Marrakech!

On the flight to Marrakech I got a great view of Gibraltar and the rock. Very odd looking! Definitely thinking about going through there on the way back. The landing was rough as it was really windy, but the temperature was quite nice, certainly more so than Paris. The forecast calls for 28 degrees (Celsius - that's a whopping 82F) in the next few days.

On first look, Marrakesh appeared as less "foreign" then Cairo. I thought perhaps it had to do with the fact that this is my second Muslim/North African country, but then as I walked around the Medina I decided it is definitely more "tame." For one thing it seems to have a lot more tourists, at least around the Medina. But also I noticed that the locals, while still pushy about finding ways to help you (so they can get money from you) or drag you into their stores (so they can sell you things), are not nearly as pushy as the Egyptians. Then again there was one guy who not only got verbally pushy, but when I said "no" firmly for the third time, he actually gave me a parting shove. No big deal, he looked like he was missing some screws, and I think if any other locals had seen him do that they would have been all over him.

I'd brushed up just a bit on my Arabic alphabet, and now I amuse myself going reading signs. The good thing is that everything here is written in both Arabic and Roman characters, which makes it much easier than it was in Egypt to see if I got the letters right.

The Medina is wild: tons of people, especially later in the day, with mopeds zipping down these tiny congested pedestrian lanes. The Souks (markets) are crazy, it's like a labyrinth of alleys where every single square inch of wall is a store of some sort. I did a ton of walking today, mostly random. I will try to be more methodical tomorrow.