Site Designed, Produced and Maintained by
Pixelwave Design.
|
|
| ||||||
| Member Details | Session Description |
Toys Used |
| Owner:
squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 3024 |
30th December 2011 Hiking - Walking: Marrakech-Morocco Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: 20 Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny Max Speed: Distance Covered: This is the second day of our 10 ten in Morocco including 2 days here in Marrakech where we walked miles around this lively city :) Thursday 29 December 2011 Off to Morocco with our son Rob and his girlfriend Hannah. Early flight so left home at 1.30 – we met up with Rob and Hannah and both parked our van’s on someone’s drive on a new estate in Stanstead which went surprisingly smoothly despite the fact that our satnav couldn’t find it and the guy had forgotten to move his car so we had to wake him up at 3.30! He was very friendly though so that was ok. Taxi to airport then check in nightmare – we had only booked one bag and were over on the weight so my wetsuit was in a bag and Mag had put the toiletries in the hand luggage so that all had to be sorted out on the floor by the check in desk! Then before we boarded they made me get the blooming wetsuit into one bag so taped it to Mag’s rucksack then left my passport at the desk! Got on the plane and no passport! The staff organised a search and I got it back – phew, had visions of having to get off!!! Flight 20 mins quicker than it should have been so got through the airport and onto bus into Marrakech quite quickly. Lovely blue skies and a lot warmer than England! The bus stop was miles from the Hotel Imperial Plaza (booked through bargain Groupon deal:) so had to walk quite a way but it is a nice hotel and Mag and I sat on the roof next to the pool for the afternoon chilling out:) We walked into Marrakech in the evening to enjoy the atmosphere of the souks at night! What a culture shock – hundred and hundreds of stalls, a real mixture of colours, sounds and smells. You could buy anything from scarves, jewellery, clothes, leather, lanterns etc., to a whole side of a cow and a live chicken which they would kill and prepare before your very eyes in 2 seconds flat! You had to watch your back all the time to ensure you didn’t get run over by a moped – even in the narrowest of alley ways! We had a local style pancake in what looked like a locals only part of the souk and then made our way to the main square – Place Jemaa El Fna. It was absolutely teeming with people round the various snake charmers and people with monkeys wanting to charge you to take a photo. We were approached by a man from an outdoor restaurant offering us a mixture of local dishes and as Hannah had read about this in her guide book and it is Rob’s 24th birthday we sat down and enjoyed a really nice meal (the most expensive of our holiday at £510 Dirhams). Walked back through more Souks and arrived back at the hotel exhausted! Friday 30 December 2011 Had a very nice breakfast at the hotel and cheekily made rolls for lunch! Another lovely sunny blue sky:) Got a taxi into the city centre and walked round in daylight – lots more snakes and monkeys! Also lots of stalls selling all sorts of herbal medicines and strange things like ostrich claw and live tortoises and turtles. We visited the La Koutoubia mosque where everyone was flocking to pray , the Tombeaux Saadiens and a Palace before having a walk around the town walls. We were surprised how many storks had nests on the palaces and town walls. Had a kebab, bought some cakes and dates from street vendors and got a taxi back to the hotel. The most amazing sight on the crazy journey back was a moped with trays of literally hundreds of eggs tied to the back! The taxis - drivers leaning on their hooters, mopeds, donkeys and push bikes all vie for position and it is complete madness! So views on Marrakech - crazy, colourful and full of atmosphere, not too much begging and not too much hassling either but other than the souks, street entertainers and a few historical ruins there is not as much here as expected. Two days is about right, moving on tomorrow. Photo Gallery 1 here Photo Gallery 2 here |
Toys Used:
Statsbar:
| |||||||
  |
|
|
|||||||
|
Web Design in Wales, UK by 
Pixelwave Design.
© Alan R Cole 2000...