What a day. The tour guide arranged for a walking tour from 9 AM to 5 PM. I’m not normally a tour guide person but highly recommend it in Marrakech. I can’t even begin to tell you where we were in the old city and it seemed like we walked in circles for hours exploring all the narrow streets.

The first stop he took us was Medersa Ben Youssef. It was nice because we got there pretty much before all the tour groups. We only had it to ourselves for about 5 minutes before it started filling in. It was built in the 1550’s and was a school that could have up to 800 students. The rooms were very small and would have 4-5 students. It was used until 1960.

From there, we walked to the Bahia Palace. We were definitely greeted with lots of tourists by the time we got there. The Bahia Palace was a lot newer and was built in the late 1800’s. This is one of the most visited sites in all of Morocco. And the King of Morocco still uses the palace occasionally to host foreign dignitaries and events. It was pretty to walk around and everything there was crafted by hand. The ceilings are all made out of cedar and are hand painted. Our tour guide said there is a cedar forest near Fez where all their wood comes from.

After leaving the palace, we walked around old city until it was time for lunch. Again, our guide always knew right where to turn and we just had to follow. The old town is very touristy with a lot of little shops. You see the same thing over and over but you felt safe walking around and nobody was trying to get you to buy anything. Lunch was at a great rooftop restaurant where the food was excellent and great view. Only thing that could have been better is if it wasn’t 95 today which meant it felt like it was over 100. Places aren’t really air conditioned but luckily the rooftop restaurant had umbrellas. Here are some pictures of walking around the old city. We saw it all from donkeys working to doors for sale and lots of olives, spices and anything else you might want.

We walked some more after lunch until our driver picked us up. He drove us and our guide to Majorelle Gardens. Yves Saint Laurent once owned the property, and one of two museums dedicated to him in the world is nearby. I never turn down an opportunity to visit a garden. The garden is 2 acres. I know I didn’t get to spend enough time there, but it was hot and probably for the best that I did not.

It was a great but long first day. The guide was very knowledgeable and was nice to have all day. He even helped us exchange money for smaller amounts. He bought us water when someone wouldn’t take our money because the denomination was too large.