Trains Planes and Petite Taxi's to Morrocco!

Me on the beach Agadir - can you see the arabic hollywood sign behind me?
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Day 1

Well after catching a flight down from Edinburgh to London on Tuesday 2 October I caught the stanstead express train into London and then the tube into the city. Jade told me to get off at Tottenham Court Road underground station, but I accidentally got off one stop early and got lost!

people tried to warn me (including mum and dad) but I didn't listen!

Lost in London at about 7.30pm and raining – what’s a girl to do? Find a pub of course and wait for Jade to rescue me!! She found me about 8pm and we walked back to her apartment which is near Oxford Street (famous shopping strip in London). But never got the time to check it out as we were up and on the bus at 3am and then on the train to Gatwick airport at 4am and on the plane to Morrocco by 7am!!

The rooftops at Agadir
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After getting through immigration I went to change some pounds I had extracted from an ATM in scotland. Note to self – never ever take scottish money anywhere!! It was rejected by the travelex exchange, and I was promptly dismissed with a disgusted wave of the hand! Managed to get money out of local ATM (dirham) and we were off to Marrakech.

After catching a shuttle bus (we managed to avoid being dragged off by the haggling taxi drivers who got into a fist fight over our fare into Marrakech) and demanding change from the bus driver who was adamant he didn’t have any change to give me from 10 euros when the fare was 4!! He finally gave in when I refused to move out of his way…

Jade being accosted by arabic women for henna tattoos in Marrakech market
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We got to the main bus stop which we worked out where the bus to Agadir was leaving from (misguidedly we were about to find out) it was called …..

We SHOULD have caught one of the national buses called Supratour.

We were hussled and dragged into one of the local buses and charged 180 Dirham (we paid way too much) and it was one of the most revoltingly horrifying experiences of my life. It stank. It smelt like the bus had been drenched in sweat and vomit and the people around us hadn’t washed in 6 months. Oh and by the way the aircon didn’t work and the windows didn’t open. In 35 degree heat this isn’t looking good for a 5 hour bus ride to Agadir and it didn’t get better. People were jumping on and off the bus as it moved through the city and I’m sure it took us to every village through the desert and then the mountains on the way to Agadir, which was the opportunity for beggars to get on and harass us for money. Jade said I went white and I certainly gagging with the smell most of the way…so much I had to stick perfume up my nose….OMG!

Entrance to the Old Town in Marrakech
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So we jumped off at the wrong bus stop (beginning to be a theme) 10kms out of agadir in what seemed to be a massive car park full of taxi’s and aggressive drivers who swarmed upon us. I didn’t care I was happy to be out of that bloody bus and we were led to an old Mercedes who we thought was the taxi driver…but was just a ‘taxipimp’ and demanded we pay him which we refused…he then ran after the taxi for a couple of kms demanding his payment…

The driver stopped in the middle of a hwy at one point and ran across the road..we were freaking out by this point and checking we could open our doors if we needed to run…but he was just asking directions…I was beginning to realise that these people (mainly men) were actually pretty trustworthy and honourable. We pulled up at the hotel which I had booked online under easyjet website…and it was well disappointing and not the three stars we had expected… and stern looking muslim guy at the counter looked mortally offended when we asked for a couple of beers and some water…it didn’t get much better. But the pool was great the view was beautiful and besides the skulking guys lurking around the hotel all the time it was clean and ok. Breakfast was French baguette and jam with coffee…we never tried the dinner but it looked like boiled eggs and chickens feet. Jade was upset we never tried it!

Well there was a pool at Agadir Hotel!
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Day 2 and 3

After relaxing by the pool we decided to check out the beach and walked down through basically a construction site to the beach! It didn’t seem to phase the tourists around who were walking past a crane and tractors with their lilos and towels…very bizarre but the beach was nice. There was a mountain in the distance with what I think was Agadir written in Arabic – kind of like the hollywood sign. We were harassed again on the beach by guys wanting to take us on camel rides and horserides and sell us doughtnuts and bananas, or jewellery or handmade rugs! I did actually end up buying a rug for Shelle’s Christmas present and will still have sand in it I think! Or they would sit about 1 meter away and just oogle you! We were also approached by a woman in full veil trying to sell henna tattoos, she ended up sitting down and telling us her life story...she was a lovely woman and happy with her life.

Our Riad Lounge room in Marrakech
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We also went to the local markets called the ‘souk’ and an unwanted guide escorted us all the way to the market and of course his stall which was full of herbs and mint tea…he made us sit down and have a glass of tea which was really nice actually very sweet. But we offended them - when we didn’t want to buy anything and they kicked us out! We walked through and I brought Gina’s present some silver earings and got them for a great price after haggling quite well. It always works when you go to walk away and they run after you!

Marrakech Markets were bizarre and scary
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We basically just relaxed in Agadir and ate out a lot at the local restaurants, walked around the promenade, drank lots of beer and soaked up the sun! Oh and Jade was aksed how many camels for her hand in marriage!! We managed to fit in a massage at a beautiful spa…we had to put on paper g strings (that was it) and then we didn’t realise we were in the same room…so we got to know each other quite well!

Day 4

After catching a lovely airconditioned and clean bus to Marrakech on Supratours….we arrived to be bundled into a ‘petite’ taxi which was usually a peugout 205 (my type of car at home) and were driven to our Riad (traditional Morroccon bed and breakfast kind of house) in the middle of the city. We didn’t realise the main streets were about as wide as the back allyways of Melbourne and they had to fit donkeys and cars motorbikes and pedestrians all at the same time. It was chaos.

Just a randon doorway in Marrakech
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We found the front door of our Riad. That’s literally all we found…two double wooden doors in an allyway. We ventured inside to walk through mosaic tiled warrens and up twisting flights of stairs to find…no one. Our room wasn;t booked and the owner wasn’t in…fortunately we came across a long term English resident who looked after everything whike we went and checked out the markets.

The Marrakech souk. It turned me into a sook I can tell you that…after all the snake charmers and seeing real cobras, monkeys, iguanas and all sorts of animals, morroccan dancers, veiled woman trying to stick henna needles into your arm…it was confronting and an assault on the senses. We ventured in to the smaller aisles of the market which were really so small and packed with people you could only move in one direction. We got very very lost…and then noticed we were being followed by a dodgy and sinister looking man…it was frightening. But at the same time it was so colourful and vibrant and alive…never experienced anything like it. Turned around and saw a donkey pulling a cart and it was so so so sick and skinny and nearly dead, it was too much and I burst into tears.

The front doors to our Riad in Marrakech
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The sun was setting and because the country was observing Ramadan (kind of like lent) where they cannot eat or drink anything until 7pm…the crowds were swelling and pushing us along we couldn’t find our way back to the riad or get a taxi and beginning to panic! We finally managed to get back and basically collapsed…then realised we were both really sick with gastro! But we had a lovely traditional morroccan tagine on the roof of the Riad amongst cushions and overlooking the rooftops of Marrakech and listening to the loud speakers chanting Arabic from the mosques… it was the perfect ending to a very bizarre holiday in an amazing corner of the world!

The spa where we had a massage in Agadir
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Natxxx