If you’re looking to escape the dreary days of winter and experience a different culture, Marrakech is the ideal destination. Go for the weekend, for a quick taste of its cultural richness, or spend longer and get a full dose.
The hop-on-hop-off bus tour (which has become a popular tourist activity in cities across the world) is probably the most convenient and efficient way to see the main sights of both the Medina, or old fortified city, and the adjacent modern city. This makes it one of best Marrakech tours and one of can’t miss things to do in Marrakech. It is also how my friend and I spent our first day in Marrakech - sightseeing.
We even did the ‘Morocco Romantique’ leg of the tour in order to see the Jardin Majorelle, a pretty garden owned by Yves Saint Laurent that (in my opinion) fails to live up to the beauty depicted by photos of it. Then, we drove past one of the most elegant golf courses I’ve seen (complete with fountains), but I’m not exactly an avid golfer. There was no educational commentary for this part of the tour, instead Alicia Keys and someone singing about how he “didn’t want to go to bed mad at you” serenaded us as we observed camels lounging at the side of road.
To catch the bus, we had to make our way to Djemma el Fna. You’d think this would not be such a trying task (it is one of the busiest squares in the world) but seeing as there aren’t really any street signs (or streets for that matter) in the Medina, it’s easy to get lost in the complex alleys filled with souks (or markets) selling candles, lanterns, food, shoes that resemble oversize colourful elf footwear, jewelry, purses and other leather accessories, and tons of souvenirs. Luckily, all you have to do is pull out a map, ask for directions, or just appear lost, and children seem to instantly appear out of nowhere like mini tour guides to take you wherever you need to go – for a small fee, of course.
When we arrived at the square, I unfortunately needed to use the bathroom. In Marrakech, this requires three indispensible items: money, toilet paper, and antibacterial. My friend had item #3 and I should have had item #2 after having previously traveled through Thailand and parts of South America, but since we had just arrived the night before, we still did not have any dirhams. So we set out on a mission around Djemma el Fna for a bank machine and a pharmacy. We found a bank machine without too much trouble, except for the fact that a Moroccan band (for lack of a better word to describe Moroccan men with instruments) forced us to take a photo with them and then were very unpleased when we did not have any dirhams to give them. We couldn’t find toilet paper, though, and I had to settle for a napkin provided, grudgingly, by the lady at a gelato stand. So an hour and a lot of effort later I had relieved myself and we were ready to board the bus.
That night we ate a traditional Moroccan dinner of couscous, lamb tagine, chicken pastilla (aka, according to me, sugar chicken), delicious sugary pastries, and Moroccan tea (best described as mint tea with a lot of sugar – do you sense a pattern here?) at a fabulous hidden gem of a restaurant called Dar Zellij. It’s located in the Medina, behind one of those inconspicuous doors I was referring to. Our table was strewn with rose petals, no surprise there (the bed and bathroom at our riad were both similarly adorned upon our arrival). Romance seems to seep out of this city and followed my friend and I everywhere, like some sort of pesky shadow – which makes it a great place to visit with a boyfriend/girlfriend or husband/wife!
