Language- Arabic, French, a little bit of Spanish, English, Dutch depending on who you talk to.....
Reading- "Welcome to Paradise, Now Go To Hell" by Chas Smith, a book Josh brought along, and one I decided to read to get me going. A bit of a trashy novel, in his self proclaimed style of "trash prose"
Morocco. It is pretty crazy that a short eight miles from the southern tip of Spain, lies a place so exotic as Morocco. We weren't there long enough to explore as much of it as we would have liked, but we were there long enough to get a sense of the place, see some beautiful sights, and eat some great food.
We flew from Madrid to Marrakesh, (or Marrakech depending on where you are), a flight that is a little more than two hours long. We flew with Ryanair, who had the cheapest flight we found for our route, and let me tell you, there is a reason why. I would never fly with them again, even if the next cheapest flight was a significant amount more! It was extremely inefficient, everything took way longer than it should have, and we were packed into the airline like sardines. The flight was late both times delayed due to people trying to fit too much baggage in the overhead bins, I assume because they charge for every bag that you check in. It was bad in both directions (both going to Marrakech, and our return flight). My advice would be to avoid Ryanair at all costs. Iberia has a direct flight that was around $190, which I'm sure would be a better option.
We arrived at 11:30 at night at the airport in Marrakech, and had arranged for a transfer from our hotel to pick us up. Surprise surprise- we waited for about and hour, and they never showed up! So we were thrown into adventure #1, finding a taxi to bring us to our place in the Medina (central, old part of the city consisting of small maze-like streets inside of a wall), and then #2, actually finding the place.
There are taxis outside of the airport, and we found one with whom we negotiated our price to the hotel- around $15 US (150 dirhams) which was what we had been told it should be. We couldn't see a whole lot as we drove from the airport to our hotel since it was nighttime, but from what we did see it was pretty dirty and chaotic. There seemed to be some beautiful gardens lining the roads though, and plenty of orange trees pruned like topiary. Our taxi driver brought us as far as he could, so he said, and told us the directions to get to our hotel front door. We could do nothing but trust him and hope that he was right.
Enter 3 young moroccan boys, maybe around 12 years of age. As soon as we left the taxi, they started asking us where we were from and where we were going and following us and trying to help carry our bags. We weren't expecting it so weren't sure what to do. As we followed the directions of taxi into smaller and smaller alleyways in the dark, followed by three young moroccan boys, and occasionally being passed by dirt bikes ridden by moroccan men, anything could have happened and I wouldn't have been surprised. Josh later said that he was ready for a fight, if it came to that.... which, luckily it didn't! After 10 minutes of walking and becoming increasingly wary about our surroundings, we found our hotel, Riad Edward. By that time it was about 12:30 am.
We were greeted at the door by a moroccan fellow, and the boys who had walked us there started asking us for money. We didn't have any small bills, and it was a little chaotic, fumbling around trying to find something to give them although we hadn't enlisted their help in the first place, or spoken to them much really. They wouldn't leave us alone though. This was our first indication of the importance of saying no and/or ignoring the people who offer help on the street. We tried giving them a 2 euro coin and they wanted paper bills! Finally we ended up giving them some dollar bills and they left. Our moroccan host offered us some mint tea, and assured us that our driver had been at the airport, but we had definitely looked all around and didn't see him... Our host showed us to our room, a very cozy taupe colored adobe style room, with towels on the bed arranged as swans, and rose petals everywhere, and gave us some sweet mint tea which was very delicious. We fell promptly asleep afterwards.
All of the Riads in Morocco include breakfast in the price, which is a nice touch, and it is a pretty nice thing to get up and be served fresh squeezed orange juice and coffee, and then fruit, breads and pastries, and eggs. The first morning was our first experience of it, and it was delightful. We went to the dining room of our Riad, located right next to the stunning blue tiled pool, and beautiful tropical garden, and had our breakfast served to us- it was very delicious, and we felt like royalty!
That first day after arriving in Marrakech, we had the intention of renting a car and heading on a road trip to the coast, and went to pick up the car at the airport. I waited with our stuff and Josh went in to get it. I waited. And waited. And waited, with the sneaking suspicion that something wasn't going as planned. Josh finally came out and said it was just crazy in there and that it was a no go. He was pretty frustrated. I guess the guy in the car rental agency kept trying to charge his card more and more money and in the end asked for cash in addition. It just struck him as a little sketchy. SO we left, and went back to the hotel where we'd spent the night before, coming to the conclusion that it must be a sign not to rent a car, and resolving to figure out another solution.
It was kind of a blessing in disguise, because we were able to enjoy our Riad for another night. This place is a gem (Riad Edward)! The pool was tiled in beautiful shades of blue and green and there were gardens with big trees, tropical plants, ands birds around the pool in the courtyard. The courtyard was covered with a transparent plastic tarp so at night (which is cold this time of year in Marrakesh) we could still sit in the courtyard with heaters and enjoy our dinner or drinks/snacks. In the evening the staff lights candles all over the hotel, but many in the courtyard, and it is very beautiful and cozy, being surrounded by all those glinting lights. We had a great little light dinner there that evening, consisting of various types of olives and nuts and some rice and veggies.
Courtyard seating, Riad Edward
The building itself was originally from the 12th century, and I was told by the manager that the city helped them to fix it up on the condition that they kept all of the original tiles (these were beautiful, in shades of brown). In order to get up to our room we had to go up about four flights of tiny spiral staircases and over about three different small courtyard sections, each more beautiful than the next. Once at the top, you got a beautiful view of the Atlas mountains, which border the city to the south. It is a temperate area so there are green plants and bouganvilla everywhere.
Upstairs, outdoor courtyard, Riad Edward
The only downside to the Riad is the distance from the center of the city. We did not mind because it made it a little bit quieter and gave it a little bit more character, and even so was only about a 15 minute walk to the souks and a twenty minute walk to the main square, Jemaa el Fna. The first day though, when we left our hotel we were in what seemed like the heart of the poorest part of town, and it took us awhile and a handful of wrong turns and wandering through the maze-like streets to reach the central area.
Words cannot express enough what an Amazing place Riad Edward is though. I would absolutely recommend it due to the great service, its beauty, and great value for the money. While we were there the staff could not have been more helpful with any of our questions regarding help with stuff inside of the hotel and also any travel questions that we had.
One thing you should also be prepared for no matter where you are in Morocco, unless it's in the middle of nowhere, is the morning call to prayer (especially this one because you'll probably be in bed when it happens). In the case of Riad Edward, our room was as high as you could get, and right in front of the local mosque, incidentally. There are six calls to prayer every day, and this the first, happens at around 6 am, when the sun has not yet risen and it is dark. The time of the prayer varies slightly throughout the year.
The next morning, we arranged to hop on a Supratours bus headed for Essaouira, a small city on the coast that takes about 3 hours to get to by bus. It cost us 110 dirham each for a one way (about $10). We got a taxi to the bus station from the hotel, about $4, and somehow in the confusion, Josh ended up with two surfboards (he'd been traveling with only one of his own boards)! He kept trying the tell the taxi driver that the other one wasn't his, but the driver wasn't having it, and sped off into the busy streets. So we gave it to the staff at the bus station and told them to contact our Hotel- hopefully it got returned to its owner! As for the bus, it was cleanish with a little more room than a regular bus, and we had a pretty pleasant ride. We stopped at one of those tourist designated stops to have a snack use the bathroom halfway through. I almost got locked inside of one, and could feel myself starting to panic, but luckily someone heard me knocking on the inside and let me out.
The scenery on the way from Marrakech to the coast is extremely beautiful. First you pass the mountains on your left, and then as you get farther into the countryside, it is fields and hills full of olive trees and argan trees as far as the eye can see. We passed a tree with about 20 goats perched on various branches- they like to climb the argan trees to find and eat their nuts!
The goats are actually an important part of the harvesting process of argan oil (a cosmetic now very popular throughout the world, also used for cooking in Morocco) in some areas still, although in others it is done mechanically. The goats eat the nuts, which are usually very hard to crack open, and something about the goats digestion makes the shells easier to crack open, and the nuts are harvested from the goat poop after they have gone through the goat digestive system.
We had booked a hotel in Essaouira called Riad Emotion the night before, choosing it based on the price and good reviews on Booking.com. It took a little bit of wandering around the Medina to find it, and asking at a different Riad, until we finally found the right street and the manager found us on the street. It didn't even have a sign, I guess mainly due to the fact that it was a relatively new Riad.
The manager brought us inside and had us sit down on a little couch in the courtyard. Soon afterward, he brought us some little Moroccan pastries, which consisted of some little marzipan-like candies wrapped in a thin dough, and a pot of mint tea, which he proceeded to prepare in the Moroccan fashion. This was the first time we'd seen this, and it was pretty fun. They pour the tea into the glasses from a height of about two feet above, and pour it back into the tea pot three times, and the fourth time is when it's ready to drink. Must take a lot of practice to be able to do without spilling it all over the place. The tea in the pot is a mix of dried and fresh mint leaves, and traditionally they put a few big squares of sugar in it as well. Our host introduced himself as Sayid, which means "Happy" and gave us a map of the medina and explained to us some good places to explore and to eat, and showed us to our room, up three flights of narrow tiled steps.
We later met the owners of the Riad, who were a very nice and welcoming french couple named Giselle and Philippe, and Philippe's daughter who was 23, visiting from France at the time we were there.
The room was very nice, decorated in traditional Moroccan fashion, with some beautiful old wooden armoires, and lamps that had Moroccan shoes on them. The bathroom was tiled in blue and had ochre colored plaster on the walls. The bed in this Riad turned out to be the most comfortable of the trip and we slept incredibly well there. The Riad also had a pleasant little roof deck upstairs, and sitting rooms on the first floor. This Riad turned out to have the best breakfast of our time in Morocco as well... The different things seemed to never stop coming out!
During our time in Essaouira we explored the Medina, the souks and the harbor, admiring the colors and details of the doors (mostly Mogador Blue, Mogador being the old name of the city) and the crafts in the souks. Some of my favorite things to look at in the souks here were the plentiful dyes and spices, painted pottery, and tons of little argan oil shops run by the women who work at cooperatives outside of town. The salesmen are less aggressive here than in Marrakech, probably because there are fewer stalls to compete with, or maybe just due to the more mellow nature of the place.
The harbour however, was teeming with activity: fishermen with nets working on their boats or bringing in their daily catch, and tourists checking them out. There were seagulls flying all over the place, and so many cats trying to scrounge a little treat (there are actually a ton of stray cats all around Morocco, and not too many dogs, surprisingly). It seems like some of the cats had been somewhat adopted by different hotels, restaurants or fishermen, who would treat them decently and bring them treats. Even the nicest of the places we stayed in Morocco seemed to have their resident cats.
One of our favorites from Essaouira was eating at the stalls down by the harbor, where you pick out what you'd like to eat from a large selection of seafood, and they cook it up for you right then and there, simply seasoned with a little bit of lemon and salt and pepper, served with bread and salad and a drink. It is a bit overwhelming because there are quite a few stalls and they are all yelling at you to pick theirs, so I'd suggest being in the mood to deal with that when you choose to go.
Another of our favorites in Essaouira, and I think our absolute favorite restaurant of Morocco in general, was a place called Elizer, an amazing boutique restaurant right down the street from our hotel, recommended to us by our hotel host. It was a Moroccan/Italian fusion restaurant, run by a Moroccan who lived in Bologna, Italy for nine years. We decided to go there on our first night and I must admit that we went back twice more. Even just thinking about it now (I'm hungry) has my mouth watering. One of Josh's mottos for traveling, especially in second or third world countries, is when you find a place that's good, stick with it. To a point of course- you've got to try other things too.
After we sit down the waiter brings out a little basket of Moroccan bread, white and whole wheat, and a tray with some little tapenades- olive, pumpkin, courgette, and eggplant. All of them were really, really good, although the pumpkin was with honey, and was sweeter, and was not my favorite. We shared the gnocci, and a bottle of Moroccan wine, and each got fish with vegetables the first night. The wine was fine, though not as good as the french and spanish bottles that we had grown accustomed to. A little bit more sour, and very dry. Other dishes that we tried were the ravioli, and the tenderloin. I thought that this restaurant could do no wrong, and would recommend it a million times over. It also had a great ambience, something like going to a friend's house for dinner. They played a lot of jazz, blues, and folk tunes, all the chairs were different, they had little fireplaces around. The floors had a great black and white tile pattern. Overall a very welcoming place that makes you want to sit down, enjoy, and stay awhile.
After spending a few days here, we decided to try our luck at renting a car in Essaouira, and head south along the coast for a bit. That will be in my next post!
