Mayochup: colour

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.