An assault on the senses

Our first afternoon in Marrakesh was spent wandering outer laneways in the Medina (old city) and visiting a couple of its landmark locations. Today’s highlights included Koutoubia and Jemaa el-Fnaa, often called the city’s most iconic sights. Both venues are less than ten minute's walk from our slightly rustic Riad hotel. 

Koutoubia is the largest mosque in Marrakesh and one of Morocco’s most sacred houses of worship. It stands in a large plaza surrounded by gardens filled with fruit trees and date palms. The complex is dominated by a large square minaret tower 77 metres high which is floodlit at night.

The minaret's prominence makes it one of Marrakesh's landmark structures, a status maintained by a city ordinance that prohibits tall buildings (above the height of a palm tree) in the surrounding area. The mosque is also in active use which means non-muslims aren't allowed to enter. As a result, Garry and I had to content ourselves with a stroll around its exterior and through its landscaped gardens.

Interestingly, the current building is the second of two mosques built on the same site. Historians believe Abd al-Mu'min started constructing the first complex in 1147, the same year he conquered the city. However, shortly after its completion in 1157, construction began on a second mosque next door.

The reasons for the second venue’s presence aren’t clear. Scholars believe its construction was ordered to correct a slight misorientation of the first mosque's alignment with Mecca. Today, a series of clearly preserved ruins outline the original building’s location.

Jemaa el-Fnaa can be found nearby. It’s a massive public square covering more than 20,000 sqm. It’s filled with an endless array of market stalls, people and animals. During the day it’s predominantly occupied by fruit juice stalls, water sellers with traditional leather water bags and brass cups, youths with chained monkeys and snake charmers taunting deadly cobras.

As darkness falls, the animals are replaced by musicians, dancers, storytellers (who tell colourful tales to an audience of locals), magicians, and brightly lit food stalls jam-packed with communal tables and bench seats. As the night air cools, the crowd builds and fills the plaza with, at times, an overwhelming cacophony of sights, sounds, and lights. It’s a total sensory overload. Check out the video below for a taste of the vibe after dark.

Elsewhere in the Medina, we encountered spice merchants selling herbs, dried fruits, and nuts, as well as a stunning store selling hand-beaten brass lanterns embossed with ornate geometric patterns. And where else could you witness an old man deftly navigating a handcart stacked with mattresses along a narrow cobbled lane?

We returned to the Medina the following day for walking tour that took us through many of Marrakesh’s iconic tourist sights. Follow this link to learn more.

Morocco for the weekend

We've just arrived in Morocco. Three flights, 31 hours and 11 time zones later we’re finally sipping mint tea by the pool in Marrakesh. For the next five days, we’re enjoying an extended weekend break before work begins in earnest in London on Tuesday. Watch this space for more posts in the days ahead.

Today we’ll explore the grounds of Koutoubia, one of Morocco’s most sacred mosques, and soak up the atmosphere of Jemaa el-Fnaa, a massive public square on the edge of the Marrakesh Medina (old city). Tomorrow we’ll explore the Medina and its many souks in full on a self-guided walking tour, before taking an overnight tour through the Atlas Mountains on Saturday and staying a night in Skoura, a sprawling date palm oasis.

We’re staying at Riad Les Yeux Bleus on the edge of the Medina. A riad is a traditional Moroccan house known for its enclosed garden and courtyard. Riads are very common in Morocco as they used to be the standard homestead for wealthy merchants and traders. Many of these buildings have since been converted into luxury guest houses. 

Riad Les Yeux Bleus was renovated in 2016. Sadly, nine years on, the renovation is showing its age. The building we’ve checked into looks a little tired and shabby in parts. It’s still clean and safe but is proving a little more rustic and less chic than the images plastered online. I also missed the memo that none of the ensuites have doors. Let’s call it an “authentic” cultural experience. 

Here’s a summary of our actual flight paths courtesy of the Flight Aware app. I love this app. I can always tell if my flight is on-time by checking to see if my plane is actually at the airport or still en route. It’s also useful for checking the reliability of tight connections, as you can track the tardiness of previous flights over several weeks.

In a single day we’ve witnessed the sun setting over Perth, then watched it rise again, albeit 20 hours later, while taking off from Heathrow the next day. I doubt I’ll ever tire of the miracle of travel in the Twenty First Century.

UPDATE: 25 January

I've added a few more images of our riad to illustrate this post. You can also read about our first full day in Morocco here.

Exploring the north coast

And just like that, another summer vacation has come to an end. Garry and I arrived back in Sydney yesterday afternoon following a two-day journey south from Ballina. We broke up the 740km drive with an overnight stop in Port Macquarie. Along the way, we enjoyed a couple of spontaneous pitstops. First, between Ballina and Port Macquarie, we took a detour to visit South West Rocks and the ruins of the nearby Trial Bay Goal.

Trial Bay is a fascinating piece of New South Wales history. In the 19th Century, coastal shipping was the primary means of transport between Brisbane and Sydney. However, the coastal trade proved deadly. Between 1863 and 1866 an incredible 90 ships and 243 lives were lost.  To combat this tally, the NSW Parliament voted to convert Trial Bay into a "harbour of safe refuge" in 1870. Funds were set aside for the construction of a 1500-metre-long breakwater.  

The Trial Bay Goal was constructed to house prisoners who were put to work building the new breakwater.  This was an experimental reform of the state's prison system focused on rehabilitation rather than punishment for the first time. The breakwater proved a disaster.  Work was abandoned within three years of the goal opening, with less than 300 metres of breakwater completed (you can see its remnants in the photo below).  The goal was subsequently closed in 1903.

The abandoned goal was given new life during World War I. The facility was reopened and refurbished as an internment camp for selected leaders of the German Australian community. The camp opened in 1916 before finally closing in July 1918. At its peak, more than 500 men lived here.  

Yesterday, we stopped for an hour or so in Heatherbrae to check out caravans and motorhomes on display at two dealerships. I must admit some models we walked through were very tempting. Maybe our Gray Nomad vision isn’t dead after all? It also helps that our friends Liz and Adam offered to store a caravan on their farm near Ballina anytime we want.

We’ve also spent time touring several seaside towns during our vacation looking at options for a second home. We were keen to explore the local community and review council amenities. We also wanted to see what kind of property you got for your money in each location. Liz and Adam took us on a driving tour of Lennox Head, Skennars Head, and East Ballina. We also enjoyed a leisurely lunch at Husk Distillery inland from Tweed Heads.

On our way to Ballina, we also spent three nights in a serviced apartment on the riverfront in Yamba. This town offered a surprising range of beaches, river parks and other scenic experiences. Garry and I both enjoyed evening and morning walks along the riverfront and onto the coastal breakwater. I’ll let the photos above do the talking.

Garry and I both came away thinking we could settle around Ballina, but we decided that Yamba was still a bit rustic and a bit of a holiday town without much character.  However, the daily pelican parade outside our apartment did give Yamba a small win.

Debt free. Pain free.

2025 is off to an eventful start. Currently, Garry and I are enjoying six nights camped out at the Ramada Hotel & Suites overlooking the Richmond River in Ballina. We’re staying in the same corner suite we booked in January 2021.  In the image below, our room has a balcony with an elevated overhanging roof visible in the top left corner of the building.

The weather has been superb with predominantly fine weather and temperatures approaching 30C. The sunrises and sunsets have been spectacular in equal measure every day. I could get used to this more laid-back lifestyle! Likewise, we're enjoying the boats that come and go along the river - both leisure craft and commercial fishermen.

We celebrated New Year’s Eve with good friends Liz and Adam Benson on their lifestyle block near Alstonville. Our daily highlights included walks along local beaches, swimming in lakes or the sea, and a few afternoon naps. However, there have also been one or two unexpected highlights.  

First, Garry surprised me on 31 December with news that he’d paid the residual balance on his share of the mortgage for our Sydney apartment. That’s right, we finally own our home outright 20 years after buying it. Regular readers will recall that I paid off my share of the mortgage in 2011. We moved into our apartment in April 2004 after making an offer in February of the same year.

We also own our business in full, having paid off our business loan in December 2021. This means that now we own our home we’re essentially debt-free. This milestone was a personal goal I'd always wanted to achieve before turning 60, which I'll do in September this year.

Second, on Saturday, I had an emergency root canal operation. I’d been experiencing some pain the day before that seemed to come right until I attempted to eat dinner at the Federal Hotel in Alstonville. I then spent the night battling a relentless aching rear molar. By morning it was clear I needed urgent dental care. Where do you go at the weekend for reliable world-class dental work in a regional holiday town?

After an internet search, I found what looked like a reputable local dentist in Ballina. I called them at 9:00 a.m. By 10:30 a.m., I was in a dentist's chair undergoing a full 90-minute root canal treatment. However, my research appears to have paid off, as the dentist managing the procedure, Dr Kim Davies, was the founding owner who’d been in business for several decades. She calmly and professionally talked me through the entire procedure.

The dentist discovered that the nerve in my tooth had been dead for some time. Furthermore, there was no sign of infection or anything that would normally cause pain and thus trigger a visit to the emergency room.  In fact, she described my situation as rather unusual.  Somehow I've been walking around for quite some time, possibly years, with a dead tooth.

If the last four days are any indication, then 2025 will be an interesting year!

A final closing note. Today my brothers and I paused to remember the death of my father. He passed away on this day twelve years ago. Here's a link to the memorial tribute I created for his funeral service.