Immigration in Morocco was also interesting. Instead of handing out forms on the plane, we were welcomed into a large room with two ledges to use as desks while we filled out the entrance cards.
Arriving in Marrakech I was amazed by the chaos of Djemma el-Fna, the main square in the Medina, medieval walled section of the city. The square was huge and did not have a curb to keep cars and motorcycles out of it. As we approached (on foot and accompanied by the hostel manager) we couldn’t really see buildings, just swells of people. We wove our way to our hostel, passing through the souks (the word for “market” in Arabic). The narrow “streets” are filled with stores, some behind counters, some large enough to enter, and others are just carts on along the sides.
We dumped our stuff and decided to go out and find food because neither Cecilia nor I had eaten much all day. We went back out to Djemma el-Fna and walked around the food stalls. There were carts selling dried fruits and nuts, other selling fresh juice (orange, grapefruit and tangerine), and other stalls serving full-out meals. We looked at some menus before deciding on a place to eat. For dinner, we split chicken tajine – a stew of chicken, vegetables and Moroccan spices which is traditionally cooked in a pan with a pyramid-shaped top. It was good, but it didn’t have as much flavor as I expected it to have. We also had really good bread (everywhere we ate in Marrakech), which was soft and we dipped it in two different sauces: one spicy and the other a tomato sauce. In addition to our tajine, we had some chicken and some veggie kebabs and a plate of sautéed eggplant (which I ate at every meal in Marrakech). The eggplant was amazing! It was exactly the kind I had eaten all over Israel: it’s oily and bad for me, but so yummy. For dessert, we had fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice.
The next morning, we woke up and went to the Djemma el-Fna in search of breakfast. We found a place to eat “crepes.” Much thicker than the French version, these were square of dough, cooked on a griddle, slathered with honey and folded in half. We ate one each morning, accompanied by a cup of Moroccan mint tea, which is made by brewing tea leaves with sugar, then adding fresh mint to the clear, handle-less glass. In Marrakech, glasses were about 6-8oz, whereas in Fes, they were larger.
We went to two palaces in the Kasbah section of the medina. Kasbah refers to a fortified section of a city or a fortress. The first palace was the Palais Bidi, it had huge walls with storks living on top of them. The palace was in ruins, but we could get a feel for the rooms and the gardens which must have been really nice in their time. I had never heard storks, but these made a lot of noise: a clicking sound, which could be heard throughout the open-air palace.
Our second palace was Palais Bahía, a more recent palace, opulently decorated with tiles, plaster and wood-carved ceilings. No two rooms were decorated in the same manner because everything was done by hand. This palace had many rooms which opened onto courtyards. Every surface was covered with some kind of decoration. We wandered around the palace looking at the designs which were intricate and colorful.
Next, we walked through the medina (called the old city) trying to get to some other palaces and tourist sites. It takes a while to get through the medina because the streets are really narrow and you have to dodge people, donkeys, horses, motorcycles and the occasional car which thinks it can make it through the streets. We also stopped to look at other souks, one of which was full of spices arranged in brightly-colored cones.
We went to the Mnebhi Palace, where the Marrakech museum is housed. This building was decorated in the same style and from the same era as the Palais Bahía. The biggest difference was that in the middle of its largest courtyard it had a huge metal light fixture dangling from the ceiling. When I say huge, the thing was probably about 20 feet in diameter. The actual museum was small, but had an interesting collection of fibula, old broaches, and pottery.
In the same section of Marrakech, we visited the Medersa Ibn Ben Youseff, a 14th century school. This was a boarding school where students were sent to learn the Qur’an. The building, while in the center of the noisy, chaotic medina, was peaceful and quiet inside. It was like a whole different world.
For lunch, we dined on more eggplant and roasted peppers. After lunch, we headed to the Ville Nouvelle, the newer part of the city. Because it was more recently planned, streets in the Ville Nouvelle were wider allowing cars and buses to pass. The buildings were red stucco and low (as not sky scrapers), we also saw McDonalds, KFC, Zara and Max Mara. Clearly, international influence had reached the new part of Marrakech.
Back in the medina, we walked around the Koutoubia mosque. Its minaret can be seen for miles because it’s the tallest in Marrakech. After that, we wandered around the souks shopping for souvenirs and gifts. Then we went to a café above the Djemma el-Fna to get a bird’s eye view. Up there, I bumped into a friend and fellow traveler whom I had met in Argentina. I was completely shocked to walk onto this balcony and here my name (especially as it was pronounced in American English). He was traveling for a week in Morocco with a friend.
That night for dinner, Cecilia and I had pepper kebabs and I had more eggplant. As a pre-dinner appetizer, I had some steamed snails which were popular and sold at the snail food stalls. I was given a small bowl with the creatures (still in their shells) and some broth. To extract the animals, I used a toothpick. They tasted pretty good, almost like mussels. I don’t know the next time I’ll eat another snail, but they weren’t as disgusting as I thought they might be.
We really liked Marrakech because we stayed inside the medina, where it was crazy/chaotic, but it had a good energy and it was fun. I also felt safe walking around with my camera out. People didn’t hassle us too much; yes, they tried to get us to buy their products or eat at their food stall, but they didn’t go above and beyond to try to talk to us. We also were able to eat really well for relatively little money. For dinner we spent about $4 each, juices were $1, my snails $0.60.
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