Well we are now married, , so that means it’s time for another holiday!! With all the complications, stress and hassle involved in sorting out the wedding, we have made the decision to take the easy option with our Honeymoon. We went to a travel agent, looked at the options, then came home and booked online! We decided to go to Marrakech, Morroco for a week as part of a package holiday as neither of us has visited an Arab region country before. Booking online seems to be the best decision we made with the selection of the holiday as we got a 35% web discount! Bargain!!!
Well, Marrakech is a lovely place, and we would thoroughly recommend anyone to visit. However, it would probably be better to stay in a Riad (a type of guesthouse) closer to the center of Marrakech. We stayed in an absolutely beautiful hotel that was a few miles out of Marrakech, but although there was a free shuttle into the city, the distance meant we spent more time in the hotel than we otherwise would have done.
Marrakech itself is a maze of Souks and a fascinating place to wander, getting lost numerous times and probably not caring. It is a fantastic experience to be lost in the maze of tiny streets with little more to guide you than the sun and any of your instincts that have yet to be dulled by the scents and sounds of the old town. Emerging from the maze at the city centre end will bring you into the impressive D’jemaa el Fna (ساحة جامع الفناء), a stage for various entertainers and market stall holders. During the day the square is awash with stalls selling freshly squeezed orange juice, as well as people with apes and snakes trying to con tourists into paying extortionate amounts of money for pictures with the animals. As long as you stay away from the con artists (it helps to have a nice telephoto lens for your camera) then it is quite a nice atmosphere. At night the scene transforms as the orange juice, apes and snakes disappear leaving room for food stalls, story tellers, acrobats, dancers and ‘witch doctors’ (they’re not really witch doctors, just people selling traditional medicine). The place lights up and an eery, but extraordinarily beautiful, atmosphere develops as the smoke/steam from the hot food stalls fills the square and the light creeps on through.
The D’jemaa el Fna is truly the most interesting and diverse place in Marrakech and is definitely somewhere everyone should see at least once in their lifetime.
- 24 Volcanic Honeymoon Extension
- 18 Discover Marrakech
- 17 The Old City
- 16 Sunshine Friday
- 15 The Atlas Mountains
- 14 Souks and the Medina
- 13 Lounging by the Pool
- 12 Honeymoon Day One