Here’s one from the archives 
Lian and I had a slightly extended 5 week trip to Morocco, thanks in part to RyanAir canceling our return flight and leaving a couple of hundred not very happy passengers at Marrakesh airport. Luckily for us, we weren’t in a hurry, so just waited the week (yes a whole week) for the next available Ryan Air flight…. what an incredible company!!
In total we spent around two and a half weeks in Marrakesh, which is (trust me) a very long time to be a tourist in this city By the end of it most of the touts and hustlers knew us and we weren’t hassled as much.
There’s plenty to do in Marrakesh, the main square: Djemaa el-Fna “assembly place of the nobodies” is the heart of the city. Locals and tourists mingle amongst the food vendors, orange juice stands and snake charmers.
Only tourists buy fruit from these stands… They’re about twice the price of the sellers a little further into the market.
The juice from these stands is great… And it costs only about 50 us cents a glass…
On one of our nights wandering around the city we spotted a crowd of people and a film crew… It turns out the British ‘Naked Chef’ Jamie Oliver is in town tasting some of the markets famous delicacies…
Marrakesh has been somewhat spoiled by the masses of budget European tourists now flocking to this beautiful city… Everyone tries to rip you off, from the obvious ones like the touts and taxi drivers, to the stall holders and food vendors. After a while it became very tiring to deal with people constantly short-changing us and husstling, but the city is worth it. The occasional old-timer, with this old fashioned thing called honesty and integrity lifted our spirits (and faith) in humanity.
You can get lost for hours in the Souq, our book says a guide is essential to find your way, but thanks to my inherited homing pigeon capabilities (thanks Mum!) we always manage to find our way around.
The smoke from the many mopeds that wizz through the narrow passages at 20mph creates some lovely photographic opportunities.
Here’s a photo of one of those lovely old timers I was telling you about. Almost all the old people in Morocco are absolutely lovely… Watch out for the younger ones in the city though!
One of my favorite things about the market is the quality and choice in the wonderful olives and dates that Morocco produces… They’re pretty reasonably priced too!
There are many ancient palaces and museums to visit in Marrakesh, some ruined, some in pristine condition.
One of my favorite things about the square in Marrakesh (and in all Arab countries I’ve visited) is the story tellers who perform daily to the *mostly male* croud.
This guy was extremely charismatic, although we couldn’t understand a word, we enjoyed watching the crowd react and laugh as he performed.
Just a few hours outside of Marrakesh is the mountain village of Setti Fatma. It has some waterfalls and a beautiful river running through the village. It’s a good deal cooler here than in Marrakesh (thanks to the altitude) so it’s a favorite summer getaway.
Here’s a snapshot of Lian standing in the local car wash
Life is full of the small pleasures here…. Good food, community and great mint tea.
