Day 194 29th January
Marakesh
Day off bike.
Up at 8.30 but brekkie didn’t look too good, so after a few cups of tea, Craig, Jasper and I went to see the marathon which was run around the city.
Marathon runners
The traffic was at a standstill and I thought it was funny to see a couple, who had probably paid a fortune for a tour of the city by horse and carriage, stuck in traffic for hours. We found a place to eat showing Barca vs Betis but the food was not great and quite pricey. It feels like you are being ripped off a lot in this city, not just the price of stuff, but more so the quality, especially when it comes to food. We stood at the finish line of the race and cheered the last of the runners in. On the way back I saw that the car park wasn’t just for cars as there were a couple of camels awaiting their owners.
Car and camel park
Had a lovely fresh oj in the square and a coffee on a terrace and later pizza for dinner and then went to watch Morocco lose to Egypt in the cup. It was really weird as we were taken upstairs and given a seat and the guy warned us not to talk to anyone in English in case they tried to sell us something. The room was full of about a hundred men sat quietly in rows and we sat at the back and observed.
Watching football
There was nearly a disaster on the way in when I brushed my arm against the tv plug, if that had knocked out I think I may have been lynched, as the game had started. It was odd seeing them cheer at strange times, like when the director showed a crowd shot of their fans? The game was pretty poor and we left at half time, as everyone received their half time drinks orders, no-one in there was drinking except us and at 75 dirham for 2 oj’s and a coffee I’m not surprised! The owner invited us back later for beers at 20 dirham but we declined the offer as they lost in the second half.