After a brief stop in Bangkok, we made our way west for the home stretch of our around-the-world journey. Our travel day was a long one: 26 hours in transit on various planes and busses. Our destination was the Moroccan city of Marrakesh: a city made chic by the great rock band of the 60’s and 70’s. The weather here was quite refreshing after spending a few months in southeast Asia: Highs in the mid 70’s with clear skies… a far cry from the muggy weather in Bangkok. To be honest, we were ready for a change of scenery… someplace completely different from the places that we’ve already encountered. We’ve seen beaches. We’ve seen great Western cities and great Asian cities. We’ve seen mountains and valleys and canyons and fjords and ancient ruins of civilizations lost… really it takes a lot to wow us these days. What we haven’t seen is any sort of desert-type environment, so here we are in Morocco, the gateway to the Sahara Desert.
Marrakesh was our first stop in Morocco simply because it is the only place that discount air carrier easyJet flies to. It is a pretty compact city, with an old walled part of the city (called a Medina) that is very easy to explore on foot. Filled with tiny mazelike alleyways the Medina can be an adventure to navigate, and we found ourselves getting lost quite often… which was not so bad as around every corner was a new and different souq (street-side merchant stall), offering exotic spices, carpets, leather goods, and even entire bronze doors! In the middle of everything was an open air square called the Djemaa el-Fna, which at night turned into a chaotic expanse of impromptu food stalls hawking delicious delicacies like escargot, kabobs, shwarma, cous-cous, tajine (slow cooked meats), spiced tea, and date cakes. Picking a place to eat can be an invigorating experience as every vendor has their own hawker trying to get you to eat at their particular stall: “My friend! Sit, sit! come eat at stall 119… we have the juciest tajines! Remember, stall 119 is the best!”
Besides all the wandering around, the cool thing about Marrakesh is just appreciating the architecture. The Medina feels suspended in time, with people going about their daily business in the same manner as in centuries past (well… with the occasional motor bike thrown in). The feel of the place is quite Spanish (Andalusean really), not so surprising considering the Spanish Moorish influence originated from Morocco. In fact, the styles and forms of some of the greatest buildings and cathedrals in Spain were cribbed from the mosques and palaces here in Marrakesh. For example, on the left is a picture of the Giralda in Seville and on the right is a picture of its archetype, the Koutoubia Mosque:
…very similar. Anyway (as usual) my words do not do enough justice, so check out the picture linked below:
http://picasaweb.google.com/richmosko/Marrakesh
Also, here is a map for your viewing pleasure: Map of Marrakesh
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