Trish and I left the boat in Rabat for a week and hired a car to drive across to Marrakech and on through the High Atlas mountains.

The 450km trip across to Marrakech was surprisingly easy with a new motorway now connecting Rabat to Casablanca and beyond to Marrakech.

Motorways are usually boring or stressful but the roads were almost deserted and ran across some fantastic landscapes ranging from fertile

farmlands to arid desert.

The colour of the soil ranged from vivid red to chalky white and volcanic black with areas of geological importance along the way.

Even in the remotest areas there was the ever present satellite dish on the roof but you would need to speak Moroccan Arabic to appreciate

the Moroccan version of Eastenders and Coronation Street!

The Medina in Marrakesh had a completely different feel to it than Fes, with cars and scooters allowed into the Medina’s narrow streets.

But it also had a greater vibrancy, more tourists and slightly pushier shop and restaurant staff. It also had a greater variety of shops and stalls

and being closer to central Africa some strange and wonderful sights, sounds and smells..........

We had decided that once again we wanted to stay within the medina in one of a number of old Riads that have been renovated and now

cater as upmarket B&B’s for tourists. Quite by chance we chose one in the Mellah what was once the old Jewish quarter, situated close to the

King’s palace for protection. There are very few Jews remaining now in Marrakesh but we were told that during the Nazi occupation of France

the Vichy government gave orders to the old King Mohammed V to hand over all Jews in Morocco.

To the old man’s everlasting credit he refused to do so!

We had great views from the roof of the Riad and could hear the hustle and bustle of the medina. The English couple that had completely

rebuilt our Riad were rightly proud of what they had achieved and there were many differences between the style of Riads and those in Marrakech.

Being in Morocco at the time of Ramadan has given us an opportunity to see what life is like during the long days of fasting. With many visitors

choosing not to come to Morocco during Ramadan the medina was much quieter than usual and like a ghost town once the break fast had

been called around 7.00pm when food and drink could be taken for the first time since 4.30am.

There were many workshops in the medina ranging from metalworkers, silversmiths, goldsmiths, leather craftsman, tailors, dressmakers, etc, etc.

Despite the creation of school education for children up to 15, many families cannot afford the books needed and so put their sons into

apprenticeships while still quite young. We saw children from 7 or 8 upwards working in the small workshops some while they were off school

for the holidays and others in full time employment.

The skills of the craftsmen were quite amazing and this man was using a 1” chisel and a home made lathe to make handles for kebab skewers.

It took him about 3 minutes to make an intricate handle for Trish.

With so many shoe and sandal shops rish was in 7^th heaven!

I addition to the Souks there are many historical monuments in Marrakech, Mosques, Madersa’s, old palaces, etc.

To be continued!!!!