We landed in Marrakech around 10:30 am. The sun was glaring and the heat was just as expected when we got out of the plane. Outside the 1-story building was a big sign that said “Marrakech-Menara”.
The flight was full, heaps of tourists were lined up at the immigration booths. Alf and I were observing what the other girls were wearing because we were so conscious about what we should wear. To our amazement, some of the girls were wearing tubes and another girl had a midrib top. Talk about following the culture. We walked to the money changer and decided to have our pounds converted there so we had ample amount of pocket money. If there’s one thing for sure that we’ve noticed, customer service was something a-miss in the airport. Staff were not at all friendly, rather, the lady even snapped at clients. Oh well.
As we walked outside the terminal, we tried to work on our bearing and what were the items we had to sort out before taking a cab to the bus terminal.
One of the things we had in mind was to get a prepaid sim so we can have data available. There was a handy Maroc Telecom booth just right beside the food shops. There was a “back in 10 minutes” sign, which made us decided to linger for a while, grab snacks and check if the staff was back. Around 11:15 am we decided it wasn’t going anywhere.The sign was still there.
I asked the information desk if they had any available maps of Marrakech, just to be directed to a nearby store where the girls said “You can buy it from there”. Apparently, tourism as such in Marrakech wasn’t well organized. Not a single map or instruction can be found around the premises. In retrospect, buying the map was one of the best things we did. It was a combined map of Marrakech and Essaouira. Also, we bought a prepaid sim which we hoped would work because we were rushing to catch the 12:30 PM bus to Agadir.
At around 11:45 we got out of the airport and hailed a cab. As per reviews, get a Petite Taxi because you can bargain with them. Based on my research, you can pay them between 60-100 dirhams from the airport to the CTM bus station. At that point because we were rushing, we decided to say yes to the 200 dirham charge. It wasn’t a petite taxi though. But still, I know it was a rip off.
By the time we got to Supratours, the 12:30 bus was already full. The next one was scheduled for 4 pm. We decided to say wait for that and in the interim check out first the CTM bus to Agadir.
It was blazing hot outside and the cars weren’t at all friendly to pedestrians. In other words it was a cross at your own risk thing. I was a little bit worried she was going to be moody about the whole thing. I know it wasn’t her kind of traveling. But she was really good about it and didn’t complain as much.
When we got to the CTM bus station, we found out that there was a 3:30 pm bus and decided to catch that one instead. Blessing in disguise though, a 2pm bus arrived which had Agadir as one of it’s stop points. So the conductor asked us to get on that one.
At 2:30 pm, we were on our way to Agadir.
Sidenotes:
As usual, I don't read as much about a place I go to, not until I've seen and walked the streets itself. I've never really a wide reader of history, even way back in school I hated it. But now, I seem to gather interest, right after I've experienced the culture and discovered its charm.
And so I wondered about a few things:
- Why do they call Morocco >> Maroc?
- Apparently, Maroc is the French name for Morocco or they say the official Kingdom of Morocco
- Morocco is located in the North Western area of Africa, with Rasbat as it's political capital. Marrakech and Casablanca are the main places of tourism, although it is worth mentioning that Agadir, Essaouira and Fes are widely mentioned in Morocco travel reviews.
- Languages : Arabic, Berber and French are widely used
- Main Religion: Islam
- Etymology : (excerpt from wiki)
The English name "Morocco" originates from Spanish "Marruecos" or the Portuguese "Marrocos", from medieval Latin "Morroch", which referred to the name of the former Almoravid and Almohad capital, Marrakech. In Persian Morocco is still called "Marrakech". Until recent decades, Morocco was called "Marrakech" in Middle Eastern Arabic. In Turkish, Morocco is called "Fas" which comes from the ancient Idrisid and Marinid capital, Fez.
The word "Marrakech" is made of the Berber word combination Mour N Akoush (Mur N Akuc), meaning Land of God.
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