Arriving Marrakech
Again just a reminder, "click" on the pictures to enlarge, then use the "Back arrow" at the top to return to the blog page.
Just to prove that we are actually here.
Day 4--Last Day, a final wander around the souk, and time spent just people watching.
It was a bit crowded in the narrow streets! The donkey cart managed to find a place to pull off to let the taxi through, though I don't think cars are really supposed to come through here! This was the narrow lane that starts in front of our hotel and ends in the big open square seen in the following pics.
This picture was taken just outside the door of our Riad at the other end of the lane above. These pots, jugs, stools, basins etcetera are all made out of old rubber tires, stitched and glued together. They are quite amazing. We would have loved to have brought some back, they would have been useful in the garden.
The various methods of transporting things is varied and inventive to say the least. How the cardboard recycler has survived so long is beyond me. The little skip is transporting a yard to so of wet concrete! We met him in the little lane a while later while going back to the Riad.
Relaxing and people watching in a cafe in the souk, Gillian with a coca cola and Art with a coffee.
The last purchase in the souk was a souvenier for a friend who collects glasses etc from around the world. We didn't have room for a complete set of 6 glasses and tea pot used to prepare and serve the ever present mint tea, but managed to convince a vendor to part with just one glass. It was made of very thin glass and sat nestled in a framework of "silver" wire. We wrapped it carefully and returned to the Riad to finish packing.
We laid everything out on the bed puzzling where things were to go. During the shuffling around of stuff Art picked up a plastic bag spilling out the tea glass which then rolled off the bed land on the hard tile floor with a crunch-- scattering tiny shards of glass across the room. Words were said!
Our driver arrived and while we were downstairs saying goodbye to Nigel and Diane we related the story of the tea glass. Diane immediately presented us with one of theirs from the hotel, saying "it's just a plain one, but at least it's not as fragile and has a story to go with it".
With thanks Art stuffed it into his pack as we climbed into the van for the ride to the airport.
Some time time later at the airport Art reached into a jacket pocket looking for something and his had came out grasping the room key complete with fancy fob! We tried without success to phone the Riad, due probably to our unfamiliarity with dialing local phone numbers. Eventually we had to go through security to our gate, wondering how we were going to explain this to Diane and Nigel!
Murphy being Murphy, our flight was listed as departing from Gate 29 -- out of a total of 29 gates! A long walk later we reached gate 29 and found a seat; we had about 40 minutes before the scheduled departure time. A bit later we noticed that the gate sign had changed to a different flight number and destination! We checked the main board, our flight to Orly was still listed as departing from gate 29. As departure time approached with no change in the gate sign, Gillian went up to the agent to confirm things. She came back to advise Art that there had been a gate change--we now had to return to gate 3! The main board still listed our flight as departing from gate 29 at 18:00. It was now 17:45!
Gillian set off down the loooong hallway at a very brisk walk while Art followed along at a more normal pace. We arrived at gate 3 to find our flight listed on the sign board--as "delayed"! The large board however still directed passengers to gate 29! 15 minutes or so later it was corrected.
Eventually we boarded a very full flight and were up and away about an hour and a half late. The flight was uneventful, we even managed to snooze a bit.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment