Anyways, the main appeal of coming to Marakkech was the souks. The souks are basically the rows and rows of shops selling all kinds of fun stuff. The medina doesn't have any real roads/cars but rather so many little alleys and walkways that only accommodate foot traffic or a small moped. Each of these stalls in the souks sell are kinds of stuff like pottery, leather shoes, fun ceramic tiles/mosaics. The alleys are like a maze and since there are no streets or signs or anything, you can easily get lost. Luckily for us, I wanted to! It was such a great time and everything looked incredible. Will said he felt like he was on an old movie set and it was true. So neat! I especially loved all the Moroccan metal lamps but unfortunately that wasn't going to fit into our luggage. We lucked out with the most amazing weather too!
Our rooftop lunch at Nomad on this gorgeous day!
handmade shoes, hand weaved baskets, alleys and alleys of handicrafts!
After spending the day in the souks and doing some great shopping, we dropped off our stuff and then headed to a hamman, which is a Morrocan bath house/spa. While I know the authentic ones are super cheap but communal, I was kind of nervous about the cleanliness of some of those places and if I would know what to do/hamman ettiquette without some guidance. Instead opted for a more upscale experience and went to the Les Bains D'Orient where I treated myself to a full experience! It was super clean and beautiful and was only $60 USD for about a 2 1/2 hour treatment. Again, it was a hidden door down an alleyway in the souk but inside, it was paradise! First, I got undressed and put on a robe and put everything away in my locker which wass unfortunate because I didn't have my camera to get pictures of what was to come. First, I went to the most beautiful private "hamman" which is basically a beautiful heated steam room with a flowing waterfall of hot water which helps create the steam although the walls and floor were also heated. These are usually public but mine had room for 4-6 people inside even though it was just me. It was dim in there and so beautiful. There were amazing mosaics all over the wall and the ceiling had this incredible metal work similar to all the Moroccan lamps I had seen everywhere. The ceiling looked like there were a million twinkling stars! It was really cool. The woman didn't speak English really well but had a great smile and was patient with me as she told me to take off the robe and just hang in there naked and enjoy the steam. After a little while (in which I wondered if she was coming back or if I was supposed to do something), she came in and got to work on my scrub. They don't play with exfoliation! It was legit. She rubbed my entire body down with this black argan oil stuff and then using an exfoliater mitt, rubbed my dead skin off my entire body! Like seriously, it kind of hurt a little and I had to ask her to be a little more gentle as she accidentally scraped part of my nipple! Ha! However, it was also kind of amazing. I looked down and there was dead skin everywhere. I couldn't believe it. Like piles of it around my body. Yuck! Afterwards she washed me down with some lovely smelling soap and even washed and massaged my hair. It was pretty awesome! Now that my skin was feeling so soft and new, I went to a different room where I got an hour long massage. Will wasn't as interested in being scrubbed down like a "fish being descaled" (according to a blog post I had read) so he just got a massage and enjoyed relaxing on the outdoor terrace in a bathrobe and using their wifi.
Afterwards, we walked to the main square which is packed with locals and tourists who are just hanging out. There are performers in the square doing lots of stuff and even monkeys to take pictures with (even if you don't really want to). In the square there are also lots of food stands and today we decided to try one. We got a bunch of seafood and some meat kabobs and it was pretty tasty! Then we got ice cream (of course we did) and headed back to the riad.
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