During Memorial day weekend, a US national holiday, I had a few days off by surprise(believe me, Nurse's schedule are weird,) excited, because it was an opportunity to travel solo. First option was to hike in Banff, Canada, but found out that the weather during my travel dates wont be ideal for hiking. So I opened Google flights and checked the world map on where I could go. With very few options to travel abroad, because I'm holding a Filipino passport, it was tough. Found out, Morocco was one of the places I could go without a visa. TL;DR I booked a flight to Marrakech, that will leave 72hrs after(yeah, I'm all about that spontaneous life.)
Marrakech is totally out of my list to travel, I have zero knowledge and idea on what to see and expect. I bought a few guides just to have a general picture(no pun) of what I can do and photo ops. Anxious as well as I'm traveling solo to a non-western country.
72 hrs later, Marrakech welcomed me.
Marrakech, also known as The Red City, home to palaces, mosques and it's famous souks, I decided to stay and explore in the Old Medina(city)
DAY ONE
Immediately upon arrival and checking in to my Riad, I went out right away. Things I wanted to do/know:
- Get a general feel of the city
- Ask locals on things to do and eat
- Survey how locals respond to visitors/tourist
- Learn bare basics of communicating
- How do they respond with a guy with a camera.
The city is known for locals that hate being photographed randomly. I try to be cautious and not offend anyone with my camera.
Jemaa el-fna
One of the major things to do here is visit the famous square, actually, where the city gets lively especially at night. It's inhabited by local food stalls, street performers, snake charmers, tooth extractor, OJ vendors, souvenir vendors... Yes, that hectic, but it's all fun. Beware though, they are adamant about people taking their photo and they expect a tip right away.
I will have a separate blog post about the people and how is it being in the middle of the crowd. But for now, here's photo taken from a rooftop cafe.
DAY TWO
Up and about early. Plan is to explore more and visit the palaces. Also meeting up with a local instagrammer(@mehdielghaly) who was more than willing to show me around the local way.
Ended Day Two at Jeema el-fna again, for dinner!
As you can tell, I took thousands of photos and I'm struggling on what photos to share as there are just too many things to share. With all the photos I took, I can probably have 2 -3 more blog post.
All photos taken by Fujifilm X - Pro 2 with 10-24mm f4 and 35mm f 1.4