Competition between orange juice sellers
by Alice-Kees
'REMEMBER NR. 16'
At the Djemaa el Fna you have a wide choice between orange stalls where you can buy a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. There's a choice out of some 40 stalls (numbered 1 to 40) selling exactly the same thing which is a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice at exactly the same fixed price of Dr 1,00. To attract your attention the traders are shouting their stall number to you. As there doesn't seem to be any difference between the stalls you just pick out one of them and buy your juice. After emptying your glass some of these guys give you an extra few free nips of juice in your glass. When leaving after finishing your drink your orange trader makes sure you will come back by constantly repeating the number of his stall to you: Monsieur... remember nr. 16...
Village near Ouriki
by sachara
On our way to Ouriki, one hour south of Marrakesh, we saw many fruittrees and agricultural fields in the green Ourika Valley. The villages looked very nice. The kasbah village on the picture we saw just before we reached Ouriki. The red colour of the buildings fits very well against the mountainslopes in the same colour.
Jema al-Fna Square
by tord about Street Vendors
As the sun goes down so the tables and stalls come out and the whole square is turned into a huge open air cafe. Everything is available from kebabs to seafood to sheeps heads, large and small. It's cheap, cheap, cheap,noisy, bustling and great fun. The waiters fuss over everyone and dragged us up to have ur photo taken with them behind the stall when we had finished eating. We tried a bit of everything! Prawns, mixed fish, moroccan salad, an aubergine dish, lamb kebabs and of course the moroccan flat bread.
There's no alcohol for sale as the square is situated in the medina, but who needs alcohol when you can get a high from the setting.
Afternoon tea at La mamounia, Churchill's hangout
by lucyt
There is, of course, always the option of taking afternoon tea at La Mamounia. Which is nice as it means you get the opportunity to walk about the lovely gardens.
Note: sometimes security can be a bit snooty about the dress code. Especially Berber straw hats.
Arrive cool and pale and all will be well. If you have a prestige accent, now may be the time to give it an airing. If you can face stooping that low.
Ooooh, and they have a Chanel shop :)
richly decorated and very basic
by vtveen
The oldest Koranic School of Marrakech is dating back to the 14th century, but was almost totally rebuilt in 1565 by the Saadian Sultan Moulay Abdellah. It became the biggest and most beautiful ‘medersa’ of Morocco and Northern Africa. Ben Youssef Medersa is named after Sultan Ali ibn Yusuf. In 1950 the building was restored and reopened as a kind of museum in 1982.
The Ben Youssef Medersa has two faces. After entering the building through a more or less dark passageway, we reached the large central courtyard with the ablution pool. This is the really rich decorated part of this former koranic school with beautiful stuccowork, carved cedar wood, marble and (of course) zellij mosaics of tiles. The reflections of the massive bronze door and the decorated wall in the water were just stunning.
Opposite this entrance is a prayer room beautifully decorated with palm motifs and Islamic calligraphy.
The tiny ‘rooms’ of the students are in sharp contrast with these richly decorated parts of the Medersa. Most of these 130 cells are on the first floor and housed the 900 students, which means in these tiny and basic cells six people had to live and sleep; almost incredible. Most of these sleeping quarters are formed around seven smaller courtyards; some of them had windows and a couple even to the roads outside the building (a rarity in this kind of buildings). A couple of these student rooms do have some furniture and other (student) belongings. Don’t forget to take a look through one of the windows with a great view of the courtyard.
Ben Youssef Medersa is not too big, but we got a nice impression of this well-preserved religious school and the beautiful Moroccan (Saadian) architecture; one of the highlights of our Marrakech visit.
Opening hours: every day 9.00 am – 7.00pm. April – Sept. / 9.00 am – 6.00 pm Oct. – March.
Entrance fee (Dec. 2007): just for the Medersa 30 Dirhams, but there is a combined ticket for the Museum of Marrakech, Ben Youssef Medersa and Almovarid Koubba for just 60 Dirhams.
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Djemaa el Fna
Marrakesh - Sleepy Camel (2009)
Oukaimeden
Djemaa el-Fna @ night
