Three Days in Morocco, Marrakech and Essaouira
Sneak peek into my Morocco trip to Marrakech and Essaouira...
Tajines- a traditional North-African chicken or beef dish served in a clay pot
And we’re back! Marrakech, Morocco was an hour flight from Spain, Madrid. We purchased our ticket through a local airline, Ryanair for a round-trip total of around $265/person. Everything in Morocco cost money. You want water on the plane? 2 euros. You want Moroccan mint tea? 3 euros. Why would I have thought these things were free? Thank you American conditioning of instant gratification and convenience!
The moment we landed in Morocco I fell in love. This was the first time I had experienced getting out of an airplane and actually getting off onto the same runway the plane landed on. In the U.S. most airports your plane door connects with a jet bridge, which takes you directly inside the airport. The scene was raw, and made me feel ultra cool. The simplest things in life makes me happy. As we walk into the airport we experienced a scene that felt out of a movie. An escort was holding up a sign with one of our friends name “Elaine” awaiting to whisk us away to our Riad.
Then a serendipitous moment happened at the end of our taxi ride after we had zoomed through the clay orange buildings, and crowded streets. At the end of the road with no street signs to be found…BEHOLD my best friend, Cassandra from Berkeley walks past our taxi with a face of a woman on a mission. I shout from our cab, “CASSANDRA!” With shock on her face, she flips her head quickly as a smile on her face grew larger. She is pictured below speaking Arabic to our Riad concierge.
Cassandra was a Peace Corps volunteered in Morocco
Cassandra, and our Riad concierge took us through the winded streets of Morocco. In Morocco there are not street signs, you utilize landmarks to get back to your Riad. The service, and hospitality at the Riad was wonderful. We were greeted with a warm, and refreshing Moroccon mint tea. Everything about the interior decor was beautiful.
Riad Hamdane
After we drank our complimentary Moroccan mint green tea (something to note, drinking tea is an art in Morocco. The server pours the tea as high as they can so as the droplets pour into the cup it creates bubbles. The more bubbles, the better), and freshened up we head over to the Medersa Ben Youssef, which is a school where thousands of students studied the Koran.
But first we enjoyed the little sights and stalls on the side streets of Morocco. In Morocco, to get the best deal for your purchase in one of these stalls you have to use the art of bargaining, much in Asia. You always start with 50% of the original asking price, and you bargain up.
The streets of Marrakech.
After about a twenty-minute of walking through the dirt paths of Marrakech, we purchased about $10 for our tickets to enter the Medersa. The picture below does not do it justice...
Medersa Ben Youssef
Next door to the Medersa was a small non-profit photography studio ran by the Dar Bellarj Foundation. The studio was beautifully embellished by Moroccan craftsmen. One thing to admire about Morocco hands down would be their craftsmanship.
Intricate craftsmanship you will witness throughout the city
The sun was beginning to set, and we enjoyed the rest of the night bargaining at the night market, and eating dinner at the open bazar. The next day we had planned a 2-hour trip to the coast of Morocco, Essaouria (a city to this day I have to keep spell checking) using a private driver to take us there. Two simple words to describe the town: white & blue.
