Day 4 - Marrakesh

After 2 great days in Essaouira, we were sad to say goodbye and would have happily stayed there longer. However, we’re off to the big one - Marrakesh. We were all a little bit cautious about here as even all our guides and hotels said how hot it is, how busy it is, and how the locals aren’t as friendly as Essaouira and Agadir. I’m sure we’re in for a friendly welcome.

Our 3hr supratour bus was once again easy to book, board and travel on so well done to Moroccan bus companies. And we finally saw goats in trees! We arrived in Marrakesh faced with an almighty heat. Walking to our hotel was out of the question so a taxi was the preferred option. I wasn’t sure how far into the medina you could drive but the taxi driver looked up the address and even rang the hotel to have their receptionist meet us at the furthest place he could go, just so we wouldn’t be lost. Very nice gesture indeed. Riad Amina will be our home for 2 nights.

At check in, the hotel manager warned us not to speak to men, all men are bad, and only ask women or police officers for help. Not filling us with confidence here. Anyway, off we went for a walk to see the sights. The only problem was that we didn’t know where we were going and didn’t know how to get there either. It was the warmest part of the day and the heat was getting to us.

Apparently, this week has been feast week and mostly everything has been closed. It was supposed to last 5 days but today has been day 6 or 7. With no shops open, every street looked the same and having lost a few stone in sweat already, we threw in the towel and came home to dry off and try again later when it was cooler.

The more lost we looked the more hassle we got from local men but thankfully our receptionist from earlier, jeans and all, bumped into us and escorted us back. We all agreed it would be easier to have lunch here and get sorted for tonight.

As the girls used the roof terrace pool, I finished off a few hotel reviews before we all got ready for dinner. It was then that the heat hit Anna hard. Not feeling well, we thought it all best if we stayed in our riad for dinner instead of going back exploring the mazes in the heat. It also turned out to be quite a stormy night so just as well.

Our Riad Amina has only 16 rooms and it felt that all of them were out in town. We had the place to ourselves and got special attention from the staff, so much so that Anna even had her own personal fan. After dinner, we were also invited to meet the chef behind the scenes and thanked her for her lovely food. She probably thought she had the night off until we turned up.

The receptionist for the night was a bit of a joker but he eventually mellowed as he joined us for ice cream on the roof terrace, where he told us he works 2 jobs, kick-boxes and gets an hour nap before he is back to work again. What’s more impressive is he does all that in this heat!

A rest day was probably what we needed and helped us prepare for the rest of our Morocco trip, starting with a day trip to Ouzoud Waterfall tomorrow.