Street Scenes, Marrakesh

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Our walk through the medina was mid morning during Ramadan religious fasting. The streets were not crowded which gave us an easy walk but did not present us with the normal busy activity within the medina which is what we were looking for as a tourist.

It would have been better to visit the Medina after sunset when the religious fasting is broken and normal activity commences. We were booked for the evening show at Chez Ali and this was the only opportunity we had to visit the medina.

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The Qzadria Square is a small pedestrian only - means rather quiet - square officially belonging to the Jewish ‘Mellah’ quarter of Marrakech. Its name can de translated as ‘tinsmiths square’ and the square with its palm trees is indeed surrounded by shops and workshops, where craftsmen are busy making new and more lanterns; most of them in traditional Moroccan style.

Just north of the court - halfway on the way to Bahia palace - is the 'Sagha', a jeweller’s souk, but during our visit most of the shops were closed. Also nearby is a covered market - Souk el-Kheir - with a lot of food stalls, also selling chickens and other small stock. The stench inside the market was terrible and we had to ‘flee’ after a very short visit.

Qzadria Square has a couple of cafés/bars and is a nice place for a drink or a lunch. It is not as overcrowded and touristy as Jemaa El Fna.

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The Kasbah quarter is the oldest part of the city and once was a walled citadel around the royal palaces built by the Almohad Sultan Yacub el-Mansour. The wonderful gate Bab Agnaou gives entrance to this part of Marrakech. The main sights in this area are the El Mansouria (or Kasbah) Mosque - its minaret with the decorations and green tiles looks like the Koutoubia - and the Saadian Tombs.

But we liked this quarter very much; for us it was the most authentic part we visited; hardly tourists, a lot of Moroccans on the streets and on their way to the mosque for ‘another’ prayer. It is a crisscross of narrow roads, lined with chaotic shops and small restaurants, alleys and little (market) squares. Garbage is collected by open horse or donkey drawn cart, while meat is hanging outside the butcher’s shop.

We had a real Moroccan coffee in one of the small cafés, with ‘bad’ chairs and plastic tables. But people were really friendly and grateful for our visit. A bakery offered fresh baked bread or croissants or have a lunch on one of the roof terraces (woth view of some storks).
Take a side road and you will enter the more quiet residential areas When we walked around a Moroccan woman invited us into her home.

It was really fun to stroll around in the Kasbah, for us the most authentic part of Marrakech.

Shop, ladies: bring an empty suitcase as it will be very easy to fill it up. One can find a great selection of jewelry, carpets (yes, carried one all the way back here in my backpack), tea sets, hukas, guitars, jewlery boxes, sconces, lamps, tops, slippers, you name it.

One way of seeing Marrakesh is by horse-cart. As the horse settles into a brisk trot, you feel the light breeze on your cheek and gaze at the silhouette of the palm trees standing out against the sky. It is one of the most romantic things you can do when the sun is setting over Marrakesh.

This is the main shopping street off Djemaa el-Fna, full of cafes, cheap hotels, and guys selling everything from cheap CDs to knocked off watches. I suppose it's a bit like Khao San Road in Bangkok. It's a great people watching place as you sip a coffee and munch on a shwarma kebab. In the early evening though it's a bit like a Paris catwalk - local teenagers strutting about in the latest designer fashions and sunglasses amid the palm trees and shiny paving.

It's easy to get a little lost on the streets of Marrakesh, since signs in English or French are few and far between. But don't worry: the city's not big enough to get too lost, and while you're wandering you'll see so many fascinating sights and interesting people that you won't have time to get nervous.

Each day at about the same time, we could see a flow of kids coming back from school. Girls particularly attracted our attention with their white uniform and large smiles, they held each other's hand to walk together.