Our latest trip (2nd week in March) was to Marrakesh in Morocco for 5 days. This was our first trip to anywhere on the African content. Marrakesh was certainly different to anything else we have experienced. Our hotel was just a few minutes from the Djemma El-Fna the main square. By day it features food stalls (dried dates and oranges etc), musicians and snake charmers. By night it was much more crowded, the air was thick with the smoke of cooking. All around there were the souqs, a maze of narrow streets and alley ways selling carpets, tajines, tea sets, wooden products etc etc. Directly across from our hotel was the Koutoubia minaret. The “call to prayer” woke us up at 5am every day. We also visited the Jardin Majorelle, a gift to the city from Yves St Laurent. This was a garden unlike any we have seen. An art deco Villa in brilliant cobalt blue, lots of pots in bold primary colours, water features and a bamboo grove. 
It sounds gaudy, but it worked amazingly well. The only colour for the buildings in Marrakesh seemed to be pink, varying from an almost lipstick hue through a dusty rose colour.
One day we were taken to a Berber market in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. On sale were foods of all kinds, meat fish, carpets etc. We were glad to have a guide! We also visited our guide’s family home in a village nearby, a mud brick two storied house. We were treated to mint tea, and bread, honey and olive oil.
Another day trip involved travelling to the coastal city of Essaouira. In parts this seemed almost European, with a café lined main square, and a long white-sand beach. But the back streets were very “Moroccan”. The sea food was excellent.
We came back to Salisbury laden with a tajine, a Berber plate, a stone camel, and a Berber bedspread (a wedding gist for Philip’s niece). After the 27 C of Morocco, the 7 C of London came as a bit of a shock!
It sounds gaudy, but it worked amazingly well. The only colour for the buildings in 
