We just arrived 5 hours ago and there's already so much to write about the place.
From the air the landscape of Morocco seemed to be a stark contrast to the colourful pottery, lamps, and fabrics it is so well-known for. The land was brownish orange with scattered greens and rivers snaking through. Even the buildings were all tinged with the same orange colour and grey. It looked hot and arid but, in the distance, the snow capped mountains told a different story.
Marrakech airport is quite simple in it's beauty and the little elements that I love about Moroccan design were quite evident throughout - from the geometric patterned mosaic pillars, to the repetitive floral print on the glass partition at Passport Control, through to the geometric structure of the ceiling and walls of the main terminal. I like this place already, I thought.
We decided to enlist the help of a travel company - Desert Majesty - for our Moroccan itinerary. Our plans were a bit ambitious and we had no idea where to start, not to mention all the safety and cultural concerns we had been told about. It's not exactly the same reaction you get as when you tell people you're going to Italy or France. So Felicity, from Desert Majesty, was our Moroccan contact in the months leading up to this trip. At the airport, we were greeted by our driver (will not mention his name for privacy reasons) for the entire 10-day stay. After exchanging pleasantries we made our way out of the airport. As soon as we walked out the glass doors, two things struck me: the warm sunny weather that I welcomed after over 3 weeks freezing in Spain, and the view of the snow-capped High Atlas Mountains that I saw from the air. Wow!
We were then escorted to our vehicle for the next 10-days - a Toyota Prado. Yes!, I thought. We're in safe hands. Knowing our itinerary, we were definitely going to need it. I knew all this in prior discussions with Felicity, but for some reason actually seeing our ride just brought me relief. I was secretly glad we wouldn't have to haggle our way through taxi fares or bus routes. I know this contradicts the whole 'live like a local' philosophy we have tried to adopt but at this stage, and given the country we were in, I really didn't care.
We made our way through the streets of Marrakech to our riad gasping at things that our guide seemed oblivious to - like random camels on street corners. What the?! I expected to see those just as one would expect to see elephants on the streets of Bangkok or kangaroos hopping down Sydney's George Street. Further along the way our guide pointed out the 12th century tower of the mosque - which was the 'sister' tower to the La Giralda we visited in Sevilla, Spain. In fact in the tour for La Giralda, it was mentioned that there were only 3 of these towers remaining in the world - La Giralda in Sevilla, this tower in Marrakech, and another one in Rabat. We had now seen 2 out of the 3 and I'm hoping we'll be able to see the 3rd in Rabat.
Then our guide stopped the car and turned off the engine motioning that we had arrived at what looked like the middle of nowhere. "Here?" Hubby asked slightly surprised, echoing my thoughts. "Yes", he replied. "Your riad is in an old part of town and we can't take the car there", he explained. So we all got out in the middle of a marketplace and started walking, and turning, and turning again. Suddenly the little lanes turned into dark tunnels. As if I wasn't already lost enough. 'Where the hell are we going?' I thought to myself, clutching onto Mig just a little bit tighter. I called out to our guide half jokingly - "Where are you taking us?! I'm lost already!" He just laughed and said the manager at the riad would have a map for us. At the end of a tunnel we finally arrived at the entrance to our riad. The dodgiest looking doorway at the end of the dodgiest looking tunnel. Oh dear! THIS is our riad?! Hubby and I exchanged an 'Oh shit!' look. How could we have gotten it so wrong? There's no way Felicity would have sent us somewhere dodgy. 'She's English, I can trust her', I thought to myself. All these thoughts running through my head as we wait for the gate to open. Once it did, we were let in to an amazingly authentic Moroccan riad complete with a central courtyard. Our rooms were on the ground floor opening onto the central courtyard and were beautifully decorated in true Moroccan style. See? I knew we could trust Felicity - even if we still hadn't met her.
By the time our guide had left, it was 5:30pm and we were all starving. Our riad manager told us of a place where we could have dinner so we decided to go there. He would take us so we didn't get lost. Good idea!, I thought. In the meantime, the conversation somehow turned to football. As it turns out, he is an avid FC Barcelona fan while Hubby is a Real Madrid supporter - so the exchange of notes and commentaries on football players began. Then through some bizarre twist in the conversation, Hubby manages to invite himself to the riad manager's house the following night to watch the game - FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid! We had been in Morocco less than 3 hours and he's already invited himself into someone's home to watch a football game. OK, so maybe this the the 'live like a local' part?!
An hour later we finally left the riad to get some dinner. The restaurant was still closed so we agreed to walk the around for a little while and return in half an hour. We bid our farewells to our riad manager. For the first time since we landed we were completely on our own - no guide, no riad manager- just the 5 of us plonked into the middle of a street in Marrakech. Hubby was slightly freaked out. I, on the other hand, was excited to wander the streets. C'mon, let's go! I told him.
So off we went turning down a street corner, then scooters started zooming past from all directions. We needed to cross the road and I had no idea where to look. Which side of the road are they coming from? It was total traffic chaos between pedestrians, bicycles, motorbikes, tractors, mules and donkeys. Although the chaos seemed to be all in my head as no one was getting run over (yet!) and there were no collisions. Everyone seemed to be following their own path yet managing to stay out of everyone else's - except us. Then I remembered what someone once told me about walking around in Vietnam - just hold your course and they will move around you. If you try to move out of their way, they're likely to hit you. It was exactly like that so I passed that tip on to Cat and Bee and that's how we walked - nervously - in a straight line with bicycles and motorbikes zooming past. In the meantime I remembered to check on little Mig, who was holding my hand but was unusually quiet. I felt like he had been stunned into silence with all the buzzing activity around him. He was fine, he assured me, but somehow I could tell that his little mind was busy trying to take it all in. I was in sensory over drive, I would imagine it would have to be worse through the eyes of a 3-year old at hip level. Then we came to a five-way intersection. It was so bad that I figured the only 'safe-side' to put Mig on to cross the road was in my arms, so I picked him up and worked my way across.
All the while I kept a calm exterior to try and blend in and not look like tourists with a bull's eye target on our forehead for scammers. Deep down I was silently screaming. I felt like I had 5 espressos with my jumpy nerves, but I just kept walking. Then Hubby calls out wanting to go back to the restaurant. He was just as nervous about taking photos. He had been given tips of 'does and don'ts' by our guide but it was still all a bit touch and go as we acclimatise to this new culture. "But it's only been 15 minutes", I argue still eager to explore despite the nerves, "They aren't open yet." Reluctantly I agree to go back.
Our restaurant, L Limoni, served French cuisine which was a bit disappointing since I would have liked some Moroccan food but it was good nevertheless. We had the option of tagging along to the Jemaa El-Fna square with another riad guest who we had bumped into but decided to heed the riad manager's advise and go there in the morning with our guide. After all, he probably didn't want to deal with missing guests if we managed to get lost, which is apparently quite likely. L Limoni was beautiful and reasonably priced (by Sydney standards) for the ambiance and food. It was an oasis of calm and serenity away from the chaos happening outside it's walls.
After dinner, we decided that Hubby would get some street food. They were barbecuing on the street and it smelled so good. We both wanted to try it but agreed maybe it's best only one of us did in case we got sick. Our guide had cautioned us about eating street food at the Jemaa El-Fna markets and I had read about the Hep A and gastro risks around street food hygiene - but this wasn't Jemaa El-Fna we justified to ourselves - and it smells so good. So for 15 Dirhams he asked for one serve not really knowing what he was going to get. Was it 1 stick? 5 sticks? Is it chicken, beef or lamb - or something else? Turns out it was a beef kofta burger and it was delicious. We all had a bite (so much for the plan) and Bee even had her own.
It was getting late and we were tired so we decided to head back to the riad for the night (if we could find it).
PS. No one got sick!
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