~ Essaouria to Marrakesh ~ 
Today we were not heading back to Marrakesh until about 2pm so we had basically a whole extra day to explore! We headed back into the medina, this time to explore some of the various souks. We wandered around the jewelry and spices sections with were both overwhelming and stopped back at the panini shop for lunch again. We also treated ourselves to a Moroccan rug/beach towel each! Success!

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After lunch we started to make our way back to Marrakesh – the final one of Morocco’s four Imperial cities we have visited on our tour. It would be our final drive with Hassan and Stan the Van! When we arrived at the hotel we said our fond farewells and thanked Hassan again for being our driver and always having Stan cool and waiting for us! 

We dedicated a bit of time this afternoon for relaxing and swimming in the beautiful pool – the water was lovely and warm! We all met downstairs in the lobby to go into town together for dinner. We decided to head to the city’s UNESCO-listed medina and Djemâa-el-Fna. It is sort of like an open air theatre – drama and action in every corner. Snake charmers blast oboes to calm hissing cobras; henna tattoo artists beckon to passers by; water and orange juice-sellers in fringed hats clang brass cups together, hoping to drive people to drink; 100 chefs with grills in tow; musicians scattered everywhere and the odd monkey or two – an extraordinary gathering and market place. One of our tour mates even randomly had a snake put around his neck. 
We escaped the madness by heading up to one of the many restaurants roof top terraces surrounding the square. We had a beautiful view over the square as the sun was setting and enjoyed one of our last meals together! The best part of the night was probably our cab ride home! We arrived where the drivers ask you if you want a lift, we said yes please – two taxis for 6 of us. We were pretty sure he said “yes follow me”. When we got to his taxi, it was one taxi and not a large one! We tried to argue and say we wouldn’t all fit but somehow we all ended up climbing in. Paige was sitting on Max’s knee in the front seat and the rest of us were somehow jammed in the back! Despite the fear of imminent death (especially when you include the fact that their road rules seem to make no sense at all) we could not stop laughing (perhaps in fear the whole way home). We tried to barter with him for a cheaper price given the whole situation but he wasn’t having a bar of it and getting very angry so we just paid. When we told Mohamed about it the next day he was quite exasperated and told us if that ever happens again to walk away and threaten to call to police/just call the police because the driver would get a big fine! The tourism police are apparently very big over here! We know for next time….