Weekend In Marrakech

My husband and I with some family members went to Marrakesh for a long weekend and found it was as spectacular as all the travel books and articles said! It was full of amazing smells and colours and the Djemaa El Fna Square was just out of this world! I have never seen so many different parts of a sheep that is used as food! The snake charmers and the acrobats are all around and you have to be careful not to stay watching too long as you will be 'dragged' in to participate! Many of the tourists watching didn't mind this but you have to be careful. We wandered through the Souks and the markets and bartered where necessary, but the prices were so cheap that it seemed an insult to barter but this is expected! We also wandered away from the main square and walked thought the 'local' part of the area which was full of local people buying vegetables, fruit and meat, which was fascinating. Of course you get pestered by the local children asking if they can be your guides and you have to be firm and tell them NO but if you ignore them and walk away they usually get the message. We stayed at a small Riad off of the Kasbah and it was perfect. Tim and Alix the owners were great hosts and gave us plenty of good tips about taxi's and places to visit. It was about a 15- 20 minute walk from the Riad to the Djemma square but worth it as we felt we saw the real Marrakesh. The Riad was difficult to find and at first we thought we were in the middle of Beirut as there is a lot of building in a state of repair around it but once you step inside it is like an oasis! Fantastic! We did not have enough time to visit all of the sites so we would definitely go back!