Morocco
Marrakech & Casablanca
From April 3rd to April 8th
Day 1
We flew in early from Lisbon on TAP and landed at the airport in Marrakech Menara airport
About a 15 minute ride from the airport to our hotel Royal Mansour
Upon arriving at our hotel slightly early, we opted to take a tour around the medina until our riad (rooms) were ready. We started our tour at 12pm and by 12:05 we were already in the throws with the snake charmers. We got hustled a little bit, but broke free after they took thousands of pictures and videos of the cobras and other snakes around our necks. We stopped for lunch at L’Addresse for a quick touristy lunch before continuing our tour through the Medina. We saw all the shoes, picked up a few rugs, watch woodworkers make their craft, and did our best to keep out of the way of the cyclists, motor bikes, donkeys & carts. Our guide, Aziz, seemed to know everybody from beginning to end.
That night we sat for an incredible dinner at the hotel around 7pm at their french restaurant, La Table
Day 2
The next day started off in the morning to beat the heat. We left out hotel around 10:30am and toured through the Medina again until later that afternoon. We stopped to see an old and preserved college, other architectural palaces that were once used by elite families in Marrakech, and concluded our tour at an herbalists store called The Herbalist. We picked up Argan oil, sinus & snoring remedies, and other skin potions to heal all our ailments. We went back to the hotel for a rest before cocktails later that evening at the hotel bar.
Dinner that evening was at Sesamo, the Italian restaurant at Royal Mansour
We had a karaoke machine/speaker in our riad, so we put that to use for the last hours of the day.
Day 3
The next day started slowly with 11am appointments at the Royal Mansour Spa to learn about this ‘hamamm’ scrub that Moroccans are known for. The ladies went to their scrub rooms while the gentlemen went to theirs, and the next 60 minutes were spent getting washed, exfoliated, scrubbed with a loofah, hair washed, and masks applied. The hamamm finished up with a ‘cold’ water plunge before returning to robes and normalcy. The products, scrubs and soaps they used smelled incredible.
We played cards (Buddha, hearts & spades) back at the riad after lunch and relaxed until our dinner that evening at La Grande Table Marocaine at Royal Mansour. There was some kind of celebration happening in the private room of the restaurant, as there were women clapping, singing, dancing, and drums being played. Because we were visiting during Ramadan, there were many cultural activities we got to witness organically.
Day 4
The morning started with morning massages, followed by sushi by the pool, then the ladies headed out for the day to do some exploring.
While the gentlemen went for their deep tissue massages, the ladies took a 15 minute taxi ride from our hotel to tour the YSL Museum, Jardin Majorelle, and the Barbour Museum. The Jardin Majorelle started a little bit lackluster (perhaps because the longer than anticipated lines and ‘influence’ type crowd waiting to get in) but we soon grew to appreciate the garden that the YSL team put together in the middle of the residential neighborhood. The layout of the garden was a mix between succulents, Japanese rock gardens, bright moroccan colored structures, incredibly manicured bougainvilleas and high stretching cactus. We were at the Jardin and Barbour Museum for about 40 minutes. First taking pictures, then walking it again to enjoy the scenery. Next we went to the YSL museum, which took about 15 minutes to see from start to finish. The most redeeming quality of the museum is a short video to enjoy about the history of YSL.
We made it back to our hotel around 4pm just in time to hop into the next transportation to take us out to the Afgay Desert for an evening in the desert. After a 50 minute SUV ride outside of the boundaries of Marrakech, we made it to Inara Camp where we hopped on ATVs and took an hour long ride around the desert and sand dunes. We passed by herds of sheep, abandoned houses, abandoned-looking but inhabited houses, saw other small villages in the distance, saw people riding camels all around us, and even stopped at the top of a dune for a few great landscape photos.
We made it back to the main camp just in time for sunset where we had wine and Casablanca beer. Our private Berber tent was all lit up with candles, our firepit was roaring, the moon was full and we could make out a few constellations from the stars.
We were served traditional Moroccan food and musicians played Moroccan music for us. At the end of the evening there was a fireshow that got everybody out of their tents and enjoying the flame throwing fire show.
We left around 10:30pm and got back to the hotel just before midnight. It’s an eerie feeling driving through the desert like that in pitch black.
Day 5
We flew the next day to Casablanca for a quick overnight and stayed at the Four Seasons Casablanca. The only reason we went to Casablanca was to catch a direct flight the next day to Cairo.
Day 5
Flew Egypt Air from Casablanca to Cairo.
If you’re looking for a guide in Marrakech, here’s who we recommend:
Aziz // email: azizkaf89@gmail.com, WhatsApp: +212 6 61 14 67 49