After our trip to Granada, I wrote that taking pictures of the Alhambra made me feel like an excellent photographer. The building, itself, seems to majestically capture a whole era and culture. That is probably not actually the case, but it certainly feels that way, and each photograph seems vivid - almost like it captures more than is actually in the frame. Well, the same is certainly not the case in Marrakech. Though everything in the city begs a photograph, I felt utterly incapable of capturing the chaos of beauty, filth, noise, smells, and intensity that fills the streets.Each photo I took seemed to be missing most of what I wanted to capture, and now I fear that my journal will be equally lacking. Even now as I think back on our experience, the feeling of walking through the medina in Marrakesh feels almost unreal...I apologize if I overuse superlatives in my attempts to capture the sensations of the medina and the streets of Marrakesh.
Our four days in the city was really an experience of contrasts. We stayed in one of the most beautiful and most peaceful hotels I have ever seen. Constructed from three traditional riads, Moroccan homes that are built around an open patio, the El-Fenn is a striking oasis. From the outside the riads appear to nothing more than a door is a dry, dusty alley full of noise, donkeys, motorbikes, and men walking purposefully. Most, including El-Fenn, are hardly labeled; without a guide, it would be hard for most people to find their particular riad. However, once we stepped through the doorway, the world transformed - the contrast seems almost impossible. The maze of hallways upon entering the El-Fenn are pink and yellow, with fabulous Moroccan lanterns casting light on the walls. The entire riad is decorated both with Moroccan lighting and with contemporary art - the hotel/riad is owned by Richard Branson’s sister, and she has amassed an impressive collection of art. At night, the same hallways are also lit with various candles, creating an enchanting environment. Since the hotel is constructed of three separate, renovated riads, the hallways form a bit of a maze, emerging in patios on all three of the levels of the building - some with pools, and all full of plants, flowers, and inviting couches. Our room was one of two rooms on a hallway/balcony that overlooked a beautiful patio and that ended in a large fireplace. The room itself had stitched leather floors, a colored glass door, sitting areas, and a stunning bathtub. The entire roof of the riad is covered with couches, pillows, nooks, a small pool, and even a strip of green grass. The temptation to just find a corner and enjoy the tranquility and beauty of the space was alluring, and from the look of a number of the people lounging, reading, and napping, I think many people do just that.
We, however, did not immediately succumb to the temptations of our riad oasis. After a tour of the riad, we decided that we needed to explore the medina, the old town/market or Marrakesh. We headed out around sunset with map in hand, content to see where the streets took us. Though I tend to pride myself on my ability to read a map and to situate myself, we were lost in the medina almost immediately. Most of the streets are relatively narrow, covered alleyways with shops lining each side. Though there are some sections of the medina that focus on certain items - a spice market, a ceramics market, a rug market, etc - most streets feature a little bit of everything. A fabric and rug stop might be followed by a food stand, followed by a stand selling chicken...and let’s be clear about this...the chicken stand does have some butchered chickens, but it also has cages with live chickens. You know - that way you can select a fresh, live chicken, either to be butchered or to take home still alive. Maya struggled some with this, but it seemed good to see it if you are eating chicken. Anyway, one might be able to negotiate the medina with a map if not for a couple of significant problems. First, not only are the streets narrow, full of sights, sounds, and activity, but people are regularly driving mopeds at high speed, weaving through the flow of pedestrians. Beth found the mopeds particularly unnerving. I think that simply walking and ignoring them is the best way to proceed because trying to avoid them often puts you directly in the path of their maniacal dodging of pedestrians. Furthermore, once you open a map in the medina someone offers, quite aggressively, to guide you to where you want to go...or to where they would like you to go...or some combination of the two. Therefore, the best course of action, I think, is to keep the map in your pocket, walk like you know where you are going, and pretend that there are no motorbikes driving on a full pedestrian street surrounded by mounds of spices and piles of fresh fish for sale. I wanted to take pictures, but bringing out a camera had a similar effect as bringing out a map - it left you standing in an alley unfit for standing, and many vendors demanded that I pay them to take a picture of them...again...best to walk purposefully forward.
After the utter civility of Sevilla, there is something remarkably dignified about the Sevillanos, the chaos of Marrakech was pretty jarring for Maya, or maybe it would be easier to say that she was a little scared, and Beth really couldn’t get over the idea that she was going to be killed by a motorbike. But, as I think is just about always the case, we were eventually spit out into Jemaa el-Fnaa square, the hub of the medina. In the evening the square is full of food stalls, story tellers, musicians, henna tattoo artists, and vendors of all sorts; it is infectiously alive. However, it is also opens to a beautiful, starry sky, so the feeling of chaotic claustrophobia of the narrow streets quickly evaporated. We wandered the square, explaining to food vendor after food vendor that we had dinner reservations, but we might come back tomorrow. Once in the square, the way back to our riad was pretty straight forward, avoiding the heart of the medina, of course. We sampled some street food on the way back to the tranquility of el-Fenn. That first walk through the medina was invigorating, but also pretty disorienting. I was curious how Maya would feel on day two about setting out to explore more deeply on day two.
After the initial shock of the sights and sounds of the medina, we got into a pretty good exploring groove...with the exception of our experience getting shystered by the snake charmers. Our goal on the second day was to head back to the square to see the snake charmers and monkeys and then to take a horse carriage ride through the city and up to the Majorelle Gardens. (Grandma Bonnie: you might not want to read this part of the travel journal).The challenge with seeing the snake charmers is that as soon as you get close enough to see the snakes...and you display some interest in the snakes...they pounce on you like snakes (not the snakes, the snake shysters). So, once we were in range, and with cameras out, the snake charmer handed Maya two small snakes. Here’s the problem: if someone hands you a snake and says”Hold right here! Hold right here!” pointing to a spot right behind the head, it is hard not to “hold right there” because you don’t want two snakes to fall at your feet. So, Maya held onto the snakes - not feeling any more comfortable about Morocco than she did the night before. He then draped the small snakes around Maya’s neck and led her to a stool positioned a few feet behind two cobras and three vipers...just sitting out in the square. I basically assumed that it was safe, but I’m not really sure. Maya managed to smile, despite her discomfort. I managed some photos before the snakes were thrust into my hands, as well. I responded a lot like Maya did...I held on to the snakes, and pretty soon he was holding a thick, sluggish viper over my shoulder. I think I might have thought it was pretty cool if I didn’t know that he was about about to demand a large sum of money from me for being forced to hold his snakes for him. I protested...suggesting a smaller fee, but he was holding a viper. I probably should have just walked away, but, like I said, he was holding a viper, which he mentioned was venomous in the midst of our “negotiations.” I decided I could live with being shystered in this case, if it meant getting away from the poisonous snakes. The rest of our day was far more comfortable. The horse carriage ride was a nice way to get to know the city. I would have a picture of the brightly dressed guards at the national palace, but when they saw me taking the photo they yelled out and stopped the carriage, checked my phone and demanded that I delete any photos of the guards…I’m guessing it was a case of either national security or personal vanity...the pants were pretty silly. Anyway, we ended up at the Majorelle Gardens, the favorite spot of Yves Saint Laurent in Marrakesh. In fact, his ashes were scattered there - it is a beautiful and peaceful garden, and it has a great display of the designer’s annual “Love” collages - they are really cool if you have never seen them.
We ended the day with a traditional Moroccan meal in a riad deep in the Medina. When we set out to find it, we were quickly met by a guide who showed us a badge that proved he was from the restaurant. We wound our way through alleys again, and entered a nondescript door that led to a courtyard with tables covered in rose petals and with two Moroccan musicians playing. We didn’t order - we were just served a full meal, starting with 10 small Moroccan salads, followed by multiple tagines...everything is cooked in a tagine, it turns out. The music, ambiance and food were all quite enchanting. We particularly enjoyed the musician dancing while singing and spinning the tassel on his fez - pretty sweet. The rest of our time in Marrakesh was a combination of soaking in the pleasures of our little oasis: beautiful breakfasts on the roof, a traditional hammam (Moroccan steam bath and scrub), tea, cocktails and reading, while we continued to get comfortable exploring the medina. We had a really fun cooking class that started with a shopping tour with the chef...we learned how to cook a tagine and make the traditional salads. We also happened into a music shop in which we had a great conversation with a musician and instrument maker. Maya bought a drum made with stingray skin, and he taught her how to play it some. That experience showed us a completely new face of the medina. We also found some neat spots to stop for lunch in the middle of the souks - the shops - where we could eat on a rooftop terrace. Despite Beth’s notion of shopping for a redesign of at least one room in our house, we mostly wandered, enjoying the chaos and trying to avoid the motorbikes and the snake charmers.
