I travelled to Morocco with two friends, Claire and Chris, for a 3 week backpacking trip during the Easter holidays. We travelled around in a figure of eight from Marrakech to Tarradonnt in the south, then to the north where we visited tangier and the other cities, returning to Marrakech via the desert.
We travelled by Thomson air which cost £80 return into Marrakech. We arrived early, as we had not pre-booked a hotel, hoping we would be able to find a nice one once we arrived. We took the trusted Lonely Planet with us as I had used this on a previous trip to New Zealand and found it extremely trustworthy, as it has lists of hotels and maps with which to find them.
After long queues at passport control, we finally entered Marrakech and collected our bags. As the Moroccan currency is closed, you can only get Moroccan dirham once you have arrived. We went to the exchange office and managed to get our cash exchanged, but they were not able to exchange our traveller’s cheques. Speaking a good level of French would have been useful here, but we decided his hand signals meant we had to change them in town.
We caught the bus into town, which cost 20 dirham, as opposed to taking a taxi, which was 40dirham. We were given a map when we got on showing the bus stops, although it was still not straight forward where we needed to get off. If we had stayed on for long enough we would have came to the Djemma el Fna which is the main town square and has lots of activity, but we got off a stop earlier.
Whilst on the plane we had chosen a hotel from the lonely planet, the Hotel Ali, for which to head for, as we did not want to be looking lost when we first arrived. We followed the map from the lonely planet but it did not correspond with the streets! We ended up getting lost and felt quite intimidated as we had our backpacks on and did not know what to expect from the Moroccan People. There were many children trying to take us to places for a tip, but most of the Moroccans were friendly and pointed us in the right direction without expecting anything.
Eventually we got back on track and arrived at the hotel, just to find that it was fully booked. We went around the corner and came to the Hotel Afriquia, which was tucked away on a back street but a lot cheaper (180dh) than the Ali and much nicer. It had broken tiles pasted all over the walls in a mosaic pattern and large roof terraces. The rooms were clean and the beds comfortable. They also had western toilets there and very friendly (although slightly mad) staff!
That evening we had dinner in the market square, which was really nice and cooked properly, although after we had been in Morocco for a while we realised it had actually been quite expensive (40dh). I had a chicken tajine but you had to order vegetables separately which were an extra 10dh a plate, so I did not bother. Unfortunately, the chicken was small and did not really fill me up. We did have our photo took behind the kitchen which made up for it though.
During the next few days we spent most our time wandering the medina (Covered centre full of market stalls) which is very extensive and easy to get lost in. We found the lonely planet maps were not very useful and usually got you more lost, although it was great to find good accommodation so I would still recommend taking one with you. The best way to get around the medina is to turn right twice then left twice or a similar pattern although it does not always work and getting lost does add to the fun.
When we did decide to do some sightseeing, we had one of our worst times of the whole trip as we were still quite naive. We decided to take a horse and cart to see one of the mosques and the tanneries. Most of the horses are not very well looked after or had leg problems, but we chose one which looked reasonably healthy. It was a fun experience as he drove us into the medina streets which were packed of people and it was fun watching him shout ‘Balek’ (watch out) to get people out of the way.
Unfortunately, when we arrived the driver spoke to one of the men who were loitering around and he tagged on as a guide. The mosque was closed, and somehow the guide managed to get us to follow him to the tanneries. The best way to avoid this is to get an official guide, but we had not wanted to do that, and instead of saying no and trying to get away from him, we followed him anyway. He did not speak a word of English but he did take us to one of the factories which was interesting, before we arrived at the tanneries.
The tannery we visited was the burber tannery and it had 12 families which worked there. There was a person sat at the door that spoke English who gave us a sprig of mint to hide the smell, and then he showed us around. The tanneries were interesting until we came to the end and were lead into a shop. We sat there politely before attempting to leave, but when we tried to do so we were asked for 200dh for the tour. We had only been there for ten minutes so we found this quite a ridiculous price, but he began to get quite angry. The guide that had shown us there came back and acted as a negotiator, although it was obvious the whole thing had been set up. We managed to get away only paying 100dh to both men but felt quite cheated by the way we had been handled.
Most Moroccan people we met were very friendly and helpful although you did get the constant begging for money or asking you to buy things but this was done in a respectful manner most of the time. As two females with one male, we did find that we got a lot of male attention, which surprisingly we did not receive when we left Chris at the hotel!
During our stay (28/03/07 – 20/04/07) we had very little rain, although it was not particularly warm staying at around 18C. England was actually a lot warmer and sunnier while we were away! On some days it would be cool when the sun was behind the clouds then it would be very warm when it came out. The last few days of our holiday were quite hot.
Marrakech is an excellent base for trekkers, as the Atlas Mountains are close by with the start of the trail up the highest mountain in North Africa, Jebel Toubkal, being only two hours away.
We did find travellers cheques a problem, as none of the banks would accept them, although we eventually were directed back to the Hotel Ali who was able to change them. We found cash machines were the most efficient way of getting money and they were abundant enough and in good enough condition for us to use all over Morocco.
Alcohol is scarce due to religion, but you can find a few bars although most are quite sleazy. There is an alcohol shop on the way to the train station.
If you are planning to travel on to somewhere else, be prepared for the bus station touts. Once you get near the station, they will want to know where you are going and will then take you over to the correct bus. They will charge you more than what the locals pay, but they are used for every bus service and without them, it would be impossible to get anywhere.
Do try some of the food from the stalls. We tried some quite odd-looking things which tasted quite yummy. Some of the sweets were also quite tasty. The coconut biscuits which the women sell in the centre of Djemma el Fna are lovely and great for a snack!
Morocco is a fantastic place to visit and I would love to go back for a more in depth tour. It is cheap and quick to get to, yet it is a completely different world compared to England. I hope you enjoy your trip as much as I did mine. Happy travelling!
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