First time in Africa? A trip to Marrakesh, Morocco!

Memmingen, Germany city canal.

After arriving in Memmingen from Stuttgart airport, I walked around town, which was filled with small outlet stores. I found a couple of shoe stores where I finally found a new pair of shoes to replace my old ones that I have traveled with my entire time in Europe. I then made my way to the bus stop where I took the ride to the airport which I could then walk to my hostel which was just a couple minutes away from the airport.

After arriving, I check into my hostel. It was all done with a computer machine that took a scan of my passport, printed a receipt I had to fill out, scanned my signature, and printed all the relevant information I needed. I never met a staff member at the hostel which was much different than I’m used to.

Hot water instant pasta dinner from a vending machine.

I relaxed in my room, caught up on some blog and website work and met John, a Scottish older gentleman from London, and one of my dorm mates, who was doing some hiking in the German Alps. After a while, I then made myself dinner. Being a little far from Memmingen City, and no open restaurants near the hostel, I was forced to eat microwave pasta from the hostels vending machine. It was certainly not a five-star meal, and for that matter isn’t even a one-star meal, but having some food in my stomach made the evening much more pleasant than if I was just eating snacks. After a while, we got two more roommates. One of which was from Poland and all talked and learned a little bit about our countries, the politics and whatever else came up. Some of the nicest and by far the best hostel roommates I have had so far.

Memmingen airport in Bavaria Germany.

I woke up at 8 am, showered, packed my bags, and relaxed until I had to check out of my hostel and walk to the airport. It took me but 5 minutes to walk to the airport where I met whip with Erich and we waited for our flight.

Ryanair flight to Marrakesh Morocco.

After having our passports checked 3-4 times and then we finally got our stamp to enter Morocco. We went outside, found a taxi, which we had to haggle do. They tried to charge us 200 Durham, which we finally were able to get down to 100, equivalent to about 10 US dollars. After arriving further away then we wanted to our Airbnb, we had to walk the last mile through the famous Marrakesh Medina and shops.

Our traditional riad Airbnb for the week.

Right before arriving at our Airbnb, we were told by some locals that the road was closed and that they had to take us there. Fortunately, I knew what they were doing, wanting money for them to bring us to the Riad. Even after telling them we didn’t need help, they kept following us and then demanded money, which we refused and they kept on asking for.

We checked into our Airbnb, which was a room in one of Marrakesh's riads, rooms with an open-air central patio. It was super nice and felt luxurious for only about $17 per night per person. We then headed back the Medina where we exchanged some money and found a restaurant overlooking the main square where the food was supposed to be safe to eat.

Dinner overlooking the main square in Marrakesh.

I ordered fresh, mint lemonade that was delicious and refreshing. For food, I go traditional beef tagine that was the most tender beef I have ever had. No knife was required to break it apart and even just the fork itself would break the meat apart when you when to pick it up. It was a delicious meal, and a restaurant we will probably come back to.

Belt shop owner in the Marakexh medina.

We then walked around the market, where we started scoping out the souvenirs we wanted to buy. Erich and I both purchased a small chess set and two belts, all of which we had to haggle for of course. It’s part of the game and part of the fun and the part that makes the souvenirs more meaningful. The two belts I purchased, was from a small shop in the Medina. I was too skinny for any of the belts, so they quickly cut them and resized them for my waist. I even got the WhatsApp and Facebook of the shop owner, who I took a selfie within the shop.

We woke up the next morning at 8:30, and then were treated to breakfast in our riads center garden patio. We sat down and were quickly brought fresh-squeezed orange juice, coffee, and a piece of dessert bread, similar to cornbread. After this, they brought out Moroccan pancakes, similar to crepes but a little bit thicker, these were delicious with the fresh strawberry jam they had. After this, they had some traditional bread that we also had the ham with. It was a delicious meal that came included in the price of the Airbnb.

Fountain in the gardens surrounding Marrakesh Mosque

We then headed out, walked through the Medina yet again to walk around the main Marrakesh mosque. It stood proud in the middle of gardens and fountains and was a very unique place to see. After taking a break in the shade was started walking to Jardin Majorelle, a French-designed garden filled with palm trees, cactus and many other exotic plants and trees. It was extremely well kept, absolutely beautiful and was a little paradise tucked away in the outskirts of Marrakesh.

After grabbing lunch at a cafe near the gardens we headed back, and after about a two-mile walk through the small but busy streets we were back in the center of town where we went to the Marrakech Museum of Photography, it was a little disappointing but only cost about $3, so it wasn’t much to lose. We then made it back to our Riad where we relaxed for a while.

Our luxurious riad room.

Upon return we found our room to be cleaned, beds made, and new towels cleaned and folded in our bathroom. It feels like a complete luxury to have the service we do for the cheap price we are paying. I recommend the Purple Medina Riad if you’re ever in Marrakesh. We then got our bags ready to go for the morning as we had a three-day trek into the desert planned, which will be included in a separate blog next time.

Our ATV adventure in the Marrakesh Palm Desert.

After our desert tour, we returned late on Saturday, went to bed and woke up the next morning after a good nights rest in the nice and cool air-conditioned room. We grabbed breakfast and decided to take today to relax and take it easy. I worked on my blog and edited some more photos. We then went back to the loan square to find an early dinner and relaxed and people watched. I got chicken and tomato panini with French fries.

The next morning we woke up and were picked up by a tour company for a two-hour quad adventure through the palm desert. We hoped on our ATV's and headed out in a small group of 7 people including one guide. While we didn’t get to enjoy driving the quads as most of the time we were only driving 15-20 mph it was still fun worth it.

We then headed back to the Airbnb, relaxed for a while and started getting our back ready for tomorrow’s trip back to Konstanz. After a quick dinner at the same restaurant we ate at last night we headed to bed to wake up at 4:30. We got in our taxi we had arranged, checked into our flight and made it to our gate. Our passports were checked five or six times, and our bags searched twice. We made it to the gate and only had to wait about 10-15 minutes before boarding our plane. We arrived in Memmingen at about 11 am, hopped on our train and finally made it back to Konstanz. I was a long 16 days, but a great couple weeks of traveling.

To view my photos of Marrakesh, Click Here!