As mentioned, A LOT in the last few days blog, we loved Marrakech. I don’t know if it was a mix of low expectations to begin with and the fear or feeling unsafe all the time but upon completely changed our mind set based off how friendly everyone is.

Here are our tips, loves and not some much loves from Marrakech:

​LOVES

• The people. Mt god they make the country what it is, warm friendly, smiley and welcoming
• The Riad’s. If coming to Marrakech, book yourself into a Riad. There are plenty that can be found both on Air B n B and booking.com, but some advice I would give, is make sure they have A/C and spend a little extra on a nice one. You would be surprised how much it makes your holiday if you are staying somewhere you feel comfortable. We opted for cheap as 12 months traveling is EXPENSIVE AF but if choosing again, I would have spent more.
• The souks! Getting lost in the mayhem and organised chaos of these markets which spread for miles is what Marrakech is all about. You can haggle with every seller and make sure to taste some of their traditional pastries.
• The Mint Tea! I love tea, but the traditional mint tea made with honey and fresh mint is next level fantastic.
• The Spice market – we bought 2 different holistic healing spices/plants from this market to help with headaches and migraines and the staff there know their stuff. Definitely add it to your list
• The Atlas mountains. Escape for a day away from the city and explore the Atlas mountains for cooler temperatures and a wicked day out with amazing food. We used http://moroccoinspiringtours.com and cannot say good enough things about them.
• How safe we felt! Really, at not one point did I feel like I did in Colombia. Apart from the warnings from speaking to teenage boys on the street as they will scam you, we felt perfectly safe the entire time!

​Now, for the things we didn’t like much:

• The food. Some was amazing but some was very average and not as traditional as expected, and we found it expensive to eat out when on a budget.
• The heat. It was between 38-42 degrees when we were there (September) so we recommend going in their Winter time when temps are more pleasant.
• Our Riad – Riad Elite. It definitely needs some work, but the people are beyond nice, so it made up for it.
• To be honest, we didn’t have many dislikes at all.

Travel tips:

• Always buy bottled water, don’t drink ice, generally stay away from salads and don’t eat any fish from the market
• Taxi’s in the Medina should be a max 40 Dirham, do not pay any more and negotiate before entering
• Don’t speak to the street boys as they WILL scam you while pretending to be tour guides
• Download Google offline maps or MAP.ME to help you navigate the city…you will get lost but it’s all part of the fun.
• Eat Tagine, mint tea and cous cous …it’s delicious when done well.
• Visit La Momoulia…but don’t stay for a drink unless you can really afford it!
• Don’t worry too much about covering up… it’s so overrun by tourists here that in the heat the locals do not mind if showing legs and arms.
• Don’t get a Henna tattoo…90% of the ink isn’t safety regulated and many tourists end up in hospital with skin irritation and ink poisoning.
• Visit the Jardin Majorelle at 8am to avoid the crowds… in fact do this will all tourist attraction as they get so busy and expect to pay 70 Dirham pp for each one.

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ENJOY THE CHAOS – it’s super exciting and live in the moment when in Marrakech. Let the city immerse you in it’s charm!

​Our last day in Marrakech and what an amazing experience it has been! From the sheer generosity and loveliness of each and every person we met here, to the amazing food, and markets, we have thoroughly enjoyed being here. It has come as a surprise as after S.America we really expected a lot of street vendors following us, selling and general annoyance or not feeling safe, but I can honestly say, it has been quite the opposite.
The people here do not bother you at all, they are always willing to help (just don’t take help from teenage boys on corners, they will scam you and it’s a major problem in the area) . As for safety, we did not feel unsafe once, we had our phones out snapping away throughout the day, in the markets and walking back home in the evening. Like every city, do not walk alone at night but apart from that, add Marrakech to your bucket list as it truly a fantastic place!

Now, back to today and our Atlas mountain trip. I have added the link below to the trip we did as overall it was very good. 8am we departed the city and headed to our first stop along the way to see how Argan oil is produced, which was actually quite interesting, and we were able to sit enjoy some mint tea and beautiful fresh bread and oil.
​http://www.moroccoinspiringtours.com/day-trip-to-the-atlas-4-valleys.html
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Of course, it’s a tourist trap in the sense you can buy from them, but we didn’t and just enjoyed the food and learning about the products.  Our first valley stop was where we stopped to take some epic photos which you will see scattered through the blog and each valley was totally epic, and crazy to see the small towns camouflaged perfectly and perched up against these gigantic mountains! This is pretty much how the day went and it’s unbelievable to think that over winter this place is covered in snow as during the time outside I was back to being melting candle face all day. Between the 2nd and 3rd Valley we headed off into the National park on a 1.5 hour hike to a brilliant waterfall at the top of the Ourika Valley. 

​In the afternoon we ventured to a small village right bang middle at the top of a mountain to have a traditional lunch with a Moroccan family. My good god was it good! The highlight of the day I would day. We started with homemade vege soup and olive oil with fresh bread ( 3rd time today I have eaten bread – Marrakech = carb overload), from there we were offered a beautiful cumin spiced salad and then the mains came (sounds of applause) a REAL traditional tagine, not from a pressure cooker, but a real over the fire 6 hour job to make tagine of chicken, veg and beautiful cous cous on the side. This was by far my favourite meal in Marrakech so far as it just tasted SO GODDAM GOOD, I literally ate until my pants felt to tight and I was uncomfortable. 

Then of course we had dessert of fresh fruits and then homemade cookies and of course mint tea which is to die for. To be honest I would have paid the $100NZD each just for this lunch! It was incredible and what made it so much ore enjoyable was the family who welcomed us into their home with the biggest smiles, warm hearts and generosity, allowing us to explore their home, see how they lived and really allowing us to immerse ourselves into the real Morocco. Experience = priceless.

Like Abdul had promised we were dropped safely at the Airport by 4.30pm for our 7pm flight to Porto. Let the next part of the adventure to PORTUGAL commence! So excited for this!

​Another day and another beautiful morning in Marrakech. Waking up this morning it is clearly obvious that we were in for a super hot day as I pretty much sweated through my clothes during breakfast at 8.30am. Regardless, we wanted to explore the city again and check out any sights we missed on day 1. The agenda today was La Momounia (The hotel where Sex and the City 2 was filmed) as we heard from a reliable source ( my mum ) that you don’t need to stay there to walk the hotel and gardens, but you do need to be dressed appropriately and smart … neither of which we are very accustomed to this trip. So, we went and checked, and right enough, no singlets allowed so it turned swiftly into an afternoon plan.

​We had heard a lot about La Jardin Majorelle – aka, The Yves Saint Laurent Gardens and wanted to see what the fuss was about as it was voted the number 1 Instagram spot in Marrakech. We walked there which took 45 minutes as it’s about 5km from our Riad and when we got there, there was a huge queue to get in and a 70 Dirham fee (about $8NZD pp) . We paid it of course as we had just spent the last hour walked in 38 degrees to get there and overall it was pretty enjoyable and easily recognizable why it is instagrammable

From the lush botantical gardens to the bright primary coloured buildings and pottery located around the main museum, it is perfect for snapping some beautiful pictures and be prepared to see A LOT of photoshoots taking place -  some definitely more classy than others. Make sure you also go into the small boutique there which gives home to a non-profit organisation selling clothes and bags which are truly stunning! 
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After a few snaps I was ready for ice-cream and to cool down so the café on the corner seemed like the best bet and for 2 ice-creams and a coffee it cost 65Dirham – about $7NZD.
From there we walked back through the souks, again enjoying getting somewhat lost in all the smaller alley ways and following the crowds or meandering through to look at some shiny trinkets along the way. We stopped to buy some fruit along the way as in the heat it is near impossible to eat proper food and by this point (13000 steps in) getting home was on my main priority list. **Travel tip** - the water here is not safe, for the locals it’s great but for us tourists we get sick, quickly. So, only eat fruit if you can peel it yourself or make sure to wash it first in fresh water – definitely better safe than sorry for this one and there was no way I was getting food poisoning AGAIN!

After freshening up, putting on some good-looking clothes (shorts are welcomed until 6pm) and munching on some beautifully washed fresh peached from the market, we made our way back to La Momounia for a drink and a walk. Well…we got in and managed the walk but for $23NZD for a small beer, we opted out staying for it. It’s just not worth it when we are traveling for 12 months and already spending a massive amount of cash.

We wandered through the winding streets and came across the restaurant ‘Zeitoun’ which translate to something to do with olives. The meal was nice, we ate a couple of mains, few drinks and a starter to share which came to 302Dirham – about $49NZD. It’s ok, but there is definitely cheaper places to eat and street food is a must, we just couldn’t be bothered with the heat, smell and people trying to sell us stuff in the central markets.​

​We also opted for a day tour again with Morocco Inspiring tours for the morning before our flight to the Atlas Mountains and surrounding valleys. It’s costing about $110NZD pp which is super pricey but Abdul our driver, who is incredible, has also offered us our Airport transfer and it includes our food for the day so overall, it’s not too bad. Watch this space and I will explain more tomorrow with how it went.

Holy moley, 170 days in and we are in Northern Africa! And what a journey it has been so far! Marrakech was always on our radar but after finding dirt cheap $30NZD flights from Nimes with RyanAir we decided to add it to the list for a few days stop over to check it out.

OK, yes flying with Ryanair is always a bit of a hit or a miss in the sense its mostly a miss as the service is shite and did you know they charge you $50NZD if you don’t print your boarding pass off before flying, and you can’t check in at the Airport? Yes, well they do, so just be aware of that when flying with them. After a horrid 3 hours of nasty turbulence and not being able to sit next to Leo we arrived safely in Marrakech and to our surprise a seriously luxurious Airport.

​You cannot bring any drones into Morocco so just and FYI as you must declare then get them confiscated for the time you are there (more than 3 days then you pay a horrendous tax) so try and only stay 3 days. We booked an Airport transfer through our Riad for $25NZD and he was waiting for us there after we got through the customs shenanigans. He was so nice and took us to our beauty A/C van and off we went to our Riad – Riad Elite, a new accommodation beside the Royal Palace. Upon checking in we were greeted by yet another super friendly team member and shown to our room …which tbh was just ok, but for $150NZD for 3 nights with B’fast we can’t really complain.

After a rough night’s sleep and being woken by the call to prayer at 5.30am we were ready to start our day of exploring this wonderful, vibrant HOT AF city. However, waking up early meant we were able to catch this sunrise! On our list of things to do was to wander, get lost and most importantly try a tagine and see the markets!
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Nothing can prepare you fully for Marrakech, at all. Not reading blogs, watching YouTube video’s or scrolling Instagram! This is a city which moves to its own organised chaotic beat and you can choose to go with it or stand out and feel awkward. We chose to go with the flow and immerse ourselves!  and visitors can either go against it or try to find their place in its chaotic rhythm. Within the labyrinthine of the city walls we found ourselves many times lost while in awe of the stalls, trying new foods, exploring new alley ways which intertwined and experiences smells, some both good and bad…OH all while trying not to be run down by motorbikes…everywhere!  It is a sticky sweaty mess of a city that is vibrant, inspiring and grasps you from the second you let it.

That afternoon we last minute booked a sunset camel ride at the Palmerie through Morocco Inspiring tours. It was 60NZD pp and we were picked up at 5.45pm by the nicest man in the world, Abdul who spoke perfect English and provided us with water and great chat on the way to the Palmerie. The Palmerie is a national park just outside Marrakech and is a great way to see the sunset, experience camel riding in a desert like area and have wonderful conversations with the locals. 

Our guide Siad was not only multi-lingual but also incredible funny, smart and made the trip immensely fun. To top it off we sat in the home of a local guy and drank mint tea, ate traditional bread with honey and some little cakeys before getting some epic photos of the sunset. Overall, it was an epic tour, and generally we hate tours but this was 3 hours well spent!