Day 8 - Marrakech

We arrived at the train station in Marrakech at about 9AM and took a taxi to our hotel.   We had breakfast, and because out rooms were not ready we decided to walk to the Majorelle Gardens.  The line was very long and we were tired so we decided not to wait and returned to the hotel.  We took showers, did our laundry, and then Karen went to a spa down the street for a Hammam, a Moroccan method of exfoliating and moisturizing your skin.

long line outside the gardens.

While she was at the spa I worked on the blog.   After Karen returned rejuvenated we walked into the old part of town.   We went to the Mosque de la Koutoubia, the Place Jemaa el-Fnaa ( the main square in Marrakech), and then walked a circuitous path through the medina before heading back to our hotel.

The red walls that Marrakech is famous for date from the 12th century, and were built by Ali ibn Yusef who was the 5th Almoravid King. 

The Koutoubia Mosque was built in the late 12th century by the Almohads, Masmouda tribesman from the High Atlas Mountains who conquered Marrakech in 1147.  They practiced orthodox Islam and built their mosque on the ruins of an Almoravid palace.  This mosque is a twin of the Giralda Mosque in Seville, Spain, and the unfinished Hassan Tower in Rabat that we visited on day 2.

Place Jemaa el-Fnaa is a beehive of activity.  During the day there is a lot of activity with restaurants and shops surrounding it, but at night it really gets busy with wall to wall people, snake charmers, gambling, musicians, etc.   These all exist during the day but the crowds and number of "performers" are much greater at night.

We met the group back at the hotel at 7, and took taxis to the main square.  We were originally going to take a public bus, but after waiting a long time with no buses we gave up.  One local man said there had been no buses stop for over an hour.  Even getting a taxi was a challenge.   Empty taxis did stop after seeing a bunch of foreigners, but when our group leader wanted to negotiate a reasonable price they weren't interested - they wanted foreigners who would pay top dollar.  Eventually we made it to the square, and walked around as the sun was setting.

We ended the day eating at a BBQ place in the square.  It was a good experience until it came time to pay the bill.  Not sure if our leader was at fault for not checking and negotiating the cost upfront, or if the place was trying to rip us off, or both, but we ended up paying 3X what the meal should have cost.  After dinner we took taxis back to the hotel.