Marrakech, The Red City,
Capital of Southern Morocco.
Population 970000

Marrakech is a Berber city with little influence of the Arabs. Marrakech has been the capital of Morocco, as well as other smaller countries.

Most people, by European standards, are poor, but living standards are rising quickly. The Berbers are pleasant people who are natural traders. The population is a mix of Arab, French, some Belgians, Berbers and some Tuareg.

Language.

Everyone speaks French, most Arabic, some Berber (this is a separate language not a dialect). A few speak some English, particularly taxi drivers and hotel staff.

Some important dates in the history of Marrakech

1062 Capital of the Almoravids who also controlled Andalucia and most of Spain. It gets its name from Marra Kouch. This means the land of the Kouch-men. These were warriors from the area now known as Mauritania.

1147 Marrakech captured by the Almohads, who begin the building of the Koutabia mosque and the Menara Gardens. This same tribe also controlled Cordoba and Granada in Spain.

1274 The caravan routes moved and Marrekesh goes into decline.

1522 Saadians take control and by the end of the century Marrakech is the capital of southern Morocco and is returning to its former glory.

1912 The arrival of the French protectorate. The Glaoua family are placed in control.

1956 Moroccan independence. The capital is moved to Rabat and Marrakech becomes the provincial capital.

Dress Code

The population is cosmopolitan; you will see all types from ultra conservative to hip. Just be sensible and sensitive to local customs.

Shopping

When shopping always be polite, as people are only trying to make a living. They will go away if told to do so firmly. Always barter, the first asking price is just the start of negotiations, particularly on expensive items such as carpets. You should start at about half the asking price.

For those old enough to remember Monty Python's film, "The Life of Brian", if you don't barter they will think you are rich and crazy. That tends to spoil things for the rest of us, who are poor and crazy.

Even if you are an expert at haggling you will never beat them as they have inherited thousands of years` experience.

Good buys:-

• Carpets
• Spices
• Jewellery
• Berber pottery
• Cloth.
• Furniture Leather

Currency

10.79 Dirhams (DH) (=1€ at 14/04/04) Calculate at 10 to 1

Tipping - around 5 % is normal or just small coins.

Taxis.

If travelling very far get the price before you start. If asked for, say, 500 DH, offer 300 and see what happens. Always keep a considerable quantity of small coins, if you only have large notes then it is much more likely that you will be overcharged.

Skiing

is available for three months of the year from Dec to March in the high Atlas Mountains 70 kilometres to the south

Paragliding with Passion Paragliding

The safari-style nature of our trips means we have the freedom to explore Morocco’s paragliding potential to the maximum
check out www.passionparagliding.com

Changes

The new king, Mohammed VI, is rapidly modernising the country. Laws are being changed to encourage foreign investment and the liberalisation of Islamic laws. For instance, Moroccan men can now only have another wife if number one agrees. Whilst the laws regarding the transfer of assets on divorce are being changed to bring them more into line with European conventions. Money is being spent on the country's infrastructure. The new motorway to connect up to Meknes, Fez, Rabat and Tangier is being built. It will be finished in two years.

A Spanish company has been contracted to improve baggage handling etc. at all airports. Telephones, mobiles and internet cafes all work efficiently. The crime rate is low.

Marrakech is generally clean; toilets etc are modern, and the sewage system works. A new hospital is being built and there are a number of English-speaking doctors. Standards in the new areas are similar to those of the Costa del Sol, while standards in the older areas reflect rural Spain 25 years ago.

Herbalist, Herbolisterie Avenzoar Good place for herbs and oils. The shop keeper speaks very good

English - haggle!! Email lahnajam@hotmail.com

There are a great number of hotels, 5 star, luxury and standard, and still more being built. La Mamounia, (tel 212 44 44 44 09), was Winston Churchill's favourite.

There is a large amount of foreign investment in tourism.

Prices are generally higher in Marrakech than in other towns, partially because of more tourism but also because of more investment by local people.

Nassim Hotel, in the new area, on the main road, is 15 minutes walk from the main square and the Souk. Price is 30/50€ per night per room

The Ibis hotel is next to the railway station. It is new, has nice gardens and a large swimming pool. It is a good arrival/ departure hotel if you are travelling by train. 55 Euros per night per room.

The Assia at 33 euros per night and the Le Gallia at 41 euros per night are small hotels in the Medina close to Plaza Jemma. They are both of a high standard and are Riad hotels. A Riad is an old house in the medina that was originally owned by a rich Arab family. Many have now been converted into small hotels and restuarants

The Alakbar is a modern tourist hotel about 15 minutes walks from the main square at 46 euros per night There are apartments to rent. Prices are around 70/100€ per day for two bedrooms.

Estates and Golf Courses

Many new housing estates are being built. La Palmeraie is an area on the outskirts of Marrakech that has many thousands of palm trees. Here, there is the expensive housing, owned by some of the world's richest people.

There are two other golf courses in Marrakech

Jemma El Fnaa

The main square of the Medina.

During the day it is full of food, and many other market stalls. At night it transforms itself into a large outdoor entertainment centre, with very cheap food stalls, snake charmers, story tellers, magicians, musicians, fire eaters. The streets close by teem with life and very many small shops.

Souks

Each souk is a market for a specific products and these are open everyday

• Tapis (Carpets) - souk Zarbia
• Teinturiers (Dyers) - souk Sebbaghine
• Fer (Iron work) - souk Hadadine
• Epices (Spices) - souk Kassabine
• Tannuers (Tanners) - souk Cherratine
• Cuir (Leather) - souk el Kebir
• Textiles (Cloth) - souk Smarine
• Laine (Wool) - souk Laghzal

The kasba is an area of small shops that vary from the simple to the sophisticated

These were set out in the 1920s by the French painter Jacques Majorelle.

They later fell into decline but were bought by Yves Saint Laurent and have been returned to a state of magnificence.

This was built in the X11 century and can be seen throughout Marrakech.

An extremely good marker point, it is known as the elder brother of the Giralda Tower in Seville and is an outstanding example of Spanish-Moorish art.

90 minutes by taxi south of Marrakech where there are two main valleys. The Asni valley which has good walking bases and trekking companies operate. The Ourika valley the roads a perfectly passable in ordinary cars, where the roads are interesting, not for the nervous driver.

The road is similar to those in the mountains of southern Spain some 25 years ago., i.e. potholed, rutted but passable. The villages are poor, some are very basic but others have good restuarants etc.

There are few bars that sell alcohol but all restuarants do so. Some villages have lots of houses with satellite TV. Mick Jagger has a house in one of these villages.

Lots of pottery is sold at road sides and old, working flour mills can be seen.

The people are all Berber Arabs

The agriculture is Mediterranean--, olive groves, almonds, wheat, orange groves, goats and donkeys.

The mountain road leads to a river valley. Some of the villages can only be reached by horse or donkey, with the snow covered mountain peak at 4000m.

There is a skiing centre 1.5 hours` south of Marrakech on a clearly marked road.

Transport to and from Marrakech

Direct flights ex London from BA, Royal Air Moroc and Air France also from Paris and Madrid,
Regional Air Moroc flies from Malaga

It is 7 hours drive from Cueta or Tangier. Ceuta is better for driving at moment until the new motorway is finished. .

35 minutes crossing from Algeciras to Ceuta.

One hour crossing to Tangier on the fast ferry "NAUTAS" or 2 hours on the normal ferry.

There is also a hydrofoil service from Tarifa (FRFS).

At May 2004 the cost of a return ticket from Algeciras to Tangier was 50 euros for a foot passenger.

Buses are cheap but time consuming.

Buses to Essaouria every half hour.

Rail info www.oncf.ma

Four trains per day Tangiers to Marrakech, including overnight sleeper which leaves

Tangiers at 11:10pm and arrives in Marrakech at 08:30 the next morning.

There are also four trains per day on the return journey and the sleeper leaves Marrakech at 21:10pm and arrives in Tangiers at 07:00 the next morning. If travelling by day a first class ticket one way is 28 Euros If travelling on the overnight sleeper get a second class ticket for 19 Euros and a couchette for an additional 9 Euros. Buy these at the same time.

It is best to buy the tickets at the railway station. Various touts will try to persuade you to buy at the travel shops near the port. This is a waste of time and energy. The railway station is new, clean, the food is good and the booking staff speak English.

The other down side of the travel shops is that they cannot sell you the couchette tickets. They suggest thatyou buy these on the train. This is not the case.

Morocco is dominated by the Mediterranean climate made temperate by the influence of the Atlantic Ocean in the Northern and Southern parts of the country. In the centre, the climate is continental with significant temperature differences. The Atlas region is moist with frequent snow.

In the north, bordering the Mediterranean are the Rif Mountains, south of these mountains the landscape is flat for 300 miles as far as Marrakech. From here, one hour's drive south are the High Atlas Mountains, and then, after crossing these the Sahara desert begins.

In the south away from the coast, a desert climate prevails.

Standards in old areas of the countryside are similar to those in Spain 50 years ago. The farmers still cut wheat etc by hand. There are very few tractors, many donkeys and many people working the land.

Then the landscape is flat for 300 miles as far as Marrakech. From here, one hour's drive south are the High Atlas Mountains, and then, after crossing these Sahara desert begins. The transport system in the north and as far south as Marrakech is good, but in the south, it is very basic. If you want to travel into the desert you should get professional guides . There are several companies based in Marrakech, and we can recommend www.desertline.net who have more than 15 years experience in organising both long and short desert trips.

Essaouira

Resort and port, 2.5 hours from Marrakech, north of Agadir. Hippy place ,"laid back". Tourists are mainly French, but some Spanish, German and English. The Arabic name derives from Souira meaning a photograph. The Portuguese name was Mogadir

Great small fish docks and excellent seafood restaurants Try Chez Sam at the end of the dock past the boat. It can get busy so get there early, the sea food is worth it.

When walking away from the boat yard towards the old town, you will pass around 20 stalls that you may think are selling fish.

They have superb open displays of that day's catch. They are open air restaurants. The prices are regulated by the local council and are on a notice board at the road side. All the cafes have to charge the same price, so competition is by food and service.

Pick the one you fancy best, and you will get superb quality seafood and shellfish at cheap prices.

The new area has several reasonable hotels, but is otherwise boring. A good beach is at the town end of a large safe bay. Good for children

The old town is full of narrow streets with many restaurants , surf shops , tourist and craft shops. A really atmospheric, great place, it should be visited before mass tourism based at Agadir finds it.There are the remains of the old seawalls (Portuguese) and fortifications with small shops in the arches. At Easter and during the main holiday season, the shop owners will not haggle much, so shopping is best done out of season or in Marrakech. Several shops sell good paintings, or if you have a bit of luck the artists themselves are sometimes to be found around the fish docks or on the seas walls. Try to buy direct from them.

On the road to Essaouria from Marrakech there is a small Argane oil Co-operative. Argane oil is made from the nuts of the Argane tree which is very common in this area. The oil is good for skin treatment and also in a more refined form for cooking when it is said to be good for diabetics.

The local goats like eating these nuts and can be seen in the trees. They did not climb there themselves---they are put there by enterprising locals.

As soon as you stop to take a photo they will miraculously appear from nowhere and ask for a small amount of money to allow the goat to continue posing.