We followed the porter with his luggage dolly out of the Essaouira Medina to the Supr@tours bus station just outside the Medina where we would take a 3-hour bus to our final tour stop at Marrakech. It was a very new and clean bus and Liam and I got the front seat so we had a clear view of our travels. On the way, we stopped once for a 20-minute bathroom and refreshment break.
At the bus station next to the train station, the taxis prevent private shuttles from picking up tour groups like ours so Khaled had to hassle a few taxi drivers to take us a few blocks away to our final hotel—Hotel Le Caspien. It was in the new area of Marrakech with a huge shopping mall nearby as well as a local bus that would take us down to the old Medina area for just 4 Dinars.
After storing our bags we headed down to the Medina by bus and got there by nightfall when all of the food stalls were in full swing. He had arranged a meal for us that included lots of different foods ranging from appetizers of relish plates of tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, fried eggplant, and green peppers followed by meat and vegetable skewers and bread along with mint tea.
Even after eating, the different vendors exhorted us to eat more. Liam and I went up to the Glacier Restaurant on the second floor where we could see and take pictures of the activities below.
I returned the following day and ended up buying a small leather camel for my grandson. Initially, the price quoted was 80 dinars. I ended up getting it for 45 dinars—probably still too high. I explored the nearby souk that sold all kinds of goods from shoes to silver.
The red brick area is where the last night’s food stalls were.
I then had a delicious tagine Kefta lunch at a very nice restaurant and it was the same price as some of the streetside hole-in-the-wall places I have eaten at.
I decided I wanted to get a picture of a cobra so I told the fellow I would pay 20 for taking pictures of his snakes. He agreed and then as I was doing a video, he started to put another snake around my neck. Yikes! After I calmed down, I did put the snake around my neck and then he took my camera and took pictures of me with the snake around my neck with the cobra in the foreground.
I gave him back the snake and started to pay him the agreed 20 dinars, but he said 400 dinars. I said no, that is not what we agreed upon. He then said 20 Euros, I said no and handed him the 20 dinars which he refused to accept, and started yelling and grabbing me. I pulled away and tossed the 20 dinars on the ground and quickly walked away as he continued to yell at me.
I then took the bus back to the hotel.
For our farewell dinner with Khaled, we had a very gourmet dinner at our hotel. I had the beef tagine with quince. All of the meals were well-plated, especially the deserts.
Liam and I got up early for breakfast before I headed out at 8 AM for the bus to Essaouira.
Unfortunately, the 9am bus was full so I ended up with the 10:45am departure. The bus station is just around the corner from this train station. Time for me to get up to date on my blog entries.
This was my first Intrepid Tour and I was really pleased with how much we saw in the 15-day tour and especially all of the hikes we did along the way. I think my highlight was the Camel ride and staying in the Sahara camp because it was so unique.
I was pleased that there were only 8 of us on the tour because we had plenty of room in the 15-passenger minibus that took us from Meknes to Essaouira. The Australian and UK travelers were a fun group to be with and we were fortunate that we had no whiners or complainers among us. Our guide, Khalad provided us with excellent service and information about Morocco and its people.
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