Marrakech. June 6

This morning we slept in as much as we could without missing breakfast. We met the girls at 9.45 to eat together but sadly didn’t see anyone else from our group. The both of us had picked up a stomach bug a few days before, and it had decided that today would be the absolute worst of all. Fortunately we didn’t have anything planned and as the girls were leaving later that day, we decided not to stray far from the hotel. We all checked out at noon and were hoping to run into Khaled so we could organise some activities to do now we were leaving the tour group. After a while, Ash messaged him to see if he was far, and eventually he came down from his room to see the light of day. Obviously struggling a bit from the late night, we put him straight to work at organising our lives a bit more, but he didn’t seem to mind, and invited us to go get a coffee down the road. We sat for a while and then made the small journey back to the hotel to have lunch, as we definitely did not want to leave hotel safety. We sat eating for a few hours, which was pretty nice because we knew we would be leaving them soon, and chats are always good. Eventually the girls had to get their cab to the airport, just as a small storm was coming in and we said our farewells. After another hour or so we said goodbye to Khaled and took a taxi to Djemaa El-Fna Square in the Medina, where we would be staying near for the night. After finding our little door for the Riad that Elise’s sister Lauren had booked her to stay in as a Christmas present, we were invited in and shown around. The Riad was super lovely, with the big open area in the middle shaded by a huge banana tree, and lots of rooms coming off different levels. We were taken to the roof terrace which was lovely, and met the hosts. Eventually we were led to a door that wasn’t off the terrace, so we assumed it led to a higher floor, which in a way it did, but it was also our private entry! We climbed some stairs and came to a lovely little study area, then past a huge bathroom a few more stairs up, and then the massive bedroom. The bedroom had beautiful Moroccan decoration and a large skylight above our heads (although luckily it had a shade over it because it’s very hot in Marrakech). We also had a couch, a coffee table and another little room with a second bed and shelf of books.

Study space (but who is actually doing that on holiday?)

Banana tree!

Luxurious bath

Spare room with African art

Rooftop!

We relaxed for a while before deciding to go get dinner at the night markets in the square. Unfortunately our plans to meet our group (plus their new add ons) fell through, but Khaled told us which stall was the best to go to, so we set out finding it. We both ordered cous cous, and it was amazing, of course! When we were totally filled up, we walked around the square for a while and eventually went back to the Riad to have a proper sleep.

Dinner at stall #1

Cous cous!

Lots of love A&E