By 9am we were showered, feed and ready to explore the city. First port of call was the port, only since it was the closest bearing to our hotel. From there we headed along the coast to Hassan II Mosque which was located right on the water. The exterior of the mosque was covered in vibrant greens and blues. In the distance waves could be heard crashing against the rocks, a rare and nice experience in comparing visiting mosques located in the UAE. From there we roamed inland and explored the city centre - we managed to wander past the palace, judicial courts, the old police station where the clock tower was set to the wrong time. Along with the post office and bank decked out in traditional mosaics. By this time we were ready for some traditional Moroccan tea. Like any local we found a cafe and settled ourselves down amongst the men on the side street, watching life go by. It was at this point we discovered how my black converse shoes were a magnet for the shoe shiners. Six shoe shiners later in a 45 minute window... If they weren't canvas shoes lads I'd be more than happy to experience your shoe shining skills. After our sugar fix, onward bound to the central markets where we wandered through stalls filled with random knickknacks - nothing was appealing apart from the kilos or dried fruit and nuts. By midday we made out way back in the direction of our hotel which was located within the medina. As we wandered in and out of the small alleys we managed to land ourselves amongst at least one hundred men as they finished the call to prayer - spot the white females. They were friendly and harmless enough and as we followed the crowd they lead us in the direction of a small fruit market where we stocked up on delicious mandarins, nom nom nom! Upon arrival at our hotel we shared the mandarin love with the owner - who was a mad nutter, who like myself enjoyed talking and singing to himself, hehe! With backpacks strapped we made our way onto the main road and taxied to the casa voyager train station. We purchased our 2:50 tickets to Casablanca - refueled on fresh chicken rolls, tea and the ever essential traveling chocolate supply, where I was kindly offered to have my shoes shined again! As we waited on platform 2 our train seemed to be delayed - so Pia went and double checked the info and managed to make a new BFF with the conductor. As I had questionable young men mutter to me under their breathe in French, asking who knows what - Pia came back updating me on her new discoveries and before we knew it Pia's new friend Mohammed appeared with a timetable and his phone number for in case we were in Casablanca again. After a quick photo shoot he lead us further down the platform where we squeezed into one of the many carriages bound for Marrakech. Thankfully by the second stop we were able to wander down the aisle and find a very comfy seat for the remainder of the 3 hour journey! Upon arrival at Marrakech we quickly got our bearings compliments of a local girl and quickly worked out how much our cab ride would be.... She quote 15dhs, we guessed we'd be told 60dhs which was the case... so we matched him half way at 30dhs - lucky Mr Taxi driver. Once we got to the outskirts of Dejeema Plaza we kindly had a local, offer us directions to the Riad we were staying in. We were glad he did since it was a mini maze and no way would we have made it there in 5 minutes, it easily would have been more like 30. Once checked in we made our way to the central market where the aromas of local cuisine lured us in. Surrounding the main plaza were fruit and nut stalls and within there were a good hundred stalls serving an array of local food - from tagines to snails. After being hit with numerous rhyming bingo terms like 'come to 117 it's like heaven' to dine at one of the stalls. We were eventually persuaded by the Moroccan who put on his Aussie accent, 'Summer Heights High'. Of course the peer pressure from the fellow restauranteurs clapping with the chefs had nothing to do with coercing us to stall 110. Immediately we out out order in and munch on pickled olives, grilled eggplant, soup, couscous and tagine... Nom nom nom!! All for a ridiculously cheap price. With our fully bellies we wandered through the stalls and chatted to the shop keepers as they shut up shop and we made our way back home.
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