Marrakech Madness
Trip Start
Apr 14, 2012
1
2
50
Trip End
Oct 22, 2012
Where I stayed
What I did
Palais Badi, Palais Bahia, Place Jemaa El Fna, Tombeaux Saadiens, Musee de Marrakech
Marrakech, Morocco
Saturday, April 14, 2012
We arrived in Marrakech having left various bits of luggage back in London and had forgotten to buy a guidebook. In fact l don't think we have ever been so unorganised traveling before! Thank goodness the place we were staying, Riad Nafis, gave us lots of information and basically mapped out our three days for us. So after a quick power nap we headed out exploring the maze of streets in Marrakech.
First stop ended up being a herbal medicine place to treat my headache as the ibuprofen just wasn't working! With some special oils and a head message l felt much better and headed off to the Palis Badii built at the end of the 16th century. We then visited Palais Bahia which had some really lavishly decorated rooms and lovely courtyards. In need of a cold beer we headed to Jemaa El Fna square at sunset where it seem the whole of Marrakech was hanging out on a Saturday evening. Tim got distracted by the snake charmers and negotiated a price for some photos. Of course once we took the photos they demanded more money! We then headed over to the terrace above the Gelati place following a recommendation and settled to watch all the coming and goings over a couple of bottles of sprite (alas no beer!). I then insisted in a short foray into the souks and then we headed to the night markets for dinner.
The next day we visited Saadiens tombs which date from the same era as the nearby Badii Palace, and are enclosed in an ancient walled garden that was hidden from public view until the
French stumbled on it in the 1920s. There are three ornate pavilions at Saadian Tombs, one containing the graves of 18th-century Alaouite princes, one notable for its portal
in Andalucian style, and one – known as the Hall of Twelve Columns – containing the tomb of Sultan Ahmed El-Mansour.
We then decided to go for a stroll in the souks and promptly got really, really lost. In Marrakech there is always some a local kid who is keen to give you directions to where you want to go for a coin or two. The trouble is that we kept on getting lost and were slowly getting through our supply of coins! We met a local guy whose father owned part of a tannery and his father gave us a tour of the tannery which was interesting. The people that work there work really hard! We also visited the museum of Marrakech (after needing directions several times - nothing is signposted!). That night we had a great dinner following a recommendation from fellow Haskonite, Stefano (thanks!) and sampled the local beers.
Next morning we went into the Atlas mountains which were very pretty and we insisted the driver take us where the snow was. We ended up at a ski resort which was pretty deserted and took some snaps and enjoyed the scenery. After that we went back down the mountain to join the tourist masses at Ourika Valley to see the waterfalls. Whilst the waterfall weren't up to much, the main attraction was actually watching tourists 'hiking' up the path in high heels or wedges. The funny thing it wasn't just one or two women, it was the majority! After a long day we chilled out in a lovely Riad (which we would highly recommend) and had a superb dinner.
