Marrakesh

View over Djemaa el Fna
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Marrakesh was certainly a change from the relaxing coast. After, a long walk from the train station, thanks to some dodgy map reading and the typical absence of street signs, we made it to our hotel which was just around the corner from the main  square - ' Djemaa El-Fna'.

In the hotel we were given the luxury of a bath and a balcony making it perfect for clothes washing. Much scrubbing and wringing later we decided to head out and find some food. In actual fact, once we were in the middle of the square the food found us and men in white coats desended on us, encouraging us to visit one of the many food stalls shouting slogans such as 'Fish and chips!', 'Bloody good food!', and 'Remember me from yesterday!'. We selected one at random, and enjoyed a great meal of mixed salads, olives, and a great chiken kebab (Pete). On our way back to the hotel we spotted, the other food stalls selling steamed snails, and sheeps head cooked with lentils (a local delicasy we didn't endulge in).

Visitng Morocco's liveliest square

A ruined wall of the old palace
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The following day we observed the chaos of the square from a roof terrace cafe. All the food stalls are removed during the day and instead Moroccans gather in large groups to watch story tellers perform or inspect the wares of a falseteeth stand. An array of colourfully dressed water sellers, and men wearing tassled hats also appear for the benefit of the tourists. Unfortunately, we also encountered the women aggresively offering henna tatoos. After Vicky narrowly escaped one attack with a large henna syringe we decided to avoid them altogether.

Our roof terrace overlooking Djemaa el Fna
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On our last day we visited the old ruined palace which is now mainly inhabited by storks who make their nests high up on the walls and we also made it to the Saadian Tombs which show examples of the amazing decoration and tiling that would have also been in the palace before it was destroyed.

As luck would have it, the day before our desert trek started, the table on our balcony decided to fall over. Despite its blunt edge, it impresively cut a huge zig zag pattern out of Vicky's shirt (brought mainly for the trek). Some impressive sewing by Pete, and the shirt was repaired with the added bonus of a Zoro type insagnia across the back.