Morocco, Part Two

Monday morning (May 9th) we woke up to a beautiful sunny day.  What a great way to start our trip into the mountains outside Marrakesh.  Our destination for the day was Imlil, the jumping off point for trekking up the mountains.  We did not come prepared for a full 2 day trek, required to hike up to the top of Djebel Toubkal, but we did have a fun 4 hours exploring the foothills and the villages surrounding Imlil.

Hyrum and I in the cab at the beginning of our journey (remember this photo, we'll call it the "before" shot)

Paige chatting with the taxi driver in Arabic.  I love this photo.

The beautiful Atlas mountains

Many people use donkeys for transportation, the poor animals looked extremely overworked and underfed.

Visiting Morocco in the springtime is great, everything is green and fresh.

Paige and I on our hike

So, we were on a trail to what we thought might be the right destination but just to make sure we asked these two boys if we were heading the right way.  I guess they assumed we needed personal guides because they insisted on showing us the way and then, of course, wanted money for their time.

They did lead us to a pretty neat waterfall, we probably wouldn't have found this on our own.

Ummmm, is this a trail?

I'm not 100% positive these kids knew where they were going but we sure got a great hike and an insiders look into how the locals travel around the foothills..

 If you look closely you can see the town of Armed in the background.  We had hiked up there because we were told it had the best view of the mountains.  Unfortunately, by the time we got up there it was rainy and the mountains were covered in fog.  Oh well, we still had a great time.

A highlight of the trip, hearing the call to prayer from the mountain village of Armed echoing off the surrounding mountains, magical.

These ladies obviously didn't want their picture taken...oops.

Crossing the river on a "Berber bridge" Not quite so easy as it might seem.

On our hike back to Imlil we met this guy selling things from his little shop.  Paige and I both bought earrings from him.  He was very interesting to listen to and quite funny.  He kept saying, "no money no honey, no worry, chicken curry."

Right as we got into Imlil it started raining pretty hard.  We stopped at a local cafe and ordered some hot mint tea, it warmed us right up.

And this is the "after" shot.  We were pretty exhausted after our adventures so we slept during the two hour taxi drive back to Marrakesh.

Back in Marrakesh Paige and I got the obligatory henna tattoo's.  

Paige and I showing off our henna.

After a long day we decided to have a quiet evening.  We went to this bakery near our hotel and picked out a few treats....

...then we took the treats to the rooftop of our hotel where we watched the sun set and enjoyed watching the Djemâa el Fna come to life at night.

Tuesday, May 10th, our last day in Morocco.  We had seen enough of the crazy markets and wanted to escape the heat and madness of the city.  There are many gardens in Marrakesh but we decided to pay the small fee to get into the Majorelle Garden.  This garden was owned by the designer Yves Saint Laurent.  It was sure an oasis amid a loud and dirty city.

This garden was the perfect setting to say goodbye to Marrakesh.  It was a really hot day but inside the gardens it was about 20 degrees cooler.  There were little streams and fountains.  Tall bamboo groves grew everywhere, and the beautiful blue color that was used to paint all the buildings was amazing.  Goodbye Morocco, I don't know if I will see you again but you have given me wonderful memories and a new gratitude for what I have.

Morocco, Part One

My sister Paige had a long list of places she wanted to visit while she was stationed in Germany.  She crossed all of the places off her list except Morocco and she is leaving at the end of May.  So, being the wonderful sister that I am, I volunteered myself and Hyrum to accompany her to Morocco so she could feel like she had completed all she wanted to do and see while here in Europe. 

A great big "THANK YOU" goes to Oma who watched our boys for us so we could go play in Africa...What an amazing and generous woman!

I never thought I would visit Africa, I guess I was a little scared of the whole idea of going to someplace that was so foreign and, in my mind, hostile.  I have to say I really enjoyed the trip.  Everyone was very friendly and kind and willing to help out lost tourists (for a fee of course!)  That was one of the crazy things, no matter where you turned people were asking for money.  Money to take their picture, money to show you where something is located, money to look around their workplace, etc.  At first I thought it was a bit rude but in the end I realized this is how they live, they survive off the tourists that visit.  I didn't feel so bad giving them a few dollars here and there, I have so much when compared to what they have.  Visiting Morocco gave me a great lesson in humility and being grateful for the many things I have.

We left from our house, Saturday May 7th, to drive 4 hours to the Frankfurt/Hahn airport, our first flight with the ultra cheap Ryan Air Airline.  When we arrived at the airport in Mararakesh we experienced culture shock just trying to secure a taxi from the airport to our hotel.  You never know if the price they quote you is a fair price or it they can tell you are tourists and want to squeeze you of every penny they can.  We were grateful for Paige and her Arabic language skills, I think she shocked many a taxi driver when she busted out with her Arabic.

There are a lot of photos here but you have to really visit yourself to truly understand this place.

The courtyard of our hotel.  All three of us stayed in the same room, I felt safer that way.

Cafe Argana.  Al-Qaeda planted a bomb here the week before that killed 16 people, this cafe was about a block from our hotel.  I have to admit, the first evening we were walking around the square I was totally nervous and anxious about everything and everybody...I even had myself a mini panic attack.  Don't worry, after the first night I calmed down and enjoyed the rest of the time we spent in Morocco.

There were lots of people in the marketplace, Djemâa el Fna, selling food, playing drums, dancing, charming snakes and painting henna.  This man is holding a cobra, inches from his face.  When Hyrum didn't give him enough money for this photo he started chasing him with the snake...needless to say I was scared out of my mind...I don't like snakes.

We decided to get a nice feel for the layout of the city by taking a carriage ride around.  It was sort of nerve wracking because the carriages share the road with insane taxi drivers and crazy men on motorcycles.  Those horses have nerves of steel to weave in and out of that traffic day and night.

Djemâa el Fna at night.  All the stalls have bright lanterns and the locals come out at night after the heat of the day has passed.

We tried a bit of this Moroccan dessert, sort of like a really dry pudding.  They give you a glass of hot tea to wash it down.  Very spicy, very interesting.

 The next morning we headed out of town a bit to see where they cure animal skins to make leather.  On our way we passed what we later found was a common sight, a giant pile of garbage with multiple mangy cats enjoying the leftovers.

The tanneries.  Let me quote from our Fodor's guidebook.  "For a whiff of Marrakesh life the old way, the tanneries are a real eye-waterer, not least because of the smell of acrid pigeon excrement, which provides the ammonia that is vital to the dyeing process."  Why did we want to see this?  I don't know.  The smell stays with you for a while.  I couldn't believe the workers that were standing, waist deep in these vats full of toxic chemicals and "pigeon shit" as our guide called it.

One of the many vats full of sheep hides.  They soak for over 2 months before they are dried and stretched and prepared for leather goods.  Do not go here if you are a member of PETA!

Our next stop was El Badi Palace.  This 16th century palace is now sandstone ruins but you could tell it was impressive in its day.  

Some of the mosaics still survive on a few of the walls and floors.

The Saadian Tombs were our next stop.  The beautiful mosaics and Italian marble pillars were amazing.  These tombs gave us an idea of what the palace would have looked like if it had not been plundered multiple times by invading armies.

Probably our favorite sight in Marrakesh was the Ali ben Youssef Medersa.  This was an extraordinarily well preserved 16th century Koranic school.  As many as 900 students from Muslim countries all over Africa would study here at one time.  The mosaics, the intricately carved stone and wood, the beautiful tile work, all of it was amazing.

Our last stop for the day was Musée de Marrakesh.  There were a few rooms with some interesting displays but the main attraction is this crazy huge atrium with this chandelier that resembles a UFO.

The Colorful Marrakesh Markets (or Souks)

 Everywhere you turn in the winding labyrinth that makes up the Marrakesh Souks you are wowed by the colors.  Spices, shoes, jewelry, purses, makeup, potions and powders, clothes, pottery...it is a bit overwhelming but also a real treat to see such an amazing array of stuff in one location. 

After all the walking we did we went back to our hotel for a rest.  This is a photo from the top terrace of our hotel.  It was a beautiful evening.

One of the cool things about Marrakesh is that it still has the old wall running completely around the city.  Eight of the 14 original babs (arched entry gates) leading in and out of the city are still used.  This is us in front of Bab Agnaou, one of the prettiest and best preserved arches.

We splurged one night and ate at a fancy restaurant.  The food was amazing.

Did I mention our fancy dinner came with a belly dancing show?  Oooh, la, la.

The Koutoubia Mosque lit up at night.  One of the real treats of our visit was hearing the Muslim call to prayer five times a day broadcast from the many Mosques in the city.

A Trip to East Germany

The one thing that we just had to do while Oma was here was attend the temple.  Our closest temple is 3 hours away and childcare is usually the biggest obstacle we face when trying to go to the temple, so of course it was wonderful that Oma offered to watch our boys for us while we went.  Attending the Freiberg temple with Oma is especially nice because Oma grew up in Freiberg and we got the chance to see her house and learn a few stories from her childhood.

We started our journey on Thursday, April 28th.

Oma in front of her childhood home.  Her family of 9 lived in the upstairs apartment on the far right of the building.

This door into the hillside is across the street from Oma's house.  When the sirens went off, signaling an air raid, her family would run across the street and hide in this cave.  Her mom was alone during the war, her husband had been drafted into the Army, and so she would have to get her 7 little children out of the house and into hiding.  I am amazed by the courage and faith of Oma and her family.

Oma and Hyrum relaxing on a bench.  They have the same smile, don't you think?

The mineral museum in Freiberg had a special exhibit while we were there.  They took a collection of about 100 insects and matched them to rocks and minerals using color or texture.  It was a really cool exhibit and the boys really loved seeing all the bugs.

There is a free animal park in Freiberg.  The boys loved giving the goats and sheep dandelions and grass to eat.

Friday, April 29th.  We left Freiberg and headed North towards Görlitz.  On our way we made a quick stop in Dresden.

Hyrum and Oma in front of the Frauenkirche in Dresden.  Oma remembers the night, in 1945, when Dresden was fire bombed by the Allies.  Even though Freiberg is 30 miles from Dresden she remembers seeing the sky turn red and orange from the fires in Dresden.

Emerson, Julian and Townsend in Dresden.

 Görlitz is a beautiful city.  It's also the furthest East you can go in Germany, Poland is just a short walk across the river.

One of the reasons we wanted to go to Görlitz was so that Oma could meet up with an old mission companion, Karin Sommers.  She served her mission in 1959 and has kept in touch with this companion and friend all these years.

Walking around the town of Görlitz.  It's quite an interesting city.  It was never bombed during the war so you get to see the town as it has been for hundreds of years.  

The Church of St. Peter

Here we are in Poland.  It was a stark contrast when you walk across the river to Poland.  They are trying to renovate their buildings but they are so far behind Germany when it comes to reconstruction.

One of the main attractions for Görlitz is the reconstruction of the Holy Sepulcher.  A wealthy German man commissioned this site to be built after making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the late 1400's.  This is the only complete and relatively accurate replica of the garden of Gethsemane and the holy places in Jerusalem, as they appeared in the 15th century.  

A statue of an angel beckons you to come and see the Empty Tomb.

The other big site in Görlitz is the Sun Organ inside the Church of St. Peter.  We were very lucky to stop by while the organist was rehearsing for a concert.  This organ was simply beautiful and the music was wonderful.

Once again, we had great weather while we traveled and the boys enjoyed the fun parks in Görlitz.

We stayed the night in Görlitz and headed for home on Saturday, April 30th.  It was a great trip and so fun to see Freiberg with Oma.