AIBU to think Marrakesh was far worse than I expected?

[LondonLass37]

I'm 40. I went to Marrakesh for a week with a female friend of the same age. Both white, both blonde. Just looking for some warmth, culture, and a proper break.

What I experienced was genuinely awful.

We were harassed constantly , not just persistent sellers, but followed, hissed at, and touched. A man spat at my feet because I wouldn't give him money for directions I never asked for. Later, a drunk local chased us through the medina. We had to hide in a shop for nearly half an hour.

The medina is filthy. In the markets, animal carcasses hang next to food. Live donkeys are visibly mistreated and beaten. I'm still upset about what I saw.

The food was bland and lukewarm. My friend got food poisoning.

I wanted mint tea and beautiful tiles. Instead I felt unsafe and miserable.

So – AIBU? Or is Marrakesh genuinely as terrible as I found it?

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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?

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 .

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!

There's a reason I asked 😉

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

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

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

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

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 and absolutely detested it for the same reason

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

I have been to Marrakech a few times and I really like it.

however I did also spend many years regularly doing diving holidays in Egypt and I do still remember the culture shock from the first one of those!

morrocco is less full on than Egypt.

these days I travel on my own but I am old and in a wheelchair and my experiemce is that the locals help me out. I suspect I fall into the “helping the crippled” category rather than the western woman category.

i usually stay in the medina at a riad.

@Reachforthestars00 -People on here do not believe your experience in Malta, because it's Catholic. Are you happy to share any more details?.

Sorry you had a horrible experience. Ours was very different. Went with husband and 27 year old daughter (not blond but a real, cool looker). No haste at all. DD went off on her own several times, navigating souks and meeting us later and reported none of the problems she's experienced in southern europe since she was 14 - hissing, touching etc
Yep - pleasantly surprised - it was as if all the men had been sent a memo to say 'don't hassle women; it's bad for the country', and they'd obeyed!

It happened to DD and her friend in Italy and the south of France. They were 14, and on holiday with us, so I saw it. Me and DH took to walking quite closely behind them!

Hands down the worst place I have ever visited out of 80+ countries. Like the OP and others, despite being modestly dressed, I also was constantly followed - more like stalked - shouted at and hassled. Delightfully I was also spat at in the Souk when I didn't buy a carpet I had looked at. I found the whole experience totally miserable. I think it's likely that women who say they enjoyed Marrakesh probably had men with them. Absolutely horrific and I'd never go back even if you paid me. That said it was not as bad in other cities we visited.

I know

@LondonLass37 I had a similar experience in Egypt, it was beyond grim. I had learned basic phrases and words but just ended up telling vile men to fuck off. I've done alsorts in my life, I'm the opposite of delicate but that experience was so vile. Never again will I visit a Muslim country.