To Marrakech

April 7, 2024

An easy entry to Africa

We were up early for our flight to Marrakech. Leslie had successfully navigated the Lisbon subway system yesterday, so that's how we got back to the airport. We walked one block to the nearest metro station and watched the gates being opened at 6:30 on this Sunday morning.

We arrived at the airport shortly after 7 am for our 9:15 flight to Marrakech for the low cost of 1.80 euros each. And we’re all the proud owners of a Lisbon reloadable transit pass. There has been no spring forward in Morocco yet, so we gained an hour and arrived in Marrakech at 9:45. We’ll lose an hour next week, after Ramadan is over. Making sunset later during Ramadan would be a cruel trick, I suppose. Our TAP Air Portugal flight was only about 2/3 full.

The Lisbon metro goes right to the airport.

Entry into the Marrakech airport was a breeze, other than the immigration officer not letting me pass until someone else told me the name and address of our hotel, and Wendy having pushy people shamelessly butt in front of her as she waited.

It was easy to meet the pre-arranged driver who was waiting for us with a van big enough for all of us. With our safe arrival in Morocco, all seven of us made it with no late flights and no lost luggage. Hurray for that. All the taxis waiting at the airport seemed legit, so there was probably no need to book in advance.

On the short drive from the airport, it became clear that Marrakech has a colour theme - it's called The Red City for a reason. By law, all the buildings are a red ochre colour. Traffic was light and non-chaotic.

My first trip to Africa, and to a Muslim country. I’m so glad to be here!

Yes, we’re really here. We won’t get to Casablanca, but we’ll spend two nights in Fes, and eventually have lunch in Ouarzazate. Note the building colour - they’re all that shade.

Judging by the lobby signage, Hotel Gomassine is the home for Intrepid, as well as G Adventures, and Exodus, all popular budget-ish tour companies. The building could use some refreshing, but the location is great. It was safe and fine. We weren’t able to get into our rooms right away, so we stashed our luggage and went for a walk to get cash from an ATM, and then lunch. This is a cash-based country, mostly, and the Moroccan dirham is also a closed currency- there’s no taking money in or out of Morocco.

Our stay in Lisbon may have been nearly vegetable-free, but we found veggies here! Lunch was delicious- I had a mix of cooked Moroccan salads - eggplant, roasted peppers, lentil, and carrots with cumin. Plus a spanakopita-like pastry filled with spinach and cheese, and olives and delicious bread. Everyone was very happy with their choices. We sat outdoors in the shade, and it was a very nice temp. A few days ago it was an unpleasantly hot 38 C here, but it’s cooled down now to the high 20’s.

A delicious lunch of cooked salads - carrot, eggplant, lentil, and roasted peppers, making up for a distinct lack of veggies eaten in Portugal. Accompanied by a non-alcoholic beer.

Then we went back to our hotel for an afternoon of relaxing in the nice pool, where we met some of rest our group, four women from Cairns/and near Cairns, Australia and one young man from England, Jordan, the boyfriend of one of the Aussies. At the early evening meet and greet with our guide Hicham, we also met Pheena from Ireland and Anne from Perth, Aus. but originally South African. Anne’s husband is in South Africa visiting family but she wasn’t interested in that family reunion. So in all, the guests we know of are 13 women and one poor guy (or lucky guy!). Two people had their planned flight cancelled and will arrive later tonight. Funnily, the group has two Annes, two Elizabeths (we are Betty and Betsy), and two Haileys. Aussie Anne will ride an e-bike, and Hicham the guide also will ride one, partly because it’s Ramadan at the start so he’s not eating/drinking anything during the day, and partly because he has a bad knee.

Two of the Australians report that they were having a drink in Marrakech last night, and asked for the second one to be a double because the first drink didn’t seem strong. And then they learned the first drink had no alcohol at all, and that liquor wasn’t being sold. 😂 It seems we will be booze-free at least until the end of Ramadan - we thought that would be the case. What we didn’t know is that, getting restaurant food might be a problem during this time because almost all the restaurants close, since most workers are home with their families. I also didn’t know that the end of Ramadan is determined only during Ramadan based on the sighting of the crescent moon. It might be one day longer than we expected. And that the rest of the week is a holiday for school kids and lots of other people.

For dinner, we met our driver Haleem and piled into our van with Hicham and drove to the Medina. It seemed like a very busy place to us, but was apparently at its quietest due to Ramadan. We ate a meal of grilled meats and veg, plus couscous, in the square. It was tasty but not mind-blowing. There were lots of salespeople touting their wares. Everyone else returned to our hotel in the van after dinner, but Wendy, Betty, and I toured the square with the thousands of locals out after breaking their daily fast. We enjoyed some delicious sweets, and walked the 3 km back to the hotel. Biking starts tomorrow!

Our dinner, before cooking over a grill.

We sat outdoors to eat in the busy Jena el-Fnaa square.

The doubled-up lights are pretty, but are tough to photograph.

Wendy and I in the square after dinner. The marketplace is reportedly much busier at most times of the year. That’s the 77 metre tall minaret of the mosque behind us, built in 1195.

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