Marrakech is loud, crazy, dirty, hectic, scary, hassling, frantic and down right mad. But in saying that it has its own mystical charm, that looking back, makes you feel like you have stepped into the land of Aladdin. Its medina is a maze of never ending souvenir, spice, carpet and clothing markets, where if the shop keepers don't hassle you the motor bikes and push bikes surly will. Getting lost amongst the numerous back alleys is almost a must and just when you thought you have found your way out, you turn the corner only to find more more shops with the same thing but apparently at a cheaper price. When you eventually find your way out of the human ant farm, usually when the sun is setting, you may stumble across Djemaa el-Fna, Marrakech's main square. This football field sized area is great to people watch any time of the day, but it's at dusk when the fun begins. As the sun goes down crowds of locals, tourists and even some animals flock to the square to watch their favorite busker, snake charmer, story teller, magician, monkey handler, acrobat, fortune teller or musician. The main affair in the evening is the market restaurants that set up in the square, Ryan and I went back repeatedly and took mum and dad back to our favourite. We dined on various dishes from lambs head, meat skewers, fig tagine, meat ball kefta tagine, all delicious and inspirations for new meals to make when we get home. Another great cafe we found while in marrakech was the henna cafe, a project to help local women learn English, it had excellent lunch food, such as lamb Kefta sandwich and salads, definelty go their if you are ever in Marrakech to enjoy the delicious food while supporting a great cause.
But Marrakech isn't all just hassle and bustle, and if you find yourself a little drained from saying 'la shukran' all day, there are peaceful places you can go to recharge the batteries. One of the nicest we found was Jardin Majorelle, located just outside the median this tranquil garden is not only home to over 1500 species of cacti but beautifully laid out and a great place to escape the Moroccan midday heat. On another day we walked to the Saadian Tombs, which have been traced back to the time of the sultan Ahmad al-Mansur and the rediscovered and stored in 1917. While there was an abundance of stray cats, the Italian marble graves and gardens are a nice spot to escape this crazy city.
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