We woke up at 2am and caught the N207 at 2:45am to Marble Arch and then from there to Victoria station to catch the 3:30am Gatwick express to the airport. We arrived at 4am and checked our bag and had an hour or so to spare in the duty free area. The flight departed at 6:25am and we arrived at Marrakesh airport at about 9:30am local time after an only slightly uncomfortable flight.
It was about 23 degrees at the time we left the plane and heated up to 36 degrees as the day went on. We went through customs with no problems and took out 2000Dh cash each from the ATM, which is about £160. When we emerged from the airport we wandered over to where the taxis were parked and tried to bargain a good price for a taxi into town but failed quite badly due to being tired and bewildered. We ended up paying 20 Euro and were dropped off down the road from our riad.
We walked up the street in the direction we needed to go and quickly became lost and overwhelmed in the almost enclosed alley/road with scooters rushing by. We headed down another side alley and found ourselves wandering lost and so asked a workman for directions and he asked a local who was riding by on a donkey with a cart. We agreed if he could get us to our riad that we'd give him 30Dh and off we went down the road behind the donkey and cart.
5 minutes later we turned down another nondescript alleyway and were shown to a heavy wooden door on a plastered wall, which led to our riad. He rang the doorbell 3 times and just when it seemed no one was going to answer, the door opened up and we were ushered inside. After a bit of confusion as to who we were and where our booking was, we were taken up to the roof deck and given some tea as our room was not yet ready. Half an hour later we were led up to the adjacent rooftop and given our small but amazingly decorated room.
By this time it was 11am and we were eager to get out and explore, so we dumped our possessions and made our way out and onto the nearby main square, the Djema el Fna, which was an explosion of activity and craziness. There were snake charmers, men with monkeys, a man with a whole table covered in human teeth, scooters, taxis, donkeys, heat and smells of every kind. We crossed the square and found ourselves being drawn into the main Souk in town.
The souk is a covered market; a warren of cool and shaded shop stalls all crowded together and displaying a multitude of colourful wares. Despite the very faint warning in the back of my head not to wander mindlessly, I found my feet taking me in random directions down alleys and we quickly found ourselves to be hopelessly lost. Somehow this didn't matter and my logic told me that if I walked in one direction long enough I'd come out, but even now I don't think that's true. It seems more like Narnia in that once one passes the entrance, there's another world that goes on forever.
We did eventually end up looping around and coming out again at another part of the main square, at which point we went to the cafe and had some lunch of a lamb tagine and chicken cous cous and then decided to do the Lonely Planet guide walking tour, starting with a visit to the Bahia Palace.
The palace seemed rather nondescript from outside and we actually walked right up to it and then away at first not imagining that could be what we were looking for. Half an hour of wandering and 10dh (77p) each, we were admitted to the palace. We didn't know what to make of it at first, but we soon passed through the entry halls into a lush garden courtyard and then wandered from room to lavishly tiled room. I will let the pictures speak for themselves here:
After that we went looking for the Dar Si Said museum, which was closed from 3pm due to Ramadan, but we made a note of the location to come back tomorrow. Of course, by this stage we were getting a little bit tired from the heat and the lack of sleep, so we wandered aimlessly for a bit and I let us get pulled aside by a spice trader who delighted in telling us what everything was for in his shop, then invited us in for tea.
It was a very strong brew he made us and of course he couldn't share it with us, but he was a really nice guy and delighted in showing us his pet lizard. He even let me hold it! We sat and enjoyed the shade of his place for a short while and bought a few spices and tea from him; he even gave us some gifts.
But by that stage I was exhausted and just needed to relax for a while, so we went back to the riad and I chilled out for a short while as Kristen went out to the square to look around by herself. She came back about 30 minutes later after being accosted and painted by some extortionist henna tattooist and some crazy medicine man. Also, she discovered how disgusting and chauvinistic the men are - they really do take lewd comments and dirty looks to a whole new level.
We went back to the square together and I had my heart set on going to one of the balcony cafes overlooking the square. We had tea and coffee at one and watched the sun go down and the food stalls start setting up in the square. Of course at the moment the sun had disappeared at around 7:15pm, the mosques all announced that it was time to break the fast, which was a terrible, wonderful racket.
The night temperatures were quite a lot more bearable and we decided to check out the street food. Trying to just casually look around the dining areas is impossible as each shop has people standing nearby waiting to thrust a menu into your face and lead you to a meal. They'll do their best to try and impress you with their knowledge of English culture and try to make you laugh. It's really rather a pain if all you want to do is watch the spectacle and the only way it ever lets up is if you give in and sit down.
We did eventually pick a place to sit down at and the food was actually expensive for the portion size and not the best quality either. I'm not sure if that's how it always is there, but we didn't go back an try again as we found better elsewhere.
Another quick look around the souks and a 1/4 kg of Moroccan pastries later, we headed back to our room to sleep.
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