27 Aug 2023
We have booked without guide and without the lunch. We didnt want a guide and we didnt want to have lunch. But once you are there the socalled "guided" drives you with the bus to the entry of the market. Then we asked him where to meet in order to go back (since we didnt book a guide and we didnt want a guide). Answer: We'll tell you when the tour is over. Also then you'll get the ticket for the trip back. We though ok - we dont pay for the guide so we walk with him. But it was a bad trip. After roughly 1 hour you are in a shop for oil, and other stuff they try to sell you. After that he tries to walk to you to a restaurant. Where you'll get the best mail for 15 EUR per person. (come one... whoever did a journey in that area knows that you high commission goes to the guide). We denied since there was already too much time stolen.
Answer: "Are not happy with my guidance? You would never had a chance to see all the places of Medina." We answered: "We need now our own time, we wanted to see several other things." Answer of the guide "you have seen already everything, nothing more to see".
Dont believe that, walk on your own, you'll find a great large fish market, nice areas, nice shops and nice bars where you can eat original food (for 30dr => ~3 EUR, not 15 :-)
I would still do the tour without a guide. Since the guides dont make sense. Its easy to see everythin on your own. You just need GPS + offline map on your device. Also the guide doesnt tell you a lot. A book tells you more. He also explains the basics in 3 languages (en, es, de). So again a waste of your time since you cant proceed.
So: take the trip without the guide and without lunch. And once the guide starts with the information that you need the guide, insist that you want to know where the meeting point is and leave the group. The guide is payed by FRS and tries to make additional cash by his tour and commission from the guys where you should eat or buy from :-) but that usual in that area.