Trip to Marrakesh

Last April, l was returning from a Porto Santo weekend trip when I booked a trip to Marrakesh. The idea of travelling outside of Europe had — in my head — lots of cons, but since I arrived there, I changed my mind. So, how it went?

As we all know, when we’re travelling within the European Union, a lot of pros are provided to us that make travelling easier, such as roaming and healthcare for European services, for example. In addition, I had the idea that coming to Africa wouldn’t be a good destination for a trip, because of safety, temperature, poverty and healthcare conditions. So, before coming to Morocco, I had to surpass these “fears”.

First things first, I bought health insurance: for a one-week trip, it looked like a good idea, also with the occasional food poisoning cases that occurred with previous friends’ trips (took some medicine to the trip). Then, for cultural purposes, checked the most popular destinations to visit: all of them were booked online with ease and grace. Concerning the temperature, well… during summer we can’t expect anything but high temperatures, but tolerated ones. And well, booked a Riad which is a typical Moroccan house used as a hotel. And everything looks already set!

When arriving there, our first impressions were the temperature and the poverty… which destroyed our hearts. However, people are kind, and all of them look happy. We were warmly welcomed at the Riad with a typical Moroccan tea: green tea with mint. They drink this tea as we — Portuguese people — drink coffee throughout the day — it tastes great!

Medina is the Marrakesh historical centre which belongs to the UNESCO world heritage centre, and when visiting the city, it looked like a movie scene! Lots of street food stands, snake enchanters monkeys for photos and souks (traditional marketplaces). A completely different cultural experience. Not only there, but especially in the souks: when buying something, you have to haggle the price! Don’t buy something at the first price, unless you have lots of money and it seems cheap to you. Take some cash with you and exchange there for Moroccan Dirhams, as most of the places only accept cash.

During the trip, when eating or drinking something, make sure it looks good and clean to avoid food poisoning. You should also avoid street food, especially during summer. For this reason, it’s always a good idea to keep some medicine with you. Furthermore, it’s important to mention the bees… they’re seen as “clean animals”, so you’ll find them in food stands, and people don’t seem to mind eating surrounded by them or when they’re on their plates!!! They don’t seem to bite, so take a deep breath and get used to it. Plus the cats — they’re everywhere.

Since Medina is in the centre of Morocco, you can visit through excursions lots of cities and attractions: Ouzoud, well known for its waterfall; Agafay Desert, which was accompanied by a camel ride and a quad activity, as well as dinner; Ouarzazate, with familiar movie scenarios from their city; Aït Benhaddou which belongs to the UNESCO World Heritage; Atlas Mountains and Imlil with their beautiful views. Also, if you miss the sea during the trip, you can visit Essaouira. You won’t get bored!

About recycling, it looks like it’s not a big concern here: it’s possible to find trash — mainly plastic bags — everywhere. In the surroundings of the cities, it’s even worse. However, if you feel like you’ve seen all of it, Medina looks like a completely different city by night: lots of people with even more street food stands and lots of entertainment!

After all, this was a nice trip and exceeded the expectations. Morocco is a great destination and a completely different cultural experience. You won’t regret it!