Marrakech or the land of Adidas Berber Part 1
The arrival and accommodation.
Ok, it is not quite that limited, but I think we must have heard: “want shoes? Look Adidas Berber” about 50 times, while we were shown traditional Moroccan shoes.
So here goes. We landed in Marrakech airport at 7.00pm on Wednesday, after a 3.5-hour flight from East Midlands. The airport itself looks very recent and is stunning, but unfortunately people are not allowed to take any pictures of what they call strategic points in the country. This includes airports, train stations, some buildings. Obviously you always have some uninformed people or just idiots who think they are above everyone else and try it on. That usually does not last too long, as let’s face it, it is embarrassing (and scary) to be shouted at by moustached officials in Arabic. Anyway, we are told we have to fill in landing cards before going through the customs. It would have helped to have been told that on the plane, especially as there are no pens available at all and everyone is walking around looking for pens. Officials just look like they want to bite you when you go near them asking if they have one etc… eventually we made it. Please note, you must have an address to make it through immigration. Fortunately I made a note of where we stayed. So we get our entry stamp in our passport and off we go. I had booked an airport transfer with the riad where we stayed. And what a good idea that was!! There are plenty of taxis waiting at the airport, but you would be very lucky to find one that will take you where you want to go. They’d rather take you to a place they know, where they’re probably on commission etc. We had this trouble in India, and there was no way I was going to be arguing with a taxi driver with a 6-month old baby in tow because he wouldn’t take us where we wanted to go, or worse, leave us in the middle of nowhere, or charge us a ridicule amount.
So the ride went ok, dodging the donkeys and mopeds and people. We first went through the New Town where the palace is, the Presidents’ gate – la Porte des Presidents. Very vast space, clean, landscaped, looks very empty, but then, you get to the Medina, or Old Town, and Oh.My.God!! People everywhere, donkeys, mopeds, stuff basically.
The driver (really nice guy) parked his car where he could, and we walked for about 5 minutes to where we stayed. After turning left and left and right for what seemed ages, and going through small streets, we got there: Riad Souad. To say it is an Oasis is not an understatement. It is owned by a French couple, Nathalie & Gerard, and opened in May 2010. There are four rooms, and we stayed in the Santal room, where the beds were brought together, and made the biggest bed ever!!! The room is beautiful, and as the rest of the riad, full of Moroccan features. The riad itself is clean, clean, clean!!! Pretty much brand new. Nathalie and Gerard really made our stay easier with small attentions that made such a difference – remember this is the first time we took Noah abroad on holiday, where we have no ties. So there was a travel cot in our room, they had turn the heater on (even though it was 20 degrees, to them it was cold HAHAHA) so that Noah wouldn’t get cold, and we had access to the kettle – when you have a hungry Noah at 6.00 am, you’re pleased to have it at your bedside. Their cook, Fatira, had prepared us dinner. She is a lovely lady, who adores babies! The riad also has a pool on the terrace. The terrace overlooks the Medina, and you can see the Atlas Mountains covered in snow in the distance, as well as the Koutoubia mosque and a few more. Riad Souad is located about 15 minutes by foot from the centre and its souks, but more of that later.
After our dinner we head off to our room, and sleep until…around 5.30, where Noah decided he would wake up in time for the second prayer of the day (that’s when you’re happy you have a kettle!). When monsieur is happy and fed, we manage a lie in until 9.30 (bliss).
Breakfast was served with fresh juice, bread, pastilla, and very, very, sweet mint tea. This is their national drink and they like it…sweet. A lot of Moroccan is sweet and there is a high percentage of diabetes, but it is no wonder. So this is pretty much the pattern we followed in the morning (I won’t bore you anymore with that). We enjoyed the sun on the terrace – temperatures were around 24 degrees which was fantastic and perfect for us, although we were lucky as usually this time of year is wet and much colder.
Tags: Baby travel, maroc, marrakech, marrakesh, medina, morocco, riad souad, souks
AnneandMark
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