Friday, September 01, 2006
The Road to Marrakech
We decided to go to Marrakech after seeing cheap flights advertised on the internet. We had planned to take a holiday and were considering Turkey, Spain, Cuba and Morocco. Initially, our plans were to fly to Morocco and then make our way to Spain, catching the ferry to Europe from Tangiers. Ultimately, this never occured as there didn't seem to be enough time to get over to Spain and enjoy it. Also, for my friend S. the lure of a few days to recover before starting work proved too much. Personally, I was getting tired of being hassled in the way that all tourists are when they go to a country like Morocco.
We arrived at Marrakesh airport late in the evening and were able to quickly find a taxi driver who would take us to our hotel. We ended up paying 150 dirham (£9.11 or AU$22.6) to the driver who left us at the opening of the massive Place Jemaa El Fna square (see my photos) and told us that our hotel was to the right. We now know that 150 dirham is a ridiculous price to pay to get from the airport to the square. We then had to find someone who knew where our hotel was and take us there. This was all for a price and for a reason.
In Marrakesh, the taxi drivers have a sort of agreement with the locals around the Jemaa El Fna. They don't take their passengers directly to their hotel so that the locals can get tips from the tourists when they are lost and getting desparate. When we returned to Marrakech at the end our trip and hired a taxi from the train station there were heated discussions between our driver and the locals when they saw that he was going to take us right to our hotel, as we had asked him, rather than dropping us in its vague vicinity.
The hotel we stayed was Hotel Sherazade which is named after the fictional storyteller of the Book of the One Thousand and One Nights (see the wiki link). I read one of the versions of the collection of medieval stories during the holiday. Sherazade was stunningly decorated in a Moroccan style with mosaic fountains, fine carpets and some interesting Moroccan antiquities. We were told that they didn't have a room for us in the hotel but they could put us in their guesthouse until a room was available at the hotel.
We were led apprehensively down some winding side streets until we arrived at a solid wooden door. The guesthouse exceeded our expections. Built in the riad style, it had a courtyard at its centre and rooms around it up to a third floor terrace furnished with couches, deckchairs and ferns. Most importantly, it had two clean comfortable beds and a clean bathroom. The guesthouse also had a double bedroom which was occupied by a nice French couple that we spent some time with.
The only problem with Sherazade was that they kept moving us to different rooms. In the seven days that we were there (four nights the first time then three nights before flying home) we stayed in four different rooms. All of these were lovely and clean and we even had an airconditioner for the last two nights. That said, it was a charming place to stay in with an excellent atmosphere and was very close to all of the touristy parts of Marrakech.
Across the courtyard
We arrived at Marrakesh airport late in the evening and were able to quickly find a taxi driver who would take us to our hotel. We ended up paying 150 dirham (£9.11 or AU$22.6) to the driver who left us at the opening of the massive Place Jemaa El Fna square (see my photos) and told us that our hotel was to the right. We now know that 150 dirham is a ridiculous price to pay to get from the airport to the square. We then had to find someone who knew where our hotel was and take us there. This was all for a price and for a reason.
In Marrakesh, the taxi drivers have a sort of agreement with the locals around the Jemaa El Fna. They don't take their passengers directly to their hotel so that the locals can get tips from the tourists when they are lost and getting desparate. When we returned to Marrakech at the end our trip and hired a taxi from the train station there were heated discussions between our driver and the locals when they saw that he was going to take us right to our hotel, as we had asked him, rather than dropping us in its vague vicinity.
The hotel we stayed was Hotel Sherazade which is named after the fictional storyteller of the Book of the One Thousand and One Nights (see the wiki link). I read one of the versions of the collection of medieval stories during the holiday. Sherazade was stunningly decorated in a Moroccan style with mosaic fountains, fine carpets and some interesting Moroccan antiquities. We were told that they didn't have a room for us in the hotel but they could put us in their guesthouse until a room was available at the hotel.
We were led apprehensively down some winding side streets until we arrived at a solid wooden door. The guesthouse exceeded our expections. Built in the riad style, it had a courtyard at its centre and rooms around it up to a third floor terrace furnished with couches, deckchairs and ferns. Most importantly, it had two clean comfortable beds and a clean bathroom. The guesthouse also had a double bedroom which was occupied by a nice French couple that we spent some time with.
The only problem with Sherazade was that they kept moving us to different rooms. In the seven days that we were there (four nights the first time then three nights before flying home) we stayed in four different rooms. All of these were lovely and clean and we even had an airconditioner for the last two nights. That said, it was a charming place to stay in with an excellent atmosphere and was very close to all of the touristy parts of Marrakech.
Across the courtyard# posted by Michael @ 4:24 PM 
