We had a four day weekend due to a Green March holiday (click here for more info). We decided to go to Marrakesh. We took the 4 hour train (versus 2.5 hour drive). The train trip was smooth and convenient... and allowed us to sleep and read! We stayed at Riad Safa which was a very nice bed and breakfast owned by a French couple who were extremely helpful. They had a hand drawn map of the area which helped us greatly as finding ones way in a Medina can be very confusing. There are few street signs and it looks like a bunch of narrow alleys with no apparent system... no grid street system… but fun for getting lost in the Moroccan culture. We stayed two nights in Marrakesh and spent most of the time wandering the famous Medina and souk (market). We had dinner in an overpriced, made for tourists, restaurant which included belly dancing and a traditional Moroccan band. Although overpriced, the food was good. We attempted to buy our first Moroccan rug but Stephanie became too overwhelmed by the choice and had to leave the store. She actually had to go back to the hotel for a nap to recuperate! So, we didn’t end up with a rug. We did buy a nice painting. One of the highlights of the trip was eating in the main square. The square is pretty lively during the day with snake charmers and story tellers but in the evening the square explodes with activity. There are tons of street performers, huge crowds of Moroccans and foreigners crowded around to see the shows. There are also numerous food vendors who set up tables and sell meat, seafood, tajines and other Moroccan dishes. They all basically have the same food but there are probably 30 – 40 vendors. Walking through the aisles of vendors was one of the most overwhelming experiences. Each vendor has a guy who tries to get you to sit down at his table and eat. They block your way down the row, pull you aside, follow you around… all trying to get you to eat their food. They all have very good English… and catchy phrases like “See you later alligator” and “It’s not KFC but still finger licking good.” We decided to eat at the snail stand… mainly because they didn’t bug us and pull us into their booths. The snails were actually pretty good. Next we went to the orange juice stand for fresh squeezed orange juice… to die for! Then to the nut guy for some honey covered peanuts… yumm. We finished with an ice cream Sunday. A great experience we will never forget.
While we loved Riad Safa, there was one downside... the Riad was right next to a mosque. Actually, the Riad shared a wall with the mosque and the loud speaker pointed directly at our Riad! We had a nice, loud wake up call at 5:30 every morning. (Just to put this in perspective, the mosque near our apartment wakes us up most mornings and it's about 200 yards from us.) We took a video of the call to pray from the roof of our Riad... I'm not sure it does the experience justice but it's still pretty funny - watch at least one minute to get the full effect! There are tons of mosques in every Medina so you will able to hear several mosques doing the call to prayer.
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