Take a day trip... to Morocco

The idea seemed like an improbable adventure: Bournemouth to Marrakesh. Just for the day.

As we drove down to the airport first thing on a sunny Monday morning, I had the Crosby, Stills and Nash song Marrakesh Express on the CD player - and you don't get much more of an express than a day trip from Bournemouth.

Friends couldn't quite get to grips with the concept: ' Bournemouth to Marrakesh... and back... in a day?' Some said: 'Why?' Others echoed my thoughts and said: 'Why not?' A delicious quick slice of Africa - it was the travel equivalent of fast food.

We arrived in Marrakesh midmorning and left just after teatime. So not so much a day, more a long afternoon. But thanks to Bath Travel's smart organisation, it's surprising just how much you can cram into seven hours.

Straight from the plane, we got on the bus waiting at Marrakesh airport and it took us into town for a brief sightseeing spin. We stopped at the wonderful Majorelle Garden, owned by recently retired couturier Yves Saint Laurent, and then on to the charming Bahia Palace.

The coach dropped us off at the Jemaa el Fna square, normally famous for its teeming throng of acrobats and snake charmers and the like. But by lunchtime it was nothing more than a strip of drab Tarmac with a line of ramshackle buses.

We hailed a taxi and travelled to the Mamounia Hotel for lunch. One of the world's most celebrated hotels - it was more or less a second home to Churchill, who rightly described it as 'the most lovely spot in the whole world' - it's a must-stay spot for every passing celebrity.

Lunch by the pool, chosen from an extensive buffet, is one of life's great treats: a plate of cous-cous on the table and a stunning view of the Atlas mountains in the distance.

But there is no time to linger. The meat of the afternoon was to be spent in the labyrinthine souks which run north from Jemaa el Fna square.

The taxi driver dropped us at the top end and assured us it would be no problem to find our way out into the square at the bottom.

This wasn't quite true. Within about ten minutes we were completely and thoroughly lost among the maze of metal workers, wood turners, weavers, dyers and tailors - each stallholder apparently employing at least one man prepared to drag you in by your hair if that's what it takes to get you to browse the goods.

When we finally emerged into Jemaa el Fna square two hours later, we were more than a little relieved.

By now the square had transformed itself into the expected madcap tangle of hucksters and purveyors of the bizarre.

Little more than four hours after being in one of the most bizarre places on earth, we were back in Bournemouth, feeling as if we'd been away for days rather than hours. It's true - the day trip is the new weekend break!

? Further information from Bath Travel (0870 738 7373) or www.bathtravel.com

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