arrived in the Fes train station at 2:30am. After a taxi brought us back to the Fondouk, we collapsed almost immediately in our beds. Morning treatments at 7am would come quickly. Michelle and I had had a fantastic weekend. Now we were ready for a full and busy Monday serving the working equids of Fez.