Morocco: | Mesmerising Marrakesh - Feature Story
If you love colour, you'll love Marrakesh
City walls glow with warmth. A profusion of palm trees waft graceful fronds into a cerulean sky. Souks tempt with treasures. The Imperial City of Marrakesh - a theatrical, pink-ochre city, rising out of the desert on a vast, date palm-filled stage set, its backdrop the snow-capped peaks of the High Atlas mountains.
At its heart lies the médina, a maze of mud-floored narrow lanes packed with people, sounds, wondrous sights and endless activity. Shops display goods of infinite variety and color, spices scent the air, the sound of hammering metal drifts from tiny workplaces. Laden donkeys plod through dusty streets echoing with the muezzin's call to prayer. Endless surprises hide behind simple doorways and austere walls.
The Djemaâ El Fna square sits centre stage. Scruffy, dusty and a busy marketplace by day, at night it becomes a magical, crowded, ever-changing source of exotic food and entertainments, of singers and storytellers, snake-charmers, acrobats, jugglers and dancers. Colourful water carriers pose, monkeys perform. Here you can get your hair cut and your hands decorated with henna; the brave can get their teeth fixed, their fortunes told and their ailments cured by medicine men. Smoke swirls from food stalls, drums beat, voices chant. And it's not just for tourists. Local families are drawn here as if by magnets, for the sheer fun and vitality of it all.
New Meets Old
Laid out by the French in the Twenties, Guéliz, the ville nouvelle, has broad, tree-lined boulevards decorated with flowers and strung with international hotels, banks, apartment buildings, cafés, restaurants and smart shops.
On the outskirts of the city, about a 15-minute taxi ride away from the centre, expensive villas with sparkling blue pools hide behind high walls in palm groves, and luxurious resorts with pristine designer golf courses attract players in search of winter sunshine.
But for the seeker of history and atmosphere, the medieval city, dusty, people-packed and endlessly fascinating, is the draw.
Dating from the 12th century, its pink stone, 222 feet-high, cupola-domed minaret towering above the old walled city, the great Koutoubia Mosque is the symbol of Marrakesh. Non-Muslims can only admire the exterior, but in the médina, the 16th-century Ben Youssef medersa is open to visitors as it is no longer in use as a Koranic boarding school for the nearby mosque. The simple rooms where the students slept overlook an arcaded courtyard with cedarwood ceilings, mosaic tiling and beautifully carved cursive calligraphy amid floral and bird-design patterns.
Nearby, steps lead down to the 11th-century Kouba with its intricately carved dome, the only complete building from the founding days of the city.
There are interesting museums, too. The Dar Si Saïd Palace, its walls patterned with mosaics, has Berber jewellery and carved daggers, a collection of beautiful carpets and intricate, 500-year old wood carvings displayed under painted ceilings. From there it's a short walk to the Maison Tiskiwin, where Bert Flint, a Dutchman with a fascination for Morocco's rural cultures, displays a fine collection of jewellery, fabrics, carpets and musical instruments in a traditional courtyard house secreted behind a very plain frontage.
In its heyday, the El Badi Palace was filled with gold, onyx and Italian marble, displaying the finest materials and craftsmanship for the royal court and the sultan's many guests to admire. Built in the late 16th century, its glory did not last long, for it was largely destroyed just over a hundred years after its completion. Storks nest on its high walls, looking down on vast empty courtyards, water channels and pools, and out across city rooftops to the mountain-hung horizon. Climb the stairs to join them and the view takes your breath away.
In the Saâdian Tombs complex, richly decorated royal mausoleums dating from the 16th century, are surrounded by gardens and sun-snoozing cats. It's one of the most visited sites in Morocco.
With 200 towers and 20 gates, the city's pink-red walls and ramparts stretch for miles. Go through the defensive Bab Debbagh gate on the east side and you come to the famous tanneries - if you can take the smell, and most people can't, it's a mind-boggling scene.
Sensational Souks
A trading city for a thousand years, in the dense maze of the médina, souks run one into the other, each specialising in goods from spices to slippers, carpets to clothes, leatherwork to lanterns, wool to wood.
Go in the early morning or late afternoon when it's fascinating but less crowded, and remember that everything closes on Fridays.
Bargain for babouches, the pointy-toed, backless leather slippers in a rainbow riot of colours and richly embroidered suede. Look for djellabahs with pointy hoods, straight out of Star Wars, and invest in a tagine, the tall, cone-lidded, glazed terracotta cooking pots that look so smart displayed in your kitchen.
Walk away with marvellous baskets, blue and white or yellow and green pottery, leather, silks and scarves in myriad shades, brooches in traditional Berber designs, intricate metalwork lanterns, wrought iron candleholders and beautiful thuya wood boxes inlaid with marquetry or mother of pearl. If your budget doesn't stretch to a carpet, consider a small rug or woven saddlebag.
At the end of the day, step out from the souks for a reviving mint tea on the top terrace of the Café-Restaurant Argana or the Café de France. See the sun set over the pink-walled city, gaze out to mountain peaks defined in the distance, and watch as the Djemaâ el Fna square comes to vibrant life below you.
Glorious Gardens
Kettaras, 11th-century underground irrigation canals, still supply city gardens with water, alongside more modern systems introduced by the French. Amid acres of olive groves, the pool and pavilion of the Menara gardens look out to the distant High Atlas mountains dusted with snow. It's a favourite picnicking place for Marrakechis.
In the walled Majorelle Gardens, made famous by Yves St Laurent, terracotta-tiled paths meander among tall cacti, papyrus and bamboo, pools are lazy with lotus and waterlilies, exotic plants drip with colourful blossoms. Painted in vivid cobalt blue, the studio of the garden's original owner, the artist Jacques Majorelle, now houses the Museum of Islamic Art with an exquisite collection of jewellery and pottery. A cheap taxi ride from the city centre, it's like stepping into another world.
Delicious Food
Trees hang heavy with citrus fruits, locally grown vegetables and farm lamb are cooked with spices and fresh leafy herbs - saffron and turmeric, cumin, coriander and cinnamon, ginger, oregano and rosemary. Orange flower water, honey and rosewater scent delicious pastries.
Under the conical earthenware hats of tagines lie platters of pale couscous topped with rich stews, long and slow-cooked with root vegetables. Try chicken and olives with slices of preserved lemons, lamb with plums, chicken with almonds and caramelised onions. Or tanjia, the Marrakech speciality of lamb or kid baked for hours with butter, olives and spices in a tall ceramic pot.
Marrakesh has some palace-like restaurants with courtyards and white-clothed tables sprinkled with rose petals that serve impressive banquets. European food is widely available in the city's countless cafés and restaurants, but while there are some excellent salads, Morocco is not an easy country for vegetarians.
The cheapest food is found in little local cafés and at night on Djemaâ el Fna square, where communal bench tables surround the cheerful cooks working under the light of naked bulbs. Pick one of the stalls doing good business, where you can watch the food being freshly cooked.
The national drink is mint tea. Made with Chinese green tea, a handful of fresh mint leaves and masses of sugar, it is pored from dinky little metal pots and drunk from small glasses. Coffee comes black and strong. At laiteries, fruit milkshakes are made to order - banana, orange, apple and avocado are favourites. And those oranges piled high on the shaded barrows that edge the Djemaâ el Fna square are turned into refreshing glasses of sweet-tasting, freshly squeezed juice before your eyes.
Hotels with a History
Sir Winston Churchill retreated to the legendary La Mamounia hotel, where he painted the magnificent 18th-century gardens. "It's the most lovely spot in the whole world", he told Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943. Movie stars, princes, presidents and royalty, too, have stayed and the jet set still descend to enjoy its mix of Moorish and Art Deco splendour. Treat yourself to a meal there, or a coffee or a cocktail on the terrace, and take time to explore those park-like gardens.
Riads, hidden away in the médina, are very special places to stay. Once the family homes of traders, now beautifully restored and traditionally furnished, they are oases of calm and serenity. The rooms are set around tiled and rose petal-strewn courtyards bright with flowers, climbing plants, citrus trees and gently splashing fountains. Sun-shaded rooftop pools look out across the red-roofed city.
Stylish resorts, reached by fast dual carriageways, have sprung up on the city's palm-groved outskirts. In the pink-washed Palmeraie Golf Palace and Resort, luxurious rooms are set around gardens filled with bougainvillea, jacaranda trees, roses and hibiscus. As well as the 18-hole, par 72 golf course, designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr, it boasts five swimming pools, a spa and fitness centre, plenty of sports and activities and numerous bars and restaurants.
In a city where the buildings are painted pink by decree, and are built no higher than a palm tree, as dusk falls, the long low rays of the sun bathe this endlessly intriguing world in rich warmth. If you love colour, you'll love Marrakesh.
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In Summary
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| Best time to travel: | The peak tourist season in Morocco is July and August. If you want to avoid the crowds and the heat, travel before or after this time. During the winter months, from November to March, it can get quite cold and rainy especially in the Atlas mountains. |
| Travel Experience: | Local Culture |
| Reference: | GEN003 |
Notes
Haggling and Hassles
Haggling over prices is a national sport, and hassling tourists used to be - but since the arrival of the vigilant, plain-clothed Brigade Touristique on the streets of Marrakech, with heavy fines for locals caught hassling visitors, it's much less of a problem. Shop-owners in the souk call out persuasively, but that's all part of the rich and colourful scene.
If you're afraid you'll get lost in the maze of souks, consider hiring a guide for your first visit. Make sure he or she is a registered guide - your hotel will put you in touch with one. If you explain what you want to see and buy a guide can be invaluable. Once you've got the hang of the place, and it's not all that difficult, you can wander back there at your leisure.
What to Buy: Leather goods, slippers, silver and gold jewellery, copper and brass work, metal lanterns, handmade carpets, rugs and pottery, olive oil, herbs, spices, exotic perfumes.
Shops close for a two-hour lunch, four hours on Fridays. Most shops in the médina close on Friday.
Currency: Dirhams. Any leftover dirhams need to be changed for hard currency on departure.
Tipping: Tips are expected everywhere, so keep small change handy.
Language: Arabic. French is widely spoken, also English in hotels and shops frequented by tourists.
Safety: Generally a very safe city, although as anywhere in the world, pickpockets operate in crowded places.
Health: Check with your doctor or travel clinic if any vaccines are recommended. Drink bottled water. Choose food that has been cooked from raw ingredients just before serving. Peel fruit yourself.
For more information, availability and pricing and options, please contact our expert travel specialists at Inspired Travel Worldwide on (02) 9449 8598 or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.
