Souks, snake charmers, chaos and spices. Thanks to EasyJet we were able to spend our Thanksgiving weekend in bustling Marrakech! We stayed in an intimate Riad, which picked us up from the airport and transported us directly to the traditional Moroccan house. We parked outside of the Medina (the walled old town) and walked the rest of the way. The street signs are poorly marked or non-existent and the streets themselves are little more than narrow alleyways zigzagging with no discernible logic. It's truly confusing and mind-boggling! Our Riad was down a maze of alleys and I was sure we would never find our way back without a guide. Upon check-in we met one of the (Italian) owners and were settled in the tranquil courtyard to discuss our stay while sipping fresh mint tea accompanied by delightful local sweets. This particular Riad was built in the 18th century and displayed gorgeous wood, stucco, tadelakt and zellij details (colorful enamel tiles). Our room was huge to boot! It felt very luxurious and relaxing (no TV) with soothing spa-like music playing in the main areas. Yes, we could still hear the prayers on the loudspeakers in the middle of the night, but I think that's to be expected anywhere in the old town. The owner was extremely hospitable and gave us loads of useful tips. He even walked us out of the Riad to make sure we could make our way back. It was actually no problem, I was surprised!
We arrived late morning and were advised to just lose ourselves in the Souks (which we did literally because we had no idea where anything was and the map was a bit of a joke)! We were very obviously "Western" and all the vendors wanted a piece of us as we navigated the streets packed with pedestrians, carts being pulled by donkeys, bicycles and mopeds. It's very chaotic, but each section specializes in different stuff - from carpets to tea sets to shoes to lanterns to spices; really anything and everything!
Along the way we found signs to the main square, Djemaa el-Fna, which proved quite helpful. It's the center of the old town and is bustling with activity at all times of the day (fresh orange juice vendors, snake charmers, monkey handlers and trinket peddlers) but it really comes to life at night when the restaurants set up shop.
Through our wandering we stumbled on Medersa Ben Youssef, an Islamic school built in the mid-1500s. How fortunate, because it was one of the sights on our list! The building was beautiful and is reminiscent of the Alhambra in Spain. The walls are covered with Arabic inscriptions in stucco and colorful puzzle-like zellij tiles. The building is spread out around a large center courtyard with a small pool. The school includes a large mosque along with dormitories where up to 900 students lived at one time (tight quarters)! The ticket also included a visit to the nearby Musée de Marrakech which also had a huge, beautiful courtyard. Afterwards we found a small cafe for lunch - tagine boeuf for Matt (the server indicated "the beef is lamb" which cracked us up) and chicken & lamb skewers for Kate. Yum.
Our lunch spot was near the Tanneries, which we didn't know anything about but was circled on the map as something to see. Someone approached us on the street and offered to show us how to get there; against our better judgment we followed him. As we walked we were leaving the "touristy" area behind and were seeing less and less Westerners. We continued on as we saw signs for the Tanneries, showing we were heading in the right direction. When we arrived we were pointed down a narrow, smelly alleyway and handed off to our "guide". Uh oh, no thanks! This is not what we were expecting. I was thinking it would be more along the lines of leather shops and this was just too raw and dirty and the smell was very pungent. Tanners have been here since the city's founding in 1062 and this is where the "tanning" happens, which is the process of producing leather from goatskin and fleeces in big cement vats. The "mix" for this process consists of cow urine, pigeon poop and acids. Yikes. We left in such a hurry we didn't take any photos.
Afterward, we headed down to the Koutoubia Mosque, which is the biggest in Marrakech. It leads the city in prayer five times a day and can be seen from almost everywhere in both the old and new towns.
We returned to the square at dusk and climbed up to one of the restaurants with a rooftop terrace to enjoy mint tea while watching the mobile food vendors set up. The square has a different feel at night and is even more frenzied and crowded with both locals and tourists than during the day. It's also extra smokey from the barbecues. In addition to food, the square is filled with storytellers, musicians and game stations (bowling or fishing for soda anyone?)
The food stalls are very zealous and want you to eat at their restaurant so they do pretty much everything but physically pull you in, seriously. Each restaurant has a number rather than a name. We did a lap once and then just picked one for our Thanksgiving dinner as the menus were fairly identical across the board. The tables are all set out the same - a long picnic table covered in a while tablecloth topped with flat bread at each seat. We squeezed in between some other tourists and just took it all in. Matt enjoyed some really juicy grilled pork and Kate played it safe with lentil soup and fried potato cakes. Everything was quite tasty and our entire meal cost $10.80, if you can believe it! There were also men pulling carts of local sweets for dessert. We picked out 15 candies for a few bucks. It was a cheap meal overall, indeed!
On Friday morning we enjoyed a wonderful homemade breakfast in the quiet courtyard. Our plan was to head to the Majorelle Gardens in Gueliz (new town). On our way an older man on a bike started talking to us and told us his wife worked in a Riad. At first we were confused as we thought he was talking about our Riad specifically. His English was quite good though and he seemed happy to be practicing. He wanted to take us to an old Mosque and Berber Market, so again, we ended up following a total stranger through the old town. His "shortcut" was not short at all. We finally made it to the Mosque, which was followed not by a "market" but rather a shop. Yes, we should know better and weren't necessarily surprised so we just rolled with it. After having mint tea, which they insisted upon, we shopped around and picked out a few items. The shop owner tried to charge us the equivalent of $250 for a lantern and 2 pairs of earrings. We countered with the equivalent of $30, which we think he found offensive as he didn't want to counter and said he didn't want to waste our time. Thus, we left empty-handed. Wow, that's a first! But really, we saw this same stuff around the souks and there is no way we were going to pay too much. The guide showed us back to the main road and was disappointed with our tip (~$1). Sorry, that's all the small money we had on us. We are seen as walking ATM machines which is so sad.
The Majorelle Gardens were a pleasant escape after our morning's detour. It's a lush oasis filled with marble pools, banana trees, groves of bamboo, coconut palms and bougainvilleas. Thanks to Yves Saint Laurent and his partner the garden was restored after several years of neglect.
To get back to the old town we walked down Avenue Mohammed V, a big boulevard lined with orange trees, cafes and home to the city's upmarket shops.
We signed up for a cooking class that was hosted at our Riad's sister location. It was fun to see the interior of another Riad (this one seemed more "modern" and was a bit bigger). We took the class with a Belgian/Italian couple. It was taught in French and translated into English. We made lemon chicken tagine, crispy triangles of filo pastry stuffed with either minced lamb or shredded carrots, and crepe-like fry bread. It's harder than it looks and the teacher said Matt must be the chef in our household - his triangles were much better than mine! We enjoyed the fry bread with mint tea before the main course.
Our last day was devoted to the city's palaces and tombs in the Mellah (Jewish) quarter. We started with the Saadian Tombs. Accessible only through a small passage in the Kasbah Mosque, the tombs were hidden until aerial photography exposed them in 1917. The ancient walled garden is dotted with shrubbery and has three main pavilions built during the reign of sultan Ahmed El-Mansour; it holds roughly 60 mosaic tombs.
Next up was the Badi Palace. Built in the 16th century and looted 75 years later, it's now just remnants of massive walls, staircases, underground passageways and a terrace with magnificent views. Pretty stark and naked but still impressive. Oh, and it's home to a lot of storks these days.
The Bahia Palace rounded out our visit. Built more recently in the 19th century, it's comprised of a series of walled gardens, pavilions and courtyards. Only a portion of the 150 rooms is open to the public. One section housed the (4) wives and (24) concubines of the Grand Vizir to the Sultan.
Before our flight, we toasted at the Churchill Bar of the opulent Royal Mansour. A relaxing (yet expensive) way to end our enchanting weekend! Overall, we felt safe, the people were quite friendly and the food was delicious (no tummy issues).
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