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Published: January 23rd 2011
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Marrakech sights
Looks much better on camera than I remember it. It basically was a place where one of the Princes met his mistress. In Marrakech, it was the end of the tour for those who were only on the 8 day tour, so we farewelled a few people but welcomed about 50 more who joined for the second New Years half of the trip. There were also a few people who met us in Marrakech who should have been on the first part but were delayed even longer than us by snow so couldn’t make it.
It is here where one of the best stories of the trip comes in. When we arrived in Marrakech, we were taken to the main square for an orientation, and also to a hamamm (Moroccan version of a Turkish bath), where the offer was a bath/sauna and 1 hour 15 minute massage for the equivalent of £24. This sounded like a perfect way to spend Christmas Day seeing as in a Muslim country Christmas isn't celebrated so much. When we got back the hotel, we got ready to head out to a show of horsemanship (which in retrospect, none of us would have minded missing) and there were a few people joining us, including a couple of Kiwi girls, Kristin and Jodie.
Being the outgoing chap
Bahia Palace #1
Royal Palace in Marrakech I am, I introduced myself and chatted to them for a while before inviting them to the hamamm the following day. Kristin was keen, but Jodie wasn’t. The following day, in the end people went at different times and it ended up being just Kristin and I at the time we went.
At the previous one I went to in Turkey, they provided a towel, but here Kristin came prepared in a bikini but I had to go in my boxer shorts. To start with, they put us together in this room where they started washing us. Kristin mentioned we weren't a couple but they didn't give her modesty much thought as they pulled her top to the side as they washed her and of course, me being the perfect gentleman, I didn't peak. After covering us in oil and mud and letting us bake for a bit, they came in to wash us off. They got Kristin to stand up up, half raised a robe to cover her modesty, then pretty much completely stripped her naked in front of me as they washed her as I tried to keep my eyes averted as best I could. Then they
Bahia Palace #2
Royal Palace in Marrakech put her in a robe (wearing only bikini bottoms underneath) and sent her next door. They stripped me out of my boxers and cleaned me then put me in a robe sans boxers.
After this, and seeing what we were wearing I assumed they would put us in separate rooms for the massage, but no, they put us end on end, so we definitely got to know each other better than we thought at the start of the day! But neither of us was awkward about it, we just had a laugh about it over lunch and ended up getting on quite well. So all in all, having a gorgeous woman stripped in front of me, it was pretty much exactly what I asked Santa for. He is real! 😊
On Christmas Day, we also met up with Jono and Kate who happened to be in Marrakech at the same time as well. We met up for a 'traditional' tagine Christmas dinner and it was good to see them again before we went off to different parts of Morocco. The following day we were back on the road, back over the Atlas Mountains via M’hamid and Ouarzazate to
Bahia Palace #3
Royal Palace in Marrakech the Sahara desert and warmer temperatures.
This was the part I was looking forward to most and for the main part it definitely didn’t disappoint. Growing up, I had a fascination with astronomy, but there were only a couple of occasions where I have been in a secluded enough spot with no light pollution to get a perfectly clear view of the night sky, the main one being a friend’s bach in Matakana. When I went to the desert in Egypt, I was looking forward to the opportunity there, but believe it or not, rain in the desert prevented that opportunity. But here in Morocco, I my luck was in and we had a couple of picture perfect clear nights that I spent a couple of hours sitting out in the cold sand staring up in to the multitude of stars that are invisible in London.
During the first desert day, we went on a 7 hour camel safari. Now, if I never see another camel, it will be fine with me. I don’t know how the locals did it, but afterwards I was quite convinced my Mother would not be seeing any grandkids from me. Although a
Fantasia Show
Me with a musket novelty, not an experience I will be trying again. It was here that I had my second small world moment of the trip as I met Leo, and she had been in South America at almost the same time as me and had done the tour before mine from Santiago to Quito with the same tour leaders I had! So we reminisced a bit about South America and i'm sure drove everybody else around us insane.
The second day, we did a bit of a jeep safari across the desert and that was much more to my liking as we left the desert to a town on the coast called Agadir. This was a small little town but it was nice to be back somewhere we they had showers after 3 nights without. Also along the coast the temperatures were consistently over 30 degrees which was heaven after the freezing December in London. A group of us went out for dinner, and I went with the steak and provoked massive food envy as my steak was the best I have had since South America. Definitely in the top 5 steaks I have ever had.
The following morning before
Marrakech markets #1
Draped with a small snake - with venom removed so I am told.... we left, Kristin and I wandered around and checked out a zoo and I even managed a swim in the ocean to get my salt water fix. Then we were on the road up to Essaouira, which turned out to be everybody’s favourite city of the trip. It had a much better vibe to the place, the beach was fantastic, and I know quite a few people enjoyed the shopping here. So much so, I ended up taking a tagine back to London for Kristin as it wouldn’t fit in her bags!
The next day was the last of the year and we made our way back to Marrakech where a big New Year's Eve dinner was planned. We found out that this place wasn’t letting us bring in our own alcohol, so of course we adhered to this....Yeah right! Between Amanda, Chris and I, we smuggled in a litre of vodka, half a litre of scotch whiskey and a bottle of wine. Needless to say our table was one of the more popular ones. The night flew by and before I knew it the countdown to another year had been and gone, but it was a good night,
even if some of us were dreading a 8am bus back to Casablanca.
Luckily, my hangover cure worked again and the 3 hour bus ride to Casablanca was nowhere near as bad as I feared. We got dropped off at the hotel, then went out to explore, firstly to the Mosque of Hassan II. It was very impressive and by the time Kristin, Jodie and I came out, the rest of the group had disappeared, so we wandered the streets a bit and had some lunch before making our way back to the hotel. My overall opinion of Casablanca is very low. The majority of what we walked through could accurately be described as slums, and the litter everywhere made Cairo look clean. If it has a romanticised image because of the movies, that Casablanca not longer exists.
After a final dinner with the remaining members of the tour, we said our goodbyes, and our “see you in London” farewells. Then the following day I made my way to the airport, and just to follow the theme of my trip, my flight was delayed by 3 hours! But thankfully it made it to Madrid in time for my
connecting flight to London and I was welcomed into the UK for 2011 by 0 degrees and snow. At least we are past the shortest day and everyday brings us closer to summer! Bring on new countries and new adventures in 2011!
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