We took a quick visit to Marrakech, Morroco at the end of January 2007. Since we didn't have a travel filled winter vacation like last year, we were itching to start 2007 properly. We were actually shooting for Tunisia, but flights were too expensive.

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Our first North African & Muslim country, we were very much looking forward to this experience.

BELOW: Remnants of having been a former French colony.

The city centre of Marrakech-the medina-is surrounded by a huge city wall dating from the 11th century. That said, it is wide open spaces outside the city walls with orange trees dotted everywhere. Reminded us of Orange County in California.
There were several MOSQUES around the city, but we did not go into any of them. Unlike Catholic churches, these mosques were not tourist destinations. There was a call to prayer at dawn & dusk every day, but we didn't see people stopping in their tracks to pray or anything. In fact, everyone just continued about their business. Conscious of the more conservative lifestyle, Moe wore 3/4 length shirts & jeans the whole time. But since we went in the end of January, she was under cover of her coat the whole time any way. We also tried not to hold hands out of respect of the culture, but there were plenty of young couples & tourists carrying on as usual. But the locals didn't seem to mind.

The only destination we paid to go in and look around was the SAADIAN TOMBS. This is the final resting place for the 16th century Saadian Sultan Ahmed el-Mansour el-Dahbi - known for defeating foes from Portugal to Sudan.

 

This is also where his 170 plus wives, children, relatives, & servants were laid to rest as well.

BELOW: We first spotted the STORKS at the Tombs, but soon saw them perched in many spots atop the city walls.

DJEMA EL-FNA

The central market that is busy round the clock. There are carts upon carts of dried fruit, orange juice, snacks, & other junk to purchase during the day. ...

... Then in the evening, carnival-like games take place. You'll see circles & circles of people surrounding various games, fortune tellers, snake charmers, etc. ...

... And finally, in another corner are the tables upon tables of hot food stalls. These range from bbq kebabs to stews to snails to chocolate & coffee.

LEFT: The best meal we had in Morroco, by far, was in this little shop far away from the market where it was less touristy. The guy manned three pots of stews on burners at the front of the shop. Here we're enjoying the tastiest chicken & lemon stew, green lentil, bread, & mint tea. It was so good, we ordered a second helping.

LEFT: Our first meal of veggie couscous & chicken tagine. Yummy. And then, the ever abundant Morrocan mint tea.

ABOVE: Our familiar kebab being prepped.

One of those bbq kebab meals we mentioned. We had several of these while we were here. They give you a big piece of bread to eat with what skewers or plates of stuff you order. Plus a selection of sauces.

There's even the British tourist standards of chips & fried calamari.

All the stalls are numbered to help you return to a favourite next time or report bad food from another.

We learned quickly that competition here is stiff. Everyone wants a piece of the tourist. When you wander by, all the waiters work very hard to entice you to eat at their stall to the point of pulling tourists back & forth like yo-yos & offering free tea. Then we learned the quality & prices were pretty much the same.

SNAILS!!!
Yummy flatbread.
Then there are the meandering alley ways of the SOUQS. Loads & loads of stalls packed to the brim with colourful merchandise.
We had a ball wandering through these streets & alleyways. But be cautioned, even the slightest two-second eye contact draws the attention of the ever eager shop keeper anxious for you to enter & buy something. Especially since there are so, so, so many of the same shops everywhere. Competition is extremely fierce.
An interesting experience with gender. The local women generally talked to Moe, the local men usually didn't (except for the shop keepers). But when you're wandering through the windy alleys of the souqs or trying to find the mosque or catacombs, a friendly local will offer his help to take you there. Well they only talked to Fred, & they often walked quite fast ... darting in & out of alleys, turning various corners here & there. It's easy to get turned around very quickly. At first, Moe being Moe, felt as if we were going to be led into an alley where we were going to get beat up & robbed, but then we just kept going & going. The frustrating thing that took Fred a while to understand was that the "guide" only talked to him & in the rush of getting to the destination, Fred often forgot to relay the situation to Moe or confer with me if that was what we wanted to do (the guy will just butt in & offer his two cents as the two of us were trying to have a private conversation). So in those situations, Moe was left out of the loop, which left her extremely uncomfortable after a few more twists & turns. In the end, the "guides" were all very friendly & accommodating, but still, the experience for this navigational control freak was too unnerving.
This is Ali, the first shop we entered. He was so very, very hospitable. We sat & chatted, he taught us about the Morrocan haggling system, & then we purchased a camel leather pouf from him. We returned two days later to strike another deal to purchase some little olive bowls & camels. He was the sweetest man.
Haggling is the way of doing business, be ready for it. We are crap at it, but we managed. We likely didn't get the super best prices for everything, but we aren't big shoppers in the first place. There are just a couple of keeper items we like to collect from the places we visit, & then we ignore everything else. Just keep in mind that the locals know the exchange rate really, really well, so when they're haggling with you they also believe that it shouldn't cost you that much money because you're from America or Europe. & everyone from America & Europe is rich!! Comparately that may be true. But this attitude can get under your skin, especially knowing that you don't make a whole lot of money for the standard of living back home. All that said, the souq in Marrakech are an experience worth having, just be ready for aggressive shop keepers.  
Magic carpets, spices, herbs, soaps, make up, pottery, clothing, jewelry, & nick nacks. Everything was so colourful.
 
 
The poor is very poor here, so just be mentally ready for it. The poverty in Romania was our first encounter, but this was so much more intense. This was definitely a very eye opening experience. While we did not come from affluent households by far, we were fortunate to not experience poverty like this. Everyone is super friendly, & everyone is your friend. But be cautious because your friend will want a tip after having shown you the way to some place or given you some advice or what ever. The locals are not shy about sticking their hands in your face for money, & they are definitely not shy about demanding more than just a couple of coins. So if you don't want it, be firm about your "no" & walk away. Moe had an encounter with a little old lady doing henna tattoos in the Djema. She insisted on doing the tattoo, Moe didn't want it, she grabbed my hand & started painting, she wouldn't let go. When she was finally done, she stuck her hand out expecting to be paid ... at a reasonable price of course. Well I didn't have money (we only had big bills & we weren't going to pay her 10€) for something we didn't want in the first place. That caused quite a scene. We fished out some coins, about 20 Dirham. She didn't want it because she complained it was too little, it wasn't worth it. But seeing that that was all she was getting out of us, she took it.
We were in Marrakech for four days, but spent two of them driving over the Atlas mountains into the Sahara desert. We opted to do an overnight excursion with Sahara Expeditions that involved a camel ride & sleeping in the desert.
Through the Atlas Mountains
SAHARAN ADVENTURE
On the Saharan Desert
 
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 Our hotel. We usually stay in hostels or pensions, but the package deal included three nights stay in a 4-star hotel. It was nice, but at 30 minutes walk outside the Medina wall, it wasn't always convenient.