Morocco in winter or a great idea to touch the exotic in December. Part 1
The idea to go to Morocco was born spontaneously in April 17, and the process of studying two questions immediately began: how is it more profitable to fly and what is there in general with visas?
Purchasing tickets did not take long and after 3 weeks 135$ were deducted from the account, and the route received was: Krakow-Geneva-Marrakech.
A visa, as it turned out, is also needed (for citizens of Ukraine) and after studying various travel resources and blogs, it became known that there are two options for how to get this very visa (if you have a residence permit in Poland):
1) Embassy in Kyiv
2) Consulate in Warsaw
I used the first option because it was possible to submit documents through a proxy, my research partner in Morocco - option number 2.
If everything is expressed in numbers, then the Kyiv version is $23 and 7 days of waiting, and the Warsaw one is $56 and 20 minutes of waiting.
And then the euphoria of the work done, a bit of waiting, then the airport, passport control, the plane, the next airport and the plane, and now we landed on another continent, at the starting point of our journey - Marrakesh.
From the moment you land, it becomes clear that Morocco is a completely different approach - no buses to the plane, just walk to the terminal : )
In the terminal, be sure to fill out the migration form and then to passport control.
Leaving the airport, we found a stop of a regular tourist bus (30 dirhams per person, which is equal to $ 3) and headed for the Jamaa el-Fna square, a couple of minutes walk from it and our hotel was located (or how it is right here speak - Riad).
After checking in, we questioned the receptionist, who kindly provided us with a map, on which he marked a place with a delicious and inexpensive tagine (cult dish), and a bar where you can drink beer.
At the tajin's catering point, the legendary harira soup was ordered, and acquaintance with the local cuisine started.
After a hearty dinner, we moved to the next checkpoint - a beer bar (which in fact turned out to be a hotel lobby and looked extremely unpresentable).
There we were saddened by the cost of a bottle of local beer 0.33 l (50 dirhams, wait a minute! ), but there was nowhere to go, because we must celebrate the first day in Marrakesh.
The next morning, it was decided to look around and wander around the city, even despite the pouring rain.
Discussing the first impressions of Morocco, and feeling completely wet sneakers, we reached the Saadian Shrine (admission - 10 dirhams).
To be honest, this object did not impress us at all, and after 20 minutes, we were already drinking pomegranate juice and checking the route to El Badi Palace on the map.
This is how the main gate leading to the ticket office of the palace looks like (20 dirhams for the entrance to the palace and the minbar).
After visiting the tombs, no special expectations were placed on the palace.
But after walking a little further, orange orchards appeared before us (more details about this place can be found in the video report).
As for the minbar, here it is. By the way, you can’t take pictures of him, the photo was found on the Internet.
The sightseeing tour was temporarily suspended at the request of a hungry stomach, and tajine was vital for further inspection, this time with an egg (I decided that I was not afraid of salmonellosis).
The third and final attraction for us was the Bahia Palace.
A brief summary of this place - the entrance costs 10-ku and for this money you can take a bunch of cool selfies (the location is very photogenic).
After a rich cultural program and still fresh memories of beer prices at the bar, we decided to save money and stock up on beer at the store, which we did when we reached the Menara Mall shopping center.
The prices in the store pleased (from 9 to 20 dirhams for a bottle of 0.33) and after 40 minutes we were cooling the beer in the room and preparing for interesting discussions.
Drinking beer reminded us that we are not far from the Jamaa el-Fna square, and there is a lot of food there, which means we can eat something interesting or strange. Well, in general, yes, boiled snails were used.
The price for a small portion is 5 dirhams and it is enough for a snack after a beer.
After a good night's sleep, we went out to sunny Marrakech in the morning
We walked quite a bit, drank some fresh juice and moved to the airport, from where we were supposed to go to Fes.
You can read about how we spent time in Fes here.
If you want to know more about our trip to Morocco, I also recommend watching the video report.
