Trip report: Casablanca and Marrakech

Following up to (David Horne, _the_ chancellor
(*)) wrote:

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

You can say whatever you want.

Ok, er, buses are stinky!
--
Mike
Remove clothing to email

"Mike...." wrote in message
...
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!

I don't know the paradors there, but I wouldn't return to either enclave.
There's little point from a visiting point of view. You'd get a brief
synthetic semi-taste of N. Africa, if that's what you want.

Surreyman

"Mike...." wrote in message
...
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"
--

The High Atlas villages and people are fascinating. But I prefer to see them
en route to the south.

Surreyman

Following up to "a.spencer3" wrote:

You'd get a brief
synthetic semi-taste of N. Africa, if that's what you want.

it probably is! :-)
--
Mike
Remove clothing to email

"a.spencer3" wrote in message
...

"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.

But presumably you wanted this item. The point is that you are taken in by
the guides and someone trys to sell you something that you don't want, at a
price that is far too high and expects you to 'waste' an hour negotiating
the price down to something, which in many is still more than buying a
similar thing (though not hand made) at home.

tim

In article ,
says...

Another useful tip for travel in Morocco:- Spend one day MAX in Marrakech
and then get the hell out.

Hmmm... Marrakech is worth at least two days.

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.

Indeed it's a nice place. But Morocco has so much to offer elsewhere as
well.

During my last trip to Morocco I experienced little hassle. It's just a
matter of being careful and keeping a certain distance to Moroccans in
tourist hotspots such as for instance Marrakech's Djemma el Fna.
And by the way, even there not everybody tries to rip you off. While
walking in Djemma el Fna I was offered a delicious freshly squeezed
orange juice at a very reasonable price.
--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - Photos of Asia, Africa and Europe

On the particular moment of Mon, 07 Jan 2008 10:27:11 GMT in relation
to Mary's disappointingly immaculate rumpy pumpy, "a.spencer3"
put forth:


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

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.

When you arrive by an overloaded train, many others want a taxi too,
and you may find yourself on the road waving at already full taxis.

The technique I used was to just jump in giving the illusion I was
willing to pay any price, and then once moving, insist they start the
meter. Apparently they are defenseless against this.
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

On the particular moment of Mon, 07 Jan 2008 14:17:02 GMT in relation
to Mary's disappointingly immaculate rumpy pumpy, "a.spencer3"
put forth:


"Mike...." wrote in message
.. .
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!

I don't know the paradors there, but I wouldn't return to either enclave.
There's little point from a visiting point of view. You'd get a brief
synthetic semi-taste of N. Africa, if that's what you want.

Come on, don't be so elitist! All but one country in Africa has been
colonised, and it shows. There is no pure N. Africa experience.
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

"Dusty Furtile Morrocan" wrote in
message ...
On the particular moment of Mon, 07 Jan 2008 10:27:11 GMT in relation
to Mary's disappointingly immaculate rumpy pumpy, "a.spencer3"
put forth:


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

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.

When you arrive by an overloaded train, many others want a taxi too,
and you may find yourself on the road waving at already full taxis.

The technique I used was to just jump in giving the illusion I was
willing to pay any price, and then once moving, insist they start the
meter. Apparently they are defenseless against this.

I fail to see how. The only one that I insisted turn on the meter refused
("it is broken") and just repeated his demand for 10 Euro for the 3 mile
trip. I started to get out and we agreed on 5 Euro which was still four
times what it should have been, but it was a long day, I was tired.

tim



--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

On the particular moment of Mon, 07 Jan 2008 12:43:31 +0000 in
relation to Mary's disappointingly immaculate rumpy pumpy, Mike....
put forth:

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"

After Scotland, Tasmania, Romania, the Himalaya, and god knows how
many other mountains, I couldn't be arsed doing the long bus trips.
There didn't seem much point, and it was reportedly heavily touristed.
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--