Marrakesh

I’ve been fortunate enough to have been able to travel quite a bit, from Kansas City to Venice, and from Austin to Saigon. Some cities were more foreign than others, some were easy to figure out and others took time to get used to. But Marrakesh is nothing like anywhere else I’ve been. You’ve probably seen Morocco represented in movies, but the thought in the back of your head is always, “That’s what it used to look like 100 years ago” or “That has to be exaggerated. It can’t be like that.” The reality is just as exotic as you’d hope and then some.

Stepping out of the cab and walking through the streets of the medina, the old walled city, the first thing you notice are the smells. You can faintly smell hints of cooking food and bread and the spice markets that line the streets. The medina is a labyrinth of streets dating back over 900 years, and many parts of the city don’t look like they’ve been updated since then. Riads, traditional Moroccan houses with an open air courtyard in the middle, still abound, many converted into restaurants, stores, hotels, or hostels. But, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, and Marrakesh is nothing if not photo-worthy. So, without further ado, let’s go for a walk around Marrakesh.

This is the lounge at the hostel. It felt very Moroccan, whatever that means.

A couple of local kids posing with boxes of baby chicks. And a dog in a box because, why not. The chicks were for sale, I’m not sure about the dog.

Apparently, many local children like to get baby chicks as pets, so some are dyed different colors to attract attention. As they get older and less cute, dad gets tired of having a chicken running around the house, so the family pet is sent to live on a farm outside of town, and, purely by coincidence, mom made chicken for dinner tonight. I was told this story by a local. Seriously. Apparently the “they went to live on a farm” story is universal.

Fresh made sweet pastries for sale. I assume that the guy uses his own honey, otherwise there’s no explanation for all the bees in the case.

Want to buy some Moroccan bread? Here you go. I don’t know what the guy on the left makes his with, but his recipe is clearly more popular. Depending on how much he charges for his bread, he must be rolling in dough.

Leather goods abound at the Jemaa el-Fnaa market, the biggest market in Marrakesh.

As well as pottery and kitchen goods

You want some nuts? Come on, let’s get nuts! I couldn’t even identify most of these.

Dates, prunes, dried apricots, dried banana slices, you name it. If it’s a local fruit, they’ll dry it and sell it to you in bulk.

In the evenings, food vendors set up stalls at the market, inviting tourists (and a few locals) to dine. The food is very tasty, made fresh, and relatively cheap. Dinner will run you less than $10, incuding an appetizer, entree, and a non-alcoholic beverage.

Someone doesn’t know how to park their donkey. What kind of ass does that?

This one’s hard to see, since I was kind of far away, but it made me laugh. In the market, along with the snake charmers and other entertainers, there are guys walking around with monkeys on a leash. For a not-insignificant fee, they’ll take some photos of you with the monkey. While at dinner on a rooftop terrace overlooking the market, I heard a little commotion. I looked over to see a monkey had gotten loose and was running around, startling tourists, jumping in front of cars, and unintentionally wreaking havoc. Eventually his handler caught up to him and the monkey ran back to him and jumped up and sat on his shoulder, happy to be safe. You can see him in the picture to the right of the car, trying to find his human.

That’s enough for now. I’ll get another post up shortly with Marrakesh Part Two with more photos and bad jokes. Stay tuned.