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Marrakech or the land of Adidas Berber – Part 5

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

Departure and last thoughts

We spent the last few hours of our vacation in the sun on the terrace of Riad Souad. There is something surreal about being in the warm sun, overlooking miles and miles of flat roofs with satellite dishes, with the Atlas Mountains in the background, and the prayers resounding from one minaret to the next all around us. I can’t quite explain it. When it was time to go, we had booked a transfer with the Riad. It cost us 150 dirham I think, no messing about. Got to the airport, filled yet again another landing card, spent the last few dirhams we had (watch out, not all shops in the airport accept them, and if they do, they usually inflate the price by 10% on average), and away we went.

In terms of food prices, a tajine or a couscous will cost you 40 dirhams in places on Djeemaa el Fna and about half that if you go on streets a little less busy (see comment on part 2). A Coke will cost you 14 dirhams, a salad anything from 5 to 20 dirhams for the same things depending on where you go. Bottled water if you buy in the shops cost around 3 or 5 dirhams, double that in restaurants.

I liked Marrakech, but I would only come back for a longer period than 4 days if we had excursions booked. Obviously this was the first time away with Noah, so that was out of the question. My maximum would be one week, with 2 days of doing nothing, 1 day shopping, 2 days exploring the city and the rest doing excursions in the mountains etc… Obviously longer if you decide to go to other places like Tangiers or Casablanca. People are very welcoming and respectful, as long as you are too. Being in a Muslim country, I thought it was going to be a lot stricter than what I saw, but to be honest we behaved the same way we usually do.

So yes, I would recommend it for a long week end, ok with kids as long as you’re prepared. People are welcoming, the food is ok, and pricewise it is very reasonable. More than anything it is the feeling of being away from the day to day routine, but at the same time have the option to have familiar things around you: the French language for me, the TV.

It is also an excellent destination if you want to go travelling in India for example, but don’t know if you’ll cope. If you want to test yourself, go there, experience it, and whatever things you see make you uncomfortable or happy, multiply that by 100, and you almost get there.

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Marrakech or the land of Adidas Berber – part 3

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

Other places

For food, we’ve also eaten “Chez Brahim”. There are two places belonging to the same person, located within meters of each other when you walk from Riad Souad to the square.

The first one is the baker’s, or Patisserie. They have an outdoor terrace, and you can have your dinner there or in the room on the top floor. For some reason each dish is about 5 or 10 dirham less than the other “Chez Brahim” restaurant, a few meters further down the street. They have the same menus. Personally I prefer the one closest to the square, because you have live music that’s not too loud (can’t stand when you can’t hear each other talking), and it is much easier and comfortable to go there with Noah: the chairs are lower and more comfortable. In the first one you have to hold him and it’s just seriously unpractical.

Musée de Marrakech: now this is some serious architectural beauty. I will let you see for yourself on the pics I put on flickr. Just stunning. Entry is 40 dirham, and I think there was some weapons and contemporary art exhibition there, but truth be told, we were too taken by the building itself. It used to be a palace in the 19th century, and it was all done up in the late 1990s. It is just “magnifique” and a nice escape from the busy streets of Marrakech.

Palais de Bahia: we really enjoyed this. It is a very big palace with many, many rooms (around 150 rooms on one level if I remember), several gardens and patios. Beautiful architecture, built late 19th Century. Again, a nice place to visit when you’re fed up with the hustle and bustle of the souks. Entry was 10 dirham, bargain! I’ll let you appreciate the pics on Flickr.

Jewish quarters: our favourite part i think. It is quieter, more laid back, people aren’t as in your face as in the other parts of the souk, and guess what: some shops even have price tags on them!! Oh I say!!! I wouldn’t go as far as saying we pay the same prices as the locals though. That just won’t happen, but at least it gives you a benchmark to use when haggling (sorry – comes with the job, I can’t help it).

After all this walking on the last day, we were too tired, so decided to take a horse drawn carriage back to the square. It is quite common out there, used as much by locals as by tourists, although yet again the prices must differ by I dread to think how much. We just wanted a ride back to the square from the bottom of the Jewish quarters. The guy offered us the whole tour – about 20 minutes he said, for 200 dirham, which works out at around £15/£17. We said we just want to go back to the square, so he said: How much you got? How much you want to pay? I said “nothing” but I don’t think he saw the humour, so we agreed on 80 dirham and that was that. There’s one thing I learnt on my travels, in particular in India, they hate it when their neighbours take money they could have had. So if you are really stuck on a price, start walking to the next carriage. Before you know it, the guy will have chucked you in his cart and you’re away.

Craft/business/haggling

People just cram in any hole they can find to run a business. Sometimes you see a doorway in a wall, filled with shoes, and an old man repairing them. You need to see it to believe it really. Same thing with cookware or carpenters for example. They seem to be able to produce incredible things out of nowhere, with not much at all. You will rarely see price tags. My opinion and experience is that you will be offered a stupidly inflated price, because they know you will haggle anyway. So if you are told 200 dirham for an item, offer 50, they’ll shake their head, walk off, they’ll call you back

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Marrakech or the land of Adidas Berber – part 2

Thursday, January 27th, 2011
Djemaa el Fna and the Souks Djeemaa el Fna is the point of reference in the Medina. This is where the Koutoubia (main Mosque) is located, where you can access the souks, the market, the banks, the Muslim and the Jewish ... [Continue reading this entry]

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Marrakech or the land of Adidas Berber Part 1

Thursday, January 27th, 2011
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 ... [Continue reading this entry]

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