With map in hand...and our rain coats...we headed off in search of the famous souks, or markets, of Marrakech. We walked for about 15 minutes, only to find out we were going in the complete opposite direction of our destination. With the help of a shop owner we headed back, this time with our compass pointed to the north...yes Lisa did bring her compass!
The streets are difficult to follow here with limited signage and they seem to twist and turn with lots of alleys jutting off in both directions. What looked like an easy walk straight ahead on our map, definitely did not turn out to be that way. Along our journey we passed numerous shops, restaurants cooking tagine and meat on a spit, and even donkeys transporting rebar on the back of a cart!
We finally found our way to Djamaa el-Fna, the large square of the medina. This was about half way to the souks, so we decided to keep going and return here on our way back...that's after the pouring rain stopped of course. We huddled under the awning of the orange juice stand while the weather passed and then off we went...places unknown.
Throughout the souks we saw everything from leather goods, ceramics, scarves, olives, lanterns, patisserie and slippers, known as babouches...spice market never to be found.
As we tried to find our way to the spice souks we got twisted and turned around, only to be constantly told by every other man that the square was in one direction and the tannery was in the other...and of course they could help us find it for a price. This is a pretty typical scam in Marrakech, so we were not so interested in their directions....at first it was OK, but over time it lost it's charm...all part of the experience.
I was very surprised by how quiet the souks were, but perhaps that was because of the weather...about every 20-30 minutes we had to find shelter as the rain passed through. After each rain the shop owners would be out pushing the water off the walkway into the drain...they were definitely busy today! About 2-3 hours passed with us wandering in circles and dealing with the weather, when we found the Marrakech Museum and decided to head in.
The museum itself was a bit run down but provided a glimpse of some of the local culture, contemporary artwork and pottery from Fes.
Next stop the Maison de la Photographie.
I have no idea how we found this place, but we were excited either way. The gallery displayed works from 1870 - 1960 in a three level Riad. We had hoped to grab a bite to eat here, but with the weather as it was, the gallery's restaurant was closed...lots of cafes are on open terraces and not open in bad weather.
We left the gallery around 3:30pm in search of food and the square. Yep you guessed it, what we thought was the easier and straightest way back ended up being in the wrong direction once again. After chatting with a woman with two kids from Canada who was also lost, and admiring all the beautiful doorways, we headed back where we found more and more tourists, arrived at the souks again, and finally ended up at Djemaa el-Fna.
Before arriving however, we enjoyed a little break at Cafe des Epices where we ate vegetable tagine and well deserved coffee.
The square was just getting set up with food stalls...including freshly steamed snails!...music, snake charmers and monkey handlers...sad to see them with chains around their necks for the pleasure of others.
We met a Canadian couple at our cooking class who told us to try some cake and a hot spicy ginger drink...so we went on the lookout. What a great experience!!
We met this lovely man working at a stall who spoke some French and set us up with cake called Takout...with two spoons and one hot drink of Hunja to share. Hunja is made of ginseng, cloves, ginger, cinnamon and plenty of sugar...Morrocans love their sugar...and it was exactly what we needed on this windy and cold evening.
To finish off our visit we then took some photos with our new found friend and tried to figure out the ingredients of this unique cake dish.
Next it was time to try our hand at some music. Yep we got sucked into paying to get our pictures taken, but also tried our hand at playing some local music. Very cute watching the guy help use hold the instrument correctly and then posed for photos in true tourist style.
On our way out of the square we took some photos from a hotel terrace, were encouraged numerous times to have our photo taken with a snake around our neck...keep that thing away from me...and asked by local drivers if we wanted to take a horse carriage ride for the price of only 50 dirham.
The square is only a 10 minute leisurely walk back to our Riad, so we headed back before the weather changed again. Along the way we ran into Jamal...I had to laugh when he told us it has not rained this much in Marrakesh in a year. We told him it was for us since we were so special...at least it's not snow!
It was definitely a full day of exploring, learning to navigate the medina and seeing a bit more of this amazing culture. The people of Marrakech have been very gracious and I look forward to seeing what our next destination of Ouarzazate will hold for us.
Until then...
Lisa & Lisa
No comments:
Post a Comment