The plane leaves on time and everything seems to be going well until we land. At that point the stewardess announces that somebody stole from the alcoholic beverages and we have to wait for the police to come to find and pick up the thief. So we wait for about 1/2h for the police and then finally we can go outside. Immigration is fast and professional and outside our ride to the Riad Dar Coram is waiting for us.
This is our first ride through Marrakesh and it looks scary, a few times we were sure that we were going to hit something or that we are stuck but somehow our driver always avoided the other cars/walkers and knew how to push forward through the mass of people. After getting as close as possible we disembark and go for a short distance on food through some side passages until arriving to the Riad.
While outside our Riad it doesn’t look like something special after we enter we notice how beautiful and well maintained it is and also our rooms are really nice.
After unpacking the host is showing us the way to Djemaa al Fna the central square of Marrakesh and especially what to remember so we do not get lost when coming back. We really are not sure that we can do it but we came to have an adventure so we start in the direction of Djemaa al Fna from where our host left us. The streets are really small and there is a steady stream of people in both directions you almost feel like a fish stuck in a current and all hell breaks lose when a car is pushing through the crowd. We find the central square easily and after the almost claustrophobic feel of the small streets it is a welcome sight – a huge market place full of food vendors, souvenir sellers and the like. We also get used to the almost constant stream of people trying to sell us something or to lead us somewhere but as long as we appear purposeful they are non aggresive.
Given that we are hungry and didn’t have any time to eat new provisions we enter a restaurant where we order and eat what appears to be an almost typical Moroccan food – the tagine. It was quite good food with a nice view of the Djemaa al Fna from the top floor of the restaurant with the only drawback being that we get ‘cheated’ (fortunately for the first and only time in Marrakesh) as the waiter after assuring us in the beginning that he takes euros cannot give us back any change so we have to leave him a quite large tip.
As a result we go to change a few euros/dollars to dirhams so we do not encounter the same situation elsewhere and then return to the hotel. It is late almost 10 pm but the streets are still full and we feel quite safe and actually find the way back really easy. After the tiring day we fall asleep really fast to prepare for the next day of exploration of Marrakech.
