Morocco - Step by Step

Exploring Marrakesh

Arriving to Marrakesh Airport

After one of the coolest sunrise I saw this year on a plane, I arrived to Marrakesh.

The first steps you need to be aware of is what it is the procedure to pass the security control.

You will be asked to provide:

1. Boarding pass
2. Passport
3. Hotel where you will stay
4. What it is your occupation

Languages

And i did not get it wrong by that plural.

You might expect that people speak Arabic. Maybe also French.

But there is something more: The Tamazight langauge

Moroccan Cuisine

I was very surprised by the North Afrikan pastry.

In particular about Chebakia.

Spices where also quite interesting, like hrisa (Harissa) or like Ras el Hanout (Garam Masala) which I took home.

Marrakesh Market

The Dessert

There are 2 desserts near Marrakesh.

And I, normally dont like organized excursions.

But made an exception here and booked couple of them via booking.

You can also find several places to book it onsite, but I prefered to know what to expect and who to reach if something did not go as planned.

In both cases, I got a whatsapp contact, who provided the instructions on where and how to meet for pickup.

Sunrise in the Dessert

One of these things that make you wake up very early, but are so much worth it.

You can control how up you go, or how down you let go, but never the direction of the flight

Sunset in the Dessert

Quads in the Dessert

Those ATVs (or quads) brought me so much good memories from Turkey.

Exploring the Turquoise Coast by Bike

A Journey Through Turkish Riviera by bycicle Fethiye and Oludeniz Valley.

Adventure 01-09-2021

Long time without trying one of them, but they are so much fun (and easy to drive).

If you have the chance, go for the 1h ride. And consider also the buggies (UTV)

The full experience was ~100$ or ~1000MAD. Completely worth it.

Exploring Waterfalls near Marrakesh

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My Conclusions on Morocco

Get ready to be assaulted by many offers in the Marrakesh city market.

If you come from a Northern European country, you might find the market style pretty intense.

And be ready to bargain if you plan to buy something.

Be also ready for questions like: how much do you want to pay for this?

Be assertive and dont follow anyone: Free and gifts always have a cost.

Another example on how important is to have a proper VPN setup for travelling.

As I could send messages via whatsapp with no problems, but I could not make voice/video calls without it.

Money Wise

Definitely bring cash with you.

People will accept euro as well as MAD (1:10 as of this moment).

To withdraw, Umnia bank place 35MAD commision (~3.5EUR for any quantity) - so it was my choice.

You can get a sim at the airport by any of the providers, all of them were 20GB, 2 weeks, 20 EUR.

I was lucky to avoid waiting the queue, as I got an esim with me.

You can also walk ~1h through a long avenue, which I made on my way back.

Cool Curiosities

1. Berber vs tuareg

2. I also met a Turkish guy, already retired, who worked and lived all his life in Germany.

He was working previously as psichiatrist, helping children with autism.

Despite being clearly poorer than countries like NL or Switzerland, not many people uses bicycles in Morocco.

Is it because they dont have the safest roads ever?

Well, the roads are not to blame, but most likely the general driving style - Imo fighting with Albanian drive style to make me be far from thinking to ride one in them

Or maybe just other cultures are more aware of the opportunity costs, which made them richer in the first place?

3. We are just friends

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FAQ

• Esim - Airalo worked for me.
• We can both win: get 3$ discount if you use my referal: JESUS4593

Tips for Marrakesh

Some recommendations if you want to visit Marrakesh:

• Bus Tickets:

  • You can go bu bus from Marrakesh airport to the center.
  • The bus from the airport to Marrakesh center was 30MAD ~3EUR one way or 50MAD both ways.
  • I was not using taxis at all, but as far as I know people were using Careem as app (similar to uber).

• Weather:

  • The weather wasn’t excessively hot, but it was noticeably warmer in the mornings. Walking in the shade was comfortable.

• Crowds:

  • Considering it’s Rome, the crowds weren’t overwhelming. Streets were navigable, and while museums and tourist sites were busier, they weren’t unbearable.

• Drinking Water:

  • Always drink from bottled water. Dont be a genius.

Bring solar protection. Even in winter.

What about the Safety in Marrakesh

I consider Marrakesh a relatively safe city.

There were quite a lot of tourists in the citiy market, so just mind you personal items, just in case.

In the very late night hours, the streets are mostly empty and there might be people who try to call you attention.

I just ignored them and all was fine.

But if you would stress I would not recommend you to go at those hours.

Airport Tips for Marrakesh

Dont ask me why, but when doing the check in, you will have to print a confirmation.

With that, you will have to go to your airline’s information point and then, they will give you the actual boarding pass.

Make sure to be with plenty of time (more than normal) as you can expect:

1. Queue to enter the airport (there is already security check there)
2. Queue for boarding pass
3. Queue for entering the passenger zones (scanning your ticket)
4. Security check four your baggage
5. Passport control - you will get a stamp of when you left the country.

My flight was one of the firsts of the day, so the full process took…literally 25 minutes.

But you are adviced to be there with ~3h of time.

For printing the flight confirmation, you can ask in your hotel, or you can find the place which helped me.

The price was reasonable for the piece of mind at ~1EUR (I didnt want to test if the electronic confirmation would work).