Marrakesh's marvelous Djemma el-Fna

Visitors to Djemma el-Fna, the notorious nighttime market in central Marrakesh, experience dichotomy as subtle as a splash of cold water in the face--a gathering of traditional vendors and consumers, literally a millennium in the making, contrasted with the quintessentially modern annoyance of locals preying upon cash-laden tourists.
Absorb the full Djemma el-Fna experience in the late afternoon, so as to observe in full daylight the arriving droves. Taking in one of the Arab world’s most entertaining scenes from a rooftop bar at dusk, overlooking the beehive of capitalism assembling in the square below, costs merely an overpriced juice, mint tea or cocktail.
For centuries before the food truck made portable cooking trendy, vendors here have been offering all manner of street food. When darkness falls, head down to the square where spotlight-illuminated, ghost-white smoke pours off outdoor grills, while pitchmen vigorously recruit passersby into their makeshift establishments. Wandering around the food stalls, you encounter every possible type of huckster. At most tourist traps, a foreigner can take on one or two street touts over the course of an afternoon and emerge more or less intact. But here in Djemma el-Fna, you have to run a continuous gauntlet of all variety of huckster, each one more impossible than the last, like a pitcher facing the 1927 Yankees. You wiggle your way out of a sales pitch from a man insisting you take a photo with a monkey on your shoulder, only to have a necklace vendor sidle up to you and shove her wares in your face. Uninterested or intimidated? You can avoid eye contact and move quickly through the crowd, but don’t be too hasty in rejecting the entertainment to be found in even the most naked ploy for a few coins.
After dining upon a picnic table, take time to savor some truly one-of-a-kind experiences here, even if your desire to photograph or film it spurs an enterprising young man into accosting you for a tip. Crowds of locals gathered in a circle usually portends a storytelling episode—immerse yourself in a throwback form of entertainment that held human interest from the beginning of time until the invention of the television. Or happen upon a solitary man with exotic pets—a cobra, hedgehog, or perhaps an armadillo—humbly waiting for their opportunity to pose in your Facebook mobile upload photo. A few hours into your evening in Djemma el-Fna and you’ll realize why that overpriced mint tea was worth it.