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Marrakech, Morocco (26 February - 1 March 2010)

Three and a half years I've been living here in the land of the Queen and bad weather. In that time I've seen a lot of Europe, bits of Canada and the US, but had never stepped foot in the African continent until this trip! Katie got talking to a mate a while back about Marrakech, one thing led to another, we got a couple of mates involved, and all decided upon a long weekend here. Marrakech is plonked a couple hundred kilometres inland in the middle of Morocco - the north western-most country of Africa. Marrakech is home to just 350,000 so it's not a large city, but has become quite popular with tourists over the years. Having never been in Africa before, and hearing and reading many varied stories of people's experiences in Marrakech, I really didn't know what to expect. The plan was to arrive Friday evening and piss off again Monday afternoon, giving us the best part of two and bit full days to see as much of Marrakech as possible and do a couple excursions we'd arranged with a local tour company. Nice! :)

True to form we arrived at the airport to find our EasyJet flight had been fucking delayed again - every time! So we grabbed some chow and killed some time in the sun. I had a smoothie containing 17% crushed New Zealanders along with some apples and limes. It was good, we're a yummy bunch ;)				I got woken up early by the damn gas man coming to do his yearly inspection of our boiler and couldn't get back to sleep again until we were on the plane hehe.

So we arrived (late) in Marrakech, got collected at the airport, and then led on foot by the owner of our accommodation through an absolute maze of tiny streets! I thought Venice was bad!		Our accommodation was a guest house with a Moroccan family in a riad. A riad is a traditional Moroccan house or palace with an interior garden. All of the rooms in a riad open into a central atrium space as seen here. In the central garden of traditional riads there are often four orange or lemon trees and possibly a fountain, as was the case in our riad - very very cool! Spot the big sheesha too!

This was our room - pretty cosy, and had a cool light on the ceiling hehe!

After dumping our shit we re-entered the maze, and made our way towards the central square of Marrakech. I had read in advance about the fucking nutters on scooters that scream past pedestrians along these narrow streets, and they certainly were nutters - they made my cycling look positively courteous!				We got hounded a lot by small children asking for food or money or trying to sell us packs of tissues. The tissue thing became a bit of a running joke with us but it's really quite sad.

After some good negotiating of the maze, we emerged in Djemaa el Fna - the main square of Marrakech. This is a huge area which I'll talk more about in a bit. During the evening the square fills with dozens of food-stalls, the owners of which all entice passing tourists to eat at their stall. I can't remember what I had now, but it was good, and cheap!				Believe it or not, that says Coke :) The main language of Morocco is Arabic, although a lot of the locals are fluent in French as well.

After feeding our faces we continued wandering around the square. There was a lot of random stuff going on including 'fishing' for soft drinks which we didn't really understand the point of. There was also a bit of gambling going on over something.
Streets leading off from the square. Today was apparently the first day of some annual festival which attracts a lot of people to Marrakech, so it was a lot busier tonight than usual.
Back in the square, as well as dozens of food-stalls, there are also dozens of these fruit and nut stalls. Katie was well at home ;)

Our riad was two-storeys high with a large patio area on the roof. This is it by night...		...and by day - a sunny 30-degree day, hell yeah! :)		Satellite TV - it's everywhere hahaha! Apparently it's really cheap here, unlike in Britain.

Our riad owners were incredibly hospitable, and put on a huge local breakfast for us every morning which was bloody nice and bloody filling! Local breads and pancake-type things, yoghurt, olives, mint tea etc etc. - yummy!		In fact Katie (who I think is addicted to tea) liked the mint tea so much she flogged what was left to sip on during the day hahaha!		First day in Marrakech :) This is Koutoubia Mosque by the way, the largest mosque in Marrakech. This thing stands 69-metres high and was completed late in the 12th century.

Just like the night before, our day started by negotiating the maze of tiny streets and avoiding the traffic hehe. Marrakech, like many North African cities, comprises both an old fortified city known as the medina, and an adjacent modern city. The medina, as seen here, is typically walled (as is Marrakech's), contains many narrow and maze-like streets, and was built by Arabs as far back as the 9th century.

So then, as always, a few random shots. A Marrakech street...		An example of the completely chaotic Marrakech traffic with Koutoubia Mosque in the background. The traffic here really is something else; there are road rules but they're treated more as guidelines, and it tends to be the dude with the loudest horn or the more aggressive driving style that wins out. The shot on the right (taken at full zoom and cropped, hence the shitty quality) is some guy sitting atop a truck full of oranges hahaha!

A fully-laden Marrakech donkey or mule (I never know the difference)...		And something else with four legs adding to the traffic chaos.		Needless to say, crossing the road in Marrakech was an awesome experience ;)

Marrakech McDonalds - there had to be at least one...		The Marrakech rag...		A Marrakech medina street - lovely...

A Marrakech street sign hehe...		A Marrakech local taking home the shopping (on her head)...		And a Marrakech rubbish man! Despite the ever-present smell of cabbage or something weird in the air, Marrakech on the whole is a really clean city, so good stuff.

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