Once everyone had settled into the hotel, it was time for the first adventure. Time to head the Jemaa el-Fna – the central medina (marketplace) of Marrakech.

There were more than 100 horse and carriages lined up outside the hotel waiting to transport us to the markets. This mode of transport is obviously quite popular with the tourists, otherwise I have no idea where you would pull 100 horse and carriages out of a hat.

Road users here a are a mixed bunch, and there appears to be very few road rules – except survival. At roundabout you may see three, four or five ‘lanes’ of traffic merge and fight their way across intersections, around the roundabouts etc, before merging back into 3 lanes – and we were in the middle in horse and carriages!

There are 200 photographers on this expedition, and that means we will have 200 photographers all trying to get ‘that shot’, that ‘perfect image’ while they are here. I think it was at this point I realised I was only get a record of the trip, and not any amazing images. Actually, rephrase that – we know the etiquette of our fellow 16 kiwis (our NZ photographers), so probably battling the next 12 days with 184 others.

The organisers had security to look after us and herd us to the right places – our own Men in Black (MIB). I felt sorry for them trying to herd us through the medina, as we all wanted to get photos of the snake charmers, entertainers, people wandering around.

We were shepherded upstairs into a small café which was packed with other market goers trying to enjoy their snacks and drinks. We had minted tea and went about trying to get photos from above the medina. It was jam-packed and difficult to get photos without pushing in front of people eating – which I wouldn’t do. Here’s a couple of photos to give you an idea…

It appears as though you can buy most things here – lots of fresh juice, fruits, tagines of every size, souvenirs – camels, mini tagines etc, and hats. Heck you could probably buy snakes if you wanted! Apparently they are a protected species here but this doesn’t stop the charmers from having them in the markets.

Once we had finished at the medina, the horse and carriages were back to transport us to the next stop – the Palais Gharnata for a welcome reception dinner. We went down lots of small alleys, through several roundabouts and narrow lanes. http://www.gharnata.com/en/galerie.html

There was music and entertainment to greet us, and the venue was beautiful. It was very difficult to get photos to do it justice. The website has more! One of my photos below is from the website (credited to the website) to give you an idea.

Dinner consisted of a huge platter of deconstructed salad and breads; platters of small moroccan pastries (like spring rolls etc); Chicken Pastilla with milk and almonds; Meat tagine; and couscous. The tagine was quite dry and had large bones in it – they told us it was veal. Didn’t look like veal, didn’t taste like veal – possibly camel.

After dinner we went back to the hotel by carriages. Our driver liked us so we took the scenic route – past the Sofitel Hotel and the Casino to look at the beautiful lights. After all, in the words of our driver – we had the ferrari model of horse and carriage, and the races proved it. Off to sleep and await to see where the next adventures take us.