We took a private “tour” to the Atlas mountains today, which means that our very nice driver, Aziz took us to all the retailers where he got a kickback. Not that it wasn’t educational or interesting, but the sales pressure was intense; behavior to which I am congenitally averse. We went to a Berber rug shop billed as a sort of woman’s cooperative, which I suspect is only partially true. But the rugs were varied and beautiful. Not being in the market for a rug, as I explained from the get go, the salesman did an excellent job of making me wish that I were. The next stop was another of that ilk, an Argan oil operation that also sold spices, teas, cosmetics, etc. Dollars were spent. None by me. The lunch venue was lovely, seated right beside the river that three weeks ago flooded so badly that it wiped out a good deal of its embankment. Remember, this area was hard hit by the 2023 earthquake. Anyway, food was great. On the way back Patti wanted to take a pic of a camel which morphed into a camel ride, in costume. I will include some very amateur video. Back into Marrakech we visited the tannery which was technically informative in its use of pigeon shit as an ammoniated bath in the tanning process; we were given sprigs of mint to mitigate the odor. And that’s about it. Got to see some countryside. Here are some pix of the day.
Royal Theater in Marrakech, close to our AirBnB
Berber rugs drying in the sun.
Rug weaving demonstration.
Tajine for lunch
Future goat tajine
Patti along the Ourika River, Restaurant Adrar
Restaurants along the Ourika River.
Post flood bridge
Tannery
Patti atop dromedary.