You live in a Christmas-celebrating country, and all you want this holiday season is for things to be open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so you don't have to cook or clean anything.
What do you do? Where do you go?
Acutely aware right now of how difficult it is to take two-year-old Penelope anywhere - especially anywhere that involves not sleeping in her own bed - we made certain choices to attempt to avoid difficulties: not too long of a flight, only one sleeping destination (because if it were just us we would definitely also have gone to at least Essaouira), heated pool, and accommodations with more than one room so Mommy and Daddy could have a moment.
We also had non-Bubs-related targets. It had to be a new place; we wanted to see more of Africa and have nice weather; we preferred culture over coastline; and, as we've already implied, it had to be a non-Christmas-celebrating country.
Marrakech, Morocco checked all our boxes.
How did we do with our choices? We almost nailed it, and we really had no control over the single miss. We chose a Riad - a traditional Moroccan accommodation comparable to a Japanese Ryokan - that advertised a heated pool in the winter. This is perfect, we thought. We would explore in the mornings and swim in the afternoons - this would pacify Hurricane Penelope. We'd spread out the exploring over five full days. Penelope would nap and sleep at night and not combust during the day. It would have worked out, except that (according to the manager) the government reques-told tourist accommodations to save as much energy as possible for earthquake recovery, and that meant no heated pool. We don't know if our Riad's justification was true, but our afternoon plan to neutralize Bubs' toddlerishness was gone nonetheless, and this made most of the days much harder than they should have had to be.
Constructive criticism for Riad Itrane: tell your guests things. You never know what is going to matter to someone. That pool was crucial for us, and the trip was significantly harder than it had to be because we were not informed in advance. It's a cliché anymore that communication is key, but seriously - tell people things because people need to know things. Don't not tell people things. If you advertise something specific, such as a heated pool in the winter, on your website - which you do - it's need-to-know info if there's a change.
The pool issue aside, we do recommend staying in a Riad. Everything else was top-shelf at Riad Itrane. Riads in general are beautiful, they cook you up local dishes upon request (and some have major restaurants attached to them), and they let you stay right in the middle of everything. In fact, we had a man with a rickshaw cart our luggage to and from the airport taxi coming and going because our Riad was so deep in the medina that no car could get anywhere near it. It was pretty cool to stay there rather than some suburban big-box hotel. We were no more than fifteen minutes on foot from any of the good stuff in the Marrakech medina. Such as? Here we go with what we were able to do in five days with a volatile two-year-old in Marrakech:
Attractions
In five full days (with excellent weather), we hit:
Bahia Palace
The Saadian Tombs
Badi Palace
Medersa Ben Youssef
Jardin Majorelle
Museé des Confluences @ Dar El Bacha
Le Jardin Secret
We also spent enough time in the main square of Marrakech, Jemaa el-Fnaa, and walking around the markets, including Souk Semmarine, that they can't be reduced to points on a list. We enjoyed plenty of time there watching people hawk trinkets, stack pomegranates, and charm snakes because we stayed in a Riad in the middle of the action.
I don't know that any one of the major sites is clearly more of a must-see than any other, but I can say that Badi Palace is distinctive because it is in ruins, which is my cuppa. The others - Bahia Palace, the Saadian Tombs, Medersa Ben Youssef, and Dar El Bacha - are all beautiful and impeccably well-kept yet architecturally quite similar. The Saadian Tombs stand out somewhat because, well, they're tombs, and Medersa Ben Youssef is a traditional Islamic college kept as a historical site today. They're all worth the 70 Moroccan dirhams (≈€7) entry fee, and if you're a teacher with a teacher ID, you can enter Dar El Bacha for free.
Le Jardin Secret - The Secret Garden - is much better than Jardin Majorelle, and you don't need a taxi to get to Le Jardin Secret if you're in the medina. Jardin Majorelle is certainly beautiful, but it's more a pilgrimage site for devotees of Yves Saint Laurent and other chic brand-name designers than anything else. YSL is even buried there, and there's a museum with his name on it nearby - which I have to assume is a building full of handbags and other overpriced designer accessories. Unless you're really into the designer accessories scene, you can skip Jardin Majorelle in favor of Le Jardin Secret.
Eating
Pepe Nero
Zeitoun Café
Naranj
Bacha Coffee
Mandala Society
Chez Zaza
Pepe Nero is a very nice Italian-Moroccan restaurant. We had Christmas Eve dinner there, and the staff were amazing with our little Penelope. She even let one of the waiters pick her up - remarkable. Also, our riad and the riad attached to Pepe Nero, Riad al Moussika, are very friendly with each other. Our riad made our reservation for us, and we were able to enter and exit through the kitchen door in a quiet back alley like a trio of celebrities.
You could go to Zeitoun Café almost every day. We did. Food was always great. Service was sometimes questionable and sometimes very good. Zeitoun Café has several mains, sides, and desserts that are excellent. Their ice cream sundaes are impressive - and I don't make statements about ice cream lightly. They also had good strawberry juice, which is the litmus test of any restaurant in the Arabic-speaking world.
Naranj is a very good Lebanese restaurant, and we've been to our fair share of Lebanese restaurants. We found the food and service at Naranj to be excellent. Chez Zaza, a rooftop eatery, makes very tasty Moroccan food. A reservation at either one is a good idea.
Coffee is always a very important part of every trip. Marrakech did not disappoint. See our coffee article for an intro to The Boss and coffee.
One of the best reasons to go to the Museé des Confluences @ Dar El Bacha is to gain access to Bacha Coffee, a world-renowned, high-end roastery and café, and the location in Marrakech is the mothership - it is, of course, named after Dar El Bacha. When The Boss told me that she read that one must wait two hours to sit at the café, I scoffed. Surely that must be on rare occasions or never at all, I thought. Middle of the week, mid-afternoon, we'll get a seat. Nope. Wrong. Ninety-minute wait. No time for that with the Bubs, so we took some Bacha home with us. From their insane selection of beans from pretty much everywhere imaginable, we opted for the 'Out of Africa' blend of African and South American beans. It is divine. We also got The Boss a cute pink Bacha Coffee tin...Bacha's branding is on point.
Another place worth patronizing for a roasty cup or three is Mandala Society, which isn't just for coffee - Mandala is an all-day restaurant with specialty-grade coffee and a strong brunch presence, but you can also take a very nice coffee to go, which is what we did. There just isn't much stopping and sitting ability at present with our volatile toddler.
Excursion(s), etc.
Ourika Valley: Setti Fatma village and waterfalls (in the 'High Atlas')
Mama spa afternoon @ Alphais Spa
There were two day trips that were recommended to us as travelers with a toddler - both to the Atlas mountains. One was to a village called Imlil, where one can set forth on a five-hour trek to Mount Toubkal base camp. Not that we would have made that hike, but one could.
The other one - the one we did - was to the Ourika Valley to see a series of modest waterfalls on a moderate hike.
The same people who recommended a day trip to the 'High Atlas' also recommended just doing one of the two because they are somewhat redundant. Add to our list of regrets that we chose the waterfalls over Imlil. The 'little' waterfall hike was a bit rocky for slogging Penelope around, and it was too crowded. I think doing even a fraction of the Toubkal hike and seeing the village of Imlil would have been much more relaxing.
But honestly - if there are two options, and one includes a waterfall...well, let's just say Penelope has very strong positive feelings regarding waterfalls. It's really no choice at all...unless you know. Now we know. The 'small' waterfall trip to the Ourika Valley is not a must-see.
If you are traveling without a small child, however, we understand that the much longer and more strenuous 'big' waterfall trip to Ouzoud is a superior excursion. We would have if we could have. Perhaps you can if you are sans child or a machine made of muscle and willpower.
Mama Boss took a spa afternoon at Alphais Spa, which is located in the medina near Naranj. She had a 30-minute 'hammam' body scrub and a 45-minute massage, and she recommends both - Alphais receives five stars from Mama Boss.
All in all, things worked out - just not as well as they would have if we had the pool...that we paid for...another reminder that you can't really count on anything in a developing country. You just have to roll with it; there's no other way.
The days that Penelope napped - all two of them - were much better days. Mommy had a hammam (spa) afternoon, and Daddy had a couple solo photo walks.
As it turns out, the only moment Mommy and Daddy really got was a Marrakech moment, and we're fine with that.
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