When I told Padma I was travelling to Morocco for work, she immediately expressed interest in joining me. My official business starts right after the Easter holiday so we decided it would work out nicely that Padma and I could come a bit early for a bit of a holiday. Padma didn’t want to come all the way to Morocco for a four-day trip so she decided to stay and travel on her own while I was busy with my work. But travelling on your own isn’t fun so on a whim she sent a quick message to my sister, Jenni, and asked if she wanted to travel with her. “Hmmm. Dunno. Let me think about it,” Jenni replied. Thirty seconds later, Padma’s phone chimed. “Yes’, Jenni replied. Turns out the timing was perfect for Jenni and Russ so they have joined us in Morocco and the threesome will explore the country together while I am working.

We didn’t want to come to Marrakesh and stay in a typical Western-style hotel so we booked a ‘riad’ in the Medina … or rather a guesthouse within the old city walls. Dar Oulhoum has been lovingly restored by a pair of Frenchmen who traded Paris for Marrakesh. On arrival we could only drive to within 200 metres of the riad entrance. From there it was on foot and through an old corridor. But like most homes in Morocco, all the splendour lies inside the walls and we are able to relax in a little oasis in the heart of the Medina.

I spent much of my youth hearing Graham Nash singing about the Marrakech Express. It was a big hit in the early 1970s and always on the radio. I often visualized about that train with ‘ducks and pigs and chickens’ and ‘charming cobras in the square’. Marrakesh seemed like some exotic, far off land in a distant place I would never visit.

But finally now I have.

And I discovered Graham Nash was spot on. Marrakech is full of sights and aromas and flavours and experiences. And thanks in no small part to Crosby, Stills and Nash’s hit song also full of tourists.

Padma, Jenni, Russ and I roamed the inner sanctum of Marrakesh’s medina for three days and really did come away with some very vivid images ‘through clear Moroccan skies’.