A Peaceful Nap

How wonderfully color coordinated these friends are!

And here are Blinky, Ollie, Mondo -- and their mother's tail.
Nothing so much fun as jumping in and out of a basket!

Blue Doors/Essouira

Moulay Bouzerktoun is a small village about 25km north of Essouira.

Unlike in Marrakesh where the walls are pinkish, on the coast here the houses

are mostly white and the doors are blue. 

 In Essouira itself.

More of the same......

and even more....

When School Gets Out /Essouira

 

Jamie Oliver and the Famous Butcher

I was recently staying with my daughter who often visited us in Marrakesh.
She said I must watch the English chef  Jamie Oliver's programme on Channel 4
"Jamie Oliver does Marrakesh"  (April 10th 2010)
There, lo and behold, was our friendly butcher from the Mellah market.
It was such fun seeing such a cheery and upbeat program celebrating Moroccan food.
Do watch it if you can and if you enjoy eating...........

Madrassa Ben Youseff

     photo by Robert Schmid

The central courtyard seen from two different angles.

What a wonderful place this must have been to study and meditate.

Just outside our Door

Musicians often wander playing music in the derb.  Here is one right outside our house.

His music is haunting and lovely.

This shot was taken very early in the morning when few people are about. 

I think this man is on his way to the mosque.

Afternoon on Derb Djedid

Such warm and lovely colors in the women's clothes.

A Very Blue Sky

Looking up from the courtyard...........you can just see the very smallest part of the olive tree on the roof.

On a much cloudier day looking upwards........... 

and a view from the roof itself. So much time spent studying the sky and enjoying the light.

In the evenings the swifts would circle eating mosquitos and then later the bats would swoop down--then one would know it was supper time.

The Beach at Diabat

Dunes and the Atlantic Ocean just south of Essouira.

A good place for surfing and a camel ride on the sand.

A good place for sandcastles and pondering mortality.

Jimi Hendrix supposedly wrote "Castles in the Sand" here.

Our little castle is swirled away by the tide.....

In the Souks/Suqs

A suq/souk is really just a shop. In Marrakesh there is a whole area

where lots of little shops are all clustered together.

In fact it's a sort of labyrinth of delights.

Many of the little lanes have wood slats in the roof to prevent the sun shining too brightly

and creating wonderful shadows.

So very many different things to see and buy! Jewels and pottery

and metalwork and tea glasses and scarves and baskets......

...but best of all leather slippers that Alladin or Princess Jasmine would envy

in every color and design under the sun......