Morocco - Saturday 5th May

We were ready, ready to hit a new continent - AFRICA. Morocco had been on our list ever since the beginning and we couldn’t wait to see what culture shocks we would experience.

We took a very civilized lunchtime flight into Marrakech, flying over Spain and then the desert in beautiful clear skies.

The first thing we noticed was the heat, it was HOT. But not unbearable. We had arranged for our hotel to get a transfer to pick us up from the airport, but he didn’t show which was a bit annoying. Finally got that sorted and we were driven at top speed down roads with no road signs or road markings, down little alleys that didn’t even look like roads until we reached our little Riad. This was just a taster of the mental driving style of the Moroccan people.

We checked in and had a glass of mint tea in the courtyard of our Riad. Riads are essentially massive houses that rich people have converted into hotels so they all have open air courtyards which is lovely in the sun, and rooftop terraces.

We were keen to head out and explore so we tried to follow the most useless map ever and found the Djemaa El Fna, the main square.
This place was insane, there were just random buskers, people yelling and trying to sell you things. We saw snake charmers, old storytellers, henna artists, monkeys and all sorts of other weird locals trying to get money off tourists. It was really overwhelming! We also passed the famous Kintoubia Mosque which was a good wee landmark for us.

The origin of its name is unclear: Jemaa means "congregational mosque" in Arabic, "Fanâʼ" or "finâ'" can mean "death" or "a courtyard, space in front of a building." Thus, one meaning could be "The mosque or assembly of death." Charming.

We wandered around for ages; Hamish treated himself to a fresh orange juice for a grand total of 40 pence, best juice ever. Moroccan oranges were “the” find of the trip.

Now Lou had done her research and was weary about the market food stalls (pretty much everyone she talked to had gotten sick from eating there) but her foodie inquisitive nature took over and we found ourselves a spot in one of the hundreds of market stalls.

We had the first tagine of many, which was delicious, and also the first loaves of Khobz, which is kind of like Turkish bread, which we were to find out they served at every single meal. We treated ourselves to desert by buying a mixed box of traditional Moroccan pastries, but felt a bit let down as they were all essentially the same (pastries wrapped around a nut mixture).

We found our way back in the dark (harder than it sounds!) and crashed at our Riad, only to be woken up at 3am in the morning to the sounds of a massive cockroach in the bin. Nice.
Once that was taken care of, we were just back to sleep before the Muslim call to prayer went off. That was loud, and didn’t leave us feeling in a very religious mood…

Highlight: The first glimpse of the square, it was a real wow, this is crazy moment.
Lowlight: The call to prayer waking us up, why can't people just set their own alarms? And the Mcmassive cockroach in our bin wasn't nice.
Interesting Fact: “The spectacle of Jamaa el Fna is repeated daily and each day it is different. Everything changes — voices, sounds, gestures, the public which sees, listens, smells, tastes, touches. The oral tradition is framed by one much vaster — that we can call intangible. The Square, as a physical space, shelters a rich oral and intangible tradition." – Unesco World Heritage Site