The Internet advised us to arrive in Marrakech by lunchtime to secure a parking space. Today being Friday, it is, holy day. Some businesses close at lunchtime, and by the evening the streets and medinas are very busy. To save time, and Marge's suspension, we drove the toll road. The traffic was light, but having been up since just after six, we stopped twice for John to top up on Caffeine, while Angela, always needing to relieve herself, found herself in the ablution room for the ladies mosque, rather than the ladies toilet. She thought something seemed strange, who washes their feet after using the loo? We arrived in Marrakesh right at lunchtime, on a Friday. It was bedlam.Vehicles, mopeds, taxis, horse drawn carriages and Marge, didn't make for a great mix. The secure parking we hoped to stay at was no longer available. Because of the chaos, we allowed ourselves to be guided by a guy called Mohammed to another secure overnight parking area, which at the time we were grateful for, the traffic was just too manic. We paid the fee for an overnight stay, and gave Mohammed 20MD, although he would have liked 50MD.
Tired and stressed we ate lunch, John realizing we weren't at the correct parking area. So we walked out, found the right one, made enquires about the security and decided to forfeit the eight pounds already paid and move Marge. Another eight pounds later we were sorted.
If something doesn't feel right, then it probably isn't, and we are happy we moved, as we are now near to the Medina, with security cameras and men to to watch over Marge. As in Europe, and at home the mercury is rising.
After a quick walk around the Medina we retired to Marge for a rest. Then this evening we were spat into the frenzy in the main square. Scotland are playing Morocco in the world cup tonight, and there's much excitement here.
A large outdoor screen has been set up, and there is a huge police presence. Fighting our way through the crowded souk, pedestrians sharing the narrow walkways with mopeds, never a good mix, we eventually found a restaurant we wanted to eat at. Advice on the Internet, says don't eat at cafes in the square, or from stalls. Avoid salad, drinking out of glasses and minced beef. So we played it safe.
Two chicken and vegetable tanjine, and drank our zero zero San Miguel lager straight from the bottle. Now we have been in Marrakesh a few hours we find we really like it. The red walled Medina, the bustling Souk, the chaos and noise. It's very much a city alive.
We've spent so much time recently on our own it was nice to be sucked into the crazy nightlife of Marrakesh. At eleven o'clock the match between Scotland and Morocco will begin. We have seen twelve Scotland supporters, and thousands of Moroccan ones. Not sure what will happen in the unlikely event of Scotland winning. One savvy Scottish supported wore a kilt and a Moroccan football shirt, just in case. Tomorrow, before it becomes too hot we will walk out to see more of the city, hoping to find a shady garden to sit in during the afternoon. We are planning to stay another night here, and then will head back to the coast where it should be cooler. We don't want Marge going into an uncontrollable sweat. For now though, we expect a noisy eventful night, and just when it all calms down, some bloke at a nearby mosque will sound the call to prayer, very loudly, which will wake Angela and she'll need the toilet. The washing of feet, will have to wait until the morning!
