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Published: August 19th 2008
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Central Morocco
Our travels continued with the drive to Ourika and the beautiful valley that is inhabited mostly by Berber people that live in many small villages scattered about the valley. Berbers have there own language, traditions and a different lifestyle in the mountains. Monday morning we went to the local market for a very interesting visit to a traditional Berber village market. Our timing was great as these markets are not open everyday. You can buy pretty much anything you can imagine at this market. Food for animals and people, a haircut, every part of the cow and sheep you can think of ( and more ), all kinds of fruit and vegetables, or a new or used donkey or mule. If they don’t have it, you don’t need it. Alice particularly liked the open air Meat Market. That’s an experience !!! We never did try the steamed goat’s head !! Apparently the eyeballs are the best part ??? Yumm !!
We continued our adventure on Tuesday with a drive to our new home for 3 days in Marrakech. We stayed at the “very nice” Tichka Hotel. Very nice except for the service !!! The air conditioning never
did work right after promises everyday that it would be fixed. This was the same for most of the hotel. That made for 3 rather sleepless nights in a very hot room. The English channels on the T.V were for the most part unwatchable as the satellite signal was poor. No problem with the French or Arabic, but sporadic English. Despite the best efforts of a very nice lady at the reception desk nothing was done for anyone. We were not the only ones complaining. This could be a very nice place but obviously they are missing something at the management end. Check it out closely before you book at this place. Promises, promises, promises. No action !!!
Marrakech is a very old city with hundreds ( thousands ) of years of history as a trading center for people crossing the mountains into the desert. Today Marrakech is famous as a tourist place ( and for some very famous “OIL” that became famous in the sixties ) and there are literally thousands of new rooms being added to the already very busy destination. It is interesting here in that some resorts ( and many new ones ) are “dry”
with no alcohol and cater almost exclusively to Muslim guests. Because of the French history here there are a lot of French tourists here and most of the locals speak French as well as Berber and / or Arabic. Temperature here was a little much with 40 - 42 C.
We enjoyed 2 days of exploring the Marrakech souk ( market with thousands of shops ), the old city and some of the new city and parks and a dinner with a “tribal show,” and some relaxing at the pool.
Thursday, our last day in Morocco we drove 2 ½ hours to the Atlantic coast to Essaouira for a day at this very nice beach / fishing city. This was a very good day with some interesting countryside on the way and a good walk through the local market and fishing port. In hindsight we were sorry we didn’t plan a stay here for one of the 3 nights in Marrakech.
Back to Marrakech tonight for an interesting evening walk through the very large, and very busy, Main Square and the night market full of restaurants and peddlers, and a final Moroccan dinner near the square.
Morocco is a very interesting country with a lot of history and lots to see and do. We visited the top part of the country and saw nothing of the Sahara in the south or what lies beyond the mountains towards Algeria to the east. Maybe a better time to visit is April or May.
If you are planning a trip to Morocco it would be wise confirm what is expected in regard to gratuities for guides and drivers. We have always been generous with gratuities for good service but quite frankly we don’t feel obligated for average or less than average service. In all of our travels, except Morocco, we have never been “prompted” by a driver or guide as to what gratuity they expect.
Off tomorrow to Madrid for a couple of days before we fly to Rome to spend some time with family who are already there touring Italy.
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