Marrakech

Chris Veldhuis
Jan 2, 2015
3 min read

Marrakech is a truly remarkable city. First of all, you should never try to fully understand the city's structure, which seems to be absent. Instead, just dive in and get lost in the chaos of markets and little squares full of tajines and lamb-meat barbeques. If you keep walking long enough you will come back to the famous square Djeema el Fna again. This was always our point of orientation as our hotel was very close to the southside of the square.

It is so unbelievably cheap to stay in a romantic Moroccan riad. Riads are traditional Moroccan family houses built around an interior courtyard. Most of them are now converted into hotels with a very unique and authentic feel. We stayed in Hotel Essaouira for only ten euros a night.

As you probably already know, the food is great! There is just so much good stuff. Still, it was nice to have our Lonely Planet guide to direct us to tested restaurants. We have had such good slow-cooked Tajines, with the greens very soft and the meat all tender. The picture below is lunch in Earth Cafe, a very nice and hip vegetarian restaurant.

As you take my advice and wander aimlessly through the city it is important to make it seem like you know what you're doing. Moroccan market vendors are notorious for tirelessly selling you stuff you neither want nor need. We traveled very light. Anke and I both brought only six kilos of luggage, but ended up carrying twenty on the way back.

Even so, Anke tried to convince me that sometimes listening to these vendors could be great. She turned out to be right. As we started talking with the owner of a quite silly souvenir shop, he told us he had a fantastic collection of Berber Carpets in his house behind the shop. He introduced himself as Abdel and after we had met his wife and daughter, he poured us some tea with unbelievably much sugar like every Morrocan always does. Then we started talking business. He showed us all his carpets and encouraged us to feel the fabric.

Negotiations started. This seemed to be Abdel favourite game. He wrote down a proposed amount for the carpet we had chosen. Then I would write down what I would like to pay for it. There would only be three chances. My bids were all very low, as we were on a budget, and he laughed out loud as he saw them (all part of the game I guess). As I wrote down my final figure, which was still quite low, he shook my hand and the deal was sealed.

After all this he asked us how we had planned to spend the rest of our days in Morocco. We told him we would take one of the buses over the mountains into the Sahara. He shook his head and told us that was no way to travel and that he had a friend who would take us through Morocco for a very good price. This was very true. He invited us back in the evening to meet our amazing guide, Abdel Janpar. This man showed us his beautiful country with such a wonderful enthusiasm, got us into a berber wedding and brought us everywhere we wanted to go. If I could only give you one recommendation for a journey into Morocco, I would suggest to get in touch with Abdel Janpar. Send me a message! I have his number.