Sophie's travels 2011-2012: 7/01/2012 Marrakech, Morocco

We started the day with a traditional horse and carriage ride through the city to the palace where we jumped out for a guided tour. The horse and carriage ride was made entertaining by our carriage getting a flat on the way… pretty funny! We saw the old palace where the king used to live which was speccy inside with mosaic and marble decorating. We then walked through the winding side streets of the Medina (Old Town) to the Tombs, where all the important deceased people of the past were buried before heading on to a herbal remedies specialist which was brilliant. We learnt about all the different plants and products that the Moroccans use for all sorts of things (including Viagra!). We bought some special Moroccan Argan oil and spices for Tarjines and curries along with other goodies like amber to make your wardrobe smell nice! From there we headed to the Djemaa el-fina square – the main square in Marrakech where we walked past snake charmers and masses of food stalls to a restaurant for lunch before having the afternoon free to explore. We had lunch in the open air on the top level of a restaurant with views out over the city and the Atlas Mountains – amazing! I had Moroccan soup, bread, olives and dates which were very tasty. All Moroccan meals are served with bread and olives (black and green) – very good. It was a clear blue sunny day, mid 20s so very pleasant for wandering. A small group of us decided to check out the museum and art gallery which turned out to be not quite what we were expecting (not much on display but impressive buildings all the same). We walked through the Souks (a maze of small market streets) to get to the museum and back to the main square (only had to pay a few people for directions…)! We then wandered back to the hotel and got a few supplies from the supermarket before walking back to the main square to check out the buskers etc at night. It was totally packed and had a great atmosphere, we got some dinner and checked out a few stalls before heading back to the safety of the hotel.