Trials of the Travel Savvy

From Winston Churchill to the Rolling Stones to Branjelina, it seems everyone wants to come to Marrakech. But what about travelling to a place where bearded men dressed in flowing robes lurk, waiting to pounce for gold, for sex and heavens forbid, to make you buy a carpet? What to do? Perhaps some perspectives from a fellow traveller will help although I do confess, very wary describes my first visit to this exotic city. I remember arriving by train using my new found Aussie friends as a shield, soon to be tackled by touts and taxi drivers. However the calm casual attitude of fellow travellers conveyed those fears might also be amiss.

But we soon found out there was a learning curve to be savvy travellers in the red city.

Stumbling through hot narrow streets aimlessly searching for the cheapest hotel is not the greatest way to engage a strange new culture. In the medina our feelers needed to be twitching for three main threats; distractions, motorbikes and sidewalks - or lack of. The shops are filled with tons of treasures but donkeys also have the right of way, so making a bee line for that perfect turquoise leather bag became a game of dodge-em.

Later that evening we linked arms on our first foray into the main square where those dark robed men were waiting. What do they want of little ole us? Well hello - money, a good time, some new clothes, a motorbike, a business, a riad, a plane ticket, watcha got?

And then there were those friendly children wanting to look at pictures on our camera while unzipping our bag. Old ladies explored our pockets while our attention was focused on a fake fist fight outside the restaurant.

To be fair, locals love to practice their English and if they can't help, they’ll find someone who can.

You've likely heard the term location, location, location. Well with bargaining it's attitude, attitude, attitude. Wow what a smile can do! Bargaining was really fun. We took our time, didn't ooohhh and ahhh over the little beauties before our eyes. Looking around paid off because the next shop usually had something similar for less.

There's wonderful genuine treasures all over Morocco but beware of phony stuff like machine made imported carpets and pretty silver lanterns. They're polished tin.

You’ll find Marrakech a challenge but also lots of fun, the experience of a lifetime. It certainly was for me, so much so that I ended up with eight fantastic carpets. Each one is a memorable treasure!