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Published: March 21st 2011
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The Marrakech Express (may run late due to camels)
What the hell can you say about a place like Marrakech? It is wild and crazy, a cacophony of sounds and a firework show of lights. The streets are like ant farms with people, punctuated with scooters and motorbikes reluctant to slow down. The endless stalls and shops contain a feast of cheap merchandise, though if you want a good price you need to take some time (and a few deep breaths). At times, Marrakech is intimidating; mostly, though, it is charming. One thing you can say for certain is that you will not be bored.
I arrived into Marrakech on the train from Casa Voyageurs. I had booked Riad Massin from the 6th to the 9th, but now that I was arriving on the 4th, I needed to find another spot for me and Tony. I decided to track down the Equity Point hostel, recommended to me by a guy in the Albareda hostel in Barcelona. Good frigging recommendation. The place was a palace. 3 seperate terraces, a bar which serves food and beer, a dipping pool in a courtyard and the biggest dorm room I have ever
seen. The room was a semi-circle, about a 16 foot ceiling, with beds along the left and right. On the right were bunk beds, around 6 of them. On the left were our beds; singles, not bunks, sitting under some rather nicely presented tents. There was what looked to be a functional fireplace in one corner, though it was too warm to use it. The place was expensive, at around 18 Euro per night, but very comfy and clean. The staff were a bit gormless and unfriendly, but it was such a good place I didn't care. On our first night, when I hadn't yet gotten sick of the call to prayer, it was nice at sunset listening to the 15 or so mosques all around us sounding out their calls.
On the second day, we struck out to find our bearings a little better. Tony and I, and a Scottish lady called Sonya whom we met at the hostel, decided to meet for lunch. We ended up having lunch and dinner, and a wander around some of the markets and Djemaa El Fna, the main square. In the evening, we took the time to sit on the terrace
of the Grand Balcone du Marrakech, a café selling slightly pricey mint tea (15DH), but with the best view of the square by night. From here, you can safely observe the snake charmers, acrobats and music players, without being hassled for money. The food sellers in the square are pretty safe and hygienic, despite appearances, but they are a bit of a rip-off. The prices are ok, but the portions are poor, the food low quality. As such, they too are better observed from the terraces.
The next day, I changed hostels. The Riad Massin was different from the Equity Point; it was smaller, less well equipped, and smelled a bit like poo. The staff were very welcoming though, offering us mint tea as soon as we walked in. There was no room for Tony, so we went from here to find him a place. After that, we struck out into the markets again. The old town of Marrakech is absolutely huge; most of my time in Marrakech was spent around the main square and the streets leading off it, and I feel like I missed about half of them. The souks are deep and winding, and you can
get absolutely anything you might - or might not - want. The sounds and sights are extraordinary, not to mention the smells. Spice shops, soap shops, colourful Berber clothing shops, general stores, knock-off handbag and sunglass stores...a feast for the senses. The street food is also remarkable, from riifa (like boxty) to deep fried prawns and whole fish.
That evening, I attempted to purchase a netbook. It was something of a fiasco. I went in around 3pm, and asked what they had. There was a nice little Acer Aspire for 3500DH. I bargained them down to 3000DH, which wasn't a bad price. Trouble was, it was in Spanish. The Spanish keyboards are QWERTY, but the language of the Windows 7 OS was fully Spanish. The guy said if he activated it, he could change it to English, but he wouldn't do so unless he knew I would buy it. We agreed, and then...he couldn't change it to Spanish. I was to come back at 6pm, when he would have it sorted. I came back at 6, and it wasn't. I then stood in the store until 8pm, when he finally got it into English. Stupid fellow had broken everything
else in the process - the webcam, the Android OS, the memory card reader, the hard drive partition, the WiFi receiver, all broken. I demanded my deposit back, and got the hell out of there. That's what I get for trying to buy non-stolen goods in Marrakech.
I spent the next couple of days with different groups as they arrived or left, and did more exploring of the old town. With Alex and Steph from Australia, and Raphael from France, I went to see the Royal Palace and Saadian dynasty burial grounds. The palace was a little dull, and no pictures were allowed; the Saadian tombs were more interesting, though quite small. The Saadians ruled the area before the later Islamic leaders, and much of their architecture has been destroyed. The graves in this area are facing east, except for Jewish and Christian ones. I spent my last night in the roof tent with Alex, Steph and Raphael, as well as a large group of English people who were teaching in Spain. They were a very laid back and fun group, and we sat around playing a card game called Jungle Speed and smoking shisha. We slept in the
roof tent, though most people bailed out before dawn.
I left before 6am, and went to meet my camel trekking guide, Omar, at the gate of Bab Doukkala. Thus began an amazing journey into the desert at Erg Chebbi.
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Áine
non-member comment
Cats?
They're very cute kittys hon but still how much shisha have you consumed & was it 'hemp' flavoured? You seem to have developed a worrying fondness for cats which I can only assume was brought on by hunger pangs!