Exotic Morocco, Travel Talk Tour: Marrakech, Day 1

Handy Hints:

• Don’t pay what you’re offered in Morocco. Much like Egypt, everything is price hiked for tourists. Taxis especially, be sure to negotiate down the prices for transport.

• Get cash out before you do anything else, some places take card but cash is easier. There are several ATMs nearby the hotel.

Daily Expenses:

• Yves St Laurent Gardens & Museum 220MAD, $31AUD

• Taxi to Medina 30MAD, $4.50AUD

• Lunch, Café des Epices 65MAD, $9.50AUD

• Taxi to Hotel from Medina 70MAD, $10.15AUD

• Dinner at Café Dar Touareg 120MAD, $18AUD

Hello my literary friends!

Today is the official ‘arrival day’ for Travel Talk Exotic Morocco and as the tour doesn’t officially commence until 7pm tonight, my friend and I had planned to find the souk or markets in the Medina (which we later learned medina means ‘old town’ inside the walls). We had breakfast in the hotel of pancakes (which were most similar to roti with honey), omelette made to order out on the barbeque beside the pool and fresh juices. The breakfast spread also had mint tea and a big bowl of dates but on this morning we hadn’t become obsessed with either yet! We were joined by my German roomate and also decided to visit the Yves St Laurent gardens and museum which were lovely. The most vibrant cobalt blue walls and pottery filled the space. I have to admit, if it weren’t for watching Inventing Anna, Netflix, I would have never heard of the YSL Gardens, but I am glad we went. The gardens themselves aren’t anything particularly mind blowing (in my opinion) mostly succulent and desert themed cacti, but the colours and the experience were worth the cost of the ticket. We also stopped off in a little café inside the gardens and paid for an extremely overpriced fresh juice, but it was amazing, and after downing the fresh glass, absolutely worth the almost $7AUD.

After the museum of fashion and wearable art down the road (total $31AUD for the gardens and the museum). We walked out of the museum to find a street full of taxi’s just waiting for unsuspecting tourists to pay extortionate prices. Our trio enquired and were told a taxi to the Medina would cost 30 EURO! Having been in Egypt mere months earlier, my friend and I knew this to be obscene and managed to get the man arranging taxi’s down to 70MAD which was still a ridiculous price, said no thank you and departed. We walked further down the street and hailed a taxi off the street and asked how much to the Place Djemaa el-Fna just south of the Medina and were offered (20MAD) which we agreed to.

The Place Djemaa el-Fna is a series of souks all selling different things from leather to spices and of course the classic ‘made in china’ wares. We spent a few hours wandering and ate lunch at Café des Epices, recommended by our new German friend who had heard about it on social media. We then negotiated our way out of the stalls to a roadway and caught a taxi back to the hotel (30MAD), again, this took some haggling because the driver started at an offer of 70MAD.

 Today, we really tried to cover things we wouldn’t get much chance to see when we return at the end of the tour and places that weren’t exactly on the itinerary. We met the rest of the group at 6.30pm and met our guide Abdul and our driver Shoey (our nickname). To our surprise and delight, the tour was much more varied than expected, and certainly more varied than our group in Egypt. The age range started from late 20s/early 30s through to our most mature member at 74. There was a range of couples, groups, pairings and singles, although as usual the women dominated the ranks. After Abdul introduced the itinerary and went over the schedule, we had a driving tour to orientate ourselves around the city.

Dinner was pre-arranged (but not pre-paid) and hosted by Café Dar Touareg where we had a three course dinner for (120MAD – I think, sorry, I forgot to take exact note of this!). Many of us ate the traditional hareria soup followed by the preserved lemon chicken and fresh fruit with pastries.

One thing I need to start by saying; if you want to skip over this you can…

The food in Morocco. Perhaps I’m just a bit of a food snob, a foodie, a keen cook and a perfectionist, but the food in Morocco left much to be desired. Much like Egypt, there was so much potential, and yet the food never quite hit the mark. I don’t know if it was the places we went, the produce used in cooking or just our expectations, but my warning to people who love Moroccan food at home; do not get your hopes up. At some places the tagine gave us so much hope, but it very much tasted like ‘if it just had a bit more…’ sometimes it was more cooking, more spice, more heat, more seasoning. Without tooting my own horn, I cook a lot of Moroccan inspired food at home and although everything we ate tasted similar, the produce and ingredients we have in Australia just seem incomparable the more I travel around the world.

Tips:

• Don’t pay the first price you’re offered in Morocco. Much like Egypt, everything is price hiked for tourists, normally by at least half. Taxis especially, be sure to negotiate down the prices for transport.

• The main currency in Morocco is Moroccan Dirhams or MAD. On average, one Australian dollar usually buys close to 7MAD.

 Accommodation: Bluesea Le Printemps, Marrakech