Morocco – Marrakech 28/10/16 – 30/10/16

Day 13, 14 and 15
Our last destination in Morocco, a 3 hour local bus ride to Marrakech. Once there we literally had a few minutes before the group headed out for dinner. We walked around 30 minutes and got to the famous Djemma El Fna, one of the largest public spaces in the world and unique to Morocco. It was late evening so, very dark, however our senses were overloaded, not with the smell of horse poo and wee at its entrance, but the smells coming from hundreds of open air food stalls, jugglers flinging objects into the sky, the sounds of snake charmers entrancing their reptiles out of the baskets, bands playing music, locals dressed in traditional highly coloured clothing, this place had it all, truly magical. We sat at one of these food stalls, (which was packed) and 1 by 1 we were given traditional food. Most of it, Tina and I thought was disgusting, however we attempted most of it. Overall, this evening was the worst, the smell, the smoke from the open air restaurants, the food and i dropped my bag under the table in liquid poo, not a good evening here, couldn’t wait to get away. The following day we split up into smaller groups and did different activities, I decided on the Medina walk. Tina however stayed at the hotel and rested. The Medina here is massive and our local guide stated it had 1950 streets within it. What made this medina different to others we had visited was that it was full of local artisans making their own products. Streets full of small hideaways with men and women working endlessly making the finest goods, as i imagine their families had done over many centuries. It would not be a good idea to walk these streets without a guide, it was a massive maze. I had been given strict orders not to buy anything, however 500 MAD spent, and I had a few trinkets including a silver and amber bracelet for the misses, who didn’t seem to mind my spending habits. (T, and a door knocker for a door we don’t have!).
The rest of the day was again free time, until we all met for our final dinner. We all discussed our trip in detail, all having our own favourite place and activity so you can imagine the colourful discussions we had. We thanked our guide Samir for his professional, yet personal and fun attitude as we would not be seeing him again after tonight. He had done a marvellous job as an Intrepid Guide, and because of him our memories of Morocco will be ever lasting.
Had such a great time with our group, lots of laughs and memories with Erana, Nerelle & Bill, Judy & Peter, Cheryl & Cathy, Hans & Helen, Huw, Pat & Cookie, Ingrid and Sondra.