This part of our spring break was amazing! The culture and atmosphere of this country is so different than anything I have experienced. We caught our very early morning flight from Madrid to Morocco. We arrive and make our walk on the runway from the plane to passport control. The view around us wasn't that impressive.. everything was a light dirt color - from the buildings to the roads. The Marrakesh airport is actually impressive. The main lobby area is HUGE. The ceilings were so tall and all signes were in either Arabic or French. At this point I started to think about the French Rosetta stone program I got for Christmas two years ago - wish I had actually used it.
Before I left for spring break, I did some research on the city, gathering tips and hints on how to get around and bargain. The currency of Morocco is dirhams. 1 US Dollar is about 8 dirhams. We felt like we were rich! We converted money at the airport in Madrid and I ended up with bills that had 200 and 100 amounts. It is commonly known that taxi drivers in the city rip you off and way over charge you. So as we exit the airport we start discussing how we are going to bargain with the taxi driver when we cant even speak the language! Turns out lots of people can speak English well enough to get all points across. The drive to our hotel was 150 dirhams which really wasn't that bad.
On our way to the hotel, we shared the road with a lot of bicycles and motorcycles. Everyone was driving so close to the car! It was like they didn't see the lines on the rode dividing the lanes. All of the buildings on the outside of the city looked like they were made of a brown, reddish clay. Roxanne, who took french in high school, was trying to banter with the Taxi driver. She learned that he has grown up here and has two children: one who lives in Marrakesh and the other in Casablanca.
Roxanne, Casey, Jordan, and I were all originally staying in a resort called Atlas Targa. My mom sent me a link to Gwyneth Paltrow's blog GOOP where she had posted an entry on Marrakesh. All of the pictures looked so gorgeous. We did some research on one of the recommended Hotels - BAB Hotel. The pictures looked amazing and Roxanne and I decided to switch. It was more centrally located in the city.
We arrive to BAB and once we step inside we can't stop smiling. The hotel was decorated very modern and reminded us a lot of Los Angeles. The room was simple and clean with a BIG bed! It had a TV that was also a mirror when switched off. First thing we wanted to do was take a long shower. So far none of the hotels had any conditioner so we went down to the reception desk and asked where we could get some conditioner. We met Nadia - a native of Casablanca and had studied in California for university. She was so sweet and led us to a store to help us get some conditioner. She asked us what all we had planned and offered to help us organize any activities!
After our long showers and calls home to let them know we were alive, we met up with Nadia to get recommendations for restaurants and Marrakesh adventures. We had a lot of other friends visiting Marrakesh. We all met at our hotel for happy hour and then made our way to the restaurant Le Comptoir. We had so much fun here!! The atmosphere was very dark and sexy. At 10:30pm the belly dancers come out and dance around the restaurant for our entertainment. All of the boys got a kick out of this. The music is really fun and different. The food was alright but we were starving so we licked our plates clean!
The next day we woke up early to take advantage of the BAB Hotel breakfast: plently of honey and nutella, pastries, crepes, and coffee. Today we decided to go to the Medina which is the older part of the city. The first thing on our to do list was to ride a camel. We had NO idea what to expect. We arrive at the location after a little walk around the city (actually we got lost but found it after about an hour). They were going to charge us 300 dirhams for a 30 minute walk around on the camels. (1) I was not about to spend around $40 to get on a dirty camel and walk around (2) all we really wanted was just a picture. We did our best bargaining and get to sit on the camel for about 5 minutes for 30 dirham. The camels stand up so weird! First they lean back to get their front legs up and then lean WAY forward to get the back feet up. I felt like i was almost going to fall off into the camel dust on the ground below :( Five minutes was just enough! Camel Riding DONE
Next was the Medina where there is a large Souk - a market place with fruits, spices, all kinds of nuts, jewelry, and clothing. When we enter the large courtyard there are groups of women sitting together around plastic stools - HENNA TIME! We sit down and the start grabbing our hands wanting to paint a design on them. They are very aggressive. We end up getting Hennas on our forearms. We walked through the rest of the Souk with our arms awkwardly in front of us to dry. Every stall that you walked by, the owners would come out and try to intice you in to look at their "amazing" items that are all so "unique and different" then all of the other stalls around them. We end up leaving with a pair of shoes each and Roxanne got some traditional pants that look like the ones Aladdin wore.
Needless to say after camel riding and Medina exploring, we headed back to our hotel for a shower and nap. We went to another traditional Moroccan restaurant with belly dancers and cous cous! We met up with our friend Nadia for drinks and had so much fun with her!
The next day we decided to be lazy... We sat next to the pool and had lunch with mojitos. We brought out the books and enjoyed some relaxation time. Nadia noticed our need to laziness and made us appointments at a Spa down the street for a traditional "hammam". We had heard about the treatment and were interested to see what it was like. We get to the spa and no one speaks English - again another time when my Rosetta Stone would have been useful. They lead us upstairs to a room with a message table. The lady points to these paper thongs on the table... We both look at each other and have no idea how to react. We had worn our swimsuits under our clothes but thought hey.. we are in Marrakesh lets get the whole experience. We change and walk into a dark room with candles around and a shower head with warm water. The lady comes back in dressed in a swim suit and shower cap. The hammam was basically like someone showering you... cleaning you with soap, washing your hair, and exfoliating your skin. Everything smelt SO good! Then we got a much needed massage, blow out for our hair, and manicures and pedicures! I felt like a Queen :) The whole experience only set us back $80! I wish all spa days could be this affordable!
It was our last day in Marrakesh. We continued our relaxation state by ordering room service and watching a movie! It was nice to have a relaxing day before we head back to London to begin our internships!
Next entry is Barcelona!!
Cheers
xoxo
Callie
Before I left for spring break, I did some research on the city, gathering tips and hints on how to get around and bargain. The currency of Morocco is dirhams. 1 US Dollar is about 8 dirhams. We felt like we were rich! We converted money at the airport in Madrid and I ended up with bills that had 200 and 100 amounts. It is commonly known that taxi drivers in the city rip you off and way over charge you. So as we exit the airport we start discussing how we are going to bargain with the taxi driver when we cant even speak the language! Turns out lots of people can speak English well enough to get all points across. The drive to our hotel was 150 dirhams which really wasn't that bad.
On our way to the hotel, we shared the road with a lot of bicycles and motorcycles. Everyone was driving so close to the car! It was like they didn't see the lines on the rode dividing the lanes. All of the buildings on the outside of the city looked like they were made of a brown, reddish clay. Roxanne, who took french in high school, was trying to banter with the Taxi driver. She learned that he has grown up here and has two children: one who lives in Marrakesh and the other in Casablanca.
Roxanne, Casey, Jordan, and I were all originally staying in a resort called Atlas Targa. My mom sent me a link to Gwyneth Paltrow's blog GOOP where she had posted an entry on Marrakesh. All of the pictures looked so gorgeous. We did some research on one of the recommended Hotels - BAB Hotel. The pictures looked amazing and Roxanne and I decided to switch. It was more centrally located in the city.
We arrive to BAB and once we step inside we can't stop smiling. The hotel was decorated very modern and reminded us a lot of Los Angeles. The room was simple and clean with a BIG bed! It had a TV that was also a mirror when switched off. First thing we wanted to do was take a long shower. So far none of the hotels had any conditioner so we went down to the reception desk and asked where we could get some conditioner. We met Nadia - a native of Casablanca and had studied in California for university. She was so sweet and led us to a store to help us get some conditioner. She asked us what all we had planned and offered to help us organize any activities!
After our long showers and calls home to let them know we were alive, we met up with Nadia to get recommendations for restaurants and Marrakesh adventures. We had a lot of other friends visiting Marrakesh. We all met at our hotel for happy hour and then made our way to the restaurant Le Comptoir. We had so much fun here!! The atmosphere was very dark and sexy. At 10:30pm the belly dancers come out and dance around the restaurant for our entertainment. All of the boys got a kick out of this. The music is really fun and different. The food was alright but we were starving so we licked our plates clean!
The next day we woke up early to take advantage of the BAB Hotel breakfast: plently of honey and nutella, pastries, crepes, and coffee. Today we decided to go to the Medina which is the older part of the city. The first thing on our to do list was to ride a camel. We had NO idea what to expect. We arrive at the location after a little walk around the city (actually we got lost but found it after about an hour). They were going to charge us 300 dirhams for a 30 minute walk around on the camels. (1) I was not about to spend around $40 to get on a dirty camel and walk around (2) all we really wanted was just a picture. We did our best bargaining and get to sit on the camel for about 5 minutes for 30 dirham. The camels stand up so weird! First they lean back to get their front legs up and then lean WAY forward to get the back feet up. I felt like i was almost going to fall off into the camel dust on the ground below :( Five minutes was just enough! Camel Riding DONE
Next was the Medina where there is a large Souk - a market place with fruits, spices, all kinds of nuts, jewelry, and clothing. When we enter the large courtyard there are groups of women sitting together around plastic stools - HENNA TIME! We sit down and the start grabbing our hands wanting to paint a design on them. They are very aggressive. We end up getting Hennas on our forearms. We walked through the rest of the Souk with our arms awkwardly in front of us to dry. Every stall that you walked by, the owners would come out and try to intice you in to look at their "amazing" items that are all so "unique and different" then all of the other stalls around them. We end up leaving with a pair of shoes each and Roxanne got some traditional pants that look like the ones Aladdin wore.
Needless to say after camel riding and Medina exploring, we headed back to our hotel for a shower and nap. We went to another traditional Moroccan restaurant with belly dancers and cous cous! We met up with our friend Nadia for drinks and had so much fun with her!
The next day we decided to be lazy... We sat next to the pool and had lunch with mojitos. We brought out the books and enjoyed some relaxation time. Nadia noticed our need to laziness and made us appointments at a Spa down the street for a traditional "hammam". We had heard about the treatment and were interested to see what it was like. We get to the spa and no one speaks English - again another time when my Rosetta Stone would have been useful. They lead us upstairs to a room with a message table. The lady points to these paper thongs on the table... We both look at each other and have no idea how to react. We had worn our swimsuits under our clothes but thought hey.. we are in Marrakesh lets get the whole experience. We change and walk into a dark room with candles around and a shower head with warm water. The lady comes back in dressed in a swim suit and shower cap. The hammam was basically like someone showering you... cleaning you with soap, washing your hair, and exfoliating your skin. Everything smelt SO good! Then we got a much needed massage, blow out for our hair, and manicures and pedicures! I felt like a Queen :) The whole experience only set us back $80! I wish all spa days could be this affordable!
It was our last day in Marrakesh. We continued our relaxation state by ordering room service and watching a movie! It was nice to have a relaxing day before we head back to London to begin our internships!
Next entry is Barcelona!!
Cheers
xoxo
Callie
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