We arrived in Marrakech after a flight from Gatwick about 11am local time. After being horribly conned by taximen who wouldn't negotiate price at all (as they were all in it together) we ended up paying €15 for a damn taxi less than 10 miles. We arrived at the Riad, which looked in a fairly dodgy area of town at first (I'd later discover all of marrakech is like this) however I must say it was very nice inside and quite a unique experiance. The staff were friendly and helpful (the only Moroccans we'd find you were) and we sorted ourselves out and headed out towards the main square in the medina. The only thought I had on arriving was "is this it?" It's difficult, given all the pictures I'd seen and hat I'd read, to express how disappointed at this rathole of a square.
Nevertheless we had lunch nearby and headed into the souks (which after an hour I couldn't take anymore of people harrassing me to buy their tack and left) and then onto the nearby Mosque. Now I'm a tolerant guy but by this point I was very weary with people constantly bothering me in this dirty, smelly city to "show me this" or "my brother's friend's auntie's monkey's resturant is best in Marrakech" and other like nonsense, all for money, of course. So we heaed back the Riad to chill for a bit.
We ventured out later to visit the tombs and palaces (equally disappointing) and after shrugging off some harassment, which had driven me to the point of just being utterly rude now, we got ready to go out. The staff showed us how to get to a good place and we decided to go for it.
After they booked us a table we headed towards it, via the main square. I have to say, althrough my earlier impressions still stand, the square does have a whole different vibe and night and really comes to life. So after a little look round we headed to the resturant and, after a few wrong turns, found it. Quite nice, a bit put on for the tourists and the waiters all seemed to know the same tricks but neverhteless the food was good and it was actually a reasonable price without having to barter for everything. 2 and a half hours later (long dinner, many course and we had to ask him to give us time inbetween) we returned to he riad with the intention of going to the Atlas Mountain tommorrow.
