My friend and I chose to go to Morocco as it was cheap and we were poor students in need of some sun! I have to admit that we did not really do our research about where we were going, if we had I think that I would have thought twice, although this story does have a happy ending!
We started in Agadir, the hotel was okay, we had a clean and fair sized rooms overlooking the pool. I had been to Tunisia about 3 years before I had expected Morocco to be similar. So we went to find something to eat which was disappointingly in more than one way. There was no real town centre that we could find and we were looking at eating at a "Spanish" style restaurants until some locals gave us the address of the place far out of the touristy area where the food was good and it was full of locals. Really cheap, although I'm sure that we paid more that the locals. This was a theme that was to repeat its self over and over again. For example the best taxies to get are the yellow ones, if they say their meter is broken get out and walk away. One of these rides around the city should not cost you more that £2-3 any more you are being ripped off!
You will need to haggle at all stages of your holiday; even with a printed menu they will try to charge you more. As you can tell we were both very unimpressed with Agadir. Even the hotel would try and rip you off by not bringing back change. One other piece of advice if you are taking traveller checks take larger denominations as you are charged a fixed fee per check no matter if it is £20 or £100.
After two days of being badgered to take an expensive trip to Marrakesh and being overcharged and grabbed by angry shop keepers who would scream we were able to afford their top price we hired a car and with another holiday maker decided to drive up to Marrakesh. The landscape is fantastic, inland on the way up and coastal on the way back. Remember to take plenty of water and food with you as there are stretches of road where you may not be able to get anything.
Driving in Marrakesh is interesting to say the least, hart stopping at the most! If you are planning to do a self drive and stay I would get hold of a few up to date guide books and a good, detailed map for info on hotels and where to find them. Our hotel was cheap and clean and old fashioned with a swimming pool.
We ventured out to the main square and ate from one of the stands, as with a lot of these countries you can expect a bad stomach where ever you eat! The market was peaceful and linkable early in the morning but by 11:30 it was just somewhere to get harassed and stressed. A state in which I spent a lot of time.
After a day in the city we decided to head over the Essaouira , and I am so glad that we did. It is a small, medieval walled town where cars are not allowed which gives it a more relaxed atmosphere. The hotels were all clean and the French influence was very apparent in the town. The following day my friend and I were able to walk around without being overly harassed, which was a relief. We were even able to get two good meals and do a bit of surfing. This was the highlight of my time in Morocco, the town was beautiful, relaxing not overly expensive and friendly. If you go in July there is a music festival inspired by Jimmy Hendrix who lived there for a while.
At the end of the day, there are a lot of good points about the country but the harassment and constant overcharging got really stressful. There are a lot of people were friendly but you were on a constant guard from being ripped off which made the time less enjoyable.
I think if you plan and research your trip it will let you benefit the wonderful country. I am considering taking a trip back to Essaouira and maybe Casablanca at a later date so I have not be totally been put off!
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Aug 22nd, 2007
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