Managing in Marrakech

Sitting in the comfort of our room at the Sheraton in Casablanca (on our way back to Spain), I wrote an email to my sister Laura saying, "I am glad to be leaving Marrakech and Morocco, but already I want to go back".  And that pretty much sums it up!  

The Lonely Planet guide book on Morocco provides many suggestions for those with Western sensibilities (yup, that would be me!) and I just wish we had read more of it in advance to be able to follow its sage advice.  We very nearly went without a book at all!  It wasn't for the lack of trying though, and we did find, purely by chance after we had given up looking, an English travel book on Morocco in Seville, two days prior to leaving.

The guide book says to plan for quiet retreats periodically during the day while touring through Marrakech. Now we know why!!! You cannot get away from the noise, the smells - diesel exhaust, cooking, raw food, sewage - and the heat. 

The guide book recommends staying in a centrally located riad for 2-3 nights and then escaping to the less congested new town - with its modern, upscale hotels - for the remainder of the week. I would definitely pass this advice along to anyone planning on going.

We booked a lovely room in the Oasis Riad. It was right in the heart of the medina and the souks (markets). The riad itself was relatively quiet, but any trip in and out through the congested alleys was mayhem. One evening we decided to dine on apples and cookies so we wouldn't have to face the trek out and back.

We stayed very close to Jemaa El Fna Place. Picture a large plaza filled with people (including crowds of tourists), motorcycles, cars, scooters, and donkey carts, and well as groups of buskers. These included snake charmers playing their high pitched horns, drummers, food stall owners, and lots of other Moroccans selling their wares (our favorite was the guy selling teeth - he had a table heaped up high with them).

Everyone here is going in every which way and it is very hard to walk through without being pulled in various directions due to the flow of traffic and aggressive merchants and other hustlers.

The guide book provides advice on how to avoid Marrakech "Medina rage" (honestly, it does). We learned that humour and a few white lies was the best way to deal with constant demands for our attention (& money): "We just ate thank you" and "We'll come back tomorrow" were somewhat, but not completely, effective. Once you provided a somewhat genuine reason for not wanting to buy out their entire store, they'd usually leave you alone. 

You know you are in a very different area of the world the first time you hear the call for prayer. Muslins pray 5 times a day (4:30 am, 12 noon, 4:30 pm, 6:30 pm and 8 pm). I guess anyone (no matter how devout) would need encouragement to drop everything and go to a mosque to pray - or in the case of 4:30 am just to wake up - and so the mosques use loudspeakers mounted on the minarets to call people to pray. We asked our riad hostess Saida what they were calling and she said, "come and pray, you will feel better," "come and pray, don't go back to sleep". We are not sure if we totally believe her or not. I am glad to say that I was only woken up once by the 4:30 am call to prayer.

By the third day we were able to navigate our way around (even through parts of the maze-like souks). Nevertheless, you had to remain vigilant. The architecture in Marrakesh is the same throughout - streets lined with 2 storey red colored buildings. Every street and roundabout looks the same to the uninitiated eye, and so you have to start looking for very specific land marks to make you way around.

Back to the guide book. It says that if you do not want to buy a carpet, don't even enter into the shops as the owners are extremely persuasive! We did our fair share of contributing the the Marrakesh economy. I think we got some exceptional deals on some things, such as two woven silk bedspreads (each $30), but other things are similar to prices in Toronto (once you factor in the cost of shipping the stuff home)! All in all we are happy with our purchases...each is a reminder and has a story to tell.

 

We didn't just shop! We also visited the El Badi Royal Palace and the Majorelle Gardens, a beautiful oasis in the city (pictured here). And of course the obligatory stint at a hamman. The "girls" area was very busy and I was herded from one treatment to the next (desperately trying not to skid on the wet floor) and ended up waiting over 1/2 hour at the end for Marcus to finish (and he ended up having to skip his relaxation time with mint tea). I think I could have skipped this experience.

Our riad was managed by Saida. She is a French-speaking Moroccan of Berber heritage and acted as our guide throughout our stay. We were the only guests at the riad during our week's stay and luckily had Saida at our complete disposal. She was indispensable - even though sometimes it took quite a bit of back and forth (in French) for us to communicate accurately. I spent the whole week not entirely sure what was going on! I have to admit that I did not like that one bit! This is a picture of us relaxing after shopping and enjoying an excellent cafe au lait (the best since Figueira de Foz in Portugal).

The guidebook says that if you stay in Morocco for more than 3-4 days you will get sick. I got sick. Pretty much right after my visit to the hamman actually. To our great disappointment, we had to miss our next day's excursion, which was a planned hike in the Atlas mountains. This was to be our main event! Very unfortunate. Now we definitely have to go back because I believe the best that Morocco has to offer is it's dramatic countryside.

The one thing the guide book does not tell you is to bring along a fluent French (or Arabic) speaking friend - offer to pay their accommodation or airfare - it will be worth it! That being said, thank god for the guidebook!