This aint *just* Marrakech its an experience (Marrakech (Morocco))

Member Name: melvinium

Product:	Marrakech (Morocco)
Date:	23/09/08 (99 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Amazing place to visit

Disadvantages: You will get ripped off at least once

Marrakech
Marrakesh or Marrakech is known as the "Red City" and is situated in Northern Africa in Morocco.
Marrakech has the largest traditional market (souk) in Morocco, and also one of the busies squares in Africa and the world (Djemaa el Fna).

Marrakech is roughly 3 and a half hours flight time from London, and is a popular short haul destination to a long haul feeling place.
We travelled to Marrakech in November 2007 from Luton airport with Ryanair.

We arrived at the airport, and were charged 150DR (£12ish) to our hotel (Hotel Oudaya - booked through lastminute.com). We knew before we went that 150DR is the going rate to get from the airport into the city, and this was expensive, but we are novice hagglers, and the man we dealt with wasn't having any of it, so 150DR it was. (Incidentally on the way home we got the same journey back to the airport for 80DR)

Our hotel was cheap and we weren't expecting great things from it, but when we arrived we were pleasantly surprised. The room was basic, but the general hotel was nicely decorated with traditional Moroccan artefacts.
We were staying in the new part of the city, but we spent a lot of time in the Medina (old city) which is where most of the traditional action takes place.

- Djemaa el Fna -
If you head on down to the Djemaa el Fna you will be greated with an amazing sight.
Snake charmers, Monkey trainers, henna ladies, beggars, acrobats all gathered together in a massive square on the edge of the Souks, with cafes and restaurants surrounding. Towering over the whole square is the Koutoubia Minaret - a mosque which you will hear calling the Marrakechians to prayer.

The noise and smells will awaken your senses, and you have to be alert at all times otherwise you will be given a snake to hold, or someone will start painting your hand with henna, and then you will have to pay them. During the day orange juice stall owners, hundreds of them, all vie for your attention shouting things to get you to come and buy juice from them. The juice is quite tasty and usually squeezed in front of you (just make sure you don't have any ice), as with everything in Maraakech though, make sure you agree the price before you buy.

On our first day a lady came over to me and showed me some pictures of different henna tattoo designs, I said no and walked away, but she grabbed my hand and started drawing something, I pulled away and said no, but she insisted and told me it was a present. She drew a flower and then tried to charge me 20DR for the privilege. It took some effort to get away from her without paying I can tell you.

In the evening the square is transformed. "Open Air Restaurants" as they call themselves all start setting up, and as you walk into the square from near the Koutoubia Minaret you can see in front of you hundreds of stalls with smoke coming out from each of them. Each stall is set up with benches and tables for you to sit at, and there are hundreds to choose from, each cooking different types of food. You can choose from the more western stalls which serve couscous, chicken, fish and chips - mostly battered food, and all the stalls serve the same kind of thing. Then there are the more traditional stalls which I have to confess, I didn't try anything from.
*WARNING - VEGETARIAN OR SQUEAMISH PEOPLE MAY NOT WISH TO READ*
On our last day there I ventured over to take a picture of the food and it was goats heads, sitting there in a row. The tongues and brains had been removed and they were on separate plates next to the heads. A man was carving up what looked like a spinal cord to me. Anyway, they generously agreed to me taking a photo (and they didn't even charge me).

*SQUEAMISH SECTION OVER*

A different stall was serving boiled eggs in rolls with oil (I didn't see any westerners going for this either)
There is some kind of drink for sale at some stalls, it tastes like hot cinnamon, and it was sold to us by a friendly marakkechian as herbal Viagra!! It came with a sweet which was like cocoa powder and very dry.

- Food in Marrakech -

The food in Marrakech as you may expect is tagines and cous cous predominantly. We tried pizza a couple of times for lunch, and I had a cous cous and houmous salad, but it wasn't that nice. The houmous has a taste which is hard to describe, but reminded me of a farmyard, and the cous cous that I tried on several occasions just seemed like it has been boiled or steamed with no flavour at all.

We ate from the stalls on most nights, as we felt it had the most atmosphere, we only went to the western style open air restaurants, and it was great comedy value walking round with the market stall holders shouting at you to try and come and eat from their stall. "Oy matey, come and try our pukka grub" - in a Marrakechan Jamie Oliver voice or "This aint just food, this is Marks & Spencers food" from another cockney marrakechan!
When we did eat in restaurants, the service was really slow, and the food no better than the food cooked on the stalls. If you are looking for traditional Moroccan food you are better off going to the stalls, as when the Moroccans come out to eat, they like to eat western food, and cook the traditional stuff at home.

- The souks -

These are amazing. You can enter the souks from various points in the Medina, but the easiest one to find is from the Djemaa el Fna. We had 2 different maps of the souks, so we managed to find our way round somehow, but it is very difficult going. The souks are magical, they are colourful, full of sights and smells, but also full of people trying to rip you off! They are divided into regions, so there is the dyers district where you find beautiful colourful clothes hanging from the rooves drying after being dyed. Then there is the tanners district (we didn't go there on the advice from guide books) but this is where the leather is tanned, apparently it is one of the grimmest parts of Marrakech to go; the smell is vile and you are hassled by people trying to take you round for money. There is a slipper district where you can buy shoes, really there is everything you can imagine in there. In order to get the best from the souks haggling and shopping around is am must as the sellers significantly inflate their price for an item that you want. If you state a price you are willing to pay though, you are held to that.

It is very easy to get lost within here though, and I recommend sticking to the main roads, as at one point when we were trying to find out way out as it was getting dark, we found ourselves in a rather dodgy area, and felt quite scared.

- The Atlas Mountains -

Marrakech is in the foot of the Atlas Mountains, and we decided to go up them for a day trip, so booked a coach from the touriste information office to take us.
We weren't sure what to expect, but a minibus came and picked us up from our hotel around 9 in the morning, then went and picked up another couple from the Medina and off we went (4 of us in a 10 seater minibus).We went to the Ourika Valley, stopping at a Berber Artisinal place to take some pictures of the mountains from the top of the roof (of course we were then expected to buy something from the shop). Then further along we stopped at a village to look at an olive press (again getting sold stuff). Further along we stopped at an argane nut factory of women workers (you've guessed it, so they could sell us things) eventually we spoke to the driver and said we didn't want to stop at any more artisanal places, so we headed on to Setti Fatma.

We hired a guide for 200DR between the four of us (we were unsure about this as we were sick of paying for things we didn't really want - but it turned out to be money well spent). We climbed up 1500 metres up slippery rocks to a waterfall on the mountain. It was quite tough going in some places, very slippery and sheer rocks, so we were glad we had the guide. We saw monkeys and mountain sheep! When we got to the top we were surprised to see that other people had made it up in heels! We had a refreshing mint tea at the top (mint tea is delicious in Marrakech) and then climbed back down.
Well worth a day trip (or longer)

- Hammams-

This is my final section, and contains my best tip for Marrakech. We were there for 4 days, and on the last day decided to take a Hammam, which is like a steam room. So we booked it through our hotel and spoke to the man who booked it who told us he would meet us on our last day and take us to this nice Hammam. We asked if we needed to bring anything like swimwear, and he said no, just come as you are.#

So we met him, and he took us in a taxi to this Hammam in a different hotel. We were given bathrobes, so we assumed strip off and put them on. We were taken into a room with 2 girls who started taking off our bath robes, and then realised we weren't wearing anything, so told us in faltering English to put on our underwear, so I put on my (non matching white!!!! Underwear) and we went back into this room where we were showered down by these girls and sent into the steam room (where there were other people in their swimwear!! - I could have killed the man at this point). After we had the steam, the 2 girls scrubbed us down with a loofah and washed our hair. We were then taken to have a massage (topless) in a room without a door. Then had to get dressed into our clothes complete with wet underwear, and covered in oil!!!

The whole experience was, erm, interesting to say the least.
My top tip is if you have a hammam, take some swimwear with you even if you are told you don't need to!!

Anyway, we had a fab time in Marrakech and my top ten things to do are as follows:
1. See the Djemaa el Fna
2. Go shopping in the Souks
3. Eat from the "open air restaurants"
4. We did a walk from our guide books round the new and old city which was good.
5. Go to the Atlas Mountains
6. Take a hammam, complete with swim wear
7. Try some herbal Viagra at night from the Djemaa el Fna
8. Haggle with everyone you meet
9. Try and make it round Marrakech with your map book without someone offering to show you the way and then holding their hand out for money
10. Go to the old palace
Thanks for reading.

Summary: Keep your wits about you and enjoy it