#Goodtimesinmarrakech

We had an amazing mini-break (because we needed a holiday from our holiday) in Marrakech for 4 nights/ 3 days with the Nicholl family.

This was our reaction when we arrived at the Hotel Es Saadi which Ben had booked. Did we say Hotel? we meant Palace....

Marrakech was a feast for the senses: the Red City; rich and red in colour, taste and texture from start to finish. 

The first night was drinks at the Piano bar followed by dinner in the Morroccan restaurant at the hotel where we were treated to our first tagines and exceptional service and food, complete with escort to the bathroom and serenading music...

 We woke the next morning to brilliant sunshine and, after the obligatory robe shots and the huge hit which was the breakfast buffet, a bit of pool time.

Then it was off to the Medina and the souks, initially with our guide until we decided, after an unsolicited stop to the carpet warehouse (where we were plied with soft drinks and mint tea) and the souvenir shop, that we were better to rough it on our own...

 

Once we got the hang of the mayhem of the narrow lanes, with motorbikes and trolleys coming through, it was great fun trying to browse and haggle while corralling our rag tag crew...

 

After a great lunch at Terrasse des Epices, we did a bit of purchasing, took in the spice markets and various other random wares including cubes of eucalyptus and chameleons
 

 

 

Zoe in the biscuit shop

 the Sultans with their daggers

After the relative tranquility of the Souks, the main square of Jamaa el Fna caught us slightly off guard...we were drawn in and accosted by the henna lady, the snake charmers and all of a sudden our discipline and demeanour quickly unravelled. With darkness falling and children all over the show, it was time for extraction, which appeared in the form of a horse and cart, with Bill and Zoe at the helm and the rest of us in the back, trying to avoid smearing our freshly applied "henna" all over ourselves and each other.

 We settled the kids and then went to check out the next door restaurant in the casino. The bespoke cocktails at the table were a hit, as was the bar next door...

 

Sultans, with weaponry

 On day 2, after another amazing breakfast

it was time to head out to the Atlas Mountains, which was about an hour and a half' drive from Marrakech. On the way we stopped to check out the view and see a traditional Berber house where we had some more mint tea and sampled the local flat bread, with olive oil and honey.

 Then we had a Moroccan scramble up from a village at the foot of the mountains to a waterfall. Our driver Mohammed got top points for recommending a guide. As usual, us kiwis thought a guide would be overkill, but boy did that guy earn his keep hauling 6 kids and a couple of mothers up and down those steep rock climbs and across some precarious bridges....

Who would have thought that there is snow in Morocco in the High Atlas Mountains and even a skifield? We will be back next time to do some skiing...

 

 

We had a well-earned lunch in the sun - and afterwards a few of us ate all the trifle

 Then it was home for a kids' swim at dusk (ooomm shanti shanti) and out for dinner.

 On our last day, after the breakfast buffet, which had become quite a feature of life in the palace, there was a visiting falcon in the palace gardens.

  

Then it was off to the desert to ride some camels! It was a caravan of fools, bumpy and hilarious, especially the stink bombs, the 360s, the selfies and the dismounting..

 After that excitement, it was back to the markets for another delicious lunch - the Moroccan flavours are to die for - slow cooked tagines with figs, prunes and dates accompanied by cous cous, barley or rice.



   

Then we found out what it was like in the souks when the rain comes and we had to swiftly close out the final haggling, sample the local bread and negotiate the price of the much talked about Moroccan robes.

 

After a drink and kids dinner above the square it was a mad dash through the food scene then a night ride home in the horse and cart, this time with Scarlett and Zoe in the driver's seat...

 

See you next time Marrakech, what an awesome interlude of madness and colour. So fantastic to experience it with Ben, Nellie and family. The kids have been on a huge high ever since and will be talking about Africa for a long time to come....

Harvey says : Marrakech was good fun - I loved hanging out with Harper and Wilder. Camel riding was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, probably because I would only ever want to do it once in my lifetime - it was bumpy but fun. My favourite things were swimming in the pool, buffet breakfasts and also my daggers - Harper and I got 2 sets of matching daggers and one big dagger each.

Amelia says: When we first walked into our hotel - wait, did I say hotel, I mean palace! - a bunch of men came up to us with glasses of hot mint tea which is one of Morocco's specialties. Then we met the Nicholls and had dinner at the hotel. The next day we went to the markets - me, Scarlett and Zoe bought a purse with floral pom poms on it. At the end of the day on our way back to the hotel a woman doing henna came up to mum and started doing henna on her. Then all the girls wanted some henna so she was doing it to everyone - then she started charging us and so did the snake charmers who the boys had been watching. Then the parents and the snake charmers and the henna lady all got into a big fight and the man started swearing at Ben. Then we got in a horse and cart and escaped from the mayhem. The second day we went up to the Atlas mountains and met a family who let us sample the homemade mint tea and the local bread. The next day we rode camels - my camel was called Daisy, the camel behind us kept wanting to sniff our camel's butt and it was slobbering over our camel's butt! Our camel did a big plop of diahorrea on the way - it didn't smell too good! In the afternoon we went to the markets again - I bought a Moroccan backpack. My favourite thing about Morocco was the hotel and the pool.

Zoe says: I loved Marrakech because of our hotel - it was so fancy! For every morning, we went to the breakfast buffet. After, we went in the pool. On the third day we went camel riding - it was so fun but when the camel farted it smelt really bad. Some of the days we went on a horse and cart - I got to sit in the driver's seat both times, one time I sat with my dad and one time I sat with Scarlett. My favourite thing of all in Marrakech was the breakfast buffet and the pool and playing with Scarlett.