Morocco is long, if you include Western Sahara. There will be a lot of buslife on this trip, especially going South along the coast. I had the first such trip and during the day. A CTM bus from Tangier to Morocco. There are only 2 CTM busses a day and they cost 230Dh each and they take 9 hours. They are probably more busses (other companies) leaving from gare routière but it’s not easy to verify their schedules online and CTM leaves from its own terminal.
It’s faster and not that more expensive to use the train. There is some sort of TGV-style train between Tangier and Casablanca, which takes 2 hours (it used to take 6 hours before) and you can make it to Marrakech in 6h19m, with 1h30m waiting time in Casa included! But… the cheapest tickets I saw were 297Dh and when I wanted to buy the ticket online obviously the tickets were already 348Dh. So, being a stingy man with mean African mzinu in a pocket I decided to go for a bus.
It travelled empty, only a few passengers inside. The bus wasn’t too comfortable, the leg space isn’t much and a night trip in a full bus may not be most comfortable but it went quickly and with only a couple of stops it arrived on time.
It was a joy to watch green Moroccan spaces on the way, although it’s mainly flatline and it turns desertish as we approached Marrakech.
Many airlines fly to Marrakech and the city is spoilt with tourists. It’s 4kms from CTM terminal to the Jemaa el-Fna square in la medina and I normally calculate €0.5 for a kilometre of the road. Ha. Not in Marrakech.
The first taxi welcomed me with 70Dh fare and the driver didn’t even want to talk about switching on the meter. When I gasped he quickly brought up the “it’s night fare, 50% higher” theory. I thanked him and decided to walk a bit and catch a taxi on the street. 300m later a taxi stopped and when I asked for the price, I heard “whatever you feel is appropriate”. I said I wanna go for free and the driver opened the door. He left the car, opened the boot and continued to insist I should pay whatever I feel and that he’s my brother from the heart. So we were standing, me asking “but how much is it?”, him telling me “whatever you feel is right, you are my brother from the heart”. Finally I said 20Dh to which I heard “50Dh, it’s night fare, 50% higher”. I said no, he then tried 40Dh, I said no and then he forgot being my brother from the heart and left. After yet another 300m another taxi stopped and this time we agreed on 30Dh and I got to the hotel.
While on the bus, I was calling hotels to find out if they have a room and none of them didn’t. I wrote one on Facebook messenger, then I saw they read the message and didn’t respond, then I called that hotel and they said they didn’t have any rooms, then I got a message saying that they do have a room but I had already booked a room on booking.com and they told me that when I called they already a room reserved for the guy on Facebook (me) that’s why they said they’re full.
The hotel Zaitoun, the one I booked on booking.com, single room with shared bathroom at €10/110Dh, told me they didn’t have a room or rather “the room has problem with electricity” and they took me to another hotel. Similar arrangement I think, tiny cell-like room around a tiled courtyard, a shower and a toilet per maybe 10 rooms on the same floor, slow WiFi. About 150m from Jemaa el-Fna square.
Which is a bit different square from what I remember in 2001 or 2002 when I was here last. I remember only orange juice stalls and music bands playing to small circles of audience. Now it’s a giant Moroccan night market full of food stalls and some juice stalls and overpriced nut and date stands. There are many airlines flying to Marrakech, the square is full of tourists. It really was full of life at 10pm and at 11pm street sellers were only setting up their wares. The most interesting part are the musicians on the square and their tiny concerts of what seems to me like desert music. Some of them are captivating and although they will ask for a coin from you, they really worth of checking out.
Coming back to Maman 