21 Rue Beni Marine, Marrakesh (Morocco 40000) day 2

Saturday is a working day here. At six, a cacophony of noise from the early morning traffic, men loading barrows to deliver to the stalls in the Souk, and disgruntled delivery drivers. But this is Marrakech, we'd expect no less. Because of the heat we were out early morning walking pavements of broken tiles, dodging cats, dodging people, dodging scooters. Yes, they do ride down the pavement here. We love this city, but the traffic is a nightmare. Crossing a road, is an even worse nightmare. But we've visited Vietnam, and decided to cross as we did there. It sort of worked! Eventually finding the Saadian Tombs, where entry was supposed to be free, now eight pounds each, presumably to pay for the restoration project under way there.

We saw. Stucco carvings, tile work, Italian marble columns and interesting architecture all at this small site. Value for money? No. Next stop the Shrob ou shouf fountain at the far end of the Souk made from cedar wood. Another disappointment. It was also undergoing work, and looked like it wouldn't reopen even though it has UNESCO listing.

For us Marrekech is all about the atmosphere. The noise is off the scale, the smells intoxicating. Spices, food, slow burning joss sticks, fragrant with herbs and oils that irritated our nostrils.

Whilst in the Souk we checked out restaurants for tonight's meal, one of which was recommended by the guardian news paper, Angela had read about on Trip advisor. We decided to return later and give it a go. The heat now was quite debilitating, so we returned to Marge for lunch and settled down for the afternoon, reading and dozing before experiencing Saturday night in Marrekech, which made Friday night seem tame. It was crazy busy. We fought our way through the crowds in the Souk, found the restaurant, sat outside on the roof terrace and ate couscous, vegetables and chicken tajine, away from the craziness of Jemaa el-Fnaa, the main square and beating heart of the Medina.

We've love our time here in Marrakech, but with temperatures expected to rise into the forties, tomorrow we are driving back over to the Atlantic coast. As for Marrekech, known as the red city, we are already discussing returning during the winter months for a week.

The airport is just an eighteen minute taxi ride from the centre. Perfect. Thank you for having us Marrekech, where at every turn something surprises us.

Today storks in a nest on the roof of a mosque, not phased by the energy of this city. Here, if you disturb a storks nest you could be imprisoned for three months. The birds are considered holy. Tomorrow the roads should be quiet here. Hopefully Marge's exit from the city will run a little smoothly than her arrival.

21 Rue Beni Marine, Marrakesh (Morocco 40000)

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!