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Essaouira is lovely beach town; calm and quieter than the rest of cities in Morocco. In the city itself, there's a Portuguese fort with an amazing view and a lot of seagulls. This city was another location for the Game of Thrones Season 3 shooting (Astapor) :-)
The town is very touristic with many small restaurants and many stores. You should hang around the seaport at sunset.
There's a fish market in which the fishermen sell their catch of the day. You can bargain on the price of fish.
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In the city, you can find the Hassan the Second Mosque (Hassan II Mosque), which is the third largest mosque in the world. Besides that, there are several markets. Nothing too special...
We stopped there because we had a flight back from the city's airport.
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- King's Palace
- Mohamed V Mausoleum. Besides it are the remains of an old mosque built in the 12th century, in which construction was never finished.
- The state (the old city)
- The main market
- The Jewish quarter
- Kasbah of Udayas
- The new city, the parliament, and Mohammad V Avenue
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Marrakesh is the heart of Morocco. The most fascinating and interesting city. Absolutely the theatre of life.
The main square - jemaa el fna - you can't miss in daylight and definitely not at night. This square draws everyone - tourists and locals - and each evening is a celebration. Food stands, drinks (fresh squeezed orange juice), dried fruits, circles of people listening to storytellers, entertainers, oil stands (with the famous argan oil), oysters' eggs, hedgehogs, witchcraft, snake charmers, and you name it.
There are also plenty of things to see in daylight. Mainly, you should wander around, feel the atmosphere, take a picture and you'll reach all the nice places. But anyways:
- Jemaa el fna square
- Koutoubia Mosque
- The markets - you won't be able to miss them
- The Jewish quarter where you can find spice stands, the old Jewish synagogue, and Ben Youssef Madrasa.
- Marrakech museum - we didn't visit it.
- Saadian Tombs
- El bahia palace
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Fes is the spiritual capital of Morocco. The main entrance to the old city is bab boujloud. From there, you only need to go where your feet take you... Plenty of little restaurants offering Tajines, butcher shops, leather shops and markets.
Places to see:
- King's castle - you can't get into it.
- The Jewish Quarter.
- Most importantly - the old city. Plenty of mosques, madrasas, carpenter wood shops, potters, copper smith.
- Leather Tanneries - we payed a kid (30-40 Dirham at most) to take us to the leather tanneries. These are built as holes in the ground filled with color. Very pretty, don't miss.
- The new city and Muhammad V avenues.
Our Riad offered many tours with a guide. I don't think they're necessary, as every kid on the street will take you to the same place for less money than what the Riad would charge you.
Coincidentally, the day we visited Fes, the king arrived for a prayer in the mosque near bab boujloud. It was an extraordinary experience waiting with all the people to his arrival. There was a red carpet, flags with his picture... And plenty, plenty, plenty, plenty of cops, troops, and undercover agents. Needless to mention, you cannot photograph the king! They were very serious about it.. (they took my camera and asked to erase some of the pictures). So better not to get in trouble :-)
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We spent 3 days exploring the Sahara Desert
In Marrakech, there are number of travel agencies which you can't miss (if you look for them...). We signed up with one of those agencies for three day tour to the Sahara Desert.
The tour uses a mini-bus for fourteen people, usually from all around the world: British, Canadians, Spanish, French and more. It includes accommodation, breakfast and dinner and it costs 70 Euros per a person.
The tour visits:
- Ouarzazate
- Aït Benhaddou - a fortified city where most of its people are barbarians who replaced their nomadic life with permanent residence. Aït Benhaddou has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987 and is well known for the many films which have been shot there, among them: Gladiator, Babel, The Mummy, The Last Temptation of Christ, Jesus of Nazaret and Lawrence of Arabia. Season 3 of Game of Thrones uses this location to film Yunkai :-)
- Tinghir
- Dadès Valley
- Todra Gorge
- And the Merzouga area - we ate dinner which included Tajine (as usual...), we slept in the camp (no showers in case you wondered), and camel trekking at sunset (amazing!)
The tour itself is highly recommended and you don't want to miss it.
