Freshly squeezed orange juice!
by SWFC_Fan
Each day, from early morning to late at night, the Djemaa El Fna square is lined with carts that sell freshly squeezed orange juice.
This orange juice is as fresh as it comes - you'll often find pips and bits of peel in your glass of juice!
The glasses are not quite as fresh as the juice, and several guidebooks warn of glasses not being rinsed properly and then being reused throughout the day. I drank at least one glass of orange juice from Djemaa El Fna each day and never suffered any ill effects.
Each cart that sells orange juice has a unique number, so I made a few notes on some of the various carts that I bought orange juice from:
On my very first visit to Djemaa El Fna, I was beckoned over by the owner of Cart #8. This was common practice throughout my stay in Marrakech, with owners competing against each other for custom. Quite often I'd hear a "Hey Mister" being called out at me from a nearby cart. I bought a glass of orange juice and paid 14 Dhs. The owner didn't have any change for the 20 Dhs note that I gave him (would I be cynical in thinking that he perhaps *did* have change?), so he half filled my glass again once I'd finished.
One evening, I went to Cart #7, a cart decorated with FC Barcelona stickers and paid 10 Dhs for an ice cold glass of orange juice.
Another day, I visited Cart #27. On this occasion, the owner hadn't hassled me to go and buy from him, I just walked over towards his cart of my own accord. The owner was friendly, we had a good chat and I paid 10 Dhs for the coldest, smoothest orange juice I had had to date! .
Later on in my stay, I went to Cart #23 for my daily orange juice. I was beckoned over by the owner and, despite the price of 10 Dhs being displayed on the side of an orange, he told me that the price was 20 Dhs (and that the price of 10 Dhs related to grapefruit juice only!) I told him that I could buy my orange juice from the nearby #27 cart for just 10 Dhs so he relented and I handed over my 10 Dhs.
On my final day in Marrakech, I went to Cart #63 and paid a mere 5 Dhs for my juice. There were no crowds around this cart, no beckoning, no friendly chit chat - just the cheapest orange juice of my stay!
Be sure to try the fresh and refreshing orange juice from the Djemaa El Fna carts!
Ouriki, vegetable an fruit market
by sachara
In Ouriki we saw except a lot of vegetables also fruits from the fertile valley.
We enjoyed a lot to walk around at this part of the local market. It was nice to look, what's happened here. And of course we bought some of the delicious local fruit.
As much a performance as it is a meal
by toonsarah about Djamaa el Fna Night Market
Eating here is definitely as much a performance as it is a meal and is best regarded as such. It won’t be the best meal you ever had, but it will only cost a few dirham and is worth it for the spectacle alone. We were slightly nervous at the thought of eating “street food”, especially as Katy at our hotel had warned against it, but so many other people, including friends on VT, had reported having no problems that we decided to give it a go, and were very glad that we had. And no, we didn’t suffer as a result in the slightest!
All the stalls are numbered and are grouped together in one part of the Djamaa el Fna. As you approach you will see the smoke rising from numerous grills and smell grilling meat and spices in the air. As soon as you come close the performance will begin. “Good as Jamie Oliver!” “Cheap as chips!” “Air-conditioned restaurant!” and so on. After looking round for a short while we settled on stand 97 where we could see the kebabs or brochettes being freshly grilled. A helpful guy found us a seat at the end of one of the long tables and whisked my crutches out of the way to the cooking area where his colleague manning the grill proceeded to mime using them as extra long kebab skewers, to the amusement of all around us.
Bread, olives and two dips were brought immediately, with one of the latter being very spicy and the highlight of our meal. From the menu we ordered chips (as we had heard they were often delicious at the stalls), couscous with vegetables, spicy sausage and lamb brochettes. The quality of the food was a bit mixed – the chips were disappointingly flabby and almost cold, and the sausages short on meat, but the couscous was fine and the brochettes the best of all – seven long skewers with tasty well-cooked meat. We shared a large bottle of mineral water, and paid in total 105 dirhams (about £8.50) – a bargain!
But this isn’t a meal to linger over, and others will be waiting for your place at the table, so you need to pay up and move on. If you’re a little more mobile than I was you might like to enjoy your dinner in instalments – soup at one stand, kebabs at another, and so on. We found that other tourists were happy to stop and compare notes about where they had enjoyed something in particular, and the stand numbers make it easy to track down these recommendations. Some stands specialise (one was selling only eggs) but most have much the same menu so it’s really just a question of where you can find space, which looks to be appealing to other diners (check for locals especially) and which salesman can lure you in with his patter.
festival...
by venteeocho
Every year, the ruins of the el
Badii palace provide the grandiose
setting for the national festival of
popular art.
This is the showplace for music,
dance and songs, costumes,
jewelry and ornaments for
family or religious celebrations.
Quite enchanting!
Street scene
by Bigjones
This is one of the gates of the medina giving access to Djema El Fna. Marrakesh's architecture is very nice with all its decorated gates and mosques. I also liked its narrow labyrinthine streets even if we sometimes got lost !
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Belly dancer
La Koutoubia Mosque, Marrakesh
Mint tea
A narrow lane in the Medina, Marrakech
