Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Here we are!

After long and tiring adventures (cancelled flight, journey from Rotterdam to the airport in Bonn, back and again to the airport, searching for another flights in a very last minute .. .) we've finally arrived to Morocco! 2 days later than expected.

We landed in Casablanca and then took train to Marrakesh. Already at the airport, I could experience some typical behaviour of Moroccan people (wrong concept of “queuing”or noisy kids), which were really not a big deal compared to the chaos, rush, colours, tastes and sounds that we emerged in just after the landing.

I can't stop comparing Morocco to India, because of all the chaos, similar mentality and differences in the landscape. It's definitely less slums areas here, less rubbish and less cows, but somehow the overall experience is similar.
Travelling by train from Casablanca to Marrakesh, I could watch slums near Casablanca and then empty, dry landscape, with small hills, covered in burnt grass, red soil or juicy green prickly pears, some lonely shepherds, herds of cows and droves of sheep. And finally vividly illuminated Marrakesh with new railway station and taxi drivers pestering for their services. We walked pass them, went few hundred meters further and jumped into another taxi, where the driver agreed to give us a fair price, switching in the counter. The car passed by typical Moroccan houses with decorated windows or columns and few levels, then along a street, where women dressed in their jelabas and scarves were playing with their kids, then a big bakery and finally we arrived to Yassine's parents home.

And here starts my endless delight. The Moroccan house. Colourful, welcoming, adjusted to the weather conditions. It has three flours (well, actually four, if you count also the big terrace, where another 3 little rooms were built), 8 or 9 rooms, 3 kitchens and 3 bathrooms. Living rooms are decorated in a traditional way with sofas along the walls, colourful carpets, thick curtains, little tables and traditional dishes for bread, tea and other delicious foodstuffs. Amazing! Plus colourful windows, windows on the ceiling, decorative traditional files.

We were also welcomed with tasty food, and unique mint Moroccan tea served in a little metal pot and then poured from quite big height to transparent glasses. Delicious!

Now it's time to discover the city....

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