Marrakech:

Deep in the Medina

We really didn’t understand what it meant to stay deep in the medina. Our cab driver dropped us off at Jamaa el fna- the main square in old town Marrekech, and pointed in the direction we were supposed to go. We kept telling him to get us to our hotel, and he kept insisting that we were as close as he could get us, and was pointing at a narrow walkway. It took us quite a while to get to our hotel. We had to ask several people along the way, and they were all so helpful. We knew that it was common practice for people to offer help, but then ask for a tip in the end. None of these people did that. They didn’t walk with us either, just pointed, and when we’d get to the next intersection, that person would point us in the next direction. Once we arrived at our hotel, we understood what the taxi driver was saying, and he really did take us as far as he could. Our walk, from hotel to the nearest exit to the square, took 5 minutes one way and multiple turns. 

First breakfast in Marrakech

Since we arrived early, they offered us breakfast. We sat on the rooftop, eating breakfast and overlooking the medina. As we sat there, we started hearing the city come to life. We couldn’t see what was happening in the square, but we could hear cars, people, and snake charmers. Before we left to explore the city, we wanted to book a trip to the Sahara. Our hotel offered the tour, so we took down the information, and set out to see the city. We got lost in the medina. We followed people, donkeys, and moved from one shop to the next. After soaking in the sights, we stumbled upon a tiny restaurant that served tajine. We thought we found a little gem, since there was no menu outside, and it was just a woman cooking everything on her own. We were wrong. The meal cost us an arm and a leg, at least by Morocco standards. At least it tasted good. 

People. Snake charmers. Jamaa el-Fna. Marrakech.

The medina here was so much bigger and livelier than in Tangier. There were so many people! We saw loads of rugs, spices, toys, souvenirs, fruits, furniture, clothes, pots, accessories,and other knick-knacks. You can buy just about anything in the medina. At one point, I walked past a woman sitting at her little table with her big Heineken umbrella, selling dentures, real teeth, and a tooth extractor. She had a little pile of teeth for sale…

Rugs. Medina. Marrakech

There were animals in cages, and I didn’t know if they were for pets or eating, the snake charmers were in full force, as were the street performers. You could spend hours observing the medina and be fully entertained- which we did. We revisted the square at night, and found it to be alive! There was music, dancing, and games. There were families, groups of teenagers, and lots of tourists. Many food kiosks come out at night, and the whole place smells like cooked meat and spices. There was so much going on, it was a bit overwhelming. 

Koutoubia Mosque

The next morning, we walked to the Koutoubia Mosque, but didn’t go inside. Instead, we took pictures of the minaret and set out to find the palace. At some point, we passed by a little shop that was run by a child. The shop had locks, and we were in need. Until now, we had not been locking our bags when going to the airport. We hadn’t been flying much, so we didn’t really bother, but since we were going to doing a lot of flying in the coming months, we decided it was something we needed to take care of. The child, maybe 10 years old, sold us a lock. There was no adult in sight. We continued on our journey to the palace, and once we were pretty close, we took a turn that brought us to a completely different area. We thought it was pretty cool, so we wandered through the streets, completely forgot about the palace, and wandered right back to the Jamaa el fna. In our wandering, we passed by a small restaurant. I saw a man sitting at a table eating his meal with his hands. It looked really good. I told Javier I wanted to eat there.

Good local food. friendly people.

We pointed to the guy sitting down and said we wanted what he was having. I ordered the chicken, and Javier ordered the mixed meat- complete with organs and brain 🙂 We sat with the guy, and even though he didn’t speak any English, he was very friendly. He taught us how to eat, went to get us more bread when we ran out, and had the guy buy us a drink from the next shop. We took pictures with him and enjoyed a very tasty lunch for next to nothing. When he got up to leave, he put on the rest of his outfit, turns out he was a street performer. We thanked him for his help with lunch and told him we would find him later. On the way back to the hotel, we saw several tour operators. We stopped by a couple to compare prices. Our hotel prices were just as good, if not better than the prices we found on the street, so we went home and booked a Sahara tour for the following morning. 

the Ksar of Aït-Ben-Haddou

We woke up bright and early for our tour. We were picked up and escorted to a group of vans loading passengers. We had a pretty good group. Everyone was friendly with the exception of this Turkish guy, who for some reason, thought he was too good for everyone else. The rest of us got along just great. We took a long drive that passed over mountains to get to our first destination. We stopped to play in the snow for a bit and took some pictures. Hours later, we arrived at our first destination, the Ksar of Aït-Ben-Haddou.

the Ksar of Aït-Ben-Haddou

This is an old city with fortified walls, and watch towers. Everything there is made of adobe and wood. This place is famous for the site of several movies such as Lawrence of Arabia, The Mummy, Gladiator, and most recently, Game of Thrones, just to name a few. When Hollywood comes, they recruit local people as extras, and leave behind all sorts of props and tools, which helps the local population a great deal. I have to mention our guide. For this tour, we had a driver, but when we arrived to the different sites, a local guide would meet us, so we experienced a wide variety of people.

List of the movies filmed here.

This guide was quite impressive. On top of speaking Arabic, his local dialect, French and English, he also spoke Spanish with Javier, and Japanese with another member of our tour. I have no idea how many languages this young man spoke, but he says he is self-taught, and learns from the different tour groups. Did I mention he’s only in his early to mid 20’s? We finally arrived at our hotel in the evening. It was cold. Really cold. We settled in and had dinner together. We sat with two guys, one from Ireland and the other, UK. They’re both originally from Australia, been friends for decades and take a ‘guys trip’ every year, while their wives stay home with the kids. They were a funny duo. The more time we spent with them, the more we liked them. It was absolutely freezing in the small hotel, and there was no heat. We were given a thick blanket each, and Javier and I had to cuddle close just to stay warm. As we found out in the morning, many who slept alone found it to be a little on the frigid side. 

Rug sale

On the way to our next destination the following morning, we found a green oasis in the middle of the desert. We stopped in the town where we had to do the obligatory rug show, where the local people show you how they make the rugs using an old school loom, and try to charge you an arm and a leg…but, they pay for shipping and customs! At least we got some tea out of it. After this we went to the Dades Gorge, which could have been really cool had our guide given us some information. He gave us the specs, but that was about it. Maybe that was all there was to tell, but that experience was kind of a dud, with the exception of a random donkey trying to make a break for it. None of us were really that impressed with this guide, but it quickly turned into irritation when he started demanding tips. No one felt he deserved a tip and when the little Japanese girl gave him some money, he started mocking her and making fun of the amount she gave. She seemed confused and embarrassed, and he kept going on and on. I think he thought he was being funny, but we were just feeling uncomfortable. There were only a handful of us in the van. I was feeling bad for the girl, and was mostly just tired of listening to him, so I told him, “Look, it’s a tip, not payment. Take it or leave it.” He threw the money back at her and went to find the other people to badger. He was by far, the worst person we experienced in all of Morocco, so all in all…not too bad.

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Thirsty camel 🙁

After more hours of driving, we finally arrived to the camels. We could see the sand dunes as we were driving, and it felt like forever until we actually arrived. We grabbed our bags and walked to the edge of the desert to meet our camels. It’s actually really interesting to see. It’s almost like there’s a line of demarcation where the city ends and the desert begins. I was chosen first to mount my camel. He, or she, we’ll just call him a he for now, was not happy about it. He, was yelling- loudly. Have you ever heard a camel yell? It can be quite unsettling. You sit on them while they are lying down and then they stand…and you better hold on. Back legs first, so your body shoots forward like your going to launch over their head, and then front legs. I wish they would have told me ahead of time that this was the plan so I could have prepared. Their instructions were, “Hold on.” Gee, thanks guys.

classic Sahara picture

Once everyone was loaded on their camels, we set off. The camels were tied together in groups of three or four. Each group had a local guide who walked them with the leash. My camel really liked Javier’s backpack. I don’t know why, but every other camel was walking with a little space in between except for mine, which was smelling, and nibbling at Javier’s backpack. At one point, my camel got spooked and started to run. It could only get a few steps before the leash tightened, but it was enough to make me yell. The landscape was amazing. The dunes were perfect, and the wind was blowing gently so we could see the sand blow off the tops. It looked like something out of a movie. 

Jackie Riding the Camel

We arrived at our destination a short while later and were sore. Riding a camel is painful. We were short a camel, so the Aussies/’man trip’ duo had to wait for them to bring another one. When we saw them in the distance, there were two people walking and only one person on a camel. As they got closer, we saw one of them riding the camel, and the other walking in front with the leash, while the guide walked alongside. Apparently, the ride was too painful. We were broken up into sleeping groups and then told to play while they prepared dinner. We dismounted our camels who again, went down on their front legs first causing another possible launch overhead, and finally resting on the ground. When they’re down there, the guides tie up one of their front legs so they can’t escape. The really determined ones get both of their front legs tied. It’s really a sad sight to see. 

Sahara friends

We settled into our “room” in the boudin. We ended up sharing with a Brasilian couple who are currently living in London. They turned out to be really cool and we were happy to share with them. There was a couple from Switzerland on our tour. He is Swiss and she is Korean. They have a little boy, Yan, who at the age of 9 has traveled all over the world. At one point, after his parent’s told me that they were in Machu Picchu last year, I looked at him and said, “Do you know how lucky you are?” He just smiled. 🙂 They keep a snowboard at the boudin, so Javier and Yan slid down the dunes together. We wrote in the sand, took pictures, and watched the sunset behind the dunes. It was pretty magical. 

Sahara Sunset

For dinner, it was huge bowls of Tajine. We sat together and shared. It was really dark, and they only had a single candle, so we had to eat using headlamps. After dinner, we all went outside for a fire and singing. The Aussies had prematurely lit the fire, so by the time everything was in place and the fire/singing portion of the show was to take place…there was very little fire left. We all had a good laugh, and enjoyed the night. Our guides brought out drums and sang songs. There was a hooka that was being shared by anyone who was interested.

Sahara drums

Their songs were in Arabic and English, and at one point, Spanish. In between the songs they told jokes. There was a running joke throughout the night…something about a lion and a party. 

We watched the stars and glow of the moon on the sand. When the singing stopped, it was so quiet and serene. 

We awoke before the sun. In the dark, we gathered up our stuff and waited for the sun to rise. Our guides had us on our camels and walking back to the city at first light. We were all still really sore from the day before, but this time everyone made it back on their camel. When we dismounted, we asked the guides to join us in singing happy birthday to Javier’s mom, Lourdes.  They were kind enough to oblige, so there we were singing and sending a happy birthday message to Lourdes from the Sahara.

Local coke.

The rest of the day was driving. We only stopped to eat. It was a long day. We didn’t arrive back to Marrakech until it was dark. It was late, we were tired and hungry. 

The next morning we decided to walk a little further to the Palace Garden. On our way there, we walked through the square and found our lunch friend! We gave him a tip and took pictures together. The walk was about an hour, but we were able to see much of the city. The gardens were very simple but very nice. There is a memorial to Yves Saint Laurent, which I still haven’t figured out. I have come to really like the architecture and design of the Moors. The garden was full of beautiful archways and buildings, all bright vibrant colors.

Palace Gardens

We decided to take a different route back and found a shopping area. We entered this craft bazaar and saw a man writing in what I can only describe as Arabic calligraphy. He did everything by hand and had some very colorful and intricate pieces of work. We stopped to look and inquired. Javier wasn’t sold on the idea, but I really liked it, so decided I’d sleep on it. 

In the morning, I still wanted the picture, so we went back. Before we left, we asked the receptionist at the hotel to write our names in Arabic just to compare. We opted for a very simple writing of both our names with just a splash of color. I have to say…I really like it.

Marrakech sunset.

We used the rest of the day to run errands. As it turned out, the lock fit perfectly on our bag, so we went back to get another one. When we arrived, dad was there, and charged us double. We were feeling taken advantage of, so we snitched on the kid. 🙂 We hunted, and found our pin and patch, which was a pain with one guy taking us on a wild goose chase for 20 minutes until we finally got tired of following him and left. He found us in the square later with the pin and wanted $20 for it. He said it was gold. Riiiiight… 

Bye Sahara, Bye Marrakech

We left that night on a red-eye from Marrakech to Casablanca where we connected to Cairo. I don’t think we have disliked any airport more than Casablanca. That is, until our next stop, Cairo. 

To see more pictures of Marrakech and the Sahara desert, click HERE.