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While I was helping with the visit of Secretary Clinton to Marrakesh, we figured it made sense to take advantage of my two bedroom apartment.  Norma and the kids came down from Casablanca to spend a few days with me before things became too crazy with the Secretary’s arrival. 

While Marrakesh has really never been my favorite city in Morocco, after spending a week exploring a bit more, I must say that it grew on me quite a bit.  We found a couple really interesting museums like the Medersa Ben Youssef, which is a former Islamic school converted into a museum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Youssef_Madrasa).

Entrance into courtyard

A window looking into the courtyard – amazingly detailed work

Another place we found quite interesting was the museum of Marrakesh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marrakech_Museum).  It had a nice collection of jewlry, pottery, knives, textiles, etc.

A typical fountain

My in-laws were very gracious and let my parents spend the night at their cabin.  We all enjoyed using the ATVs and spending some time together, which we really haven’t done since last Christmas.

Gramps and Adam

Grandma and Adam

ATV fun

Boys having fun

After Erik finished his swimming lesson we decided to head up to the Foote’s cabin.  Being able to spend some time in the mountains was great, and the kids had a blast.  Sometimes it’s nice just to get away and take some time to do nothing.

I don’t think that this needs any explaining. It’s the small things like oreos and milk that I miss being overseas.

One unappreciated benefit of being in the U.S. is the presence of many great local parks.  I took Erik and Joseph and two of their cousins to a nearby park, which was tons of fun.  After playing for a long time on the equipment, they decided to go on a walk around the upper perimiter.  The park is basically surrounded by a hill that is about 80′ tall, which has a walking trail on the top.  The kids did a great job climbing, but they were definitely ready for lunch and naps after we finished.

For the 4th of July weekend we decided to head out of town with some friends and visit Essaouira.  It is one of Morocco’s most well-known beaches and has the reputation of being less touristy than Agadir.  After a 4.5 hour drive on Friday morning we arrived and hit the beach right away.  It didn’t take long to realize why it is known as a wind surfing Mecca.  The wind was really strong and constant, blowing sand all over the place.  The kids had fun digging in the sand, and Erik like jumping in the chilly waves.  However, the strong wind with accompanying sand quickly became too much for Joseph and we decided to head back to the apartment.  While the beach was stunning, the waves just the right size, and the water not too deep, the temperature was really too cold for swimming for any length of time and the very strong gusts of sand made the beach pretty uninviting for small kids.

That being said, we had lots of fun in other areas of town.  We spent quite a bit of time walking around the medina and open markets, and even went on a camel ride.  Joseph started complaining that the camel was too big and asked to get off.  I pursuaded him to stay put, and he settled down fairly well.  However, given the fact that he hadn’t taken a nap and the gentle rocking of the camel, he quickly fell asleep in my arms.

Our small caravan. We are on camels number three and four.

We stayed in a great three bedroom apartment that was located just off one of the main squares in town.  At 120 euros it was a great deal (http://www.jackapartments.com/eng/index.php).  The place was within walking distance of pretty much everything that we wanted to see, including some impressive Portugese defense walls.

We visited a small museum, which was very well done.  It had a nice selection of art, musical instruments, wood and textiles, and pottery items. 

An amazing lute on display at the museum 

Overall we had a good trip, although as I mentioned previously, I wouldn’t recommend the beach for those with little children.

For family home evening I decided to make some cardboard armor and enact the story of David and Goliath. It was a hit with the kids, and for the next week Erik would get dressed up and have Joseph hit him with a foam ball (better than river stones) so he could fall over dead.  Having more organized FHE has been a struggle to maintain, but I know that we are happier as a family when we hold it regularly.

Yesterday we decided to drive south along the coast for about 1.5 hours to the town of El Jadida. It too has a world heritage site, the Portugese Cistern (see below), which the kids enjoyed seeing. After touring an interesting old Portugese fort, checking out an art exhibit, and grabbing a bite to eat, we changed into our swimsuits and hit the beach.

This is our first time going swimming in Morocco.  While the water is not nearly as warm as El Salvador, the temperature was okay after a few minutes of adjusting.  Joseph didn’t stay in the ocean for very long – he started shivering pretty quickly.  However, Erik enjoyed running in the waves and swimming with his dad for as long as possible. We of course made a sand castle, which a big wave promptly knocked over. We only stayed at the beach for about an hour and a half, but the kids were pretty tired after seeing the fort before.

Overall, this was a great day trip, and the architecture, history, and welcoming water would make this a great visit to do again.

The underground cistern. The bottom image is actually a reflection in the water.

Erik sitting on top of one of the fort’s high points

Ready, set, aim, fire!!

Erik running in the waves

Building sand castles

This morning we went to the Chellah in Rabat, which is an interesting combination of Roman and 14th century Merinid ruins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chellah).  It is basically a large enclosed area that has a couple different sights like an old mosque, madrassa, gardens, and most interestingly over 450 storks and other birds living all over the place.  Of course Erik and Joseph had a great time climbing through the ruins and chasing butterflies.

While somewhat hard to see in this photo, all the white dots in the background are actually birds.

Kids playing around

A sample of some of the roman ruins

A fun view of the old mosque (notice the stork’s nest on the minnaret)