Marrakech Adventures

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It is currently day 5 in Marrakech. Tomorrow we head to Imlil where we will do our first hiking of the trip. The past few days have been filled with exploring the souks (marketplaces), trying street food, visiting a few famous landmarks, and various other escapades. Given the sheer consumption of food, CJ is going to do a separate food only post so stay tuned for that. 

On our first day, our Airbnb host Amine cooked us breakfast on the rooftop of our riad (traditional Moroccan home with a central interior courtyard/garden). Our first stop of the day was returning Logan's guitar rental.


This led us down busy streets full of small shops and food stands serving grilled meats and pastries. When we weren't jumping out of the way of motorbikes, we were greeted by the smiling faces of shop owners and other locals trying to give us directions and then offering us hashish. 


We then visited the Bahia Palace and were impressed by the hand-carved walls and ceilings.


The next stop was the Jemaa el-Fnaa square, a bustling hub of tourist activity where Moroccan dudes either sell fruit juice, drag around monkeys by their necks, or egg you on to snap photos of their snakes and then charge you for it. 

We spent the rest of the day clocking over 20k steps while exploring the south and east regions of the old city, eating, and taking a quick pit stop for Logan to get shaved by barber Ismail.


Thursday started with a short morning run before it got too hot. After a full day of exploring yesterday, our sole mission today was trying to find the Mcdonald's. 

It took over 6 hours and led to so many extra food stops that we could barely get anything down once we finally arrived (another ad for our food post). On our way back we had a long cafe people watching session. 

Exhausted from eating and walking, we slept in till 1pm on Friday and started our day at the Ben Youssef Madrasa. In addition to being the largest structure we have seen in Marrakech, the nearly 500 year old religious school/mosque was covered in intricate carvings and artwork from the floor tiles to the ceilings. CJ and I spent a while taking photos.



After leaving Ben Youssef, we hopped over to Le Jardin Secret, a historic riad containing a beautiful garden with local and imported plants and trees. The water in the garden flows through an ancient underground system connected to the Atlas Mountains outside the city. We ended our day with a tasty rooftop dinner (another shameless plug for the food post).


On Saturday, for our last full day in Marrakech, we went on a slightly longer run into the suburbs. Sadly we couldn't see any of the fancy houses over their tall stone gates and fences. After the run, our Airbnb host Amine took us with him to a hammam (communal bath house), where after some time relaxing and cleansing ourselves with traditionally spiced soaps, we nearly passed out from heat exhaustion. 


A couple of waters and a shawarma later, we were back on our feet and ready to re-visit barber Ismail where CJ and I got faded up. 


As a night cap, we treated ourselves to a nicer rooftop dinner for a proper Marrakech send off. Till next time



Comments

  1. ChloeSeptember 6, 2025 at 5:48 PM

    Props to the photographer

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SanSoucieSeptember 18, 2025 at 3:59 PM

      Gramma loves every memorable moment. Your shoes could tell a story; your gut will love to get home for a rest! Love the photo at barber shop. Survive. Thrive Contrive.

      Delete

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