If you live in Andalusia, you must have already visited major cities such as Córdoba, Seville, Málaga, Cádiz and Granada, but did you know that in just 1.5 hours you can immerse yourself into the completely different world of Marrakech, the former capital of the Moroccan empire, the land of fairy tale storytellers, snake charmers and belly dancers!

I had been dreaming of visiting Marrakech for some time, but because I am blonde and everyone warned me that the men there are very pushy, so I persuaded a friend to come with me, safety in numbers! I should point out that we were never bothered, no one was intrusive, we always felt safe, even late at night, so in my experience this "story" can go to the land of fables!

If you want to enjoy the true Eastern flair that we know from “The Thousand and One Nights“ (The Arabian Nights), the best place to stay is of course a Riad, so we booked the ‘Riad Dar Colline’ for 4 nights. (The Arabic word RIAD also means "garden with trees" and in Morocco it refers to a traditional urban apartment building with a green courtyard that is located in the medina). These small city palaces offer a peaceful oasis with their beautiful courtyard / garden and the roof terraces have fantastic views over the medina. Good to know: In a riad you are never really alone, you can hear everyone so clearly because the courtyards, to which all rooms are connected through windows, are enormous sound amplifiers.

We flew on Saturday with Vueling from Málaga airport, and when we arrived in Marrakech after an hour and a half our personal driver from the riad was already waiting for us. Through a maze of alleys he brought us to the destination. We had a very friendly welcome with a traditional Moroccan mint tea.

We had already booked a tour of the medina for the evening which began at the famous hotel 'Café de France' in the middle of the Djemaa el Fna square which is the central point of the city. A lot happens here in the evening, you will see snake charmers, jugglers, fairy tale tellers, traders, fortune tellers, artists and musicians. At the stalls you can buy regional, culinary specialties and souvenirs. Unfortunately you can also take pictures of monkeys, snakes and other animals,I must say that I do not support this, I am 100% sure that the animals are not looked after well as they only serve as a means to earn money.

From there we walked to the Koutoubia mosque. It is the largest mosque in Marrakech and dates from the second half of the 12th century, making it one of the oldest mosques in Morocco. Unfortunately it is not possible to see the inside of a mosque in Marrakech, so we only walked across the square and through the beautiful garden behind the mosque, and then back through the souks to Djemaa el Fna square, where traders of all kinds tried to attract our attention. We strolled through the narrow streets of the souks where mopeds, sometimes loaded up with commerce, and donkey carts cross the narrow streets. All around us we are surrounded by mountains of herbs and spices, lamps, rugs and other colourful things. You have to be careful where you look as the traders may quickly interpret that you are interested and then you have to remain polite but steadfast and keep some distance. It’s good to know that you can negotiate up to 50% with traders. With humor, kindness and a lot of patience you can get a good deal!

Once back on Djemaa el Fna square, we treated ourselves to a mint tea on one of the many rooftop terraces, and were completely overwhelmed by the market, the souks and the medina. The background noise is enormous: bagpipes, shrill whistle sounds and drums can be heard from all directions. The aromas of boiled snails, fresh lemon juice, herbs and so many other wonderful smells surrounded us, there was so just much to assault the senses that we did not know where to look first..... you cannot describe this, you have to experience it for yourself!

We walked further through the streets and visited the modern shopping center ‘Carré Eden Shopping Center Marrakech’, a striking contrast compared to the souks. Somewhere on a terrace we enjoyed a delicious meal and then passed by the ‘Le Grand Cafe De La Poste’. This grand cafe is one of the best restaurants in Marrakech, the decor of this restaurant is more reminiscent of Casablanca in the 1920s than of Marrakech because of the wooden shutters, the lush palm trees and white tablecloths. A very colonial style, complemented by a gastronomy that combines the northern flavors of Africa with those of the French. However, we were more interested in a mint tea and a dinner in ‘Café Des Épices’ as we had already seen this café several times and had been tempted inside, but because it was now dark we got hopelessly lost in the alleys and lost all orientation because many of the shops were closed and therefore quiet and everything looked so different. Eventually we asked someone for directions and were very happy and relieved to find the Cafe at last!

The cafe is located directly on ‘Rahba Kedima Square’ in the northern medina. The narrow, renovated café extends over three floors (at least if you include the small roof terrace that rises high above the square) and is therefore one of the tallest buildings on the square. The cafe is very tasteful and quite minimalist and offers a relaxed chilled-out atmosphere. From here there is an excellent view of the hustle and bustle of the spice market, where apart from spices, wicker and knitted clothing, fragrance stones, traditional beauty products and ointments are sold.

The next day it was time for some action, we booked a quad tour through the desert. Unfortunately the organization left a lot to be desired, the tour should have lasted 3 hours, excluding the pick-up but the whole pick-up took almost 1 hour, which was deducted from the trip but once on the tour it was very enjoyable.

A visit to Morocco is not possible without the typical hammam. Every now and then I go to the sauna, but have never been to a hammam so after the experience with the Quad, we thought we should treat ourselves to something nice and relaxing so we booked a traditional cleansing ritual with ‘Les Bains de Azahara’. We laid on a warm marble bench and the pool lady poured hot water on us. The heat promotes blood circulation, loosens the muscles and opens the pores of the skin for further care. Then we were washed with a black olive soap, admittedly, it is a strange feeling to be washed by someone, then water is poured over us again and we rest for 10 minutes in the steam bath. Then the peeling starts with a special peeling glove, the dead skin cells are carefully scrubbed off. It is amazing how much skin is rubbed off, what a surprise! ... then the newly appearing skin is generously embalmed with argan oil. After this treatment we had to lie down on a lounger in a relaxation room where we had a 5 minute foot massage with a cup of mint tea to follow, delicious!!

We hadn't made any plans for the last day, so the night before we decided that we wanted to do the quad tour again, then go to the souks and have dinner in the evening near our riad. As expected, the pick-up for the quad tour was again very disorganized, but we got a private quad tour this time and the guide really did everything he could to make it a great trip, I think he had as much fun as we did. We drove through a small gorge where we hung over at 90°, went through water, over sand and stones, over hills; it was really exhilarating! In the afternoon we sauntered through the souks again and enjoyed a nice lunch in ‘Restaurant Nomad’. This restaurant has a beautiful terrace with views of Marrakech and the snow-capped peaks of the Atlas Mountains.

In the evening we had dinner near restaurant 'Dar Marjana' close to our riad, at this point we were all done with the souks and the noise, we just wanted comfortable surroundings and nice food as well as enjoying a water pipe and mint tea. We ate on the rooftop terrace and it was even better than ‘Nomad" or ‘Café de Espices’!! The ‘Dar Marjana’ serves delicious traditional cuisine and offers a spectacular setting with traditional live music. This is a real insider tip, because from the outside it looks so modest, but as soon as the door opens, you step into another world ..... that of “a Thousand and One Nights” ......

Yvette