The trip ended in Marrakesh because that's where our flight was from. Nachi officially got his "stick licence" by driving all the way into the centre, complete with parking the car in a spot not much bigger than the car, by the Place Foucault (driving in Marrakesh is crazy crazy). And we stayed at the Hotel Foucault, where the concierge was a Berber of the North. The first night we were there, he shadily shifted his weight from one leg to the other and whispered in Nachi's ear -- "so you wanna buy a rug, cuz I don't just own this hotel, I also sell rugs." After Nachi explained that he's been offered rugs and really just has no use for one, he asked Nachi if he wanted anything else -- he was also the owner of the hotel.
On the first night, we went out and saw the Djemaa el Fna, which is a hot spot center of action. During the day, it is a full on market with snake charmers, henna tattoo artists, fresh orange juice carts, and the like. At night, it turns into a festival with story-telling and some of the most amazing (and cheap) food we have ever eaten. The transformation happens at about 5pm -- stalls are torn down and re-erected in different places. If you're not looking around at the right time, you could miss it. They do it like ninjas. The el Fna is amazing and like the book says, without it, Marrakesh would just be another Moroccan city. We spent the vast majority of our time in Marrakesh wandering around it and the adjoining souks (little workshops where you can see stuff being made) and Medina.
On the second day, in Dan's obsessive pursuit of the perfect sunset on video (sooo worth it), we spotted people with the hitch jumpers and started talking to them. They were a group of two girls and a guy from Leeds and the hitch had taken them five-six days. Apparently their main strategy was for the guy to hide and the two girls to look helpless and lost on the side of the road. In the next few hours, we bumped into herds of other hitchers (all of them had bought the jumper). One group told us that after getting to France, they found themselves caught in a snowstorm in Paris and decided to FLY south to Barcelona and continue from there (what?!?). As we talked to people, we learned that most people took a short bus or train ride -- we did nothing of the sort!
At one of the medina shops, Nachi asked one of the tobacco shop owners for Moroccan made tobacco (as a present for a friend). The guy called over another guy who called another guy who knew where to find a guy who might have had the stuff from a guy he knew, which is kind of how things work in Morocco. It's all through a chain of guys. 30 minutes later a couple of packets of Winston Lights "packaged" in Morocco for some ridiculous price (to pay the 12 middle men) materialized in front of us. Another funny thing is if you walk around by yourself, you never get hassled by guys trying to sell you herbal viagra and/or rugs, but if you walk around with someone they constantly throw lines at you, or, if you're Nachi, just yell out "Indiiaaaaan!"
This is our last blog entry about the trip, in chronological order. Hope you like it!
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Very interesting article. I remember my trip to Morocco. It is amazing country, with its ancient towns, coastal resorts and snowy peaks. This North African kingdom boasts 1,400 miles of coastline, year-round sunshine and an open invitation to tourists and investors all over the world. And my friend invited me for holidays. My friend has in Marrakech property and and I stayed in his riad (traditional Moroccan house with garden). We visited a lot of interesting places Djemaa el Fna, the Menara gardens and Hassan II Mosque, the Old and New Medinas in Casablanca and had an exotic trip to the Sahara Desert.
It was my best holiday and I really enjoyed!
P.s. I agree with you that Marrakesh drivers are driving very fast.
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