c+d: 8/30 - 9/2 morocco

Loved it. Though we’d recommend booking a hotel before you get there. Walking with bags down narrow alleyways of old Marrakesh late at night is not a great idea, especially when your intended hotel ends up being full once you arrive (though definitely a distinct memory as we think about Morocco). But lady luck smiled and we found a great Riyadh a few alleyways off the main square Djemaa el Fna. And it may be the main square of all main squares. It’s bustling during the day but it takes on a whole other flavor at night—entertainers of all sorts including storytellers, snake charmers, drummers (like Moroccan Clints!), and random carnival games; food stalls that make everything sizzle and send a mixture of smoke and steam into the air filling the night sky with a misty haze; all the fresh OJ you can drink; and lots and lots of people that found us as curious as all of this (the crowds only had token tourists here and there). It is one of those places that leaves memories so vivid you know pictures will never do it justice. And the other day we caught a CNN special on the square about how storytelling is becoming a lost art so if the bottom drops out of the US economy, maybe Clint will learn a bit of Arabic and we’ll be back in Marrakesh.

After a wonderful time in Marrakesh, it was time for a night train to Tangier (the white-washed town with the roof chase from The Bourne Ultimatum) and then a ferry across the Strait of Gilbratar to Algeciras, Spain. This will be one leg of the journey we will never repeat. A high-speed ferry across open sea with unbelievable swells —yes, it was basically a roller coaster gone horribly wrong. Those poor ferry attendants that had to clean up after everyone's, uh, messes —enough said. Fortunately, we managed to hold it together, but, boy, we were ever so glad to get off that boat.