I was super excited to visit Marrakech, all my previous trips have been centred around Europe, this was actually my first time ever stepping foot in a non-European country,
We had an early flight, but that meant we got to make the most of our first day in Morocco. When we landed and disembarked the plane, we had to hand in forms detailing any contact we may have had with Coronavirus at passport control. Once we’d answered some questions regarding our profession, we were waved through. In the main body of the arrivals lounge at the airport, I was able to get a Moroccan SIM to allow me to navigate around using google maps and stay online during my trip. A representative from Orange sold me a SIM containing 10GB of data for €10 (which was more than enough for our 4 night trip). If your phone network don’t offer roaming in Morocco, I’d recommend buying a SIM as it was a life saver for getting out of the souks in the Medina.
As we left the airport and ventured towards the taxis, we stopped a taxi driver who said it would be 300 Dirhams for trip to our hotel in Gueliz (the new town of Marrakech). Knowing the bartering with locals is a big part of Moroccan culture, I asked could the driver do any better (okay, I failed at bartering the price down), the driver replied “no, it’s 20 minutes drive away”, and we accepted his price proposal.
After arriving at Diwane Hotel, we dropped off our bags and explored the local area as check in wasn’t open until 2PM. We called into a local café and grabbed breakfast, which was the first time I noticed how drastically different Moroccan society was. The Café (Café Les Negociants) had a big outdoor seating area and there may have been 50 people there, and only 2 of them were female, neither of the unaccompanied. After a little more exploration and calling into a second Café for dessert, we checked in and had a drink in the hotel before venturing onto the bustling Mohammed V Avenue connecting the Gueliz (new town) and Medina (old town). We were hardly 100m from the hotel when we were approached by a man on a moped saying hello, and introducing himself as the chef from our hotel, saying he saw us check in – he told us to have a pleasant stay in the city.
Our first night out involved venturing to Chesterfield English Bar (it wasn’t great), and the Radisson Blu Hotel (which was really nice for a few drinks… and the football was on, allowing me to watch my beloved Manchester City beat Leicester. After full time, we grabbed food from a nearby restaurant where I had my first proper sample of Moroccan cuisine: lamb tajine.
Following the food, we called it an early night as we had planned a big day of sightseeing the following day.
Early Sunday we rose, grabbed breakfast from the hotel and began walking the half hour walk from the Gueliz to Medina before the sun became unbearable. About 5 minutes into walking along Mohammed V Avenue, the chef on the moped approached and asked what our plan for today was, we explained we wanted to see Jemaa El-Fnaa Square, the palaces and Saadian Tombs, he told to us that the main market area was very expensive and that the real bargains could be found in a nearby market, he offered to take us, and despite our protests he insisted. We initially feared we were about to be trafficked or have some organs stolen from us, but a genuine market did appear a few streets over. About a 5 minute walk from where we initially encountered Mr. Chef. Leather jackets, carpets, souvenirs and knock off football tops/designer clothes were all on sale in the secondary market. We looked but only bought a keepsake souvenir inside. Upon leaving we both joked that we were glad we didn’t end up kidnapped and that the chef was nice for having showed us this local spot instead of a tourist trap. Upon resuming our walk to the Medina, our friend on the moped stopped us and asked what we thought of the market, we said it was cool or whatever and then the chef started asking us for 100 dirhams for showing us (€10 roughly), we said we didn’t have it (firstly because we actually didn’t have anything smaller than 200 on us, and secondly because fuck that, he just insisted on showing us a market despite our objections). We gave 20 to get out of the situation quickly and then realised that the man didn’t even work at our hotel. The fact he had encountered us twice, just introducing himself the first time not asking for anything led to us believing he was genuine.
A little miffed, we carried on, not going to let a bad experience ruin the trip, or at least not on the second day of it. We eventually reached Koutoubia Mosque, which is the indicator that you’re in the Medina. The mosque itself is beautiful. Why describe it when an image says a thousand words?
After the mosque, we visited the infamous Jemaa El-Fnaa Square, the busiest square in all of Africa. It was bustling with fruit stalls, spice sellers and snake charmers. The trick is to not make eye contact with anybody.
The souks were more crazy than the market itself, whilst there weren’t snake charmers here, there were constant donkeys and mopeds zooming past you (and even small vans). You do wonder how locals learn their way around the streets as they all look identical.
The market areas were a bit too fast paced for my liking, and I was glad to finally leave them. But whilst we were in the Medina, we had some sights to visit. First on the list was Bahia Palace!
Bahia Palace was okay, it’s a collection of many near identical empty rooms, and endless courtyards. How many courtyards does one need?!
After the Palace, we called into a restaurant facing the exit – here I had pastilla, a kind of pie filled with meat, coated with sugar and cinnamon, and Amy had Briwat – kind of like spring rolls, some filled with meats others with cheeses.
After feeding ourselves and replenishing ourselves with water, we visited the Saadian tombs, about 10 minutes away, and located beside the Kasbah mosque. The tombs were built to house the dead of the Saadian dynasty, and were overly ornate inside. It took about 40 minutes of queuing to actually view the main mausoleum within the tombs, but I wasn’t going to leave without seeing it.
After the tombs we returned to the Gueliz and quickly booked an excursion for Sunday (camels & quad biking in the desert) and then had a cool down in the hotel pool. Here we met a family from Belfast who were on the same flight out as us (and returning on the same flight too), and exchanged a few tips about our experiences thus far.
For long time readers of the blog, you’ll know I must sample local beers when I am away on my travels (#whichicaoswallreview on Instagram for newcomers to the blog). Morocco was no different, and I had tried the local Flag Speciale. I needed to find a bar that served the other local beer on tap (and as importantly, in a branded glass), I found an Irish bar: O’Mulligans which supposedly served Casablanca on draught – so we ventured there and ate there too, sadly no branded glass however.
On the Monday, we planned on a relaxed pool day as our feet were exhausted after all the walking the previous day. That night we visited the Sky Bar at the Renaissance hotel, giving views of the Gueliz and distant Atlas Mountains.
The bar was interesting, and the cocktails were great, although the bar was a little more pricey than the other bars, due to the view. We ended the night in Queen Atlantic bar taking advantage of their happy hour (which never seems to end) before calling it a night.
A couple of tweets back and forward throughout the Monday night with Michael from Where Are We Now, left me convinced I was missing out after skipping El-Badi Palace in the Medina. I convinced Amy that we should get up early the next morning to take a trip back into the Medina to visit El-Badi before our desert excursion.
The long walk along Mohammed V Avenue was worth it. El-Badi is a lot bigger, and more in ruin than Bahia palace. We were able to explore the ruins and you can see storks who have since moved into the palace nestled up along different parks of the palace walls. The palace itself was beautiful and withstanding the links to nature. 
After finishing in the palace, we took fellow travel blogger, Michael up on another suggestion, and visited KosyBar, right beside El-Badi Palace, for a drink to lower our body temperature before venturing back to Gueliz. Amy had mentioned trying Terrace Des Apices in the middle of the souks for a branded glass of Casablanca, and who was I to object?
The bar itself was really cool, as it’s in an unexpected location in the heart of the Medina, but they didn’t have branded Casablanca glasses (I may have to travel to Casablanca itself to get one).
We then ventured back to Gueliz for food before our desert excursion that evening. Before going into detail about the trip to the desert, I want to recommend it and Mohammed who we organised it through. It cost 600 Dirham each for a 2 hour quad journey and 1 hour camel ride through the desert – get in touch and I can pass on his WhatsApp number if this interests you.
Back to the actual excursion: we got picked up from Mohammed’s shop on Mohammed V avenue, not far from our hotel and driven about 30 minutes outside of Marrakech. Here we were guided into the desert on camelback, and I must admit, I didn’t realise how docile camels were – I love them, they’ve become one of my favourite animals. But the camel back excursion into the desert didn’t take us too far and was largely a novelty journey to say you’ve done it.
When we returned from the camel trip, there was a little misunderstanding, and we had to explain we’d also booked a quad ride (the quad group had already left the camp both excursions are led from). We were then given a private guide via quad through the desert and witnessed the sunset in the Moroccan desert. The tour began on the road and was quite boring to start off with, but once we veered off onto the dirt roads, the fun began.
We passed through a Berber village before eventually ending up at an old abandoned house in the middle of the desert, here our guide stopped us and told us we could watch the sunset, we were glad as it was extremely difficult driving with the sun in our eyes.
The next stage of the quad tour was to stop in a Berber village, I can’t spell the pronunciation of the village’s name, and it’s not on google maps to tell you, but it is on the banks of Oued Tensift River. Here we met with local Berbers and drank Moroccan tea. The man who served us the tea asked us if we liked whiskey when he heard we were Irish (neither me nor Amy are whiskey drinkers), we said no. He told us that Moroccan tea is Moroccan whiskey, except it’s non-alcoholic.
Upon finishing our tea, it was dark outside – making the return drive on quad as dangerous as when the sun was in our eyes. We finished and we’re back at the hotel for 8:30 and it was a really enjoyable experience, some food and a few drinks at the hotel and it was time to head to sleep for the last time on our first non-European trip.
That last morning, the hotel receptionist, Bachir, told us to get a taxi from up the street, not directly from the hotel because it would be cheaper. It cost us 100 Dirhams to return to the airport (€10/£8). So if I ever return, I’ll be more confident whilst haggling with airport taxi men, and try score a cheaper ride from the airport.
The staff within the Diwane hotel could not do enough for us throughout our very pleasant stay and I would recommend the hotel wholeheartedly.
Once you get used to the constant approaches, Marrakech is a really beautiful and enjoyable city – it does take a while to adjust to though. But from beautiful ancient mosques and temples, to seeing the Atlas Mountains in the distance, it was a wonderful experience and I would visit Morocco again.
Some closing notes:
•don’t be alarmed at the calls to prayer, they occur 5 times a day and are over quite soon after beginning.
•get used to saying ‘no thanks’ or ‘La Shukran’ which is no thanks in Arabic – everyone will approach you trying to sell stuff, you just need to keep saying no thanks, because ignoring them doesn’t work, and feels rude.
•beware of scammers, they can catch you off guard.
•beware of pickpockets and don’t carry unnecessary valuables.
•I felt uncomfortable travelling as a male, I don’t envy any solo-female travellers to the region.
•the driving in Morocco is ridiculous, it’s as if everyone learned how to drive playing GTA.
•crossing the road is hectic, look out for mopeds.
•no seriously, look out for mopeds.
