Totally Outta´ Control

Our trip to Marrakesh, Morocco was totally outta control. Joe and I dont even know how to start this blog, bc the things that happened and the experiences are hard to put into words. So we will do our best. First off I think we need a little defining of some Moroccan words:

A Riad- is a traditional Moroccan house or palace with an interior garden. Recently there has been a surge in interest in this form of house after a new vogue of renovation in towns such as Marrakech. Many riads are now used as hotels or restaurants and make a peaceful break from the hustle and bustle outside.(This is the type of place Joe and I stayed)

Medina- (حي, مدينة) is a distinct city section found in many North African cities. The medina is typically walled, contains many narrow and maze-like streets, and was built by Arabs as far back as the 9th century CE.

We started our trip at the South of Spain in a city called Algercias. We were up early around 4:30 to catch a ferry that took us across the Straight of Gibraltar and into Africa. This ferry ride took us about two and a half hours, this was our first crazy experience as we were the only Westerners on the ferry. Once the ferry docked we were now in Tanger, Morocco.

From here we needed to get to the train station for our train to Marrakech. As we walked out of the port we were immediately swarmed with taxi drivers trying to get us to get into THEIR taxi and they wanted to charge us about 10 times too much. With much negoation we were able to get a fairly priced ride but the driver tried to convince us to let him give us a tour of the town for just a bit more money....yeah right.

And here leads us to one of our crazy Morrocan stories: (told by joe)
We trained 10 hours (bought 1st class tickets which only meant we had a seat not so much that it was luxury). We arrived to the train station in Marrakesh after dark and a million men outside the train station doors wanted to be our driver. Between the train and ferry we had just traveled over 13 hours and I not in the mood to barter so we got taken. We paid him 140 dirham (or about $18 USD, which we learned later the trip should have cost us about $2 USD). No big deal we just wanted to get to our hotel, right?

Well, I had made reservations online for a place called Riad Shaden in a traditional neighborhood in the Medina. First, I didn´t understand what the Medina was and I definitely didn´t have a concept of what it was to be in a traditional neighborhood in the Medina. A Medina refers a distinct city section traditionally the Old City which I believe are found in many North African cities. The Medina typically is like a walled fortress area. The streets are very narrow (which cars can not travel down). The streets are filled with vendors selling everything imaginable from live chickens to bottles of Coke and are packed with people, bikes, motor bikes, donkeys pulling carts, everything!!!

So, when our taxi pulled up to the Bab Aylen gate (one of many gates into the Medina) and stopped I thought the taxi driver was trying to pull a fast one on us. I told him I wanted to be dropped off at my hotel (not a very crazy, maze like fortress gate with no other tourists or for that matter anyone resembling a westerner in sight). He told us that we just need to walk 200 meters straight down the main road which was more like a tight alley with hundreds of native Moroccans loitering around...some selling meat or fish, some selling grains or figs, some having tea and smoking. The taxi driver then said we needed to take a right then a left and we would be at our Riad (or hotel). Seemed a little sketchy to me because to put it bluntly it looked like he was dropping us off in the middle of a Arab ghetto. Not exactly where two very American young people want to be dropped off at night. So some guy told the cab driver he would walk us to our Riad, this meant that we would have to pay this man for walking us...but I guess we didn´t have too many options. So after we walked for about 5 minutes following some man we didn´t know through streets with people staring at us like we were aliens we walked down a very, very narrow dark alley and ended up at a giant red door that was in the wall of the alley. The door opened and we stepped into paradise. Safety and a warm glass of mint Moroccan tea awaited us inside our Riad. I guess I should have researched what a traditional neighborhood was going to be like!!! I felt like we really got a true Moroccan experience.

I didn´t explain but a Riad is something like a mansion build into the walls of the Medina. They build them with a courtyard in the middle that typically had fruit trees and flowers. This way Muslim woman could be outside under the sun without covering their entire body.

These are the gates when entering the Medina.


This is the dead end alley where our Riad(hotel)was located.


This is Joe at the door to our safe haven-Our Riad.


This is at the center of the Medina at night. It was lively and crowded.