August 18, 2006
Marrakech
The Journey
As expected, it was long but fortunately pleasant journey. I had to catch the 9AM bus from Sevilla, that meant waking up at 7:30 for breakfast, left the hostel at 8:15 to walk the the bus station. At this time, Sevilla is at her best. The streets are deserted and the temperature is very nice.
The bus to Algeciras took 3.5 hours, on the way we passed Tarifa and her seemingly endless wind turbines. Of course I've seen a wind turbine photo before, but never before a wind farms like the one in Tarifa. It's pretty amazing watching all this wind turbines spin their wheels.
There are plenty of ferry from Algeciras to Tangier, during high summer almost every half an hour. I was lucky to get the fast ferry at only EUR1 extra. The fast ferry is considerably quicker, I wonder why it's only EUR1 extra. The ferry arrived half an hour late, but once it got there they were very efficient getting the cars into the ferry.
You won't be charmed by Tangier's port. Like most working port it's not pretty, but the worse is the smell. Not sure what the hell was that smell. At the port I tried to withdraw money out from the ATM, there were three ATM near the money changers none works. Fortunately I had some cash with me and change it. I really hate doing this since I got double hit on the conversion rate.
I forgot to write down the instruction to go to Gare de Tanger Ville and my copy of "Lonely Planet Europe on a Shoestring" (which strangely include Morocco) is too generic and does not have this information. I was in a hurry to get to the train station as Lonely Planet advises me to book 2 days ahead for the couchette on the overnight train down to Marrakech. Jumped into the expensive "grand taxi" and I got myself into Tanger Ville, the new, modern and clean train station.
I got the couchette for 350 Dirham, which is a bit expensive but totally worth it. The Moroccan sure know how to run their train system. It was certainly much better experience than the inapropriately named "Reunification Express" of Vietnam (there's nothing express about it).
The couchette was super comfy, the air-con was at the right level, the toilet was reasonably clean and the service was good. Marrakech was the last stop so I quickly jumped into my bunk and went to sleep. The other three occupants on my room were an Italian/English couple and a local. Lost of tourists in the couchette carriage.
The Rendevous
Train arrived one hour late than scheduled. Fortunately this time my LP says which bus goes from the train station to the main square, Djemma al-Fna. Found Hotel Ali, the rendevous point for me, Jane (who should have been there for the past 2 nights) and Mark.
I was surprised when I enquire at the reception that no such Jane stays there. It was very strange, as if they don't want to talk to me. I tried to convey to them that we had reservation for a tripple room, none exist they said. It was a very weird conversation. No Jane and no Mark. I decided to store my backpack in their store room and went to an Internet cafe to find out what's happening and there was nothing.
As I walked back into the hotel I bumped into Jane, that was pure luck, otherwise we didn't have any other means to communicate with each other. She said the hotel screw up our reservation and decided to change hotel. At night we hang around in the cafe next to the hotel waiting for Mark, fortunately despite the security debacle in Heathrow he arrived around the time as planned and finally at 9pm we had everyone at the same place.
Marrakech!
This city is bloody amazing! I love it. It's so vibrant, crazy, hectic but somehow order is maintained. The souqs are similar to the market in Asia but of course they sell different stuff. Hassling, like in Asia, is a bit of a problem here, but after Asia I got used it. I could wander around in the souqs for ages looking at the trinkets, this is a shopping Mecca. I was told that the souqs in Fez are bigger and crazier. I couldn't wait.
Djemaa el-Fna
Mark's first comment when he first saw Djemma el-Fna at night was "Is everyone in Morocco here?". While the answer was "no" it certainly felt like it was. There was little to do in the main square of Marrakech during the day apart from the cheap (but excellent) orange juice and to watch the snake charmers, by night falls becomes the heart and soul of Marrakech, some says it is the heart of Morocco. I've never seen anything like Djemaa el-Fna at night, and people say there is nothing like Djemma el-Fna anywhere else in north Africa. It's the last of the great life squares in Morocco, all the other squares have died out or changed into car parks.
We had dinner at one of the numerous food stalls in the square. Unlike everywhere else in Marrakech, the food was served mere minutes after we ordered. I initially thought that this is a tourist trap, nay most people in Djemaa el-Fna at night are locals.
The Sights
More of the similar architectures I saw earlier in Andalucia are repeated here. One can really see the similarity or link between the two area. We went to see the former madrasa, the museum and the old qoubat. They all are in the same location. The museum's building was a lot more interesting than the content. It is located in one of the most beautiful house that I've ever been. The sparse art collection about Morocco really needs an upgrade.
Same beauty is repeated in the madrasa, we were here for a while taking photos for almost everything that can be photographs. It is an amazing building. The students' rooms are unbelieably small.
The next day Mark and Jane went for the Atlas Mountain tour, since my budget didn't allow me to go I went to pay a visit to the "Incomparable Palace". Stripped bare by Mulay Ismail to build his own palace, this still in an impressive construction judging by the size of the courtyard.
Next to the palace is the tomb of the Saadien, another example of the mesmerizing beauty of Moroccon Islamic art. Next is Palais Bahai, the palace of the Grand Vizier. Most section of this palace is still used as the royal residence in Marrakech, so tourist can only visit a fraction of the palace opened for public. I love this place, I sat at one of the room for 20 minutes admiring the roof and the plaster work.
Marrakech by Night
Everynight we wandered around Djemaa el-Fna. Somehow, I could never have enough of this place. One night we bumped into an Italian couple that met in the ferry from Algeciras to Tangier, then at Tanger Ville train station waiting for the same overnight train to Marrakech. We had a nice dinner at one of the terrace of the restaurants around the square watching the activities at a comfortable distance.
There are some bars in Marrakech but they all out in the new town around 1.5km walk from the Medina. A bit out of the way and tired from the day sight seeing we never ended up going to the bars.
Moving On
I wanted to stay in Marrakech for much longer than 3 nights, unfortunately we had a schedule to meet. Jane needed to be back in Gibraltar by 25th August. Otherwise I would like to do a 3 days desert tour or going east to the gorges. So Thursday morning we caught the 11am train to Meknes. This is a 7 hour long journey, fortunately the trains in Morocco are excellent. Clean and comfortable, even the second class is pleasant enough for the 7 hour journey.
As we travelled to Meknes, through the desert and out from the crazyness that was Marrakech, it finally dawn on me that I'm in another continent, a new continent. And for the past 2.5 months I've brushed my teeth in 4 different continents, Australia, Asia, Europe and now Africa. Strange thought, no wonder a new friend that I met in Valencia think that I'm crazy.
Posted by vhadiant at August 18, 2006 06:18 PM
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