This morning we were able to sleep in a bit since we did not dock until 11am and our tour did not meet until noon.  It was nice to get some extra sleep.  Of course everyone else had the same idea, so when we got to the buffet it was a mob scene.  It didn’t help that several of the omelet stovetops were not working so the lines were extra long and it was very difficult to find a seat. We should have tried the restaurant.  We will do that on our sea day for sure.  

There were a lot of tour buses leaving for the same itinerary as our tour, but we didn’t really see too many people throughout the day, which was nice.  Our tour bus was quite old and I was nervous about the microphone situation, but he fixed the feedback pretty quickly.  It had  good air conditioning so I was happy.  We drove up the mountain to the Old City.  There is no one living there now though due to an earthquake that occurred in 1960 and killed over 5,000 people.  They moved the town down the mountain by the water.  The views at the top were spectacular. You could see the entire Sous River Valley and the Anti-Atlas mountains in the distance.  There were also camels that you could pay to ride and there were men with baby goats trying to get you to pet them. 

We came down off the mountain and stopped at a mosque.  We were not allowed inside, but the doors were open because it was close to prayer time, so we could see a bit inside.  Then we went to a store that sold products from the Argan Tree.  They gave us a whole presentation and put a few samples on our arms.  There were quite a few people who bought the products and spent almost $100 on them.  They are also online, so if they work I guess they can replenish what they bought.  

After the skin care place, we traveled to the Medina Coco Polizzi and had about half an hour to explore.  It was a really cool place with all kinds of decorative architecture, cool benches, and people selling both souvenirs and hand crafted goods. We stopped at a booth where the man was carving.  He showed us a bunch of trick boxes.  We ended up buying one for $10.  It’s made of cedar and I think it’s pretty cool since he was the person who made it. 

After the Medina, we went to the Souk El Had market.  This was really cool. There were stands as far as your eye could see. There were fruit stands, clothing, household items, spices, furniture, rugs, eyeglasses, food, handmade items, and really anything else you could imagine.  We stopped and bought a fresh squeezed (right in front of us) orange juice.  It was delicious.  My husband stopped to buy a single banana and the vendor gave it to him for free.  The vendors did ask you to come and look at their wares, but they were not overly aggressive about it (like we witnessed in Egypt).  It was a really cool place to see. 

My pictures show all the neat places we visited, but it did not show the dramatic differences between the rich and poor areas that we drove through.  The king has two palaces there and they are surrounded by these beautiful gardens that you are not allowed to enter. There are guards every so many feet to make sure no one tries to get in.  It just seems like a waste of an amazing space for just one person.  It is also quite dirty in Morocco in general. There is a lot of trash everywhere.  I never felt that I was in danger at all, but it was not a comfortable place to be at the same time.

That night on the ship we went to Cagney’s (the steakhouse) for dinner.  It was a really good meal.