Medersa Ben Youssef

Rising at a good time we sampled the excellent breakfast at the Riad Romance, consisting of Moroccan omelette , bread , coffee, tea, orange juice and pancakes. There was (another) picture of Andrew eating his but it became distorted when he moved during the panorama!

We headed out to explore some of the sights. Moving south we went through the Souk taking in the sights and sounds and colours. I tried unsuccessfully to barter for some leather Phillipe Philops (French inventor of the open toed sandal)!

There were some nice examples but at 450 duram (£45) the asking price was way off my expectation which had been set by the craftsman in a shop I saw the night before at around 90 Duram.

So we headed for the saidiem tombs vis the main square where the snake charmers and colourful horse drawn carriages were quite a spectacle!

In the end we decided not to go in the tombs which, priced at 70 duram are not expensive but we were uncertain of what we might see so headed to El Badii Palace which when constructed in the 12th century was believed to be one of the finest in Africa! Unfortunately it was Moor or less raised to the ground in the 17th century ( blame the French!). This was also 7 duram but was worthwhile as we wandered around for an hour and a half looking at things including a collection of storks in a huge nest.

We headed back North via the East of the city soaking in the sights, sounds colours and smells of the city. A bustling hub of commerce with la guy with 12 chickens tied to the back of his motorcycle in one direction whilst another passes with 12 trays of eggs front and back on another.

Starting to feel hungry we sought out lunch, but whilst I was distracted buying a gift, Andrew got another best friend! We left with this friend staying that his passing friend was on the way to the market so we could follow him... we did and 10 mins later we arrived ... at the tannery!😀

Nooo! We returned to the Riad for advice on a good place to eat. The place we ate was good , close to the Foundouk where we had eaten the night before. The food was great but the service was rather slow , partially because call to prayer happened half way through service and we lost half our waiters!

After lunch we had about an hour and a half before we had to catch the taxi from the Riad so I went in search of some leather thongs (Aussie ) or Phillipe Filops (French) to replace the ones I broke on our second day! An interesting experience as they all seemed to start at 465 Duram a pair, but I ended up paying 140 in the 3rd shop I visited after a long negotiation which flip flopped from French to English. Happy with my purchase I returned to the Riad only to be hijacked by the local mafia in their “ I’ll lead you around and around until you feel you should pay me to get back to the Riad” game........ I didn’t but the handler got rather aggressive before I managed to slip back into the Oasis of tranquility which is Riad Romance!

Shorty we loaded our bikes and left the Riad for the Airport and the flight back to the UK.

Thanks to Youness and Sam for their attention and making our stay in Marrakech an immense pleasure at the Riad Romance.Read more