Friday 20 January

Not too rushed a start today and with the weather now fine and warm again Colin arranged to have the vans washed – and they needed it after yesterday’s trip!

A VERY dirty Bertie!

Then generally a mess about day, cleaning out the sand and dust and having showers. We had been told that Desert Detours (the proper one) were arriving this afternoon and an area had been put aside for them. So to avoid clashing with their probable itinerary, we decided to book the minibus into Marrakech for the evening and have a meal – our reason for coming back to Marrakech. You’ll recall that the weather was against us when we came south a month or so ago.

So booked for 5.30 we “enjoyed” an “interesting” drive into town and were dropped off near the main mosque with arrangement made for a 9.00pm pickup. The point about coming in the evening is that the whole character of the place changes in the evening and one of the features we wanted to see, and maybe try, is the portable restaurants that are brought in and set up (at dusk as we later found out). Having arrived whilst still full daylight, we were a little disappointed not to be able to locate them so eventually chose one of the restaurants which overlook the square from a balcony.

Overlooking the square

Our restaurant

A fairly ordinary, if nicely done, meal of chicken and chips for the girls and tagine for the boys was enjoyed as we watched the lights come on around the square. Then as we were finishing, we espied smoke rising – yes the restaurants had arrived. Never mind, we still enjoyed a stroll around parts of the souk and the square, being pestered all the time but being now used to this we were able to give as good as we got!

Mobile outdoor restaurants

Entrance to one of the colourful souks

Rejoining the minibus, along with another French couple, we experienced another interesting ride through the busy evening traffic, before settling down with hot chocolate – it had gone quite chilly while we were out.