Mayochup: Marrakech

Mrs. Mayochup in Marrakech

Starting bright and early after our wholesome French breakfast, we set off on our trip to the Atlas mountains.

Below is a link to the tour we booked online on Viator:
https://www.viator.com/tours/Marrakech/Atlas-Mountains-and-Three-Valleys-Private-Guided-Day-Trip-from-Marrakech/d5408-36697P1

Our tour guide Karim, arrived at our Riad at around 9:30 am. At the end of the road he had a 4WD waiting for us with driver Hassan. Karim introduced himself as a born and bred Berber which made our trip even more exciting!

We drive off outside the Medina and first stop off at the local Berber market. This market consisted of a vegetable market, meat and fish section, clothes and live goats and sheep for sale too. Karim enlightens us on the Berber way of life. He said that the villagers came down from the mountains to sell vegetables / their herd, buy their daily groceries and meet their friends. They could even buy groceries from the market and have them cooked in giant tagine pots. They only pay for their meal being cooked. I was quiet fascinated by this idea!

Next we stop off for a 30 min camel ride with Jawaad to the left and Aisha on the right which is real fun!

Marrakesh is really different outside the Medina. From the busy hustle and bustle of the souq's to the bliss and scenic beauty of the iced caped atlas mountains.

Next we stop at an Argan production house to see how Argan Oil is produced. There are a lot of stages this little green fruit goes through to get the Argan Oil we all desire which I shall show below.

This green fruit has to be first nibbled by a goat.

After which you get this!

This is then deshelled by these fine ladies to get out the Argan kernel as you see below.

The oil is then extracted out of these kernels.

We drove further uphill to a Berber village and stop for some lovely Moroccan tea before heading on our trek.

We headed on our 2 hour hike up the mountain. The scenery on the way was so beautiful the two hours went by so quick, we didn't even realise it. The view from the top is just fantastic, you will see many water falls along your way up. It just felt so peaceful watching these amazing gushing white waterfalls.

I remember asking Karim if he would every leave home and he said no, because he is really happy here. Well, I didn't really feel like leaving this natural beauty either!

You can hire a mule up the mountain if you don't wish to trek.

We stopped at Karim's house for lunch. Lunch was served on the terrace overlooking the Atlas mountains and the valley. For starters we were served a rice salad with tuna, olives and a lentil soup which we assumed was all we had to eat before desert.

But no, here comes a massive bowl of chicken tagine and veg!

For dessert we got yogurt topped with banana. The yogurt here is very yummy and sweet. The food was delicious! This gave us a feel of a true Berber home :)

On the way we noticed this shop ''Cheaper than ASDA''

Maybe the locals here focus on making people laugh or maybe just the British laugh 😋

Blue is quiet a famous colour here. The men wear a Jalaba. The nomads in the mountains wear a bright blue Jalaba with a black turban and in Marrakech the men wear earthy colour Jalaba. There is a short one for summer and a sheep wool one for winter.

This place is great to visit just before summer with temperatures of 20- 25C, the wind was lovely and crisp. The sky was bright sky blue and lush green grass. This trip was well worth it, and it was great to experience life outside Marrakech.

I am already planning my next hike back here!

This was our guide Karim, he was very knowledgeable and friendly. A superb guide I must say!

You can contact Karim on karim.trekking@gmail.com if you would like to organise a trek to the Atlas mountains.

After lunch we walked back to the car and head back to the Medina.

Later that evening we wandered towards the square and entered Cafe Kessabine. Most restaurants offer a bowl of olives and bread at the table and they don't even charge for it, Happy days! We then ordered some ice cream and traditional Moroccan sweet called Gabazelle filled with almond paste and looks like a gyoza.

We also played a game of Moroccan Scrabble. If you are wondering what Moroccan Scrabble is, it is just a double word score for every Moroccan word you make.

Nighty Night for now! 'till the next post....

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Mrs. Mayochup in Marrakech

Off on our sister trip to Marrakesh for 5 days, sorry Mr. Mayochup its home time for you!

We landed at Marrakesh airport at around 8 pm. I was quite surprised at how beautiful this airport was. It looked modern as well as traditional, representing a giant gold lantern.

The immigration queue was really long and it took us around an hour and 30 mins to get our passports stamped with the annoying few who jumped the queue. Once out, we quickly spotted our driver holding a placard reading Riad Eden where we were staying. The airport was not too far from our Riad, we took around 15 mins.

To get to our Riad we had to enter a Medina, which is an old walled town. Reminded me of a scene from Game of Thrones when Daenerys approached the kings outside the walls of Quarth.

Anyways, we finally got to our Riad at almost 10:30 pm. A Riad is a traditional Moroccan house with a central garden or courtyard. Riads are quite popular here. If you visit Marrakech you must stay at a Riad as they have a very homely, relaxed and traditional feel to it which is very different to a hotel. So much that you can have your breakfast whenever you like!

These are a few pictures of the Riad we stayed at Riad Eden

Our wholesome breakfast which sets us up for the day ahead and well into the evening. I was surprised in how full I remained throughout the day!

The owner of our Riad, Jerome, was very friendly. He gave us a map of the area and kept us well informed of places to visit.

Marrakesh has a lot of little lanes. You may get lost, but it's a lot of fun as you always stumble on something new when you least expect it. As we walk through the street we find shopkeepers trying to invite us in, guessing which country we are from. It's hilarious! All of them are smiley and welcoming. We walked through the main square called Jmaa El Fnaa which is a very lively right up to 12am. It is filled with Street food carts, street artists, monkey acts and snake charmers.

We walked through a few narrow alleyways, followed a tourist group for a bit and landed in front of a museum called Musée Douiria Mouassine (entry 30dhs per person). As we entered we were welcomed with vibrant coloured doors and beautiful architecture.

At the top there was an open air terrace cafe where we enjoyed the bright and shining sun and a pot of traditional Moroccan tea.

Next we visited Le Jardin Secret - recently renovated, contains gardens and buildings, with breathtaking Islamic art and architecture. There are two parts to the garden the first being the exotic garden (entry 30 dhs) with plants from various parts of the world and the second the 4 square Islamic garden (entry 50 dhs) and an extra 30 dhs if you would like to enter a 17 metre tall fort.