The unthinkable became reality and I got lost probably for the first time in my life. I mean really lost. That kind of lost where not even a map could help me. I had read about people getting lost in the streets of Marrakesh medina a lot before I went there. It’s practically impossible to find your way out from the labyrinth if you don’t know it there really well. Fortunately there is always someone to help you out but it won’t be for free.

I was looking for Bahia palace when I got lost. I looked up my way on a map but somehow there were more streets in real life than on my map. I saw a couple with a local guide so I started to follow them, I wanted to ask them where to go but before I reached them they had gotten lost in one of the little streets. I was left alone in the streets with no one to ask the way. There was a group of young boys approaching me, one of them had something in his hands. He raised his hands and it looked like he wanted to throw something at me. Once his hands were close to me I found out the thing he was holding was a pigeon. Wait, that means I saw at least one pigeon after all 😀

After this rather scary experience I got to a huge street full of local people. It was like another world. Of course I didn’t see a single tourist. I was passing by really fast and was trying not to maintain eye contact with anyone. All I remember from that street is: a woman ripping feathers from a chicken, someone shouting at me, someone asking me if I got lost and some people looking angry at me. Maybe because I watch too many films and have a huge imagination but I started to worry about my life. Then a young man came to me and asked me if I were lost. I had to admit I was lost and asked him to help me get out. He was really nice and we were talking about slovak football. We came to one street and he told me to go to the end of that street and I would be out. Then he suddenly disappeared. It was so sudden that I didn’t even have time to give him money. Because that’s how it goes in Marrakesh. You get lost and moroccans will help you find your way out and then you pay them for their help.

I was left alone on a long street with no one in sight. I can be very paranoid sometimes so I came with the idea that his friends would wait for me in that street. Then I saw some tourists coming out of a shop so I knew I would be ok. I asked the shopkeeper whether that was a way to Bahia palace. He said yes, I was relieved and my heart finally started to beat in a normal pace. When I got out of the medina walls I saw that guy who helped me out. He told me that he deserved some reward for his help. I said: “I know what the custom is and I wanted to give you some money but you just disappeared before I could find some money.” He explained to me that the police is usually at the medina walls waiting for people who help tourists for money. Because apparently it’s illegal. I gave him some money and thanked him for his help.

I finally arrived to my destination: Bahia palace. The Bahia palace is a wonderful place, from the late 19th century, full of amazing details with a very nice set of gardens. I was amazed by all the colours and all those painted doors. In 2016, when I was visiting Morocco, there was a Marrakech Biennale. One of the places where the exhibits were shown was Bahia palace. Some of the exhibits looked great some on the other hand were too crazy even for me, sometimes I didn’t even know whether it was a modern art or not. Because pictures are worth a thousand words, have a look at some of them.

Close to Bahia palace was another one. There are so many palaces in Marrakesh 🙂 This one is called El Badi palace. The El Badi palace is ruined and was built in 16th century. Nowadys it’s full of tourists and storks. Funny story from this palace: I didn’t notice I accidentally had taken a picture of a policeman. He came to me and asked me to delete it. First I was afraid what a policeman would want from me but he was really nice after all 🙂