Professional tea pourer
We didn't have any real plans but decided to heads toward the main plaza and check out the souks (market). We left our riad and walked the short distance to the main square and were amazed at all the action. Cars driving back and forth in no apparent order, people all around, music playing. Our first problem was how were we going to cross the "street" with all these cars whizzing by in no apparent order. We braved it and somehow we all made it across unscathed. It was intense.
Kebabs
We were immediately bombarded by monkey men and snake men and people selling henna tatoos. They spotted us a mile away and we were dead on a arrival. We got our first taste of the very pushy moroccan people, always looking for a way to take your money, and they made out good here. The monkey guys threw their monkeys on Julie, my dad and Jeanne. Pablo wanted the snake and we were all laughing and taking pictures (actually I was running from the snakes and monkeys) it was all fun until they demanded money and Pablo thought they would give change. My new husband, precious darling, learned the hard way- why would they ever give change? He gave those snake guys probably a weeks worth of money but he learned his lesson fast.
So after being completely overwhelmed and ripped off in less than 5 minutes, Pablo argued with the guy for change and I thought there'd be a fight, we headed into the souks. It is a maze of tiny stores selling everything you can imagine, tourist gifts, clothes, jewelry, dishes, spices, fruit, rugs, everything. We walked and walked and walked, looking at all the shops, dodging people and motor bikes and mule drawn wagons. We had no idea where we were going and probably looked like 7 scared Americans. The shops were really cool once you get past the hustlers. It was fun to see all the things they were selling and if we weren't heckled at we probably would have enjoyed them and stopped and looked at things a little more.
We all kept saying, when does it end, where is the exit? After a good while we finally found a way out of the maze. We were headed in the direction of a mosque Najat had recommended and was highlighted on our map. We figured if we headed to the end of the souks they should be right in front. Problem was once when we left the souks we learned that hardly any streets had street names, our map only showed the major streets and we had no idea where we were. We followed dad as he seemed to know where we were and we walked, and walked, in the hot sun with people everywhere. Laura didn't feel good and we need water.
We finally get water and pull out our map to try and figure out where to go. First mistake! Don't pull out the map! Before we know it we have this man telling us where we have to go and he'll walk us there. We learned quickly that there aren't many, if any people willing to help out of the goodness of their heart but my dad starts following him. I'm like dad he just wants money. We try to lose the guy but there is no where to go. Finally we are back to where we started, an hour later, and paid the man to leave. We realized coming out of the souks we went right instead of left and we were right where we wanted to be. So we find the mosque but it is surrounded by a huge wall and we can't see anything and we aren't allowed in because we aren't muslim. After circling the thing we finally find a cafe in the museum and sit to have a drink. I think at this point everyone was in a bad mood, we walked for hours and ended up not seeing anything. Our glowing compliments of Marrakech after our dinner the night before had been erased when we were faced with its reality today.
My dad can never sit still for too long so he was trying to find the fastest route to the next Mosque, the famous one, near the main square for the next stop. I said the best way is to go back the way we came because we are never going to find the streets and we'll just get lost again. After some debate on how to get there and making two wrong turns at the start, we ended up going back through the souks and luckily made it back to the main square without any problems. In a short time we had become professionals, we dodged the motorbikes and mules like pros, we ignored the hassling every 5 steps and broke free into the square. 
At this point it was lunch time and we needed some much needed fuel. We thought a place up high overlooking the plaza would be good. There were so many to choose from but one had a ton of flags and was far away enough from all the music and hustlers of the square we thought it would be good. So headed over and found that it was a cute restaurant, with a nice terrace and they served beer! SOLD! We order 7 beers a mix of food to share and relaxed.
view from restaurant
After 2 rounds of beers and food in our tummies we felt a little more confident. We headed over to the main mosque so we could finally say we actually saw something! Again we ran into another busy street we had to cross. This was by far the biggest we've had to cross and it was scary! They had crosswalks but no lights and no one stops for pedestrians. There is no way to describe it. See video
The mosque was very cool and it was sad we couldn't go inside. But it had nice grounds so we explored and took pictures. It was next to a very nice garden with tons of roses but it wasn't very well maintained so it was a little sad.
Mosque
At this point it was time for some people to go back to the riad for their Hammams. We had signed up to get Hammams which are like baths. You get washed and massaged for an hour by a woman in our Riad. We read that they were a must do in Marrakech, we were a little nervous since girls had to go in only with their bikini bottoms and no top, but we went for it. Since there were 7 of us and they took an hour each we split it up between the two days. Not all of us had to go back to the hotel but we all wanted to. After the stressful day, our riad became our sanctuary. We heard the rooftop terrace calling our names and knew we had wine, so really how much better could it get!
After 4 of the hammams were complete we planned to check out the night market that happens every night in the main plaza. The vendors set up food booths and there are people telling stories and doing magic. After the day's experience we were all hesitant about going, the food we would find and the hassling we would have to endure. We made a plan to meet at a spot in 45 minutes and then we would head to a bar Najat recommended for drinks.
At night the market was really cool, smoke billowing up from the grills, the lights, and the music made it look really fun so we head in to check out the food stalls but we are once again bombarded by the men working there. It was insane but now we knew to ignore and move on. It was a little hard though because how were we supposed to eat when we couldn't get a good look at the food with all these men in our faces? We made a full loop and finally just sat down at a place that look realitvely clean. It turned out to be fine. We got a menu, ordered some kebabs, sausages and couscous and watched the circus aorund us. Once again we were surprised by how good the food was. We had no problem eating everything. After a bit I was feeling more confident and really grew to like the market. If we had more time I would definitely come back and eat there again. It had a real laid back atomosphere full of tourist and moroccans once you got past the hustlers.
Kebabs
After dinner we headed to check out the 'shows'. There were the storytellers the magician and various other random things. Finally it was time to meet back at our meeting point and head to the Kozy Bar for drinks.
The bar was really fun and nice. We sat on the rooftop terrace, enjoyed the views and alcoholic beverages. It was a good end to the evening and oh yeah, Pablo's birthday! Happy 32nd Birthday husband!
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