Morocco Extras

This is my second-to-the-last post from our trip. I have a handful of pictures that didn't fit in the other posts. Such as: donkeys. It was hard to get a good donkey picture, because they were usually in motion. In many places in Morocco donkeys are a primary transporter of stuff. (In Moulay Idriss because it's so hilly, and in the Fes medina because it doesn't allow cars.)

This is a typical Moroccan breakfast: lots of breads (there are three types on this spread), fruit, yogurt, goat cheese, honey, dates, fresh squeezed orange juice. Oh, and of course coffee and mint tea.

The rainbow stairway down to the front door of our riad in Moulay Idriss.

We took a baking class at our riad in Moulay Idriss. Here's Peter making a kind of Moroccan flat bread called msemen.

The breads and cookies that we made at our baking class!

Moulay Idriss is nestled in the hills. Peter, Jessa, and I climbed through a neighborhood at sunset to get this panoramic view of the town.

Here's the panoramic view, minus the three of us.

The next night we walked up a steep road to get a view of Moulay Idriss from a different vantage point. My fitness watch said we went up 700 feet on the walk.

Here's what we saw.

Nougat is a Moroccan specialty. It's a delicious treat. It was served each night with our dessert in Moulay Idriss so we asked where they bought theirs and we all bought some to take home. It's made in large hunks (foreground) and the nougat seller uses a cleaver to make bite-sized portions. At my book club after we returned, coincidentally someone brought nougat from Trader Joe's. It was chewier than the nougat in Morocco (which is somewhere between rock hard and chewy), but it wasn't that far off the mark. I highly recommend trying it. The flavor is quite good.

I'm proud of our French-speaking son (he can also toss in a smattering of Arabic), who drives in Morocco like a champ (easier said than done, believe me), communicates perfectly with the parking attendant (above) who speaks no English and little French (and who by the way loved Peter and is giving him a final handshake before we left Moulay Idriss). Peter definitely has an advantage over Jessa in such matters, being male in this country. 

While we were off having a good time on our trip, Peaches held down the fort in Casablanca. In a few days from now, she'll board a plane for home. Peter and Jessa and Peaches fly back to the States on Sunday.

We took a lot of group pictures, but it's never enough. This crew (in the Fes medina) had a great time together.