Marrakech Mayhem, Part 2: Found

With our confidence rising all the time, we could set our sights on attractions further away from our riad; shaking our heads at dubious offers of assistance and sometimes even laughing at the audacious claims of cheeky young locals. "C'est fermé!" or "It's closed!" is apparently a witty and helpful thing to shout at tourists as they walk along a street. At least there were no sexist slurs - our friend Beth had been on the receiving end of quite a lot of unwanted attention when she visited Marrakech with a female friend.

After checking out the lush Jardin Majorelle we visited the one of the amazing royal palaces, Palais-el-Badi:

After 48 hours in Marrakech, we'd started to notice a pattern - a few hectic hours out on the streets would be followed by a period of recuperation in a quiet restaurant, palace, garden or riad, before we could face the mayhem again - but we were definitely warming to the craziness, the pace, and the sheer inventiveness of the locals. At the risk of being a bikesnob, observe if you will, this superb example of Moroccan bicycle style:

Of note:

• Front brakes completely disconnected
• Rear brakes also purely for decorative purposes
• "Moroccan singlespeed conversion" with gear ratio chosen using the rule "whatever stops the chain from falling off too much"
• Missing seatpost clamp, ingeniously replaced with padlock (Hah! That'll stop 'em!)
• Asymmetrical seat orientation; this actually suits the sidesaddle riding position adopted by most riders for easy ejection (see first two points)
• Cargo rack - this allows the vehicle to carry livestock and building materials with ease. We spotted a full-size front door being carried like this.

We decided to brave an al fresco dinner in the "big square", delving somewhat apprehensively into the crazy maze of smoky, smelly food stalls, teeming with beggars, pickpockets and extremely inventive spruikers. Easily the cheapest meal of the trip, the food was surprisingly good and the atmosphere incredible. We caught this little guy red-handed, trying to relieve Bec of some change!

For our last full day in Morocco we ventured out of the city, our guide Majid taking us into the Atlas Mountains to experience the rural life of the Berber people. Johnny was kept busy translating as Majid was much more comfortable in French than English, but Bec was improving all the time. By the end of this year she will probably be as good at French as she is German, if not better!

The scenery was spectacular, and quite astonishing at times, seeming more Swiss Alp than Moroccan Atlas:

We enjoyed a scrambling climb up multiple waterfalls before heading back into the city for a very different watersport. The Hammam. Neither of us really knew exactly what this was, but we knew it had to be done and Thierry had organised a visit to a very special one close to our riad, operated by another French expat. Veronique gave us a lovely welcome on her rooftop terrasse before Bec was sent off to be Hammam-ed. She came back in a dressing-gown looking somewhat dazed, but refused to give any details to Johnny before he was sent to his fate.

Now, not being at all knowledgeable about ancient North African cleansing rituals, we cannot definitively say that our experience was the norm. If there is an expert reading this, does this sound right?

1. Enter a small bathroom-like cubicle with no fittings beyond taps and drain
   
2. Strip down to bathing suit
3. Large member of the same sex enters the room
4. Large person also strips to bathing suit
5. Large person fills plastic buckets with warm water
6. Large person pours water over client
7. Large person applies soap to client
   
8. Large person flagellates client with what feels like cheese grater (coarse side)
9. Repeat steps 5-8 using ever-finer grating devices until all client skin has been removed
10. Large person sloshes a final 20 litres of water over client
11. Client dons dressing-gown in order to stop internal organs from falling out

Our hammam experience in many ways mirrored our overall impressions of Marrakech; confronting, unfamiliar, a little scary, but somehow simultaneously fascinating, enjoyable and totally unforgettable.