Ohhhh.... Where to begin?? How is it possible to have writers block when there is so much to write about? Although I do admit it makes it slightly more difficult to concentrate with an 18 month old running through my legs...
This trip has been in the pipeline for a while now. Morocco has always been a place I have dreamt of visiting, but for some reason I just haven't made it! So when the opportunity came up to join an amazing bunch of women on the trip of a lifetime I couldn't refuse.
So off I went!
The main tour was organised by the gang at Jumbled and Greenhouse Interiors (they're holding another in October if you're interested in joining), however I planned to arrive a few days earlier so that I could spend some time sourcing some beautiful new wares for the stores. And so begins PART 1...
I arrived in Marrakech after a long 36 hour transit with my friend Zoie in tow. To say we were tired is an understatement, but I was SO excited to have arrived in this beautiful city tiled in terracotta and dressed in pink. After checking in to the
Almaha Marrakech, I had to keep my draw off the ground as I took in the surroundings of such a beautifully calm place. I have always had a love of Moroccan tiles - particularly terracotta (which I had recently ordered for my own bathroom at home!), and this place was lined with them... After we'd havd a bit of time to absorb where we were, we were treated to a private rooftop dinner (this could have been so romantic if I was here with Danny!) consisting of a Moroccan Chicken Tagine and the finest Moroccan wine, I was exhausted... time to sink into bed and dream of the adventures to come (but that was after I stopped silently squealing with delight at the size of the bathroom and it's beautiful
tadelakt finish... and removing the rose petals that spelled out LOVE at the end of the bed!).
After a Moroccan feast for breakfast I was ready to face the day (or should I say the souks!). For those of you planning a trip anywhere in the near future, I would definitely recommend downloading the app
CityMaps2Go. It's an offline map - perfect for navigating a new city! Just make sure you pin all of the places you need to visit (or get back to) while you've got access to wifi and you should be set... I would still be lost in the medina without it!
Off we went... like women on a mission... until Zoie was pulled aside by a henna artist and got sucked into having to pay for a tattoo she didn't ask for... a good lesson for the beginning of the trip! I remember trying to catch her attention so we could get away and thinking 'this is not going to end well'. Needless to say Zoie spent the next week trying to scrub away the evidence.
After a bit of time walking around and exploring, we arrived at our first rug supplier. We rummaged through the 3 floors of rooms lined with piles of folded rugs, sipped Moroccan mint tea and drooled over the hundreds of rugs they had on offer... the problem was not so much which one will I get... it was how many is too many?
I didn't want to get too carried away on the first day, so we left the first supplier with a nice assortment of 5 rugs and 7 wedding blankets. I was eager to see more, so we wandered for a bit more and visited another supplier... after more mint tea and another 7 rugs later we were both pretty exhausted so stumbled our way back for another exotic dinner.
The next day pretty much went as the first, although this time I was on the hunt for a little more colour... I had purchased most of my neutrals on the first day, and now just needed to find those statement pieces that would make the range 'pop'. So more Moroccan mint tea and another pile of rugs later (5-6 from memory? Bringing my total to approximately 19-20 rugs plus 7 wedding blankets - are you looking forward to these arriving as much as I am?) I was pretty happy! But I still hadn't had a chance to explore the souks! I'd spent all day in carpet shops... but thought I could leave that until the gang arrived that night...
We'd checked out of our hotel ready to join the group. Everyone was arriving at different times that day and I was so excited to meet the lovely ladies I would be spending the next 9 days with...
Hello Riad Yasmine! We have you all to ourselves! Let the laughter and good times begin!
Stay tuned ... the adventure has only just begun!
