Travel: Marrakech, Morocco Part 3 - Adventure

This follows part 1-City & part 2 - Souks


There is so much to do and see outside of Marrakech and before we left the UK we booked a couple of trips/activities with 'Splash Morocco'. In fact, @MarrakechAndy from Splash Morocco saw some tweets Laura had posted about our upcoming trip and after a few exchanged e-mails he had created a bespoke 4x4 tour in the Atlas Mountains for just Laura and I. 

We also booked an adventurous morning driving dune buggies through the 'pre-desert' outside Marrakech with Andy and did that first. The round trip of about 40km took us through a few villages and on the way back we had some mint tea and pancakes with some locals. The buggies themselves were fast and great fun.   

The view at our water stop

Dusty faced Laura & buggy

  
We were delighted that Andy was our guide for the 4x4 Atlas Mountain/Ourika Valley tour the next day. Our first stop was a traditional Berber house where we had some breakfast. See Laura's brilliant blog of this here. The view from the house is below. 

We were then taken through the stunning scenery of the Valley.

My special request for our trip was to visit the Morrocan ski resort of Okaimeden after I'd read about it on-line. I'd also just been skiing in France the month before and I was very interested to see it in action.  

As we arrived at the slopes, the contrast to skiing in the French Alps was enormous. As well as donkeys, lining the car park were people willing to rent old skis and boots, many of which had the linings showing. 

As I looked up on the slopes I saw one person actually skiing and approximately 100 standing around, falling over or sliding down the slope. I decided not to ski. 

  
From the ski resort we visited some more towns in the mountains and stopped for lunch in Asni where we had a traditional Moroccan tagine.   

We also saw some magnificent scenery for example this unique rock formation in the hills. 

  
If you are taking a trip to Marrakech, remember to make the most of the souks, maybe stay in a Riad and don't forget there is lots to see outside the city too. 

Splash Morocco actually specialise in rafting and do a whole host of other adventure activities. We highly recommend them - you might even be lucky to have Andy as your guide.



  

   

Travel: Marrakech, Morocco Part 2 - Souks

This follows Part 1 - City

One of the big attractions of Marrakech for travellers are the souks, Marrakech having the largest traditional Berber market in the country. 

Here are 5 tips for a successful visit:

1. Bring patience, tolerance and a sense of humour. 

The souks can be intimidating and you WILL be hassled. 99% of locals will not do anything for nothing so either avoid eye contact or ensure you have plenty of small change.



2. Photos cost

Don't assume you have the right to take pictures of people without permission. How would you feel if a load of Moroccans came into your place of work and started snapping you without warning? It is against some Moroccans' culture to be immortalised in photos and will not want to be photographed. 

Of course, many will be happy to have pictures taken, especially if you are buying something. The majority will expect payment, typically 10 dirhams but we had people asking for up to 100 dirhams. Pay no more that 10 dirhams unless you are really happy to do so and be prepared for some of them to turn from being your best friend to your mortal enemy if they don't get what they want. 

3. Expect to get lost.

Getting lost in the Souks WILL happen and is all part of the fun. Being an ex-Geography teacher I pride myself on my navigation skills but even I struggled finding my way. People will be happy to help but some will see it as an opportunity to instantly become your 'guide' and will want some money. 

We were 'guided' to the Dyer's market even though we didn't really want to be. Then we were guided through the dyes and processes, even though we said we didn't want to be.     

After being shown the dyes and being dressed in a scarf, the guy got very upset when we said we were not going to buy anything. 

Just be prepared, but savour the experience and smile, smile smile! 




4. Visit the Ali Ben Youssef Medersa School

Amidst the hustle and bustle of the souks is a place of real calm one of the oldest Islamist colleges in Morocco, founded in the 14th Century. It is in great condition with amazing tiling and wall carvings throughout. 

5. Sample Marrakech at night

By day the main square is relatively quiet with a few stalls here and there but at night it comes alive with all sorts of activity from food stalls to snake charmers to henna tattooists. Again, expect to be hassled and asked for money for just watching the story tellers or snake charmers so it may be an idea to move around quickly! Laura was accosted by a henna tatooist and this woman was so insistent that she even started doing a design on her hand.

I'm grimacing because I know they will ask for 100 dirhams in a moment. They can ask all they like...

We ate in the square after being told that it is one of the safest places to eat. Apparently, food inspectors regularly check the area. We had no problems and enjoyed our dinner, even after I had been called Heston Blumenthal and Kojak by the wisecracking waiters. Cheeky gits. 

Heston or is that Kojak?

  

Next up Part 3... Adventure and the Atlas Mountains

http://stephendcook.blogspot.com/2013/02/travel-marrakech-morocco-part-3.html

Travel: Marrakech, Morocco Part 1 - City

Laura and I headed to Marrakech on Valentines day for a long weekend, a lovely gift for my 39th birthday last August. 

This wasn't our first visit to Morocco, we had done a one day trip to Tangier in 2007 which was the most touristy and contrived trips we've ever done. When your guide exclaims "oh look here are some local men who charm snakes" as 8 men run around the corner throwing on their costumes on some wasteland car park - you know you've been turned over. 

Thankfully, our trip to Marrakech was nothing like this but our many previous experiences as tourists have now turned us into very discerning travellers and we planned our trip with these things in mind. 

Accommodation

We wanted to 'experience' Marrakech so decided to avoid the sterile atmosphere of a chain hotel and stay in a Riad. We chose Riad Dubai because of the excellent travel reviews on www.tripadvisor.co.uk. Reviews here. 

The reality didn't disappoint. It was authentic, clean, had great food and superb service - totally recommended. 

We asked them to arrange transfers to and from the airport which worked out at €20 in total.  





The City

Although we try to avoid 'tourist traps', Laura and I embrace the open-top tourist buses in major cities (previously we've used them in Milan, Rome, Istanbul & Malta). They show you around, you can hop on and off until your heart's content and (sometimes) the commentary can give some interesting information about the place. In this case it seemed like it was written as a propaganda exercise by King Mohammed VI and included the word 'modernity' in every other sentence. Nevertheless, we got our bearings and got to see the city!

Koutoubia Mosque from the bus

Theatre Royal

Outside the 'posh' hotels

Old City Wall...renovated

Bab Agnaou

Next up... Marrakech Part 2 - Souks here
      

Travel: Hammamet, Tunisia

For New Year Laura and I travelled to Hammamet in Tunisia for some winter sun. When we were there we realised we probably hadn't seen the sun for a couple of weeks, such was the awful weather the UK had been experiencing so it was a good shout.

Although we usually prefer to travel independently due to the freedom it gives us, we decided to book a package trip due to the good deal we found. We stayed in the 4* Les Orangers resort which was all inclusive on food and drink, had excellent facilities including an indoor pool and very clean with very friendly staff. We would recommend it. 

There are several parts to Hammamet as we discovered and the hotel was situated in between the old part of town to our north east and the newer Yasmine Hammamet development to our south. 

The view from our room as sun sets on our first day

One of our pet hates about package tours are the 'welcome' meetings where the rep & tour company try to sell lots of additional trips and evening entertainments. However, we were interested in an extra trip, the Sahara express, a two day trip heading to south and west Tunisia. Part of that trip included visiting the Star Wars sites (http://www.stephendcook.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/intergalactic-travel-tatooine-star-wars.html).

In the afternoon we walked to Old Hammamet and visited the medina. 

Buying some tat of the guy whose sales pitch was shouting "Bloody 50p" at potential buyers

Cemetery by the beach 

The fortified walls of the medina

One morning I decided to get up for the sunrise. With it being winter, a 7.10 am start was not too painful. 

New Year

For new year the hotel put on a gala dinner which was a great way to see it in. We were lucky to have met a lovely Scottish couple at the hotel with whom we had dinner and stayed up until 3am. New year was seen in by the chefs parading around the restaurant covered in chocolate and banging kitchen equipment.  

Coming next... Sahara Express trip