So as some of you may already know, we have made the trip from Madrid over to the amazing Marrakech, Morocco. And yes, for those who are a tad geographically challenged, Marrakech is in Africa – and I know some of you had some hesitations and concerns about me going there – but I am proud to prove you all wrong! Marrakech is such an amazing place. We are staying in this absolutely adorable Riad right near the souks. When we first arrived, we were a little ambivalent, as we had met up with a group of four girls and were heading out from the airport to our Riad by an arranged transfer. But we had been informed that sometimes locals will pretend they are from a company and just take you anywhere and will make you pay for them to take you back. So we got in the bus, as he had a company sign held up at the airport, and we figured ‘safety in numbers’ so we went along – it all felt fine. We took a short drive through the ‘new town’ and the streets were just amazing. People buzzing about the streets, motor bikes with entire families on it flying past us, carts of fruit and eggs pulled by donkeys, and the streets were lined with palm trees and cacti. And on top of that, at about 10pm on our arrival, it was a good 37 degrees. I asked the driver if this weather was normal, and he replied ‘this is excellent weather, during the day it’s about 50 degrees!’.
But as we were driving, we noticed we were following a massive wall – taller than a 3 storey building, and it looked like an amazing castle/fort type Moroccan style wall. Then we stopped. And all our luggage was taken out of the van, and put into a cart. We were then told we had to walk from the new city into the old city. We were all very confused, but followed suit. We started walking with this one man, who did not speak very good English, down through the enormous labrynth of Marrakech, old town. And when I say labrynth, I mean it was like a maze – dead ends, underground paths, secret doorways – absolutely amazing. Scary, but amazing. As we are walking, there are motor bikes flying past us, missing us by a bees dick – left right and centre – coming from infront, and behind us – and people buzzing around; it was an experience you could only believe if you were there yourself. We were all a little worried about this man, leading us into dark, dustry streets – often times picth black as there was no street lights. But after many twists and turns down sandstone walls and mosaic doors, we came to the door of our riad.
We entered in, and it was just stunning. As you enter this amazingly intricate carved wooden door, you enter a massive courtyard, which the entire building is built around – with lovely plants and a fountain in the middle, and decked out with white soft couches, and red pillows, and within a void of 3 storeys high, with Moroccan style windows placed evenly throughout the walls of the courtyard. We were invited to sit in this little room, with lovely, soft couches, and hand made wooden table, with a gorgeous hand crafted copper plate. A young man called Kamaal welcomed us. He was very lovely, and spoke rather decent English for having studied it for only 6 months and being his 8th language. He began to tell us about the riad and a little bit about Marrakech. Then he welcomed us in the traditional Moroccan way with some Moroccan tea. Now this tea was the most amazing thing I have had in my entire life! He poured the tea from this gorgeous hand crafted silver tea pot into tiny glasses – and as we all took a sip, we all exclaimed ‘oh my god – this is amazing’ – the surprise on all of us was hysterical. This was the best tea in the whole entire world. Kamaal went on to say that we are welcome to have as much tea as we would like for free – which I have made good use of! I am officially a Moroccan tea addict.
(pouring some Moroccan tea!)After our teas, Kamaal went on to tell us about the old town, the new town, and what to expect. He also got out a map and showed us where to go for some sightseeing. But I think the best thing he did for us was informing us about how the merchants in the souks will try to rip us off as tourists, and gave us appropriate price ranges for everything and anything we would want to buy. He then said we were welcome to settle in, have a shower and then he would take us out to the square for dinner, so that we can learn how to get to and from the square as it is such a confusing maze to get around. The place was built like this many thousands of years ago for various reasons, but in essence, the old town is completely housed by a massive wall (the one we saw when driving in) and further more, there are Kasbahs within the walls, which is in essence a walled city within the walls to keep out western influences. But we headed out to the Medina (the main square) for some food.
(some markets in the souks)This main square was just amazing – like nothing I have ever seen before. I think it was then and there that I declared this place to be 1. My favourite place of all the places I have been, and 2. The biggest culture shock of my life. We entered into the square to see stalls of food and people and shops and lights as far as we could see. We were warned that the merchants would do anything to get us to go to their shop – we thought he was joking, but he wasn’t. we started walking down the stalls to try and find something to eat, and every single one we passed, someone came out and was like ‘best quality, superb, best price, you come here and eat here’ and people are grabbing you by the arm, trying to pull you over to their shops, and people yelling from every direction, trying to grab your attention – it was chaos! We kept walking and we saw stalls of food – masses of food! Meat, salads, couscous (of course), soup, and animal heads – just chopped off and cooked with everything intact - yummo! Actually one of their dishes is eating the brains of a calf straight from the skull. And we were a little worried about the blood splashed onto the streets – but we’ve heard that’s purifying the streets. Hmm.
So, we were trying to decide where to eat, and we have these people yelling at us, trying to get us to eat there – and when we choose somewhere else, they yell ‘losers, wankers’ and call us ‘shits’. Very amusing. But we had a somewhat decent meal – some mixed Moroccan salad, and some shish kebabs. Then we somehow made our way back to our riad, and fell asleep in our luxurious room – you could only begin to fathom how amazing this place is by seeing it yourself. The ensuit is all stone, and the shower is open and walk in. fantastic.
We woke up feeling great – and yes, it was bloody hot at sunrise. We got up and went down stairs to have some traditional Moroccan breakfast – 2 types of Moroccan bread – hard to describe – with freshly made marmalade and fig jam. And some freshly squeezed orange juice – like nothing we have ever tasted – fresh from the medina. And some coffee – and I swear this was like super coffee or something – cos it was bloody amazing. Not even Mocha Joes could top this! It was just brilliant. And the best part of the morning? Kamaal said because it is so hot during the day, you just cant go out – so u have to stay in this gorgeous riad all day, up on the double tier roof terrace to see the gorgeous views of the atlas mountains and of all the palm trees and roof top terraces of the riads of the entire city, just lazing away, sipping Moroccan teas and smoking chichas. Just brilliant.
(Me and Adam smoking chichas.)At about 4pm, when it began to cool to about 40 degrees, we headed out to the souks for some haggling. Kamaal said we should just look and see what prices we could get for things and not to shop for a couple of days. Now, being a shopping addict like myself, this was very hard – but we did well and didn’t do any shopping until the next day. And Kamaal was spot on, and we are so greatful he had told us how bad the merchants can be. For instance, we wanted to get a chicha, and kamaal said it should cost no more than 150 Dirham, which is about $27 or so. But when we went into the shops (and none have any prices up) we ask ‘c’est combien’ (they speak French here) and they’ll reply with an absurd amount, like 700 dirham! Sometimes, we even got 1000 dirham! It was hysterical. And after many many hours of haggling, we got it down to 150 dirham. So we did well. And it was the same for everything and anything you wanted to buy – absolutely anything you had to haggle down to the actual price. We were told of other tourists going out and getting things, such as Henna for 1500 dirham – it should only cost about 5 dirham! It is just exhausting and frustrating to have to haggle absolutely everything, but if the merchant is nice, it can be a lot of fun. Some of them get angry at you, but some you can laugh with and have a good time – cos at the end of the day, you know what something is worth, so if they wont budge, you walk out, and then they yell out ‘ok ok, 150’ or whatever. Hysterical.
And I thought it was hysterical that I had become everyone’s personal shopper. The people we met in the riad (mainly aussies) all wanted me to come out with them to help them haggle – I must have a knack for it! I had gotten this amazing canvas painting down from 700 to 120 dirham. And the chicha we bought we got down from 700 to 150 dirham.
But to talk a bit about the culture – as most of you may know Morocco is an Islamic country – so all women have to wear their dresses and head pieces – and so did we. Well, not the head pieces, but if we were to leave the riad, we had to cover our selves from our knees up to our necks – so no shoulders or cleavage. It was a hassle making sure we were always covered, but I had come to their country so I had to respect their customs. It made it very hot, though. And it was funny how the men react to women here too – they adore them – especially the western women – we’re treated like royalty here. So I have found it to be quite an odd combination. That women here are expected to cover their bodies up – which I had always found to be very sexist, but ultimately, men worship women here! By many, I had been asked if I was married – and if I loved my boyfriend (in a very serious context). One guy tried to trade me for a tea pot (which I thought was a little insulting – at least 2 tea pots and throw in the glasses too!) and Adam has been told he is very ‘lucky’. But despite all of this, I loved that they think I look like a Moroccan girl from the Atlas Mountains – sounds very exotic, doesn’t it!
(the courtyard of our Riad)
And further more on the culture – we arrived here just before Ramadan – so we were able to see the contrast, and to see what its like for a whole town to commence such a strenuous religious act. For those who do not know, Ramadan goes for 40 days, where they cannot eat, drink (even water), sleep, smoke, or have sex until the sun goes down (except sex where they can’t have sex at all). So throughout the day, when its 50 degrees, they cannot eat or drink. And it appears to be very difficult. But when the sun sets, there are sirens that go off and the whole city of Marrakech sings out their prayers over loud speaker – it is such an amazing thing. And then everyone rushes over to the medina to eat – and it is absolute chaos. There are people just grabbing food and shoving it into their mouths – and there are groups of people sitting in the streets with massive feasts. And everyone is happy! But then they really can’t sleep either, as they have their next meal at about 1am, and then at about 4am, you can hear the sirens go off again for the final food call. It is such a culture shock. And as you wonder through the streets during the feasts, you walk past the mosques and can hear their prayers – very intriguing.
(At sunset as the sirens go off)
(I just wanted to say, that as I am typing this blog, I am sitting, watching the sun set from the roof top terrace, and just waiting for the sirens to go off, as one of the many stray, but very social cats walks past my feet. It is such a surreal experience.)
But onto the shopping! I have had such a great time here shopping. As this is our last leg of our trip, I have gone crazy with shopping – buying such lovely Moroccan plates, tea sets, and chichas. It’s just so amazing. We have gotten some great gifts for people so I am very excited to be giving you all your gifts and to tell you of the haggling stories behind it!
Well, we have had such an amazing 5 days here in the simply stunning Marrakech, and we highly recommend this place to anyone – this has been, by far, the best place we have visited. Even though its heart breaking to see women begging in the streets, breast feeding her new born baby, and to see so many stray cats – some have just given birth to a litter and is feeding them in the corner of a dusty road. And to see homeless puppies – the most adorable little things that you have to convince yourself in your mind that they have a family that loves them and that will take care of them – its so hard to do when you’re walking away from those gorgeous puppy eyes – he’s so happy to see you, but so scared to come up to you. And getting eaten alive by mosquitos – don’t worry, Morocco is 90% malaria free – and dying in the sweltering heat – this has been the best place by far and we loved it!
We will be seeing you soon!
Love you all,
Ash and Adam in Marrakech.x
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