I visited the Tannery with some friends I'd met at the hostel, and it was well worth the half an hour it took us just to find it. It smelt absolutely horrible!! They don't use any chemicals on the leather, instead they use pigeon faeces to clean the hides and then they treat them later on. There wasn't a lot of colour as I was expecting, they hadn't dyed anything yet, but we still got to see the whole process plus a few interesting characters along the way. In the end, I bought a bag made from camel leather - which I later sent home because I couldn't have more than 2 bags on my Ryanair flight.
The Old Madersa (School) was fascinating and I spent much of the time there taking photos and marvelling at the architecture. Compared to some of the other things I have seen it was rather small, but was well made up for in other ways!
The Museum was also really beautiful and mostly so because of it's architecture like the Madersa, and had a photo exhibition that must have been really old, but was well worth a view.
I met a really lovely couple at my hostel who were hiring a car and taking a road trip to a beachside town called Essaouira. We drove for about 3 hours to get there, and what a beautiful town to see! Compared to the bustle of Marrakech, this fishing town was so much more peaceful. We ate fresh fish for lunch for not very much money. They sell it all by the kilo. I bargained hard for a big warm white jumper and managed to get it for 10EUR, rock bottom price, gotta be happy with that! Eventually we headed back to Marrakech, only to be stopped by the police for "speeding" but they had no way to prove it and were basically trying to extort us for money. After them threatening to send one of us to Jail for speeding we gave them the equivalent of 20EUR which was half of what they wanted, said we had no more and eventually, they let us go... Phew! Close call! On we continued until we reached Marrakech and whilst making a turn - apparently the wrong way, when there were no signs saying so, another police officer stopped us and attempted once again to extort money out of us, at which point we told him that we'd already been stiffed of all the money we had! So, once again, by the skin of our noses, we got away with it and somehow felt glad to be back in crazy Marrakech.
Before Morocco, I was so excited about the food and how good it was going to be. Turned out that most places I ate were really very average, nothing special to speak of, except for the last place that was recommended to me. I ate there the day before I left and was so glad I did, because otherwise my idea of the food in Morocco would have been that it was terrible, which is not true at all.
The restaurant is called Terrace Des Epices and is nestled right in the middle of the markets in Marrakech. It will take you on a few twists and turns to get there, but walking up the stairs you are met with an open terrace with modern Moroccan furniture and friendly staff. The price for a Tagine is almost double what you would pay for your entire dinner at the market night stalls, but it is worth every dollar, coming in at around 11EUR. I had a Lamb Tagine with currents. The meat was falling of the bone, the currents were juicy and it was perfectly spiced. I can now understand why people go on and on about Moroccan food. If you were eating like this everyday, I think you're entire experience of the country would be very different.
So the next morning I said goodbye to Morocco and Marrakech and made my way to Sevilla in Spain.
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