callin MOROCCO,DIZZYBINT and any other experts....re MARRAKECH with LOs

[noonar]

my dad is from morroco, but my parents split up when i was v young, so not v familiar with the culture etc - havent been there since i was 15. dad's just announced he's re marrying in march, so i'm off there with dh and dds aged 2.5 and almost 5.

i have to admit that i've been putting off going till dd2 is a bit older, partly as we've decided not to get them immunised(no lectures, please ) but now we're going unexpectedly.

any tips re health, things to do etc etc?
tia

bump

re culture- they love children, they will get lots of attention. generally, marrakech is very geared towords tourists ( even ryanair fly there now!) so no worries there. where will you be staying? with family? hotel? riad?

re.immunisations. not sure on that front. dh and i went on honeymoon last year and didn't get immunised for anything. i don't think there are any actual requirements like there are for some african countries. as for your baby..i guess it's up to you. if you haven't had her immunised for routine things in this country then i guess you wouldn't want her immunised for optional ones that maybe are advised for over there.

things to do- horse drawn carriage ride around the city. if you are planning on visiting the tourist places alone, without family, then i would suggest a guide, they are free and reputable, they wear special badges, part of tourist board type thing. they will take you to all the best places. this is a good thing not particularly from a safety point of view but in view of the fact that lots of the good places are hard to find, through windy streets of the souk!

how long are you staying? will you actually be doing lots of holiday things or is it more of a family thing?

a good book

ah, thanks for getting back to me so quickly! we'll be there for 5 days, but i'm sure my dad won't want to be with us all the time. we will be staying with family, and i think the accommodation will be ok, although i do quite fancy staying in a hotel, as i prefer to be independent. esp as my french isnt all that great these days, it's quite an effort with family.

do you think any of the hotels might let us use facilities eg pool, on some sort of 'day pass'?

thanks for the tips.

probably not re. the hotel day pass. from what i have seen the hotels are all either extremely fancy (we stayed 5* for our honeymoon, was a wedding present) or are very cheap and a little nasty, OR, people stay in riads and do their own thing, very nice, we will do that next time with dd (honeymoon baby..ahem!).

one other thing..is his wedding going to be a full on proper moroccan wedding? if so it may well last the full 5 days. find out what the set up is. we went to my auntie's wedding a few years ago and boy oh boy did it go on and on! the actual wedding is just signing papers at a sort of town hall thing. but it's the rest of it..henna party, day at grooms house, day at bride's house, day at family house, day at newly wed's house...

thanks. will speak to my dad about the wedding details. i'm not sure at this stage, but as a second marriage for her and 3rd for him , it might be more low key, i guess.

yes probably more low key, no hoo har about them leaving home etc..good good! don't get me wrong it was a fab experience, just very looooong..and my dad didn't think to let us know it would take up most of our holiday time.

so have fun, think about getting that book

i will do. dh has an amazon account, so any purchases are just a click away, and i dont have to pay!

ok., i have a new question. have just bought a dress to wear to the wedding. it's a linen embroidered dress from monsoon, with a kind of english rose/ fifties feel to it. am panicking that the moroccan guests just wont 'get' this look, what with their penchant for all things glittery and gold...what dyou think?