I'm back in Asilah after a quick trip home to Grover Beach, where I happened to spend my 62nd birthday. That seems like a milestone of some sort. I've decided to play around with keeping a blog as a place to post pictures and observations. For me it's too easy to fall into a daily routine and take this experience for granted. That said, I'll start with a description of my daily routine.
Our house has a name: Dar Malak. (It means House of the Angels. A "dar" is a house in Moroccan Arabic, typically a townhouse with an inner courtyard.) It's a large, furnished vacation rental with housekeeping included, and it's right next to the sea wall, right on the ocean.
The house tends to be dark this time of year, so to see what the weather is like I head to the roof terrace.
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| View from the terrace |
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| This is Dar Malak from the outside. |
If it's a nice day, I might do laundry which we hang to dry on the terrace. This winter it's been raining a lot, so more often I head to the 2nd floor living area to build a fire.
The housekeeper, Fatima, arrives at around 11:00 to clean and make the beds. She also keeps us supplied with fresh orange juice and cooks delicious tagines on request. Yes, we're spoiled.
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| What we see when we step out the door. The sea wall is on the left. |
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| Our street |
At some point in the day I venture out. Our house is in the medina, which means "town" in Arabic, and generally refers to the oldest part of a town, with maze-like, narrow streets.
The streets in the medina are too narrow for cars, but bicycles are fine and horse and donkey carts squeeze through.
It takes about 5 minutes to reach the Bab Homar, one of the main medina gates. This is usually my exit when I go for bread, produce, or groceries.
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| Bab Bhar, the sea gate. |
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| Fishing boat harbor |
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| Beachfront promenade |
The gate next to the ocean is the Bab Bhar. We take this exit when we go to the train station. Also, Mark goes this way every day when he takes a walk around the fishing harbor and along the beachfront. Some days are quite windy.
The ocean view from our terrace is lovely at sunset. So is the view of the medina. It's winter, though, so we don't linger too long.
Our house has a name: Dar Malak. (It means House of the Angels. A "dar" is a house in Moroccan Arabic, typically a townhouse with an inner courtyard.) It's a large, furnished vacation rental with housekeeping included, and it's right next to the sea wall, right on the ocean. 
The house tends to be dark this time of year, so to see what the weather is like I head to the roof terrace.
If it's a nice day, I might do laundry which we hang to dry on the terrace. This winter it's been raining a lot, so more often I head to the 2nd floor living area to build a fire.
The housekeeper, Fatima, arrives at around 11:00 to clean and make the beds. She also keeps us supplied with fresh orange juice and cooks delicious tagines on request. Yes, we're spoiled.
The streets in the medina are too narrow for cars, but bicycles are fine and horse and donkey carts squeeze through.
It takes about 5 minutes to reach the Bab Homar, one of the main medina gates. This is usually my exit when I go for bread, produce, or groceries.
The ocean view from our terrace is lovely at sunset. So is the view of the medina. It's winter, though, so we don't linger too long.
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