304 Marrakech

4^th September 2018  Miles today 144  Total Miles  1261

We upped sticks and set off for Marrakech. 

Saw  this guy seriously multitasking. Sadly, very common. Texting, phoning, web surfing. All whist riding small bikes.

On the motorway, Karen saw this. A conventional van with a human cage on the back!!

This crab steering old Renault 4 was for sale.

 We were amazed how many old cars were around. Hundreds of Peugeot 205s, Renault 4s and we even saw a Renault 12 that must be at least 38 years old  - and seriously not a restoration project.

These were everywhere. Bad photo but goats, sheep, cows all just roaming with nomadic herdsmen.

 We arrived in Marrakech at about 2pm and found our hotel immediately (the sat nav was just about working) only to find that there was no secure parking but we eventually managed to squeeze Wallace into the basement. Then came the killer blow - it was a dry hotel. When Karen had booked it,  the booking form asked if we required alcohol to be removed from the mini bar so we naturally assumed they had some Doh!   Ass out of U and Me etc.... We were at a loss. No beer, a total catastrophe.

In a state of catatonic shock, we caught a taxi to the Medina and saw these guys rattling around on the floor along with inept snake charmers making out that the cobra was actually lifting it's head to their tune.

Then it was into the market. Another complete assault on the senses. We were accosted numerous times by touts trying to get us to do things they could charge us for. One muppet tried to put a snake around my neck and I pulled it off immediately. I have not problems with snakes - in fact I like them but it was an imposition. I turned to the snake charmers and then saw that Karen had been  captured so I took a photo and he then wanted money. I caved in and put 20 Dh in his bowl, he wanted 100. About £8. I said, OK so you do not want my 20 and immediately took it back. He was bitching like a good un. I put the 20 back and walked off.

 We decided to take a cab back to the hotel and we had previously asked at hotel reception what the fare was to/from the Medina. We were told it was 20 Dirhams and on the way out we paid 30. We tried to get a taxi back to the hotel and I asked what the fare was. 50 Dh was the reply. I gave the taxi driver a wry look and said 20. He caved in and said OK. We started to get into the cab and it turned out that this was not the next in line so we were ushered to another and the driver insisted 50. We offered 30 to no avail so we just walked off to a lot of unintelligible shouting behind us. It was a long walk back to the hotel !!!

Once there we asked around and were pointed to a bar where we could finally get some amber nectar down our necks. Across the street was a small restaurant so we decided to try out the local Tagines and were pleasantly surprised and even got a free suntan from the super heated bowls.

Karen had prawns in sauce and I had cheesy sausages. It tasted fantastic.

This was our room in the dry hotel.

 To add insult to injury, the WiFi did not work. W were a bit grumpy with the hotel to say the least.