Leaving our hotel the next morning, we continued our journey towards Marrakesh Our main attraction for the day was the Ancient Kasbah of Ait Benhaddou which was a filming site used for many movies. And to our luck, we witnessed Gladiator 3 was fliming in progress, not that we could see anything since they had covered the entire space up. Lol. 

The driver brought us to this viewpoint which we could see Aït Benhaddou from afar

Unfortunately our English-speaking guide has disappeared again. The driver said he overslept (or something along those line). So the driver became our part time guide for the morning which we didn’t seem very pleased about it. Well, we could always skip the attraction #justsaying

It was a hot hot day again

This place is known as a historic ksar (or fortified village) along the caravan route of Sahara and Marrakesh. According to wiki, it is a great example of Moroccan Earthen clay architecture and is a UNESCO World Heritage

The driver took us on a walk, and in an attempt trying to cross the river with pebbled stones (as in you have to step on the stones to get across), some kind-hearted little kids came to us and led us across. And if you think they were all kind, they asked us for money thereafter. Sighs..

Well, I think we would be more appreciative in a better weather. The driver was walking so fast and me and the friend were so uninterested we just wanna get back to the car. Lol. There were still some shops opened catering to tourists

So one last photo here and lets go!

Lunch was next on the itinerary and I was very glad cos that means we get to chill and rest for abit Even though we stuck to the usual order of food again, which means..

Tangine Chicken w Lemon Dh90

lol.

But I had to say, this tanging chicken was actually quite delicious, even though after repeated orders

Couscous Poulet Dh90

The friend wanted to try couscous which she rejected it so dramatically. lol. No idea why she would wanna try something she never had before at this place..

And we soon reached our accommodation for the next few nights – Riad AndallaSpa in Marrakesh (arranged by agency). Located in the centre of the Medina, it was quite a convenient walk if you would like to explore the area

Love the big airy, cooling space But no so much about lugging our luggages 3 floors up (cos our room was located all the way at the top)

Some welcome snacks for us. We loved it so much we decided to go hunt for it at the market to bring home

Our room located right next to the hotel’s restaurant. I took a look a the menu and saw they served tangine. I decided to close it back

Room ready = we can rest for the next few hours. Yay

While the friend decided to laze in, we freshened up and decided to walk to the market to explore for a little. It wasn’t that all confusing but could be abit daunting. Yet it was a fun walk taking in the sights before making our way back to hotel for pickup to dinner

Dinner was at L’Ô à la Bouche, a restaurant serving French cuisine. I was so glad we could have International cuisine in Marrakesh

Started with some amuse bouche with was some mint drink which nobody really enjoyed. I thought it was okay but perhaps a little too healthy

And some bread to go along

I decided to go for the set menu priced Dhs390 while the friends went ala carte

Cooked Veal Carpaccio w Tuna Mayo Dhs140

Sea Bream Tartare w Pearl Vinaigrette

Cuttlefish and Squid Ink Risotto

Red Mullet w Peppers and Basil

Linguine w Crab Meat Dhs 220

It was a huge portion. The friend commented – why did she feel like she never saw the bottom of the plate. lol

Ice Nougat w Strawberries

In all, it was an okay meal but in comparison to what we had so far, I would choose this place anytime. lol

Finished off with some cookies to end the meal

It was actually a rather popular place cos when we left, the restaurant was packed. Then we stood outside and waited for a long time before our driver appeared and whisked us off to our accommodation before we promptly knocked out

It was a full day tour in Marrakesh the next day and we started out with Jardin Majorelle, a famous garden created by French Orientalist artist Jacques Majorelle which was then purchased by Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé who worked to restore it. To be honest, I wasn’t very impressed by the gardens. I wished there were more florals. Maybe we weren’t there at the right seasson I’m not sure but either way, we finished our tour rather quickly that the guide was surprised. lol

哪里美? Okay, beauty is subjective. Moving on..

Am glad for the cooling weather, but well, for a short short while

There was such a long queue outside when we exited as everyone waited for their time slot to enter. Suggestion was to go earlier so as to avoid the crowd

We headed to the next main attraction for the day, Kutubiyya Mosque, which was the largest mosque in Marrakesh

Shot from the outside before we proceeded our walk towards Kasbah Mosque

We could feel the heat from the ground as we walked and we could tell it was gonna be a long day ahead

Visited the Saadian tomb which dated back to the Saadian Dynasty. The tombs were constructed to honor the sultan’s ancestors and were designed to be a grandiose display of his power and wealth

This was the spectacular one and we had to wait in line to see this. The tombs are composed of two main sections, each containing several chambers and decorated with intricate stucco carvings and colorful tiles

I remembered the guide telling us the tombs were hidden well cos the Sultan back then restricted access to the Saadian necropolis by sealing it off from most of the surrounding buildings and was only rediscovered later by an official body. I thought this place was quite interesting and worth visiting

The guide brought us to see spices, and it led to an hour-long shopping / souvenir hunting. The guide must be amused at how much we could buy

They don’t only sell spices. They sell all sorts of interesting stuffs in there, like wood that can absorb moisture, argan oil, solid perfume that act as deodorant, all sorts of tea for health purposes. It’s like.. amazing. lol

Headed to Bahia Palace next, a mid to late 19th-century palace. We took in the interior, architecture, tiles, ceilings, Arabic inscriptions, geometric patterns. You get the drift

I had a part-time model whom joined me for 15 minutes. heh

We were brought to attention how a typical door in Morocco looks like. A door in Morocco has two knockers, which make different sounds. Traditionally, one knocker was used by men and the other by women, so that those inside could decide who should answer. There are actually two doors – the smaller one inside the larger one. Or also can be used to differentiate if the person outside is a guest of the family

I thought this little tidbit was rather interesting

The guide asked what we wanted to eat for lunch. I went Asian food! The friend said KFC! and we ended off with NO TANGINE! lol. I think the guide was stunned for awhile. He decided to bring us to this place that he deemed the food to be quite good and it turned out the cuisine was rather fusion

It was also a rather nice place too

We started with 2 mocktails that were rather delicious and thirst quenching before the food came rather quickly

Poke Bowl Dhs150

Thai-Style Beef Tenderloin Dhs 250

Fish & Chips Dhs 140

And the rest of the food. It felt like we haven’t ate for 3 days. lol

Ended up with an Iced Coffee which was so gao cos I needed a perk-me-up

To be honest, the food was not bad and the guide mused if he had been our tour guide for a week long in Marrakesh, he would have brought us to different places to eat without even seeing a single tangine. lol. And then our driver called him saying don’t bring us to eat tangine for lunch. LOL. Okay, I see our voices were heard loud and clear

We were brought around the Souk next which was really huge. I told the friends we were definitely get lost here

went nuts shopping together with the guide so we won’t get scammed

Before being brought around to see the artisans at work

Headed over to Madrasa Ben Youssef, an Islamic college that is now a historical site. It was known to be one of the largest college at its height and was also the most important. It has over 130 rooms and has housed over 900 students

I thought it was quite pretty, and yes, that’s me running away from the sun. lol

Took some time to visit the dorms that were located upstairs. It was quite amazing how such a place could house so many people

And also tried playing peek-a-boo with the friends who were opposite

We said goodbye to our amazing guide whom I thought was one of the best for the entire trip. Definitely would recommend him to anyone visiting Marrakesh. His name, is also Mohammad. lol

We ventured the Medina and across to get to our dinner place for the evening which was at Casa Lalla

The whole place was empty, except us and a band that was playing live music for us. We were well, treated like VIPs. lol

I started with Mojito while the friend went for some rum drink that proved so strong we decided to switch our drinks. lol. Mojito cannot go wrong 😀

The menu here was split into International and Moroccan tasting and while trying the Moroccan dishes, these were cooked using French technique so I thought it was worth giving a try. We decided to share an appetiser from the Moroccan menu, mains from the Moroccan menu and the desserts from the International menu

Traditional Chicken Pastilla Dhs 100

This was the nicest Chicken Pastilla we had eaten. If we had eaten this on our first try, nothing would have compared to this standard

Fish w Chermoula Dhs 160

Regretted ordering the fish cos it was a little fishy but I thought the sauce was good

Lemon Chicken Casa Lalla Style Dhs 160

The friend decided to stick with something we all know. lol. But it was actually not bad!

Vanilla Creme Brulee Dhs 85

Lemon Meringue Dhs 90

The desserts were good too and we were proud we used finish all our Moroccan dirhams cos I doubt we would come back again. lol

And then we went back to hotel to pack cos we had to wake up at 3am for our pickup to airport the next morning. Oh gosh

To our surprise when reached the airport, it was actually quite big and modern

But uh, the boarding pass needs some improvement

More amazed there was duty-free to shop at. Not that we were interested cos we just wanted to find somewhere to chill and zone out

There were not alot of options to get back to Barcelona so Ryanair it shall be. Soon boarding commenced and we had to wait outside before the staff could flag us off to the aircraft

We actually waited for quite abit and part of me was thinking why couldn’t we just wait inside the terminal

So anyways we soon made our way towards the aircraft and it was Goodbye Morocco! I was pretty sure all 3 of us knocked out on the plane

I actually found Morocco more fun in comparison even though I complained alot about the weather. lol. I guessed it was things that we didn’t see/do before that made it more interesting to explore and also experienced the difference in culture. I would encourage anyone to go, though I probably think once is enough. lol. And that concludes my travelogue on my 2.5 week long holiday (yes I’m gonna just stop here cos another holiday awaits me tonight)

Read here for the rest of my travelogue:

Travelogue: To Paris & Beyond – Bonjour!

Travelogue – Ola Barcelona!

Travelogue: Rustic Granada & A Warm Seville

Travelogue: Exploring Seville, Ronda & The White Villages

Travelogue: Blue City of Chefchaouen & Colourful Fes

Travelogue: A Trip to Sahara Desert