Marrakech, Morocco — Hannah & Christopher

A day in the Red City

After a relaxing day in the riad, it was time for us to venture out to the big city of Marrakech. We only had a day here so we only visited a couple of the more touristy places. We can definitely say the vibe of the riad and the city are completely different. While I was doing my research, I noticed people mentioned there are a lot of scams in the city, pushy salesmen and that we had to put our thick skin out. Having that aside, the city is filled with the richness of culture and beauty with their architecture.

Cash for everything

Morocco uses cash for almost everything. So before our trip, we went to a currency exchange to get some Dirhams (MADs/DHs). We got about 1380DH (500 bucks CAD) for the week. Later we found out that, Dirham is officially designated as a closed currency meaning it can only be traded within Morocco. The import and export of the currency is tolerated up to a limit of 1000DH. So upon arriving to the airport, we traded in some more for the payments of riads and tours. A good tip here is to also getting smaller bills or even coins for tipping and public washrooms (because you need to pay to go). If you happen to run out of money during your stay in Morocco, you can still get Dirhams with their ATMS in the city.

A very cheap data plan

In the last post, we mentioned after exiting customs, there were telecom booths where they hand out free sim cards. The only catch is they have to take a photo of your passport.

There are 2 big companies: Maroc Telecom and Inwi. We chose to go with Maroc Telecom based on advice Chris was given. To use the sim card, we still had to go to store in the city to buy the data plan. The data plan here in Morocco is pretty cheap. We got a 2gb plan for only 20DH which is about 3 bucks CAD. However, not sure if our phone wasn’t compatible or there were signal problems, but the signal always dropped to 3G or sometimes even lower. But it’s only 3 bucks so can’t complain!

Taxi scams

While planning, we had read a lot of articles on scams, one of the most common is with taxis. There are 2 types of taxis in Morocco, they are the petite taxi and the grand taxi. A typical ride to your riad/hotel from the airport with a petite taxi is about 70 Dirham. It will be listed on the board when you come out of the Airport near the taxi stand. Also, another tip when taking the taxi is to negotiate the price upfront, because you can run into a situation where the driver will tell you the meter is broken or they forgot to turn it on so they can’t charge you properly based on time/distance.

PhotographIng people

In Morocco, unlike any country, street photography is extremely difficult since people really disliked being photographed. If you get caught, people will swear at you or even ask you for money! Knowing this and having my bulky SLR camera, most of these shots have be taken discretely or have to be asked with permission.

Jardin Majorelle

One of the attractions I was most excited about was the Majorelle Garden. It is a two and half acre botanical garden and artist's landscape garden created by the French artist, Jacques Majorelle over almost forty years, starting in 1923, and features a Cubist villa designed by the French architect, Paul Sinoir in the 1930s. In the 80s, it became the home of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé. This is also the one of the most popular destinations for tourist so we came early in the morning. But the line was still extremely long. Luckily, the staff at our riad told us there is side entrance which not a lot of people knew which has a shorter line.

Entrance Fee: 70 DHs ($9.60 CAD)
Open Hours: 9am-5pm

Here they planted hundreds of rare varieties of trees and plants: cacti, palm trees, bamboo, coconut palms, weeping willows, carob trees, jasmine, agaves, white water lilies, datura, cypress, bougainvilleas, and ferns. They also have fruits like lemon and oranges as well! It was magnificent!

This cobalt/ultramarine blue was created by the artist and trademarked the “Majorelle Blue” and was painted on the walls and fountains. This place was so pretty and pictureque! (Thanks to my instagram husband for taking lots of photos of me around this place :D ) This Yves Saint Lauren’s home has a Berber museum inside (no photos allowed) showcasing the richness and diversity of the ancient objects, carpets, weavings, clothings, weapons, musical instruments and jewellery of the Berber culture.

Bahia Palace

The Bahia (Brilliance) Palace, built in the 19th century, was another beautiful bit of architecture filled with Moroccan heritage. A 20 acre palace made up of about 150 richly decorated pieces of mashrabiya (ornamental wood carved windows), marble, carvings and paintings on beech and cedar wood, zellige (Moroccan tiles), the first stained glass windows of the Maghreb. It has several refreshing green courtyards and gardens planted with orange, banana, cypress, hibiscus and jasmine trees. The palace have once been housing the sultan’s (Ba Ahmed) four wives and twenty-four of concubines which he built 150 rooms for his wives.

Entrance Fee: 70 DHs ($9.60 CAD)
Open Hours: 9am-5pm

These zelligie tiles have the most intricate and colourful design that dates back almost 1000 years ago. I am also most impressed with the stucco wooden carved decorations and paintings on ceiling!

The courtyards are also very spacious and the gardens are very serene. This is certainly one of the best-preserved historical sites and certainly most interesting in Marrakech.

Saadian Tombs

The Saadian Tombs houses one of the remains of the some important figures in Morocco from the Saadi Dynasty. The royal tombs are built around the 14th century and was sealed off due to the fall of the dynasty and was rediscovered in 1917. This place was the closest to our riad and was just a 5 min walk!

Entrance Fee: 70 DHs ($9.60 CAD)
Open Hours: 9am-5pm

Jemaa el-Fnaa / souk

Another infamous destination in Marrakech has to be the Jemaa el-Fnaa souk/market. It was also about 10-15 min walk from our riad. We went around 5pm (since the other tourist spots are closed) after we had rested in the riad due to the hot temperature around noon. Once we had reached to the market, it was filled with orange juice and food stalls, tattoo women, snake charmers and entertainers with their chained monkeys. This is also where a lot of pushy salesmen pulling you in for business. Some people on tripadvisor said to beware of tattoo women because they will grab your arm and start drawing the henna on your hand and you will be forced to pay a hefty price. Taking photos of the animals or snake charmer will also result in them forcing you to tip! Knowing this, we did the best to avoid and shake our heads when we walked past them.

Morocco is known for their orange juice. So as soon as we entered the square, the first thing we did is to get ourselves an orange juice. There are millions of fruit stalls but we just randomly picked one and it’s the most sweet and refreshing orange juice we’ve ever had. It’s about 4 DHs ($1 CAD). The kids who operate the stall saw us taking photo and kindly let me up on their stall to take a group photo lol.

Another thing that people mentioned about the souk is that you can easily get lost because of the twist and turns inside. Some people will take advantage of that and will ask if you are lost and kindly bring you out then ask for money again. So our plan is to go in either go right on all turns or all left. Luckily we didn’t get lost. Inside, they sell a lot of their delicacies - from nuts, olives, clay pottery, leather shoes and bags to pot lights. Again, taking photos was a challenge. But if you buy something, the owner would happily let you snap a couple or two photos!

If you want to buy something in the market, you also have to bargain. Never ask for the price you wanna pay! Always aim lower. Try to bargain for 50% off and work your way up. I can’t say I’m an expert at bargaining but I did my best. I successfully talked my way down 60% off of a leather shoulder bag and clay mini tajine pots. #winning

After some shopping and strolling around the souk, it’s a pretty common thing where tourists will find a local cafe and enjoy the sunset and night view. There are a couple cafes where you can see an overview of the medina and we picked one called the Café de France. We ordered mint tea again and enjoy the chaotic medina over the sunset.

After, we decided to get something to eat so we went back down. The people are quite pushy whenever people walk past their stalls. As soon as you look at them, they will pull you in. You have to have thick skin and just say no/shake you head. We walked past a couple and finally settled with one. We ordered a couple pork and chicken skewers and a dates and nut tajine. They grilled the skewers right infront of you and the dates tajine was surprisingly amazing! (The bread and olives are complementary to our dishes) Chris also discovered a drink called Hawai, which is basically a mixed fruit soda or Morocco’s version of Fanta.

Final Thoughts

Marrakech was definitely an amazing experience. There is so much to see, do and learn about their architecture and culture (old and new). Even though at times I felt a bit overwhelmed by the pushy salesmen and even skeptical on people trying to help you after reading all the scams online, but in general, I had a lot of fun experiencing a completely new place and interacting with the people there. We only scratched the surface in just a day and a half. I definitely recommend to stay for a few more days so you can visit more places and also enjoy the riad!