Marrakech

After a rescheduled trip 3 weeks ago and some finagling with my work schedule I finally made it to Marrakech, Morocco. There's only one direct flight from Amsterdam, which is not terribly convenient, and the majority of connections cause obscene amounts of travel time, so I'm glad I was eventually able to work it out.

Marrakech was a really interesting place, and was unlike any of the other cities I've been traveling to within Europe. It's actually very small, just a dot on the map in the middle of the desert and the entire city is within walking distance pretty much, but it's still the 4th largest city in Morocco. Instead of the big boulevards, churches and government buildings that usually define the European cities, Morocco was more defined by markets that cover the city's squares and narrow winding walkways. The city did have it's share of mosques, but they didn't really stand out the way churches seem to in most of the cities I've visited. The traffic was quite an experience as well - it seemed like the majority of people were travelling on bike/scooter/motorcycle rather than by car, and you would see people zipping through crowds and through narrow alleyways filled with shops and people. Horse carriages, camels and carts pulled by donkeys also were not a rare sight. And of course, the dress of the people was quite different. I saw local-looking people wearing anything from normal Western-looking clothes to the long robe-like items that men wear to the super traditional garments that cover everything but the eyes (for women).

Camels

Probably the most striking thing, for better or for worse... actually it's definitely for worse, was the amount of badgering and scamming that the locals impose on the tourists. Whenever you walk through the square are through a market all the owners/performers/random people yell at you to come to their shop, buy their stuff, or just to walk in their direction. At first it's unique and seems kinda neat, but after a while it really gets irritating. At first I thought it was probably just in the main Jamaa El Fna square, but it seemed to be there everywhere I went, and I walked through pretty much the whole city. The funniest thing was when a sketchy guy would approach you, ask if you needed directions/wanted to buy something/whatever and then when you kept walking by he would invariably ask "Hashish?" to see if I want some drugs, as if that's what would win my trust - and this happened with probably about 50% of the people that approached me.

But... frustrating streetfolk aside, Marrakech was really cool. When I got in on Friday I went straight to the Jamaa El Fna square and it was a mad house. I guess I didn't have any expectations going in, but when I arrived it was quite a chaotic scene - it's packed with people and there are no overhead lights lighting the square, so it's basically dark except for these beacons of light that are street performers surrounded by an audience (and of course, they accost you for money even if you just stand for a second to look) and then a sea of lights at the other side of the square that is about a hundred OJ stands, fruit/nut stands and cafes/restaurants/food stalls. A combination of the smoke coming from the cooking and the lights, makes it look quite crazy, and the sounds of all the different musical performers makes is sound equally crazy. It was late and I was starving, so I stopped in at one of the food stalls to have some rather tasty meat, bread and tea. The tea they serve was a cinnamon-ginger tea that I had never seen before but was really good.

View from the room

Jamaa El Fna square

The food stalls / restaurants 

Where I had my first meal

The fruit, nut and OJ stands

It had been a rough week at work, so after checking out the scene and getting some food I headed back to the hotel to crash. The next day I headed back to the square to catch it in the daylight. Not nearly as hectic, but still some interesting performers around... (props to my dad's telephoto lens for allowing me to take these pics from a distance so I wasn't accosted for money to get them)

Snake charmer... that's a snake on the ground in front of him, and under that blue pot is a king cobra

Dude with his monkey. 

And some colorful musicians

I then headed off to the south of the city towards the Royal Palace. On the way a man told me that I was going in the wrong direction away from the Medina. This was of course a little strange because he had no clue where I wanted to go, but he told me if I took a left it would take me to the "tannery district" where all of the leather manufacturers are (I use the term "manufacturers" loosely here) and, of course, he could show me the way. I was fairly certain he would want some money for this, but you have to have someone show you through the tanneries anyways because there aren't any organized tours, so I decided to go for it. After walking with the guy for a while (and the crowdedness of the streets getting lower and lower) I started to get a little concerned, but we finally made it to the door where an older man showed me through the 3 tannery buildings. It was amazing to see how it's all handmade and done in extremely non-scientific fashion. He was describing to me the process of making the different leathers and it basically went like "we put it in this lime bath over here for 2-3 days, then put it in the water bath for a day, then we scrape it, then put it in the finishing  bath for a week...". They obviously knew what they were doing as the product came out well, but it was striking to see how "third world" the process was.

The field of baths that they process the leather in... and tons of leather in various states of progress lying around

Workers dunking the leather in the pools

Some of the brown leather drying

A worker laying the leather out to dry

After the "factory tour" the guide led me to the guy who finishes the leather into products... and sells the products to customers. This ended up essentially being a selling pitch (where I guess he has some deal with the first guide to lead customers there), but it was actually kinda nice as he sat me down in the shop, told me a little about how he makes the stuff, gave me some mint tea and then negotiated with me a bit on the price of a wallet. After leaving there the first guide then said he could take me to a space shop, no doubt another place he has a deal with, but I told him I would be on my way. Of course, he asked for some money for his troubles, which I thought was fair since I was looking to do a tannery tour anyways... so I gave him about half the price he was asking for. What I didn't like was when I was walking back towards the square the guy that originally brought me to the tannery joined up with me again. He asked if I was going to the square I said yes, and then he started "leading" me even though I knew the way. This is apparently pretty common as I saw quite a few tourists getting in disputes with the locals about have to pay for being "led" somewhere they were already going. After a while I just turned around and went towards the palace that I had been meaning to visit earlier, and when he chased me down and asked where I was going I told him. He then asked for 100 MAD (that's the common theme here if you haven't noticed yet...). I told him I'd give him 10 because that's all I had in my pocket, though I did have more in my wallet (that's about $1.27 - he did originally lead me to the tannery after all). He wasn't too happy about that, but I wasn't to happy with him and his friends at this point either.

So after that adventure, I did some more exploring. I found a palace that I toured, just walked around the streets a bit, saw the Koutoubia Mosque in daylight this time and checked out the adjacent gardens. Then I headed back to the hotel to relax and explore a different gardens that was close by.

Spice shop

Typical Marrakesh street

El Bahia Palace

more El Bahia

Koutoubia Mosque

At night I went towards Jamaa El Fna again to grab some food and tea, mill around and check out the souks - the small shops that surround the square. I was pretty exhausted from the day in the sun though, so after some time in the square I headed back to the hotel to rest for my last day.

On Sunday I decided to find a photography museum that I heard was good and also go through the souks in more depth as they are one of the more famous parts of the city and I hadn't spent much time there yet. The photography museum was a bit difficult to find - I actually went in another museum first thinking it was the photo one before finding out my mistake - but once there it was pretty cool. There were lots of historic photos of Morocco showing Marrakech from back in the day, but the coolest part of the rooftop terrace where they had a little cafe and a nice view of the city.

Marrakech skyline. Not too many skyscrapers.

They also love satellite TV there apparently

Then after that I planned to walk back through the maze of souks, maybe buy some souvenirs and then go back to the hotel to check out. Now, I pride myself on my sense of direction and usually have no problem finding my way even in foreign cities, but as a testament to the chaos that is the maze of souks even though I intended to walk straight through to end up at Jamaa El Fna on the other side I eventually came out at exactly the same point that I entered. I still have no clue how that happened, but after one more attempt I was able to make it through and get back to the hotel.

Overall it was an exhausting by fun few days. I found the city to be quite hectic in a variety of ways, but as a result also very lively and interesting. Despite my whining about the aggressiveness of the merchants there, I really enjoyed my trip and thought my first trip to Africa was a good one.