Trip report: Casablanca and Marrakech

"tim....." wrote in message
...

"Martin" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 06 Jan 2008 12:25:50 GMT, "a.spencer3"
wrote:


Agree totally re Casa. Just miss it.
Marra is Marra - helps if you speak French? I love the place.
Must admit I never got drunk on any of countless mint teas!

I saw a snippet on Dutch TV of a program about Dutch royal tours of
2007.
In the
bazaar in Istanbul a carpet seller offered the queen, her son and his
Argentinean born wife Maxima, tea.
Maxima said to the Turk in Dutch "We are a typical Dutch family, we
take
the
free offers, but never buy anything"

I tried to turn down the offer (as I don't like tea) and the response was
"are you refusing my hospitality". This kind of puts one in a position
where you have to accept. I took the tea and discovered that it doesn't
taste anything like the stuff sold in England.

As to (not) buying something, if you really don't want it, it is easy (if
time consuming) to avoid. The opening prices are staggeringly high - they
may be good value for hand made quality items (assuming that they are hand
made quality items), but I have no desire to buy such items in this
environment and would only be interested in cheap (but functional) tat,
which it is not.


I once spent two days negotiating for a genuine ceremonial knife. It's a
ritual and a way of life, intended to incorporate hospitality and
conversation.

Surreyman

"tim....." wrote in message
...

"Gerald Oliver Swift" wrote in message
...

"tim....." wrote in message
...

"SuperDung" wrote in message

...
Whatever, the room was
reasonable, with a shower inside, but oddly no toilet. In fact a
number of the hotels we stayed in were like this. My question to you
is: What do you do if you wake in the night needing a pee? Brave the
dark hallways for the communal bog? Hmmm...


er.....pay more for the hotel....;-)

I kind of thought that. I don't think I paid more than 40 Euro per
night
and never had a room without full facilities, though some of the rooms
were tatty.

Last year, in March, I paid MAD 515 (Euro 47) for a double room with
full
buffet breakfast at the Ibis, next door to the train station.

It was full when I tried to book a few days before.

It had a very nice outdoor pool and a bus to Djemaa el Fnaa (MAD 3)
stopped right outside the front door.

You used the bus!

Or more pertinently, you actually managed to find out about the bus!

All I ever got when enquiring was "use a Taxi it's cheap", which it is if
they don't try to rup you off, which they usually the do. I hated this
aspect of Morocco, so much so that I'm loath to go back: too much walking
because trying to avoid getting ripped by the taxi driver is too
stressful.


You give 'em a price you're willing to pay or say you'll go to the next cab.
Few want to lose the business.

Surreyman

"Gerald Oliver Swift" wrote in message
...
It had a very nice outdoor pool and a bus to Djemaa el Fnaa (MAD 3)
stopped right outside the front door.

You used the bus!

Or more pertinently, you actually managed to find out about the bus!

All I ever got when enquiring was "use a Taxi it's cheap", which it is
if
they don't try to rup you off, which they usually the do. I hated this
aspect of Morocco, so much so that I'm loath to go back: too much
walking
because trying to avoid getting ripped by the taxi driver is too
stressful.

Rather surprisingly (for Morocco) the bus stop had a timetable, a route
map
and a fare indicator.
Moroccan taxis.........the stories I could tell you........

Another useful tip for travel in Morocco:- Spend one day MAX in Marrakech
and then get the hell out.
Get on a bus down to Essaouira and chill out there. Half the price of
Marrakesh, sea breeze, wonderful colonial (Portuguese) architecture, walk
the city walls, fresh sea-food, absolutely no hassle whatsoever in the
souks. Morocco truly at its best.


Essaouira is certainly very pleasant but loses a lot of 'Morocco' feel
because it is so popular amongst visitors.

The best of 'real' Morocco is south of the High Atlas - although there are
places there, too, to avoid.

The major 'avoid' is Tangier, of course!

Surreyman

"Martin" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 07 Jan 2008 10:23:53 GMT, "a.spencer3"
wrote:


"tim....." wrote in message
...

"Martin" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 06 Jan 2008 12:25:50 GMT, "a.spencer3"

wrote:


Agree totally re Casa. Just miss it.
Marra is Marra - helps if you speak French? I love the place.
Must admit I never got drunk on any of countless mint teas!

I saw a snippet on Dutch TV of a program about Dutch royal tours of
2007.
In the
bazaar in Istanbul a carpet seller offered the queen, her son and his
Argentinean born wife Maxima, tea.
Maxima said to the Turk in Dutch "We are a typical Dutch family, we
take
the
free offers, but never buy anything"

I tried to turn down the offer (as I don't like tea) and the response
was
"are you refusing my hospitality". This kind of puts one in a position
where you have to accept. I took the tea and discovered that it
doesn't
taste anything like the stuff sold in England.

As to (not) buying something, if you really don't want it, it is easy
(if
time consuming) to avoid. The opening prices are staggeringly high -
they
may be good value for hand made quality items (assuming that they are
hand
made quality items), but I have no desire to buy such items in this
environment and would only be interested in cheap (but functional) tat,
which it is not.


I once spent two days negotiating for a genuine ceremonial knife. It's a
ritual and a way of life, intended to incorporate hospitality and
conversation.

Isn't it time you used it? )
--

Well, I should be in the Netherlands (de Lier) shortly .............

Surreyman

Following up to Dusty Furtile Morrocan
wrote:

its not is it, but we do the Canaries...

[insert top-posted comment about Africa not being in Europe here]

After a long and delay trip involving two EasyJet flights,

i'll say "typical" so David can say it isnt

The first night we had McDonalds, and the second Chinese.

heehee

Immediate impressions of Casablanca. Well, in the film there was
little reason to be there, and that's pretty much the case now.
There's a reasonable medina, and an utterly mammoth mosque which
beggars belief, and that's about it. The mosque is definitely worth
touring. The architect did an awesome and very stylish job, right down
to hiding the loud speakers out of sight. After seeing that, you can
tick off Casablanca.

i'm not into mosques so perhaps i can tick it off now?

The vendors are all too often over aggressive, which gets tiring fast. I got really
****ed off......
......Sadly that type of thing happened all too often in
Marrakech, and left us with a sour taste in our mouths. Fortunately it
wasn't so bad in the rest of Morocco.

youre not selling it to me.

thanks for what sounds like an honest description!
--
Mike
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Following up to Dusty Furtile Morrocan
wrote:

Sadly, you talk the truth. I hated telling locals to **** off, but it
did become necessary at times.

i think i might tick off africa by going to one of the spanish
enclaves, or maybe i wont bother :-)
--
Mike
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Mike.... wrote:

[]
i'll say "typical" so David can say it isnt

You can say whatever you want.

--
(*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate -www.davidhorne.net
(email address on website) "If people think God is interesting, the
onus is on them to show that there is anything there to talk about.
Otherwise they should just shut up about it." -Richard Dawkins

"Mike...." wrote in message
...
Following up to Dusty Furtile Morrocan
wrote:

Sadly, you talk the truth. I hated telling locals to **** off, but it
did become necessary at times.

i think i might tick off africa by going to one of the spanish
enclaves, or maybe i wont bother :-)
--

Don't be put off. That's just N. Africa. Morocco, especially, remains one of
my favourite desitinations after some 40 years. The hassle is easily
managed, and can be turned round into fascinating conversations, given more
than a 2-hour package tour of experience.
The Spanish enclaves are the pits indeed. Don't even think about them.
But depends why you're going. If you just want to 'tick off Africa' then OK
...........

Surreyman

Following up to Dusty Furtile Morrocan
wrote:

Next up: Rabat and Fez

have you been near the high atlas? Thats probably where i would want
to go, which brings me to kilimanjaro (OK that was totally contrived)
But i'm impressed by this chap I met the other day, hes climbing it,
but with an extra challenge
"http://www.stumbling.co.uk"
--
Mike
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Following up to "a.spencer3" wrote:

The Spanish enclaves are the pits indeed. Don't even think about them.

oh right! My wife keeps suggesting going to the paradors, you wouldnt
recommend it i assume!
--
Mike
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