11 February 2012

Marrakesh and Essaouira, Morocco

We made it to the African continent with our long weekend trip to Marrakesh. Our first impressions of the city were impacted by the culture shock of the Medina (Old Town) and we didn't have time to visit the modern areas of the city. However after a couple of days, we developed an affection for the people and the food so much that we would recommend Marrakesh as a travel destination for our friends. Flights are accessible from London and although it does help to speak some French, we found it easy to get around with just English and a smile.


Flight from London
On the day prior to our flight snow had began to fall in London. The temperature was below zero and we became cautious (or perhaps just paranoid) that the snow would negatively impact the train services. As we did not want to get caught out, we invoked our backup plan of taking one of the last trains to Gatwick Airport in the early hours of the morning before the snow falls got heavier. We arrived at Gatwick around 1am and found ourselves in the company of like-minded people. The best airport lounge real-estate was already occupied. We were equipped with our Air Asia comfort kits (blanket, eye patch) and bunked down in a corner where Olie entered into a snoring competition with a nearby traveller.

Arrival in Marrakesh
On arrival into Marrakesh, we took the advice of friends who had travelled there recently and changed our currency in the Arrival Hall of the airport, giving us a better exchange rate than the currency houses in the baggage area or in London as a result of Morocco using a 'closed' currency (Dirhams). A courtesy shuttle bus had been organised by the Riad (hotel) and we were transported to the Medina by a driver who tried to be helpful but could only speak French.

Le Riad Monceau
We were dropped off in the centre of the Djemaa El-Fna Square and a guide from the Le Riad Monceau (our hotel) met the car and walked us down the laneway to our accommodation - an 18th century building with a famous restaurant, an international reputation and a published cookbook.

The pool courtyard at our Riad

Moroccan traditional decorations

Blue sky and sunshine every day of our trip

The cookbook published by our Riad

At the reception and whilst waiting for our rooms to be ready, we were given Moroccan mint tea and a selection of local pastries. Our room was a very elegant Emir suite with its own terrace.

Our welcome mint tea and pastries

Our suite

The terrace outside our suite

Exploring the Medina
We spent the remainder of the day trying to get our bearings around the Medina. There was a feeling that your every movement was being watched and perhaps vulnerable to an organised scam - such as providing foreigners with misleading directions and getting them lost inside the labyrinth of laneways; asking for a commission payment on any sort of photo, or just raising the price on items in the market, as soon as they hear English or see a map and camera.

Inside the Djemaa El-Fna Square

The Souk

Of fascination are the street performers that will do a trick in front of you and then demand payment if you just glance in their direction or attempt to take a photo. The atmosphere of the square was enriched by the constant cries of orange juice sellers to try their offerings. However we bypassed the drinks due to reviews on TripAdvisor about the questionable cleaning of cups in-between patrons.

Dancing cobras

One of cobras looking at Olie suspiciously

Lunch
We ate lamb tagine and couscous at a local restaurant fringing the Djemaa el-Fnaa square and passed time by people watching from the terrace balcony. The view included the mosques, Souk (covered market) and stretched all the way to the Atlas mountains. It was relaxing, scenic and a great way to see the city.We finished the meal with small glasses of mint tea and eating syrup coated peanut and sesame pastries.

Pouring the tea - a higher stream creates more froth

On a restaurant balcony for lunch

View towards the mountains 

Medina at Night
By night, the Djemaa El-Fna Square evolves into a completely different personality. It erupts with energy and food vendors where locals were out enjoying the end to the working week, and tourists were being courted towards particular tents by groups of teenage boys carrying menus.

Smoke from the chargrills over the food market

The Koutoubia Mosque

Market Food
Dinner was eaten at the night food market, taste testing the shish kebabs, grilled aubergine, fried calamari and traditional Moroccan soup. The stall we visited had the tag line: 117 - takes you to heaven. It served cheap food, offered warm hospitality and plenty of foreign patrons (the staff spoke excellent English). But after the meal, they tried the old 'trick' of pretending to not have the right change in the local currency and made us wait 10 minutes before they sourced notes from other stalls. We guessed that they were hoping that we would just leave the 80 dirhams (about 7 GBP) behind as a tip.

Colourful street food on offer

Grilled aubergine

Mixed kebabs

Moroccan soup

A 7 spice tea and a nut based cake
Night cap
The night ended with a cocktail session back at the hotel bar with the lighting around the courtyard pool creating a very romantic setting.

Le Riad Monceau at night

Entrance to our Riad was down a private laneway

Day Trip
The next day (Saturday) we took a day trip to the west coast using Imzi tours. We discovered that the bustle and chaos of Marrakesh only extends to the city walls. Outside the perimeter, life is a bit more laid back and our mini-bus driver offered a sigh of apprehension at returning back to the crazy city to drop us off after the tour. We noted a contrast between the crowded laneways of the city and the vast arid countryside where Berber people herded sheep along the highway (without any fences to hold back stray animals) and the occasional camel running alongside our minivan.

Racing camel
Berber nomads and their flock of sheep


Argan Oil Factory
Like any organised packaged tour there is some incentive for the driver / tour guide to earn commission along the way by taking us to a specific cafe for a refreshment break, an Argan oil (one of the rarest oils in the world) factory and a lookout point where photos with a camel were on offer.

Goats eating the fruit from the Argan oil tree

Learning how to make Argan oil using traditional methods

EssaouiraThe medieval city and port town of Essaouira is a must see for future travellers and was the highlight of this trip. We spent a few hours wandering around the town, exploring the laneways and enjoyed a country homestead style meal of mussels and soup - ignoring all travel sense to stay away from shellfish. Luckily we didn't feel any after effects and continued with the street food adventure with crepes from a roadside shop.

Mussels and rice

The old medieval wall encompassing the town

The local markets

A mixture of an old arch and modern advertising signs

Not as crowded or narrow as Marrakesh laneways

Beach Day
The most relaxing part of the day trip, was simply laying on deck chairs on the sandy beach (that we had to bargain to get a good rental price), enjoying rays of sunshine and watching wind surfers in the distance - beyond our expectations for a Northern Hemisphere winter activity.

Essaouira and the Atlantic Ocean in the background

The beach

Olie's toes

Lazy days on the deck chairs

Beach paradise with wind turbines in the distance

The Port

Le Riad Monceau Restaurant
We ate dinner that night at the restaurant within our Riad, with our new Canadian London based friends Leanne and Cory whom we met on the day trip. The 5-star food was elegantly presented and filled us up so well that we felt too bloated to head back out into the city centre.

Moroccan soup, dates and sweet pastries

Sugar tomato and aubergine

Chicken tagine

Strawberry pastilla dessert

Breakfast
We begun our last day in Marrakesh with the Riad's complementary breakfast of bread, French pastries, yogurt, mint tea and freshly squeezed blood orange juice. Venturing out to the Souk for one last time to spend the remainder of our currency, Olie bargained hard to secure some discounts on a pair of leather coin pouches - great for travel and sorting out the very similar Euro and pound coins and a scarf for Mei. In hindsight Olie made the mistake of admitting that he was from Australia, as the merchant's eyes lit up with the possibility of a nice mark-up. Backtracking, Olie then added he was from the Philippines and the merchant tried to woo favour with the 'we look the same' speech to build some rapport and progress the sale. Other tactics from the store keepers included calling out 'Hiroshima' and 'Japan' to both of us to gain attention; or spontaneously popping up in front of us saying 'do you know what this is?'.


Olives for sale

Decorative Moroccan lamps -

El Badi Palace and Saadian Tombs
Leanne and Cory met up with us again and we travelled to the south side of the Medina to explore the ruined El Badi Palace and tombs of former Moroccan rulers (Saadian tombs).

The courtyard of the Palace

Putting Olie's tripod to good use

Excavated ruins of the palace decorations

An orange orchard in an old pool

One of the Saadian tombs

Street Food Again
After a few hours of walking around, it was time for lunch and we opted for another round of street food - more kebabs, tomato salsa (tried hard to stay off the uncooked vegetables), olives, bread and beef tagine. We finished the morning sightseeing back at the main square with another cup of mint tea and a box of traditional pastries. It was then time to say goodbye and yet another trip to the airport for a tiring return trip home via Luton Airport but at least we had our reliable mini-cab driver there to ensure we got home safe and sound.

Goodbye Marrakesh, thanks for the memories.

Sunset over the countryside

Sunset over the Mediterranean Sea on route back to London
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