Marrakech part 1

Marrakech, where do I start?

Here I've put together a few of my experiences on my first visit.

Travel -
Travel tips. From the moment you get there you'll be hassled! Remember we are coming from a wealthy country and Morocco is relatively poor. Its good to read some guide books before you go. For example: there are taxi drivers right outside the airport but if you walk 50 yards into the car park there are municipal taxi drivers who will take you into town for half the price. If you've booked a Riad you can suggest the owner or someone they know meets you either at the airport or in town. 

Riad -
The Riad I stayed at was in the heart of the Medina. A Riad is a traditional building set around a centre courtyard with rooms going around over two floors and finishing off with a rooftop garden. It was located right in the centre of the souks (the Medina itself is the old town set inside the ancient city walls) and a 10 minute walk to the famous square Jemma el fnaa, which was ideal for us because I wanted to soak up the busy atmosphere. We were the only people staying there so we had the whole house to ourselves, but there were plenty of rooms available for larger groups. 

In the morning we made the most of our rooftop garden. We sat and enjoyed our breakfast in the sunshine surrounded by palm trees with this surreal, distant view of the snow capped Atlas mountains, enjoying the local oranges from the souks or the ones we'd pinch from the trees in the garden! (Apparently, we found out later, you can ski in the Atlas mountains for £5 a day which includes ski pass, skis and boots!). 

We found the Riad on Air Bnb, everything went smoothly and was no hassle at all. The cost was £60 a night for a whole house, but for a larger group it would have cost £80 a night.

Souks/Shopping -
Number one don't be afraid of the Souks! I can tell you now I was. I heard they like to haggle and knocking the price down is all part of the fun. However it's a whole different experience once you're there.  There are hundreds of different stalls selling the same items or something only very slightly different. So, if you see a lovely pair of slippers or a nice leather bag maybe, don't feel you need to buy it straight away because I guarantee you walk further down the street and there will be 5 more people selling exactly the same thing. Remember, once you've looked at something or touched it the seller doesn't leave you alone!

Then we get into the money side, this I'm still unsure about. Knocking prices down it's not my thing (don't get me wrong I love a bargain) but I just prefer everything priced so I know how much I'm spending. Set yourself a max you want to spend for the item, because with all this haggling you tend to loose track of how much you're actually spending and just settle for a price to get out of there!

Typical prices of items purchased from the Souks:

Slippers - 50DH = £8/9 = $12 

Tiles - 80DH = £14/15 = $21 

Carpet clutch bag - 200DH = £35 = $54 

Ceramic big bowls x 4 - 200DH = £35 = $54

Food - 
Eating food from the street markets didn't really appeal to us although I'm sure its fine. There were plenty of restaurants around the square. We found a couple which didn't look fancy from the outside but go in and keep walking to the top and some offer an amazing rooftop views. 

The best restaurant we found however was tucked away near 'place des epices'. It was called Nomad it was superb, I found it by going onto Instagram and hash tagging Marrakech. Good old Instagram.