November 11, Riad


Word of the day: Riad: house, home, with interior garden.  Home: the place we live. 
Garden: cultivated grounds.   

Home is where the heart is.  It is not just the physical space in which we reside; but also the spiritual place that gives us a sense of purpose and love. We are staying at Light of the Sun Riad.  

Inside garden 

Birds sometimes come and serenade, the stairs go upstairs to an outside deck overlooking the city. This is where I participated in morning and evening prayer.

The stairs outside our room leading to terrace.

We left early and went to “the Secret Garden” in Marrakech.  It had been built around 400 years ago, but owes its irrigation to a system dating back nearly a thousand years of underground channels gravity fed from the Atlas Mountains.  


Intricate mosaic design on ceiling of gazebo 

The gazebo with trees all around it!

Eileen sitting near one of many fountains in garden.

Eileen and I have been having a wonderful time. We go  for quiet walks in the mornings, and then deal with the craziness of the market for a time.  That is, until I can no longer stand the bartering, and then we go home. 

We did find a great place to buy a new leather purse 👛 for me, custom adjusted!  


And he steered us to a great spice shop operated by his brother. These guys were wonderful and not too pushy.

                         Spices and dyes
         The proprietor!  We were only ones there, so we got some very individual explanation of spices!
       A closer view of dyes and spices    
We then went to where they dye the fabrics;
                       The different colored dyes
                The vats for dying the fabric

Love  and adventure, the spice of life!    Jeez Louise!   



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