Marrakech Top Tips

So now I am back from my Marrakech trip I thought I’d sum up some of my top tips for this fantastic city.
 
Top places to eat:
 
Al Baraka
Amazing Moroccan food with friendly waiters and traditional entertainment.  Just of Jemaa El Fna square. Reasonably priced, approx £36 per head with wine

Mmmm tagine....

The Red House
Again amazing food with a Moroccan or international a la carte menus to choose from.  Beautiful décor, similar to that of the palaces!  Traditional entertainment and excellent service.  Located in Hivernage.  A bit pricier but worth treating yourself, approx £51 per head including wine  

Hold on I think I know this tune

Le Tanjia
In the southern part of the Medina, this restaurant is tucked away near Place des Ferblantiers.  A perfect lunch stop while sightseeing.  Serves Moroccan and international dishes on a beautifully decorated four floors.  Fairly reasonably priced, approx £11 per head for pizza and a beer (Moroccan style of course!)

La Bagatelle
French cuisine – delicious.  Located in the new city area in rue de Yougoslavie.  Indoor and outdoor dining and reasonably priced, approx £22 per head for 3 courses with wine
 
Top things to do:
·        Visit Jemaa El Fna square in the day and for the Night Market – watch out for the snakes though!
·        Wander around the souks
·        Take a trip to Jardin Majorelle – beautifully in both rain and sunshine
·        Have a massage at your hotel hammam (spa) or Les Bains de Marrakech is supposed to be good too
·        Touristy places to visit (these are not very expensive to get in, around 10MAD and some you can buy a bulk ticket for)
o        Musee de Marrakech
o        Medersa Ben Youseff
o        Palais El Badii (ruins)
o        Palais de la Bahia (partly still in use)
o        Tombaeux Saadiens

Jemaa El Fna square gearing up for the Night Market

Negotiating the souks

Jardin Majorelle (in the rain)

Musee de Marrakech

Medersa Ben Youseff (and the sun is coming out!)

Palais El Badii - not too shabby for ruins

Palais de la Bahia - didn't see P Diddy

Tombaeux Saadiens

Top tips for getting around

• Petit taxis are an easy way to get around.  These are the smaller cars, such as Peugeot 205, Renault 5 and Fiats etc, and although they look a little beat up they will get you from A to B cheaply.  Agree the price with the driver before you set off though and hold on tight!
• The Bus Touristique is a useful way to get around either to hop off and see an attraction or just ride it for the both the Historique and Oasis tours.  48 hour tickets are only around £15
• Before you go email your hotel and ask them to send a taxi/driver to collect you.  They will give you the price and its apparently a cheaper way than getting a taxi at the airport

I'd definitly recommend a trip to Marrakech it is a very interesting city, the people are friendly, the food is great and I'm told the weather is really nice too!

Marrakech Day 4

Day 4 - Monday

Raining again today. I think we've managed to come during the 2 days of annual rainfall that Marrakech gets.  Least the umbrella sellers are raking it in.

Jellabahs are common outfits in Marrakech. They are hooded floor length kaftans and with the pointy hoods up you could be forgiven for thinking you were on the set of a Harry Potter movie. Usually in linen or wool, the rain has brought out the cagool Jellabah - very practical for a day like this.

We've had quite a busy day exploring today.

We got a taxi to the Musee de Marrakech.  Taxis can only go so far so after a few wrong turns on foot we finally found it. A spectacular building, the Musee holds numerous traditional Berber embroidery, jewellery and ceramics. But the building itself is the main attraction.

On to Medersa Ben Youssef. This is a 14th century Koranic school.  Again beautiful architecture with two of the hundred tiny student rooms made up as they would have been back then. Most of the student rooms (that were not reserved for the privileged students) were in fact quite pokey little cells. But in lovely surroundings.  Our ticket also allowed us entry to something else but we were not quite sure what it was. We took a picture of it though.

Next we wandered off into the direction of the souks. A maze of tiny streets and Aladdin's cave style shops.  We navigated the souks quite well (we didn't even need to use the phones compass!) and made our way back to Jemaa El Fna square, which even in the rain was still bustling.

Next stop was the Palais de la Bahia. Built by Grand Vizier Bou Ahmed, the palace was to house his four wives and two-dozen concubines. The rooms that you are able to see are unfurnished but the building itself is decorated beautifully with brightly coloured tiling and intricatly carved panels. The palace is still used as a royal residence so most of the 150 rooms are sealed off, unless of course you are P Diddy and you throw a $1 million party and invite a load of supermodels and celebs!

The next palace probably was just as grand and possibly even bigger than Bahia back in the day, however now the Palais El Badii is unfortunately just ruins. Impressive ruins though.

Making our way back to Place Des Ferblantiers we stopped off for Morroccon style pizza and beer in a fantastic cafe/restaurant called Le Tanjia.  Another little hidden gem.

The sky cleared and the sun started beating down so we whipped out the Ray Bans and got some snaps with blue skies in the background.

Final visit was to the Tombeaux Saadiens. These are the tombs of the golden king, Ahmed El Mansour. Apparently these were lost for a few hundred years behind high walls only to be found again in 1917.  It seems that we arrived at the same time as the three coach loads of French tourists.  Let's just say the Tombeaux are not that big.  At least mum managed to get rid of last nights chicken kebab (that she had hidden in her bag at dinner to make it look like she'd eaten it all) by discreetly chucking it over the tombs to the three hungry kittens. There is always one beady eyed kid around though isn't there.  Quickly exiting the tombs we headed back to the hotel. 

Final recommendation for the day.....dinner at The Red House. The decor was very much like the palaces we have been in today and it offers delicious Morrocan food with entertainment provided by the house musicians and belly dancer. Tres bon!

Marrakech Day 2 cont. and Day 3

Day 2 - Saturday cont...

I'll start with last night because we went to an amazing restaurant just off Jemaa El Fna square for dinner.

Before dinner we had a wander around the night market in the square.  It was just as busy, if not busier, come dusk as it was during the day.  In the evening all the food stalls are out in the centre of the square selling soups, spicy sausages, kebabs and tagines.  It smelt delicious.  Although we try our best not to look too much like typical English tourists we clearly do as everyone seemed to offer 'Asda price' food and wanted to 'see us later alligator'.  One food seller even claimed that Jamie Oliver was his 'brother from another mother'!

We weaved our way through the stalls and dodged  our way through the musicians, monkeys and array of snakes (my heart had already stopped once when a youngster thrust a wooden snake at me earlier!).

The restaurant, recommend by our hotel, was called Al Baraka, and was just off the square next to the police station.  It didn't look anything too exciting from the outside but as soon as we stepped through the door it was like a small oasis of calm and we immediately forgot the hustle and bustle of the square outside.

We were seated in the cosy Caid room on plush banquettes around a candle lit table.

We had a selection of Morroccon salads with bread, followed by rice and minced meat pastry parcels served with local cocaine (aka sugar).  Then we were served chicken and olive, lemon chicken and lamb tagines with cous cous. And just as we thought we couldn't fit any more in the waiter brought out cinnamon dusted Orange slices, pancakes and a variety of sweet biscuits. Those of you who know me will also be surprised to hear I even drank the local whisky, which was disguised as mint tea. Fortunately it was so minty you couldn't taste the tea and it was a very small glass. I thought it would be rude not to drink it.

I got so carried away with the food I almost forgot to mention the musicians who kept us entertained during our meal and also the belly dancer!

There were a few people in the restaurant but clearly not nearly as many as they usually get. The waiters told us that they had been very quiet since Thursdays attack so were grateful we'd still come and thanked us.

We got a taxi home, it was a bit like being at Alton Towers and you'd be surprised the gaps a clapped out old Peugeot 205 can fit through, but we made it. I think mum had her eyes closed for most of it!

Day 3 - Sunday

Bit rainy today. Had to buy an umbrella from an opportunistic street seller who was hovering at the bus stop.

We persevered anyway and made our way to rue Yves Saint Laurent to the Jardin Marjorelle. These beautiful gardens were originally bought and created by French painter, Jacques Marjorelle, until he passed away in 1962. The gardens have since been acquired and restored by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge.  Cacti, bamboo and bright blue, yellow and orange colours adorn this unique garden.

We had lunch in the cafe which was decked out like an Arabian berber tent. Didn't imagine I'd be enjoying a nice cup of hot chocolate in Marrakech but I have to say it went down a treat.

The sun came out just in time for our appointment at the hotel hammam (spa). Skipping the traditional scrub we opted for just the massage. Am now feeling very relaxed.

Had dinner at Bagatelle on rue de Yougoslavie. It was a very nice French restaurant, which seems to be the second most popular cuisine here. Lovely!

Marrakech Day 1 and 2

Day 1 - Friday

After an early start (due to the early flight) we arrived in Marrakech and checked into our hotel just in time to see Kate making her way to the abbey.  We watched Wills and Kate get married, while admiring her beautiful dress and keeping our eyes peeled for Posh and Becks in the congregation. We saw them.

Feeling a bit tired and unsure where to start we spotted the the tourist bus going by as we had lunch in the hotel cafe. After lunch we hopped on the bus and got a 48 hr ticket for about £15. Bargain.

The bus does 2 tours - the historique tour and the oasis tour- we did both.

The historique tour took us along Mohammed vi avenue (which is the longest avenue at about 5km) to the Jardin la Menara.  At the side of the road there are groups of camels awaiting eager tourists.

After swinging by the Marrakech casino the tour reached the pink city walls and headed down towards the Koutoubia Mosque.  We briefly passed the Jemaa El Fna square which still looked very busy despite the recent attack.

We passed the Royal Palace where I had to remember not to take a picture as it is strictly forbidden!

We swapped buses for the oasis tour which took us up towards the Jardin Marjorelle and the Palmarie.  Much more deserty up this way and lots more camels. Apparently this is also the Beverley Hills of Marrakech so there were some very fancy cribs!

Having got our bearings a bit we felt like we had more of a plan for the rest of the trip.

Back to the hotel, The Mogador Opera, for a delicious tagine before falling into bed.

Day 2 - Saturday

Woke up really early feeling slightly confused about what the actual time was. What with Easyjet telling us to put our watches back and the joker on reception messing with our heads and changing the clocks, just for laughs, we ended up having breakfast at what we thought was 9am but was actually 10am. Which explains why there wasn't a lot left (breakfast finished at 10.30am).

After getting ourselves sorted with the right time we headed off to the Koutoubia Mosque (on our little bus).
A brief wander around the outside of the mosque, as non Muslims are not allowed in, confirmed that there wasn't a lot more to see there.  We did the death run across the road and made our way towards the Jemaa El Fna square.

Part of the square was condoned off and we were told it was because the King was coming (and we don't mean Elvis) to see the damage. 

Venturing into the main square I turned around to find mum being accosted by a monkey. It's a good job the monkey understood French as a forceful 'non merci' from mum sent him back to his owner.  Can't leave her alone for a minute!

After the monkey incident we managed to avoid the snakes and bravely carried on towards the souks.

You have to keep on your toes to avoid being mown down by all the mopeds, bicycles and donkey carts who speed through the narrow alleyways.

The souks sell a mixture of traditional wares, such as silver, lanterns, leather, shoes, scarves, spices and olives. By contrast we also came across many stalls selling the usual market trader goods you'd get back home, such as t-shirts, handbags and Calvin Klein underwear. 

The men and women of the mountains, in traditional costume, had also come down to sell their goods and entertain the crowds with their music.

Both the square and the souks are full of hustle and bustle so we stopped for a drink and a rest at the Koutoubia cafe where we could sit back and watch the world go by. 

This is where you can really take in just how chaotic the roads are in Marrakech. There are all sorts of vehicles from brand new audi's, mopeds and 3 wheeled trucks to donkey carts, horse and carriages and even mobility scooters. Among all this there are policemen blowing their whistles while directing the traffic as well as hundreds of people dodging in and out trying to cross the road.

Back on the bus we hopped off again at Place du 16 Novembre and found a nice little cafe for lunch.  This seemed to be an upmarket area with high street shops and fancy looking apartments.  It felt a little bit calmer here....until the traffic policeman started frantically blowing his whistle.  We stood up for a better view and waited for the road to be cleared.  Shortly after a number of black cars sped by followed by a few motorcycle outriders, then a few more cars, then the official car with flag on the front and King inside, flanked by 3-4 further cars also sped by. And they were literally speeding along. There was a round of applause from onlookers and quite a few more entourage cars before the traffic started moving again. We'd seen the King of Morocco....we'll his cars dust trail anyway!

Over the road we spotted a mini souk so off we wandered only to emerge 15 minutes later clutching some pashminas. It was a good shop Dale.

After all the excitement we headed back to the hotel for a quick rest before dinner.