Showing posts with label Marrakech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marrakech. Show all posts

Sunday, December 8, 2019

The Last Tagine

Abdul took us to Bistro La Saveur, another riad in the newer part of Marrakech, for our final dinner.


I had the superb roast breast of duck, much better than the espresso martini.


We enjoyed a very merry evening.  It's amazing how quickly you bond with an international group of strangers.


On Sunday morning, Thom and I rushed to the YSL Museum before departing Marrakech.



The guards ushered us into an exhibition of homoerotic work by Jacques Azema, a 20th century French artist unfamiliar to me.  The internet doesn't offer much about him, either. Here's a self-portrait.


I liked the exhibition enough to buy the catalog.


This entry would have been much longer if the YSL Museum had permitted visitors to photograph the permanent exhibit of the designer's dresses.  Its beauty brought me to tears.  Really.  Another gallery paid tribute to one of YSL's muses.


Some fanciful sketches were also displayed.


More succulents outside the museum.  I shot this cactus fruit in portrait mode.



We shared a cab to the airport with Cole and Jeannie, who live on Haight Street in San Francisco.  They met at a Goth bar and eventually made a pact:  for every Nine Inch Nails concert Jeannie attends with Cole, he has to accompany her to Tom Jones!


Tom struck a pose at the Marrakech airport.  Little did we know we were on stand-by for our Casablanca flight.



All's well that end's well.  Royal Air Maroc found us seats at the last moment, but the propellers were a surprise.




Saturday, December 7, 2019

Bahia Palace

OK, maybe I went a little crazy at the Bahia Palace built in the 18th century to showcase Moroccan "brilliance."  At least we didn't bring our kimonos!





But everywhere we looked—floors, ceilings, walls, arches, windows, doors, grills, mirrors—exhibited incomparable artisanal skill.























More Morocco



Cooking in the Riad

It takes a while for the medina to get going on a Saturday morning.  Minus the teeming crowds, it really shows its age.





Souvenir tagines--baking dishes.  We'd be seeing more of them in a few minutes.


Luxury-branded soccer balls.  Fake, of course.

 
Moroccans of all ages are fond of the "thumbs up" gesture.


Abdul led us to our cooking class in Dar Cherifa, a restored riad, where the sleepy staff served us tea and pastries on the roof.



Thom loved the biscotti so much he ordered a kilo to take home.


The woven seats were still damp from Friday night's downpour.  Most riads are covered for that reason.


The morning sun would dry them soon enough.  There's another world on top of the medina.


Eventually, they called us downstairs to prepare lunch.


Just about everything was for sale, including the oil paintings.





Several of us waited on the roof while the chicken with lemon cooked.


Fortunately, we didn't have to peel the pomegranates.