The next day we were off to Skoura for two nights, which was a small town with not much to say for itself. The advantage was that it’s gateway to the Dades gorge where we spent a day hiking, driving and exploring. There was lots of stunning scenery, a cool gorge, many oasis and lots of Kasbahs. The place we stayed in Skoura was a restored 200 year old Kasbah that was amazing. It was adorable and very well decorated. The owner showed us a photo album of when he bought the Kasbah in 2003 in near ruins and of all the new restorations. It was amazing.
As mentioned earlier, alcohol is a bit hard to come by around here, but when we were out in Imlil we heard from other folks that if you went to the new town in Marrakech and asked a taxi driver to take you to a supermarket that had beer and wine you could find it. Driving in Marrakech was absolute chaos so when we drove back into town to pick up my dad we left mom and dad with the car and Matt and I hailed a taxi asking for alcohol. There was a bit of a language barrier and we had to work pretty hard to convince him to take us there, wait five minutes, and bring us back (we had no idea how to tell a new taxi where to bring us back to since we had just pulled over at a random spot on the road) but eventually we were off. He then told us something along the lines of the fact that he was taking us not to a supermarket but to a wine store. This seemed good enough for us, but when he pulled up in front of a little minimart window and told us this was it we looked at him a bit questioningly. He finally agreed that this did not seem to be the right place and cruised a little further down the street. Eventually his face lit up and he pointed us down a dark stairway into a basement and indicated he would wait for us. We headed in, and low and behold a prohibition-style underground liquor store stocked with the works. We pointed here and there (not much English spoken) and walked out well stocked up. A quick taxi ride back and we were on our way!
Moroccan food is good. Really good. Don’t get me wrong. Bu t every night before dinner (either at a restaurant or the hotel we were staying at) we were asked “Tagine or Couscous?”. Tagine is slow cooked vegetables and meat, and cous cous is….slow cooked vegetable and meat with cous cous. We didn’t really experience any deviation from this except for the last couple days when we were on the coast. Pizza? Anyone? Anyone? Matt would have killed for some. Haha.
As mentioned earlier, alcohol is a bit hard to come by around here, but when we were out in Imlil we heard from other folks that if you went to the new town in Marrakech and asked a taxi driver to take you to a supermarket that had beer and wine you could find it. Driving in Marrakech was absolute chaos so when we drove back into town to pick up my dad we left mom and dad with the car and Matt and I hailed a taxi asking for alcohol. There was a bit of a language barrier and we had to work pretty hard to convince him to take us there, wait five minutes, and bring us back (we had no idea how to tell a new taxi where to bring us back to since we had just pulled over at a random spot on the road) but eventually we were off. He then told us something along the lines of the fact that he was taking us not to a supermarket but to a wine store. This seemed good enough for us, but when he pulled up in front of a little minimart window and told us this was it we looked at him a bit questioningly. He finally agreed that this did not seem to be the right place and cruised a little further down the street. Eventually his face lit up and he pointed us down a dark stairway into a basement and indicated he would wait for us. We headed in, and low and behold a prohibition-style underground liquor store stocked with the works. We pointed here and there (not much English spoken) and walked out well stocked up. A quick taxi ride back and we were on our way!
Moroccan food is good. Really good. Don’t get me wrong. Bu t every night before dinner (either at a restaurant or the hotel we were staying at) we were asked “Tagine or Couscous?”. Tagine is slow cooked vegetables and meat, and cous cous is….slow cooked vegetable and meat with cous cous. We didn’t really experience any deviation from this except for the last couple days when we were on the coast. Pizza? Anyone? Anyone? Matt would have killed for some. Haha.
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