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Day seven, October 28
Marrakech
Plan:
In the morning, we have a sightseeing tour to get the feel of the place. We take caleches (horse-drawn carriages) round the old city walls and visit the Saadien tombs. The afternoon is free for individual sightseeing. You can choose whether to brave the hassling and haggling of the souks, visit the more peaceful Jardin Majorelle or relax in one of the hammam steam baths.
I was awoken this morning at 4:30am by the call to prayer at the Koutoubia which is right next door to our hotel. I couldnt' believe the call went on until at least 5:00am! Lucy awoke at 4:45 and went up to the terrasse, hoping to see people convening at the Koutoubia I think, but was sadly disappointed and came back to the room within ten minutes.
We had breakfast at the hotel again - all breakfasts were included with the stay everywhere we went, and all of them consisted of bread and apricot preserves, but at the Hotel De Foucauld, we also had chocolate croissants! We met our tour guide, Sherrif, who took us for a walk through the streets of Marrakech. There were several moments of confusion when we lost sight of Sherrif in the crowded narrow lanes of souks, but we managed to keep together as a group. He took us through the Jemaa el Fna, a museum, the old Koranic school, into a pharmacy, and through the souks. He was a great help to us in the souks when it came to haggling! He put merchants in their place for us, and took us to what he considered to be good shops for the things that interested us.
We returned to the hotel to meet Andy before setting off for the afternoon. Lunch on that day was the first meal not organized by Andy, so most of us didn't eat!! Luckily I had a few snacks in my day pack, dried apricots and an energy bar. We took petits taxis to the Jardins Majorelle (it cost us 10 Dh) and spent about a half hour walking around there. It's quite a peaceful and beautiful place.
From there, as the group had agreed to beforehand, we took petits taxis to the Hotel Marrakech (also 10 Dh). We made our way downstairs in the hotel and arranged to have a hammam and scrub, and some of us also had a half hour massage. The hammam and scrub was quite an experience... We were ushered, three at a time, into this tiny curtained area where we were told to take off all our clothes and cover ourselves with either towels or bathrobes. From there, we went through one room and into a second room, both of which are called hammam (which is a sort of steamy room with water running in one corner) and told to remove our robes and towels. There were eight women in the second hammam room. Because I was the only french-speaking one, one of the staff members approached me and asked if we would mind if the men would join us. It was unanimous - the men could have their own room!!
As we sat down on the tiled benches and made ourselves comfortable, buckets of warm water were thrown on us. A woman armed with black soap cleaned our backs then left us with a lump of soap to clean the rest of our bodies. We waited for all eight of us to be in the room, then they set up a few lawn chairs in the centre of the room. Three at a time, they had us lie first on our backs then on our stomachs to scrub our entire bodies with some sort of scrub mitt they wore on one hand. Luckily for me, I was scrubbed by the large scary-looking woman who walked around in a bathrobe that showed us her ample bosom, and I still had skin left on my body!... After getting back to our spots on the benches, they took some form of argilite and rubbed it all over our bodies, then had us stand up and threw buckets of warm water over us. Our robes and towels were given back to us at this point, and we went back to the waiting area.
We were then escorted to the massage rooms. I was in a darkly lit room on one bed while Jill was on the second bed in the same room. Again, I was lucky to have the large bosomy woman massage my body... She is very good, but needs to be a bit more attentive to her clients. She carried on conversations with others in the hallway, or with the other woman who massaged Jill... She hurt my legs a bit... But I came out smelling very good!
We got dressed and returned to the hotel. A few of us made our way back to the Jemaa el Fna for some shopping. Lucy, Helen and I had found a nice jewellery shop the night before where the merchants weren't as pushy as in other areas of the souks, so Lucy and I returned there. I purchased eight necklaces for 300 Dh (that's less than $45 Canadian). We were pretty tired by this time so we returned to the hotel.
Still being oily from the earlier massage, I had a wonderful shower. Our group had planned to meet at the Renaissance bar for a few drinks and would leave at about 8pm to go to the restaurant for supper, so Andy, Lucy and I took a taxi to the Renaissance as it was near 8pm by now. We found our group on the terrasse of the Renaissance, then made our way to a restaurant across the street. We had an interesting meal - I really think the tajine would have been the best thing to have, as they're experts at cooking it everywhere in Morocco! I tried the local beer, Flag special, and found it quite delicious.
This being our last night in Morocco, upon returning to the hotel, we spent quite some time on the terrasse finishing up the Heineken and some of the wine, chatting on about all sorts of things. Our enjoyment was rudely interrupted by a plethora of young teenagers on a class trip from somewhere in England - how bizarre to have a class trip to Marrakech... We only ever went to Toronto, or New York, or Quebec city! Europeans are so lucky to have such easy access to such a variety of countries...
We were able to shake off the annoying teens who kept hounding us for alcohol although they were obviously not of drinking age... Andy even had a glass of wine or two! It was quite an enjoyable evening. I couldn't believe the trip was already coming to an end. In fact, I still can't believe that, just a week ago, I was in Morocco, a third world country in Africa, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean from here...
Last modified on November 9, 2000