Morocco - Marrakech

For the first international trip in over 4 years, in December Celene and I went to Morocco for two weeks, joining the South Morocco tour by a travel company called Intrepid. The tour itself is 10 days, and we arrived 2 days early and stayed for 2 days after the tour to have time in Marrakech. 

After a 17 hour flight from Vancouver via a layer at Paris airport, we arrived in Marrakech in the late afternoon, and had arranged to be picked up by a driver to take us to the hotel. My first impression of Marrakech was how clean it was. And all the buildings were that plain sandy colour that reminded you that you were not far away from the desert. Our hotel was in the Gueliz area which is newer and quite modern looking. I found a supermarket to buy juice and water, which was just like a Whole Foods in Canada with its variety and quality of goods. Got back to the hotel and crashed.

The next day we had a big breakfast at the hotel with bread, omelet, pastries, tomato and olives. The day was partly cloudy and about 20 degrees C, which was great for walking. We headed toward the old town, called Medina, in the center of the city. Marrakech is not that big and easy to get around by walking. 

On the way we passed a nice park which was an arboretum dedicated to trees of the Mediterranean like orange and olive trees. We were quite jet-lagged so we took our time and hung out in the park for a while.  

We also passed an artisan co-op which sold all kinds of crafts - leatherwork, dishes, clothing, antiques, etc. Since we had just arrived, we simply made a note to visit after the tour.

Near the center of town is the major landmark of the Koutoubia, a major mosque dating from the 1100's.

Not far from here is the huge open square called Jamal el Fnaa, which is full of vendors, snake charmers, monkeys, etc, and is the main gathering place for the town.

We went up to a restaurant terrace to have mint tea and take pictures. In the picture you'll notice a large screen set up, to show the World Cup games. More on that later.

Next to the square starts the huge market area - a labyrinth in which we spent most of the day getting lost. There were all kinds of souvenirs, clothing, jewelry, and household items including intricately carved metal lanterns. One of the more interesting parts was the spice market, where you could get everything from peppermint crystals to soaps to blocks of indigo. 

We had dinner in a little local place just off the main square - lamb couscous and skewers - and then walked back to the hotel. Later I went out to find an ATM, since we already realized that Morocco was more expensive than we expected.

The next day at breakfast we met another group that was just finishing their Intrepid tour. They mentioned that the information from Intrepid was out of date in terms of prices.

This is the day we are to meet our group in the evening. 

We started the day going to the Majorelle Garden which is in a nice, upscale area with expensive cafes, within walking distance of our hotel. The garden features a wide variety of plants, and an interesting architecture colored in indigo which makes an interesting contrast with the sand-colored buildings elsewhere. I was built in the early 1900's and then renovated by the fashion designer Yves St. Laurent. 

From there we went back to the market, and had a lunch in a little stall that sold calamari sandwiches that were very good. Everywhere, everyone - locals and tourists - were wearing red Morocco hats, Morocco T-shirts, and waving flags. This was the day of the World Cup game of Morocco vs. Portugal. If Morocco wins, they'd be the first middle-eastern and first African country to enter the semi-finals. We made are way to the main square, and I bought a hat from a vendor. (Normally I'm terrible at haggling, but since this was just for the one day, I definitely didn't was to pay a lot. I got the price down from 150 Dirham to 50!)

The main square was packed, and we were there when Morocco scored the goal against Portugal. The crown went wild with celebration. 

While walking back to the hotel, every cafe was crowded with people watching the game. By the time we got the hotel to meet our group, Morocco had won the game, and the streets were one big party. Very cool way to start the trip.

We met the group and our tour leader, and went for dinner at the hotel. It was interesting that the tour leader, named Chama, was female which is fairly unusual here. The group was large, 14 people. Surprisingly, it was mostly Canadians. Otherwise there were 4 Americans, two Australian brothers, a guy from the UK, and a woman from Switzerland.