Berber Village, Asni, Morrocco

 Africa, Morocco, Travel  No Responses »
Mar 062017
 

On my last trip to Marrakesh I finally made it out to the Atlas mountains, or the foothills at least. To make this even more interesting we traveled through the foothills of the Atlas mountains on camels. It was definitely an exciting experience with camels going rogue to eat cactus, refusing to walk in the mud, and one even falling down with one of my colleagues perched precariously on top.

Once we survived this adventure, we were on our way back to Marrakesh when our guide pulled the car over so we could see this small Berber village in the Asni valley.

berber village with mosque in asni valley between marrakech and atlas amountains

Bow Lathe, Marrakesh

 Africa, Morocco, People, Travel  5 Responses »
Feb 072017
 

Wandering through the market in Marrakesh we came across two guys in a shop taking turns working on a bow lathe. It is operated by using one hand to draw the bow back and forth, spinning the wood. And then a hand and a foot were used to carefully move the gouge to carve out intricate little designs. It was mesmerizing and I stood and watched for a while. I’ve taken two photos so you can see a close up of how it works.

wood turning in marrakech souk on a bow lathe

close up of bow laithe in use in marrakech souk

 

Palais Sebban, Marrakech

 Africa, Morocco, Travel  No Responses »
Jan 202017
 

I’m on my way back to Marrakech for a quick two night stop before attending meetings in London. We’re making a return to the beautiful Palais Sebban so I thought it was fitting to post a photo of the riad. This trip I’ll be taking some friends on the same amazing food tour we went on last time as well as making a quick morning trip to go camel trekking in the foothills of the Atlas mountains. It involves two hours on the back of a camel, which should be interesting. I’ve wanted to do a multi-day trip through the desert by camel for a while now. This will be a good test of my willingness to spend extended periods of time on top of  a camel.

central courtyard pool at the palais sebban in marrakech morroco

Wood Turning, Marrakech Souk

 Africa, Morocco, People, Travel  1 Response »
Jan 062016
 

Shortly before stumbling upon the store full of hammered metal lamps featured yesterday, I found this guy working on making drums… except on closer inspection I realised that the things he’s making have nothing to do with the drums behind him. I never managed to find what he was actually making. They’re like little tiny table legs. There was nothing of the sort in any shops nearby.

morrocan-wood-turner-in-marrakech-souk

Lamp Souk, Marrakech

 Africa, Morocco, Travel  2 Responses »
Jan 052016
 

Walking through the markets in Marrakech is a disorientating experience, but it’s an interesting place to get lost. I didn’t get many pictures while in there as there’s just so much stuff it’s difficult to get it all in. This shop selling hammered metal lamps inspired me though and I spent quite a while trying to find a decent angle.

hammered-metal-lamps-in-Marrakech-souk

The Olive Guy, Marrakech, Morocco

 Africa, Morocco, People, Travel  2 Responses »
Nov 242015
 

I went on a really good food tour in Marrakech. We tried all sorts of food from lamb cooked underground for hours to amazing sardine-ball sandwiches. As a bonus we also stopped off at some interesting spots, including the village bakery, where people would bring food in to be baked in the oven to be picked up later in the day.

If you’re ever in Marrakech I would definitely recommend it! You can find their website here:

http://marrakechfoodtours.com/

Our second stop was at an olive stand, we were allowed to just eat all the olives that we wanted off the stall. The seller seemed to have an endless supply of different types of olives.

Moroccan-olive-seller-in-marrakech-market