24 hours in Marrakech

We departed from Lisbon early on Easter morning which is also Jammie's birthday to head to Morocco.

It is a quick flight, and with a time change we were in Marrakech in a little more than a half an hour.

We whisked through customs and were picked up and on the road to our riad by 10:30 am.

Our driver had some dates, nuts and water for us to snack on.

We arrived at our riad Art Place.

A riad is a former residence; I guess we'd call it a mansion that used to house a multi-generational family. Today they have been mostly converted into small hotels. Ours is in the absolute most ideal location right on the main square, Jemma El Fna which is also a UNESCO world heritage site.

The manager of the hotel greeted us with Moroccan mint tea and pastries

and suggested we go explore until the room was ready and arranged for us a private guide, Adil.

Adil showed us around the souks, or market areas inside the Medina (the old city within the walls). It is an absolute maze! Alone, I'm sure we'd still be lost! We visited the tanneries where they process leather by hand.

An absolutely vile smell. We had to protect our noses with sprigs of fresh mint.

Without it I'm sure I would have puked. We went through the different areas that specialize in different crafts and skills. The weavers, 

tailors, leather workers,

spice merchants, metal workers, shoemakers

and food stalls. I'm having a pair of shoes made for me. They will be delivered to my riad later this week! We stopped for a quick (too big) bite to eat.

We returned to our riad to check in and relax for an hour before our next adventure. We were picked up by YaYa to experience iftar with a Muslim family. Iftar is the breaking of the Ramadan fast each day.

We were invited into their home, offered some more Moroccan mint tea and were shown how they prepare some of the dishes. Homemade meatball tajine, a special soup that is traditional for breaking the fast that is eaten along side dates,

some very interesting pancakes with honey,

and what I can best describe as an avocado smoothie.

At sunset we went to the rooftop of their house to listen to the call to prayer.

YaYa's younger sister (15) explained what was happening, people hurrying to the mosque to pray and then rushing home to finally eat.

It was a beautiful experience. We got home about 9pm and had to head straight to bed.

Our next adventure was scheduled to begin at 4:20 am! We were picked up and driven outside the city before dawn.

When we arrived we read the rules, had a quick cup of coffee with cinnamon in it (kind of weird), and then headee out to climb in a hot air balloon with 16 others and the pilot and a camera man.

Lift off!

Full moon and sunrise!

An incredible experience!

After soaring for over an hour we landed safely

and headed to the tent for a traditional Moroccan breakfast. We received flight certificates

and then headed back to the Medina. 

We had a quick elevensies to just try the hotel breakfast and took a quick dip in the pool. We've been here for 24 hours and it's already been a full once in a lifetime vacation. Now we're off to explore some more!

Free day in Lisbon

We started our day by going to get Covid tests so we can travel onward to Africa. Negative again. Yay! It was still early enough to return to our hotel and reset our day in one of our favorite ways, simply eating euro breakfast at the hotel. The bread warms my heart!

We headed out and figured out how to use the rentable e-bikes and rode along the Targus River to Belem.

We saw one of the most monumental monuments we've ever seen.

The monument to the explorers. It's hard to see the scale of it in pictures. Next we headed across the street to visit the St. Jerome Monastery.

But before we could go in we had to try their most important addition to Portuguese culture; the Pastel de Belem (the original custard egg tart that everyone copies).

It's true that you can't compare to the original. So delicious!

The monastery was built in "Manuelian" style which is a stylized gothic which includes lots of nautical motifs.

It is a beautiful building.

We then headed to the Belem tower, the last sight of Europe many sailors and explorers ever saw.

It was accessible only when the tide was low, otherwise it was surrounded by water. Today there is a bridge walkway to it.

At this point we had worked up an appetite so we headed to Time Out Market for lunch. Traditional Portuguese ham and cheese.

We also had to try the Pastel competition, still delicious, but not the original.

Worth the try. Honestly, I didn't have a bad Pastel de Nata anywhere in Lisbon. Next we next just kind of wandered through the city of Lisbon. We had an iced coffee from a little kiosk in a park filled with Portuguese people.

They aren't very familiar with iced coffee but they made it happen. Delicious. Lisbon is a great city to wander in if you can handle the hills. If not you can take the elevator!

The Santa Justa lift. It was built by a student of Eiffel. We took the shortcut (free) through H&M using their escalators to avoid waiting in line. We also found our way to O Trevo for another couple of bifanas.

I'd say they are my favorite Portuguese food. So simple and delicious. Have I used delicious enough in this post? In the evening we had a Fado tour.

We went to a small fado club and listened to the lamenting, mournful, traditional folk music of Portugal.

Our "guide"/host studied fado at university and was a font of knowledge, and surprisingly also a singer who performed in the club while we were there.

We wandered home afterwards and stopped for some fancy ice cream on the way.

Another fabulous day. Tomorrow is Jammie's birthday and we are off to Marrakech, Morocco! Obrigado Portugal.