H and I had a BA Companion voucher that was about to expire in march and not much time to try and use it, but lo and behold – we found a three night trip to Marrakesh that worked for the diaries and cost us a few Avios and the pricely sum of £2. So off we went!
Really pleased with our choice of riad – Riad les Nuits de Marrakesh – run by two very lovely gay French men, a few hundred metres from the Jemaa. Very Moroccan in feel, nicely scented with orangeflower oil and the chaps had plenty of local tips to offer, bless them.
Did the usual mega wandering around the souks – 52,000 steps in 3 days!! On my poor plantar fasciitis trotters… But did at least manage to avoid buying any slippers, carpets or Aladdin's lamps, just a mountain of spices, peppercorns, olives and cinnamon twigs instead…
And we certainly ate a LOT of lamb – including this fabulous street meal of roasted lamb cooked in a filthy looking hole in the floor. But which then looked a damn sight more appetising when oozing and with crunchy skin on a simple tray with a brown roll and a pile of cumin and salt to dip it into..
Plus some good eves out in the relatively few places that sell the western demon alcohol… Cheers to the Pergola bar and the Bistro d'Arabe in particular..
Had our fill by day 4 so we took a car up into the Atlas mountains. H yomped to 4 waterfalls, while I gave up at the first one – rather wishing I had packed my trainers as flipflop shoes were never going to cut it up those slopes. And had a tagine by the flowing river at the end – very nice flavour but the bare meat bones literally looked like they had been eaten by 1-2 customers before they got dished up to us…
All in all a good few days and some unexpected heat – 34 degrees on the first two days, then down to 14 on our final morning, picking up again late morning.
Cheers to Clarkie Cars for dropping us to LGW very early on Tuesday and for the Fri night collection – always appreciated! Sx