Marrakech Airport: our gateway to Morocco

And here comes our first impression of Morocco. The one we had when we got off the plane and went through the airport. Upon arrival in Marrakech, the airport that received us was the Marrakech Menara Airport (RAK).

The flight

We took a direct flight from Marseille with Air France. We flew economy class and everything went smoothly. In a short time we had already crossed over to another continent.

As the plane approached the airport, we began to see the earth-colored structures surrounding the fields. Once it landed, we realized that it was quite small: the planes were not connected to the airport, so you had to get out of the plane and walk to the airport entrance (they had no infrastructure for that big tube that connects the plane entrance with the airport).

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Passport and customs control

We filled out a sheet of paper that they gave us when we arrived and patiently queued. Luckily neither the Mexicans nor the French need visa to enter Morocco, so once they asked us where we would stay they put one more stamp in our passport, yuppie! Welcome to Morocco.

Pick up the luggage

Here comes a moment that is always somewhat tense: what happens if my bags do not arrive? Luckily, this time we did see them parade down the band. We had to wait a bit, just long enough to be able to appreciate the shape of the airport inside, they were windows with an unusual shape in an airport (at least the ones I had seen so far).

Airport views

While we were waiting for the taxi, I took the opportunity to take some photos of what the airport looked like from the outside, everything was new to me.

Already at the airport I had the opportunity to use the few words in Arabic that I have learned:

Chukran ---> Thank you
Sabaj aljair ---> Good morning

And, for HELLO, the word I was taught was Marhaba, but it seems that in Morocco it is not used much, there they used rather Salam Alekum, a different way of greeting, but it worked very well!

Tip: one of my friends had already come to Morocco before and told me that at a certain point she got tired of being ogled, so I used the strategy of dressing as covered as possible. Fortunately the weather allowed it, and well it seems that it worked well for me since nobody bothered me during my stay in Marrakech, so here I leave you the tip.

Taking the taxi

Generally this point can be a point of annoyance, since you have to haggle or fight, etc., as happened to us at the Tehran Airport. Luckily this was not the case here since with the reservation of our riad was included the pick-up at the airport.

Beware, you have to be very careful: if you stay in the Medina of Marrakech, the taxi will not be able to drop you off at your hotel.

Once you get down the taxi, someone with a cart offers to accompany you to your hotel carrying the bags. He will do so without saying anything and at innocently believed that he was included in the service … mistake. When we got to our hotel, he wanted to charge us, and I don’t remember how much. It wasn’t much in fact, but, what had bothered me was that obviously he didn’t say before that he was going to charge and well. In the end after much blabla we told him that we didn’t have dirhams yet and that he was a cheater.

And with all that, we left Marrakech airport to arrived to the Medina. We begin to discover the city, visiting the square of spices and the Koutoubia mosque.

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