The scenery was amazing and full of contrasts. We saw lots of goats, (they love to climb trees), sheep, donkeys and camels. And believe it or not in the middle of the desert there is snow atop of the Atlas mountains.
Matt took over the driving after lunch and was fined 400 MAD for an imaginary red light coming into Marrakesh. The police eventually settled for 100 MAD after they laughed and said 400MAD was too much????
Tim and I had read the Lonely Planet accommodation recommendations and both agreed that the Authors Choice at 274 - 320 MAD sounded great. We found a park outside the city walls after doing lappys of the roundabout and trying to loose the tout on a motorbike who would take us to his friends hotel. After a few wrong turns we found the Riad, and were welcomed by the friendly staff with free tea and biscuits. The Riad was a luxurious Moroccan house, but unfortunately the Lonely Planet prices were in Euros, not Dirham, so was way out of our budget. (over A$500 per night each room, and we were paying for Tim's room as part of our deal)
The staff were really helpful and suggested another Riad in our price range, rang & booked our rooms, and told us the easiest way to find it was for one of us to take a taxi there, and the others to follow with the car.
Tim set off in the Taxi, and we followed up and down tiny streets, getting caught behind Donkeys and carts, when he jumped out and told us to park as the Taxi driver had to drop his mum off and they would come back for us. 15 minutes later we had a man knocking on our windows wanting to get into our car, but it turned out to be the cabby, so we set off on our crazy drive again. Matt is getting to drive too much like a local, and now plays cat and mouse with other drivers, buses or donkey carts, and wants to go first all the time. We eventually arrive in the plaza to meet the Raid owner, Tim dismisses his cab and we are taken up a laneway and told to park the car.
We follow the owner on foot up and down laneways to the Riad, sure we will never find the car again! The Riad is lovely and clean and very Moroccan, and the owners and staff very friendly.
We showered and changed and decide to walk to Djemaa el-Fna, the night market were we are sure to be entertained by snake charmers, jugglers, storytellers, musicians and general idiots.
Just leaving the Riad for the nearest intersection was a puzzle. Tim suggested breadcrumbs so we would find our way back in. Walking around Marrakesh with a Lonely Planet is a sure sign you are not on a guided tour, and makes you prey to all the young boys who volunteer directions. They direct you around the corner, demand money (mostly not much), and then you are picked up by their friends who send you around the corner and back in their direction for a few more dirham. So around and around in circles you go, but the city was really interesting and what you expect Marrakesh to be. After an hour or so, we though we were close to our destination and decided to have dinner (with no alcool). We got the final directions from our waiter for free and set off towards all the chanting and music.
Full of excitement we went looking for the snake charmers and jugglers, but were disappointed, as we worked into the crowds surrounding each act, it was mainly musicians (and general idiots) whose lyrics we couldn't understand. So Matt & I headed into the Market to do some serious shopping, but could not find anything that took our fancy (same, same) and I have not learnt the art of bargaining yet. So after a few hours we got a cab back to the Riad, but he was only able to drop us in the vicinity, as traffic does not fit in the laneways. So we start the kids? escort experience again, only they also didn?t know the address we were looking for and took us to the wrong street. We started with 1 kid but by the time we (not our escorts) eventually found it, we had 6 kids and a Drunken man all blocking the entrance and demanding money. The night watchman came to our rescue, opened the door and paid off the crowd. (We reimbursed him) Although Marrakesh is real Morocco as opposed to Agidir, we decided that one night was enough and we would drive back via Essaouria.
We had breakfast on the rooftop terrace, the night watchman walked us back to our car past the market, and Tim left for the Airport and his flight home. We somehow managed to navigate our way out off the old city and eventually back to the main road and onto Essaouria.
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