When I was doing my research about our move to the Costa del Sol of Spain, I saw there were quick, cheap ferries from Spain to Morocco and knew we’d have to go to Morocco while we were here.
Once we arrived, our friends, the Wagoners, told us about their upcoming trip to Marrakech, Morocco. They found a really cheap deal on Ryanair from Seville, Spain to Marrakech, which sounded amazing.
We also found a pretty good deal on Ryanair from Seville to Marrakech and a road trip idea was born. Seville is a 3 hour drive from where we’re staying in Almuñécar which is a bit far but reasonable. There was also many cool things to do in Seville so we thought we’d combine both trips into one. Unfortunately, Ryanair only flies to Marrakech 2x a week so we were stuck with either going for 2 nights only or going for 6 nights which seemed too long. We went with the 2 night option which worked out about right.
We arrived in Marrakech about 9pm on a Saturday night.
We hired a shuttle service to take us to our riad because there was no way we’d find it on our own. A riad is a traditional Moroccan house usually with an interior courtyard. We stayed at Riad Zanzibar and loved how unique and traditional it was.
The door to our riad.
Our room had a loft area for the kids and a humongous tub.
We ate breakfast on the open air terrace on the 3rd floor that consisted of Moroccan pancakes, croissants, yogurt, bread, honey, coffee and Moroccan mint tea.
We wandered to the main square that evening and then hit the hay because we had to get up early the next day.
Sunday morning we headed out on our ATV excursion. Afterwards, it was time for a nice lunch. I got a beef tagine dish which is a Moroccan specialty and is meat and vegetables cooked in a tagine pot.
Beef that was cooked in a tagine. Delicious!
A tagine
Sunday afternoon we headed to the main square, Jemaa el-Fna, to see the snake charmers, monkeys, and general chaos that is Marrakech. Then it was time to wander around the souks, spice market and other little shops.
Monday was our last day and was spent walking, walking and walking some more through the streets and alleyways that make up the Medina. We also spent the day trying to find (and negotiate on) the perfect genie lamp for Beckett.
Unfortunately, despite much rubbing, no genie appeared from the magic genie lamp
During the day we stopped for more Moroccan mint tea to take a little break. We loved the Moroccan mint tea and drank it many times over the 2 days. It’s so sweet but sooooooo good.
Mara working on her long pour of Moroccan mint tea
Beckett doing the traditional long pour of tea
All in all, it was a great 2 days in Marrakech and a definite highlight of our year abroad!
Be sure to see our other 4 posts about Marrakech