More of Marrakech

So after an interesting first attempt at Marrakech the day before, Ray and I set out the next morning after breakfast (which was amazing- just ask Ray she essentially ate enough for both of us!) to hit the main square again. We had intended to meet up with Sam, a guy we met in Barcelona who decided to come at our request to Marrakech, but he and Ray had organised a street corner to meet on rather than at a specific landmark and when he wasn't there at the right time we were concerned the labyrinth of streets and confusing Arabic names had got the better of him. After waiting 15 minutes for him we decided we were never going to find him and we should just carry on with the day as he had no phone to contact him on anyway. I went to get money out when Ray suddenly abandoned me and ran off yelling "SAM!".

When I caught up to her there he was miraculously, not even in the place we said we would meet. We all walked over to the Saadian tombs where we also had a really delicious lunch nearby at this roof-top cafe, complete with umbrellas and misting water sprays to cool everyone down.

/Saadian tombs

/Rooftop lunch

After lunch we tried to find a hammam spa to go to. We had been reccomended one by the restaurant and we got out our map on the street to try and find it. This man came up to us and kept trying to lead us there. He kept saying "I'll take you, I'll take you, no guide, no guide" - there are problems with people illegally pretending to be tourist guides in Marrakech. I said "no thank you, it's ok we can find it", then started talking to Sam and Ray again trying to ignore him so he would give up and go away. When he didn't leave and kept trying to pull my arm for me to follow him, I said "thank you, goodbye" and then he totally lost it. We decided to go back to the restaurant to ask for directions and he followed us yelling at me "f*** you this is my country, you goodbye, you leave, f*** you, f*** you". The guy from the restraunt who had started to lead us yelled something at him in Arabic and he eventually dropped off but it was pretty scary. It could have also been worse if Sam wasn't there and it w just us girls, but the locals did seem to be trying to tell him to stop. Anyway, after that slightly stressful situation the rest of the afternoon was pure bliss. We got 1hr 45min hammam treatments for $50aud which included a steam, body scrub, foot massage, facial and hour long massage. It was amazing and I definitely reccomended it to anyone planning a trip to Morocco. Afterwards, feeling wonderfully refreshed, we agreed to be lead around the corner to a shop where they sold all the oils and treatments they used at the spa plus many other remedies for literally any malady you could think of. We left with many potions and lotions including some pure argan oil- a more authentic version of the Moroccan oil I use on my hair in Australia.

/Inside the hammam

That night Ray and I went to this tourist trap of a dinner out at this sort of estate in the desert. The food was pretty average and I was outraged when people on the other tables next to us got better food despite our being told it was a set menu. On top of the €45 they charged us for our drinks, and the Arabian horse show was 80% people slowly walking around the arena. It was a fun night though, just not worth the price tag.

This post is in danger of getting overly long again, so I will tell you all about our last day in Marrakech next time. Xx