Madness in Marrakech.

Nothing can prepare you for the madness and chaos the engulfs you when you arrive in Marrakech.  Excited and full of expectations Zara, Kat, Carine, Colleen, Isobel and I hailed a cab from the airport and found ourselves crammed into a Mercedes definitely not designed to hold seven people! We were dropped off just next to Djemaa el Fna, the main square of the Medina (Old city) and the life and soul of the city. 

Djemaa el Fna is almost impossible to describe. A market square, full of open air stalls selling bags, earrings, scarves, gadgets and much more you are constantly assailed with people attempting to convince you to buy their goods. All around the square are also women offering to cover you in henna tattoos, stalls selling fresh orange juice for 3 Dirham (20p), snake charmers, medicine men, monkeys, live music... It is a truly incredible place where people from all walks of life meet, whether they be locals or travellers. Our hostal was only a few minutes walk from Djemaa el Fna so it was without doubt the central point of our trip.

In the evenings a whole section of this main square is converted into open air food stalls where you can pick your fresh food from a display and enjoy the buzzing atmosphere. We ate here almost every evening, although choosing which stall was a bit of nightmare as the waiters would all pounce on us insisting their restaurant had the best food and prices, of course! The food was very tasty, and we all became addicted to the Moroccan bread served at every meal along with some mint tea. At breakfast with a little honey it was the perfect start to a day of tourism, and with our meals it was hard to refuse! Typical food includes couscous; always in abundant quantities, delicious and nothing like the ready in 5 minutes packets we buy in Europe! Tagines are also very typical; usually some meat and vegetables slow cooked in a dish with a cone shaped lid designed to keep all the juices in. These were absolutely succulent and without a doubt a favourite!
 

 

During the days we spent a lot of time in the “souks”- the markets which covered the whole of the Medina. These consisted of a maze of small, impossible to navigate around streets, full of stalls. They were a blur of colours and smells, from the brightness of the scarves and clothes, to the overwhelming odours of spices and soaps on sale. Buying anything was no simple feat and by the end we had all honed our negociating skills and perfected our “walk away” until we got reasonable prices for what we wanted! These streets were no easy feat to walk through as pedestrians shared them with donkeys and carts, horse and carriages, motorbikes, scooters and bicycles constantly threatening to knock something or someone over!! 

We visited the main tourist sites such as the ruins of the the 16th Century Badi Palace, a 360 room masterpiece from the Saadian dynasty along with the impressively preserved tombs from this same period. The Bahia Palace was built in the late 19th Century and is absolutely sumptuous, with several interior courtyards and gardens in typical arabic style architecture. However my favourite site was the lesser known Jardin Majorelle. Situated in the Ville Nouvelle, the up and coming, modern part of Marrakech full of trendy bars and nightclubs, this botanical garden was a true haven. The wealth of plants, set out beautifully was peaceful and relaxing, the perfect way to forget the madness of the medina for a couple of hours!

A key part of Moroccan culture are their hammams- or their equivalent to a sauna. Kat and I decided to treat ourselves to a full scrub down- a less than delicate scrub of black olive soap, followed by a massage. The scrub was a unique no frills experience and reminded me of bath time as a child but I don’t think I have ever been as clean as afterwards!However it didn’t last long as we set out into the dusty streets in search of some adventure in the form of the city gates. I had spotted a postcard of them at sunset and was set on taking a similar picture. We hadn’t realised how far away from the central tourist areas were though and soon began to feel uneasy as we stood out more and more. Before long we hit the outside of the city and began to contour towards the gates we were looking for, but after some children threw stones at us we decided our adventure had lasted long enough, hailed the first taxi back to the centre! It was a short lived experience and looking back on it we probably overreacted a little but we were able to see the huge disparities between the tourist centre and the poorer, rarely visited parts of the city.

Marrakech was a city of madness and magic and I can only thank Ryanair´s sale for the opportunity to see it!!