Mad Marrakesh

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After only a 3.5 hour flight we landed at the medium sized airport just outside the city and waited for our Riad to come and collect us. After a rather longer than expected wait and a few nervous phone calls the prearranged taxi eventually arrived and we made out way on to the manic streets. As soon as you exit the terminal you get a brilliant view of the snow capped Atlas Mountains in the distance! After a short walk around the narrow medieval streets we found a friendly stall and a bite to eat and headed back to the room for a quick freshen up and a nap (we had to get up at 3:30am for the fight afterall!)

The taxi was the typical arabic style: very old, noisy, curtained windows and lots of nic nacks hanging from the rear view mirror. Our hostel was located just 100m down a side street from Djeema El-Fna and the taxi driver took the decision to plough through the crowds of snake charmers, market stalls and donkey carts and through lanes barely wide enough for the taxi to fit to reach our destination. One of the most exciting and entertaining taxi rides I have ever had!

The old city is just as I expected; an incredible mix of noises, smells and colours and is likely to be the closest I will ever get to see what a medieval walled city would have been like. Vendors fought for our attention and used a whole host of one liners they must have picked up from tourists and dodgey Engish TV..."Maybe Baby" and "You must be hungry, you look like Starving Marvin" rank amongst my favorites.

At night Djeema el Fna transforms into a vibrant circus of food stalls, musicians telling stories and overwhelmed toursts oggling the monkeys, ostritch eggs and cobras. We loved the atmosphere but found the food area a little too much, vendors were overly agressive and pushy and we found much nicer places to eat in other areas.

To escape the heat and madness of the city we booked an excursion to Ourika Valley and the waterfalls to get a taste of the Atlas Mountains and set off the next day

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