Marakesh anyone?

Here are a few things I wish I'd known before I visited Marrakesh...

If possible, make arrangements with your hotel to have someone pick you up, and try to get some small bills (20 dirham notes) before leaving the airport. If you don't have a ride, you may be able to bluff the cab driver by asking if he "from the hotel". (I paid $200 dirhams for a cab ride to my accomodations, and when I was dropped off nearby, since the "street" was too narrow for the cab, a character surfaced and wanted another $100 dirham to lead me the rest of the way. When I departed Morocco via Tangiers, I got a cheap cab ride from the train station to the ferry port by pretending that I'd called ahead for a cab.)

On the main square, any and all "entertainers" will expect to be paid if you take their picture. You can get a genuine live cobra wrapped around your neck free of charged. Getting it removed it an entriely different proposition. You might also wonder if it has been defanged or otherwise made safe for tourists, but if you pester them with too many questions, you won't get ANY snakes wrapped around your neck, and then you'll feel downright foolish!

People offering directions often expect a tip, or may try to get you lost in the hopes of leading you to a shop or squeezing a bigger "tip" out of you (I didn't fall for that one).

I spent several hundred extra dirhams within a few hours before I wised up, but since a hundred dirhams is not much more than $10, it wasn't too costly, and I more than made up for it in the money I saved eating snails cooked on the main square. For the most part, I ate at one of the many food stands that spring up each evening - cheap and tasty. Ask what "extras" (e.g. bread, tea, etc) are included in the menu price, and you'll likely get more for the money. Look around and negotiate beforehand.

Wandering around the old shops is interesting, but very confusing and hectic - you'll be constantly badgered. Avoid actually stepping into a shop, as it can be very awkward getting out.

The orange juice on the main square makes putting up with all the other hassles worthwhile.

Cheap side trips (I took a trip to the coastal town of Essoria and a farily strenuous hike into the mountains to see some waterfalls) are easy to find, but they'll include a somewhat lengthy stop at some sort of business where you'll be part of a captive "informercial" audience. Even so, both side trips were quite enjoyable.

Depsite the annoyances, I enjoyed my stay there, but I felt much more comforatable when I arrived back in Spain.

Here are some snapshots. Let me know if you have any further questions. Hope this helped a bit.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuck_llama/sets/72157626075170644/

Hi Donna! I had almost the same experience that Chuck. We ended up enjoying our experience there and we brought a lot of fun stories to tell friends and family back home. We stayed at Riad Palais Calipau and we really ,really liked it!