Last Days in Marrakech

On Monday, half of my group was departing to the desert portion of their vacation while others left and I was staying a couple days more in the city. I said goodbye to the desert group like they’d been visiting me in my hometown lol and proceeded to head back to the riad to pack and prep for my taxi to my next riad! I got to my next spot and could immediately tell this place was about the traditional Moroccan experience. It was a house with many rooms with LOTS of furniture and ornate decoration. The Riad manager immediately greeted me with a history of the riad, which has been around about 15 years and took 5 years to fully furnish with handcrafted Moroccan pieces. All this info over Moroccan mint tea of course. I was told this riad was like family… I guess so; it definitely felt like I was like hanging out in someone’s living room.

After a tour of all floors and the roof of the riad by another staff member, the manager again sat me down to show me a large, old school  fold-up map of the area. I was in the kasbah region in the old city (the Medina). I was shown several attractions, which he marked on a map, that I could walk to including Jemaa El-Fnaa square where our group never did make it. So after resting a bit in my room I headed out for a walk.

Again, even with that fold-up map in my back pocket (there was no way I’d be expanding that in public), Google maps saved the day. Yes, I got a bit turned around the French influence in Morocco with all the traffic circles (roundabouts) intersecting major streets  always present an opportunity to get lost. I’m pretty sure I took the wrong street but was still able to work out where I was till I ended up in the square! 🙌🏾 

Was it everything I thought it would be? I’m not sure. Maybe I arrived a little early before all the entertainment really gets going. I did see the monkeys, snake charmers, and a bunch of people wanting your money for one thing or another. By this time, I only had 50 dirhams cash so there’s no way I was spending it on a picture I took with my own camera. A snake charmer was actual screaming at me pissed  that I didn’t pay, “the photo is not free!”. I ended up using 40 of those dirhams for entry to the museum about the square. I thought it was worth it. 

I walked home (I mean back to the riad, around 6) and passed through the souks this time and also made a pit stop at a local grocery store. The cashier asked for my name (I gave him my middle name). He wanted to know if I was married too and if we could exchange WhatsApps. I think I’ve been hit on here more in the past two weeks than in the past two years in the US. Hmm… maybe I do need to move haha.  My friends did say Morocco looked good on me. Anyway another post for another time. 

I headed back to my room early and fell asleep. By the time I got up it was 8:30PM and I thought it wise not to go out alone then, especially when the night caretaker seemed to have locked the main door to the riad already and made me think twice about heading out. So the night was young and I proceeded to watch BBC world’s repeating reels till I showered and went to bed, for real.