We are spending a week at the Club Med Marrakech La Palmeraie and yesterday we decided to take a full-day bicycle tour of Marrakech. I will admit it was an adventure. Ever since our trip to Montreal in 2009 and me going over the handlebars of a bike and face-planting onto the pavement, my cycling has not ever been confident. Navigating narrow alleyways of a warren of the medina of Marrekech was daunting. I can report though that I made it through unscathed, though I am still recovering from getting glared at my a guy with a monkey on a lead that was in one of the markets who really didn’t to give way to those of us on bikes.
We barely got a distance away from the tour shop, when one of the bikes (Simon’s) decided to pack it in and its gear changing went a bit haywire. Our guide, Yousef, swapped bikes and tried valiantly to pretend the bike was ok. This resulted in having to make a pit stop to fix the bike. In retrospect, this was actually quite cool, because we were clearly not in the tourist part of medina and got to see daily life a bit more close up. The bike repair guy used his hammer and a spark plug to fix part of the damaged chain and shorten it. It was amazing that this very practical on the spot fix held put the bike in perfect working order for the rest of the day.
Our first stop was the Ben Youssef Madrasa. It has a lot of historical significance, but one of the things you quickly realise about Marrakech is that Arabic is the first language and French is the second language. English, usually broken, can usually be found, but all the plaques were in Arabic and French. My french is passable enough, but for Simon, in a lot of places I had to try to translate for him (as our guide basically waited by the bikes as we self-guided ourselves about the attractions).
We also happened to accidentally choose the same day as the Marrakech Marathon. This caused some challenges in moving around Marrakech in the morning, with several dead ends and traffic in places where it normally wasn’t. Also, one of our planned stops was having some heavy work done to it, therefore it was closed, though no-one seemed to be aware of this until you arrived at the gates and the locals had to inform our guide it was closed. It highlighted what appears to be the general attitude in Marrakech, going with the flow. Everything, from traffic, to interactions with others, seemed to just be “well I am sure this will work out…” Interesting from the rather uptight and rigid Britishness I have been accustomed to for the past decade.
One of our other stops was the Bahia Palace. Again with the plaques in Arabic and French and our guide standing outside watching the bikes, we were able to glean that it was a late 19th century palace which was created by combining several separate raids. The whole of the palace made me realise that buildings in Marrakech aren’t designed to keep the weather out, as they are generally made to be open and allow a lot of natural light in. In the photo above, Simon decides to glare at me out one of the windows of one of the rooms.
As part of the bike tour, we were served a lunch at a local riad (Riad Haraka). The lunch spot on, starting with super tasting small vegetable dishes with warm freshly baked bread, followed by a chicken tagine, and finishing with slices of fresh orange topped with cinnamon and sugar! The staff were super friendly and very warm and welcoming. If we are ever back in Marrakech, I would seriously consider staying at one of the six rooms the riad offers to guests!
After lunch we stopped at the Jardin Majorelle (which also includes a Berber museum, though we didn’t visit that as well). Personally, this was the best stop in the whole day. The garden in lovely and very well maintained. It is a sea of calm and isolation in what is a bustling city. If you do one thing in Marrakech, I would say visit here.
We finished up with a tour (which really was just a long cycle) around the new city. After the hustle and bustle of the medina, it was nice to just get out and cycle around. It was good too, because we got more information about the daily life and culture of Morocco and Marrakech from Yousef during this part of the tour.
Overall, I think it was a great adventure. Marrakech is an interesting city, which has its obvious tourist traps, but largely seems to be far more focused on itself than just depending on tourists. People won’t hesitate to help others on the street and everyone seems to be a friend, though when there is an impediment to people just getting along, then they won’t hesitate to yell at each other.