Adventures in Morocco: Marrakech

I never really knew much about Morocco until last year when multiple students in my bilingual class came back from holidays relaying stories of riding camels in the desert and visiting busy cities in Morocco.  I definitely had envy of 7 year olds, but this year, we finally got a chance to check it out for ourselves, with the fabulous company of our friends Skee and Michelle.

My first ever trip to Africa: we spent 5 1/2 days in this amazing and unique country, including a 3 day trek to the Sahara Desert.

Marrakech--definitely a city like no other that I've visited so far!  Although it is a city visited by many tourists, it definitely feels as though it's still developing, even more so than Istanbul and Turkey.  All the buildings are red colored, and you really feel like you are part of the local scene as soon as you step off the plane.  Some of this is probably attributed to the fact that we were able to speak French, one of the native languages, but the culture is really just so different than any in Europe.

We were greeted with haggling and craziness from the get go, but we eventually scored a cab for 4 to the Medina for a pretty reasonable price. (Tip--walk across the road to the parking lot when exiting the airport!) Getting lost in the alleyways of the old medina is pretty much a guarantee (and Google Maps is really no help, as we found out), but it's all part of the experience!

On our first night in Marrakech before our desert excursion, we braved the Place Jemma-el-Fna, the busiest square in all of Africa, for dinner.  It's an experience in itself, experiencing the vendors trying their tactics to get you to eat at their stall.  We all agreed that Paris has prepared us well for ignoring people that try and haggle you for things.  Tip: When choosing a stall, look for lots of people eating, especially locals!  We ate our share of couscous and brochettes before grabbing some dried fruits and nuts for our road trip the next day.

Don't worry, we didn't eat any brains!

Fast forward 3 days after our desert excursion and we are back in Marrakech.  Sunday night we ate at a local restaurant recommended by our hotel, which although offered the same options as every other restaurant in Morocco (tagines, couscous, and brochettes), was some of the most delicious food we had the entire trip.  The upper level offers a beautiful view of the city as well.

On Monday, we awoke to beautiful blue skies and set out to explore the Palace Badi and Palace Bahia.  We didn't make it past Place Jemma-el-Fna, though, before the snake charmers intrigued and terrified Nick all at the same time.  Skee was brave enough to pose for some pictures!

Palace Badi is in ruins, but offers a spectacular view of the city and the mountains on a clear day.

Palace Bahia is filled with gorgeous tile work, mosaics, and ceilings, and is definitely worth the visit.  And at the equivalent of less than 1 euro entry fee for each palace, it's hard to go wrong!

Michelle and I also made a little pit stop to learn about and buy some spices in the spice souk.  We even got some free "Berber" lipstick to go along with our chili powder and local tea.

Skee obviously wanted to act like he was part of the negotiations

We had planned to have a picnic in a park outside the old city in the afternoon, but when it started raining after visiting the Palace, we instead decided it was time for lunch.  In a nice change up from Moroccan food, we found a great little vegetarian restaurant.  In keeping with the theme of not nice weather on this trip, we got stuck in yet another downpour after lunch and had to duck into a little café for some coffee.

Left: normal food: tagine with meats and veggies-delicious but repetitive
Right: vegetarian lunch, delicious change-up!

We made it back to our riad just in time for the hammam and massage that Michelle and I had scheduled for the afternoon.  And when it started hailing and storming, we were glad we had planned to hang out at the riad that night.  The hammam and massage were amazing.  I'd never had a hammam or exfoliation before, and a massage only a few times.  It was over an hour and a half of pure relaxation (for less than 40 euros! I want to live here with prices like that!) that left me feeling re-energized and with silky smooth skin (even today!)  Although for being such a conservative culture with women in public, it's definitely not the case in the privacy of closed doors!

We had booked dinner at our riad that night, and as the storms continued, we were very glad to be in our dry, cozy dining room with delicious food!

Making our own cocktails!

Tuesday, our final day in Marrakech, was a gorgeous one!  Poor Nick woke up not feeling well, but he was a trooper and made it through the day.  We visited the famous Kasbah Mosque and then ventured into the souks to do some souvenir shopping.  While we didn't buy a ton, Michelle and I were very excited to buy some handmade leather sandals for a great price.  (The boys were less enthused by our 30+ minute stop.)

We continued our walk to the Jardin Marjorelle, which was a stunning garden outside the medina with plants and vegetation from all over the world.  This was definitely the attraction with the highest admission cost (a whopping 5E!) and highest concentration of tourists on our entire trip, but it was worth it.  (For me at least, poor Nick sat outside trying to feel better!)

We had planned to go to the other park for a picnic today before heading to the airport, but after arriving back at our riad to collect our bags, we decided sitting on the rooftop sounded like a better idea.  And indeed, it was a perfect way to end our trip!  (Along with buying a few more dried fruits and nuts with our last remaining dirhams.)

Probably the part I liked best about Marrakech was that despite the craziness and haggling that abounds on every street outside, as soon as you enter a riad (local version of hotel), the craziness and loudness of the medina streets is replaced with calmness, peace, and relaxation.  Riads range in size from just a handful of rooms to 20+ rooms, but they all surround a center courtyard and often have a rooftop terrace.  I really feel like this is a part of the cultural experience of Marrakech, and the prices are less than we've paid for "cheap" rooms in other European cities.

We stayed at 2 different riads...the first night we stayed at Riad Bibtia, which we purposely picked as a "cheap riad" as we knew we would be waking up early for our desert tour the next morning. But, we were pleasantly surprised with the beauty of the details and kindness of the staff.

After our desert adventure, we stayed at Riad Al Rimal and upon arrival we literally felt like we walked into heaven. The riad itself is spectacular, with a hot tub, pool, hammam, and beautiful rooftop terrace, and that combined with our desert trek made us appreciate the riad even more.  (You'll understand once you read that blog entry.)

Our nights in Marrakech consisted of chatting and playing games, especially Heads-Up.  Our newly formed "quote wall" has many new quotes from these games.  Laughing until you have tears in your eyes is definitely the best way to end a day.  So thankful for our friendship with these two!

A perfect end to the day was followed by a perfect start to the day with breakfasts on the rooftop.  Fresh squeezed orange juice was a crowd favorite (which by the way, you can buy for 40 cents a glass at Place Jemma-al-Fna) along with delicious fruit and breads.

I would definitely recommend a trip to Marrakech to anyone!  It's definitely a unique experience, and as long as you are prepared for the haggling and can walk away, it's really not that big of a deal.  Overall, things are very cheap and it's easy to escape the chaos of the streets by staying at a riad.  It definitely helped that we spoke French, but in Marrakech most people speak English as well, so you can get around just fine!  Be sure to check out all of our pictures from Marrakech here.