Blogs from Marrakech, Marrakech-Tensift-El Haouz, Morocco, Africa - page 9

After spending two nights in Fez we are off to Marrakesh! The country side in Morocco was amazing, I guess I never expected it to be so fertile and green, with rich dark soil. Farms of fruit and vegetables, and herds of sheep and goats spot the fields as we drive along. There a vast difference in living, from beautiful mansions to cardboard and tin shacks, so as we drive along I observe that all of coffee bars and restaurants are all filled with men. Uuum , sitting in the fields having a smoke or a coffee are all men, so is there way of life a choice, arrogance. Uuummm. But out working in the fields or the streets are women with babies tied to there back, sweeping, cleaning , washing , raking the field, planting ... read more

The name Marrakech originates from the Berber and means "Land of God". Which is all nice and good but after three flights and many hours cooling my heels in airports I wasn't exactly in a religious mood when I finally arrived in Marrakech. My mood as I headed out of the airport might have also been primed by reading about how aggressive the taxi cab drivers of Marrakesh can be. Rip off artists was how one guidebook labeled them. I headed out the door into the sea of cabbies prepared not to be taken. I would hold my own. The most recent guidebook had suggested that 50-70 dirhams should be the proper fare for a cab into the city but that cabbies would charge whatever they could get (Now let me be frank 50 -70 dirhams ... read more

Geo: 31.6334, -7.9996 The next day we decided to go for Moroccan Hammam. Easy spa Medina was recommended by our Riad Abaca Badra which is about 5 mins walk from the Riad, we went there as it was convenient on a hot afternoon. I chose to have the full hammam for 180 dirhams. We were striped to our underwear, so do take spare underwear. The lady washed us with black soap, exfoliated us for few minutes, put the clay mask on us for a minute and shampooed our hair once. It was over very quickly in 20-25 minutes between both of us and I was taken to change. They did not understand English and it was very hard to communicate with them. I was bit underwhelmed by the experience after high expectations ; I should have ... read more

Geo: 31.6334, -7.9996 We travelled by Ryan air from Stansted to Marrakech, on our flight we read newspapers and played scrabble so the 3 and half hour journey passed quickly. On landing at Marrakech there was loud speaker announcement informing us that "we were a part of another successful, on time, Ryanair flight". We had paid extra £10 each for the front seats so we got out quickly and joined the queue to the immigration, having filled our arrival cards on the flight. After 35-40 minutes of waiting in queues we cleared the customs and we were relieved to see the driver from Riad Abaca Badra waiting for us at the airport which is a great relief in the heat. We chose the Riad Abaca Badra based on Tripadvisor recommendations and they were spot on ... read more

The end of our drive into Marrakech was absolutely beautiful. We even stopped in a beautiful Berber village and we met an old man that gave me a beautiful necklace as a gift. We also bought some mineral rocks from him. It was a great end to our journey through the mountains and desert. Arriving in Marrakech it was busy. Luckily our new friend and driver Mustasa called the hotel and the manager came to meet us outside in the Medina so we would not get lost. We checked in and relaxed for a little before heading out to the market and for dinner. The market here is huge and we made our way to the famous Jemaa el Fna square that overlooks the big mosque. I however was slightly disappointed by Marrakech. There are so ... read more