We arrived into Marrakech in the evening on the 9th June 2008 after a long lay over in Madrid coming from London, England. After the usual customs fun we made our way outside to get a ride into town. There were a few taxi's lined up with a sign stating 50Dirhims to town. One of the men approached us & said "Would you like a taxi?". "Is it only 50?" I replied. He said "no! it's 150 to town". Welcome to Morocco I thought. We bypassed the taxi stand & made our way to the bus that just pulled up. Which proved much more fair at only 20Dirhims each.
The ride in to town was one of those experiences that get you excited. The sun was setting & lighting up the sky a fiery red colour, which bounced of the old city walls. We had no idea were the bus was going but it was cheaper & Marrakech didn't really look that big on the flight in.
We got off at the first Medina we saw which just happened to be Jemma El Fna (the main square). As we circled the Medina a few times look for any landmark familiar, we were approached by a few men offering to help for money. One man even tried to call our hotel for directions (which we didn't ask for). Then he told us we had to give him 20 dirhims for the phone call. We told him we didn't want his help & then he replied with a load & clear "Fuck You". Welcome to Marrakech alright.
After trying a few more twists & bends we luckily stumbled across it tucked away in a side street. They don't believe in street signs here which makes it exceptionally hard. Our Riad was called Hotel La Gallia. Our hotel was lovely & had a very Moroccan feel to it. There were intricate tiles & carving all over the walls & floors as well as some really relaxing sun lounges, Moroccan style.
Most of our nights were spent in the big Medina call Jemma El Fna. During the day this place is a busy little spot filled with snake charmers, dancers, acrobats, story tellers & every other kind of money making fantasy you can think up. The people in & around the square can be quite rude & abrupt if you don't give them any money for a photo or just because they want it. I ended up getting quite frustrated with all the touts as I don't just give anyone money, especially when it's a demanding person speaking in French or Arabic. At night Jenna El Fna comes to life when the curtains are raised on hundreds of food stalls. As you walk through you quickly become aware that every menu is exactly the same. The calls go something like this. Omelet, Brochette, Beef Tajine, Chicken Tajine, Fish or Calamari. You here this over & over again as you are pulled & pushed towards a dinner table. The only way they can define themselves from everyone else is to make a call for there stand only. For example, each stand is numbered from 1 to about 150. As you walk past you will here 1..1..7 will take you to heaven. Come in & try! Then if you don't go in, they will ask you "convince me why you can't come in now".
A lot of our days were just filled with walking around through the souks, Medina & new city outside of the old wall's. Like most other Muslim countries no one wants there photo taken & the very sight of a camera will bring calls from near & far of "No Photo, No Photo". But that's fine with me as most of the shots I want were the street scenes & buildings. I don't think Marrakech has that many tourist sights as such. The main things like the gardens & tombs really weren't that great. The best thing about Marrakech is just walking around the streets.
During our stay in Marrakech the temperature was about 40*C. Though the hottest time of the day seemed to be between 2pm & 4pm, when the sun was sitting high in the sky.
All in all I think Marrakech is worth a visit but next time I would only do it for 2 or 3 days at the most. 6 days was by far to much. Even with our 3 day break in between.
We left Marrakech from the 13th to the 15th June to do a 2 night, 3 day trip with Sahara Expeditions who we booked through GOMOCO.
On the 17th June we caught the local CMT bus from Marrakech to Essaouira which cost 65 Dirhams ($10 AUD) & took about 3 hours.