AIBU to think Marrakesh was far worse than I expected?

Witnessing animal abuse would absolutely ruin it for me. Disgusting place. 😡

I went and absolutely detested it for the same reason

She said it happened to her in Malta, do you think she's lying?
I haven't had that either. I've been groped and harrassed in Catholic countries though.

I went to Morocco over Christmas and loathed it. Just one big tourist trap.

(Getting off the beaten track wasn't an option alas).

Oddly I’ve been twice, once with 2 other women and once with DH. I found the first visit to be just as I expected and we all really enjoyed it, hence the return visit with DH. This second visit was grim. The medina felt very edgy, lots of elderly women begging, not very nice food, no alcohol (not was Ramadan though), and gangs of men being very aggressive. Our riad manager who was Moroccan, told us these men are from the southern Sahara region and pass through on their was up to the coast where they try to get to Spain.
Some of the tourist places are really lovely such as the Jardiniere Majorelle, but thats now a place where people just queue up to take Instagram selfies and not actually look at the beautiful garden.
I wouldn’t go back, and I wouldn’t really recommend it.

I never said it didn't. I'm just somewhat bemused at the thought it couldn't happen in a Catholic country!

It does happen in every country to an extent but let’s be honest here , it happens in some countries way way more than others

There's a reason I asked 😉

I've worn an abaya in three countries. In one it gained approval, in another curiosity and in the third, several marriage proposals from the men and compliments on my fashion sense from the women!

Turkey was the worst place I’ve been to in terms of men and how they treated me . I hate to generalise but in general my experience was horrific . I was there as a teenager with a friend and we were constantly sexually harassed and also groped more than once . We were in one of those beach resort types of places . It was horrific and also so tacky I would never ever return. Would consider visiting other parts of turkey .

Men hissing and spitting at women?!

I've been travelling solo and female for almost 30 years now, have visited Malta several times as well as other Catholic countries and I have never once experienced or witnessed any men hissing and spitting at women.

Where does it happen?

What's the hissing all about? Is it supposed to be intimidating and/or show disapproval?

Marrakech is a fabulous place and the food is certainly not bland or shit so really that's on you for eating in the wrong places.

I wouldn't go there either on my own or in other female company though. One of the market sellers attempted to touch me up while DH was stood at the side of me so I dread to think what they'd be like with no male companion.

If she does she need her head examined.
Reckless stuff.

Yes you might get the worse end of the deal as a male because some of them may feel it is inappropriate to interact with a woman. Eg in Saudi the police will address the husband of a woman if he feels there is an issue.

Do you think there's a country where women don't get harrassed and assaulted? Yes, it happens in Catholic countries. People have already mentioned Malta. It happens in Spain, Portugal and France, too. It would be nice if a country being Catholic meant that girls and women were safe.

I visited Marrakesh quite a few years ago now, but had a similarly bad experience then. I don’t feel you’re being unreasonable at all. I feel I went with my eyes open, I had travelled to many parts of the world prior to going there, but I was pretty taken aback by what we encountered. I was hoping for some interesting and beautiful architecture, good food and some cultural experiences. The attitude towards women shocked me (we dressed and behaved respectfully), the constant harassment took away any enjoyment, we all had food poisoning (and yes the food was bland!) and were approached by men offering us drugs at one point! I have friends who have stayed in big hotels just outside of the city and had lovely experiences but for me that would feel like a case of ‘could have gone anywhere with sunshine’ as you wouldn’t be experiencing much local culture. I wanted the authentic riad experience, and we got it, but it came with a whole host of undesirable experiences. We travelled around Morocco and had (somewhat) better experiences in other places but the whole trip was too tainted by our bad experience in Marrakesh!

I haven't been to Marrakesh, but have been to Fez and Agadir. Both times were harassed persistently including by the hotel staff.
My expierence was the opposite.
Absolutely constant harassment in Marrakech and surrounding areas, even when I was with my husband.

I said I'd never go back to Morocco but my friends persuaded me to go to Agadir and we had a great time. It was chill and had some great trips and conversations. Me and one other friend went on a guided trip with a male tour guide and took her on an easy route back to his bus when she was struggling walking after hurting her ankle. She said he was funny, intelligent and respectful. She offered him a decent tip and he halved it saying it wax too much.
The only other country I has a lot of harassment for money was Jamaica. I had non official toilet attendants, I.e. not a worker block the door and wouldn't let me use the ( free to use) toilet!

I have never had any problems in Tunisia and have a lot of fond memories from their. I'd ho back.

To be fair, I think every child under the sun would prefer the resort in Greece.

Really? Which ones?

DD solo travels a lot and never had any big issues so far.

She didn’t like the vibes of the hotel she picked in Agadir, checked out the following day and that was it. Also didn’t like the vibes of Fez in the evening, but to be fair she got lost and was returning much later than usual.

We spent a month in Morocco and Marrakesh was by far the worst place we went to. Go back and bypass it

Even then, Ive never felt unsafe in Luxor. We’ve been there several times, and Im not worried walking around late at night on my own. In contrast, I wouldn’t walk to the shops 200m down my road after dark.

It’s as grim AF and I’d never go back there.

My DD has been solo travelling there just now last week and fine lol maybe it’s a you problem