Feast for the Senses

  Marrakech, Morocco
Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Breakfast in the Riad

This morning we ate our breakfast of pain au chocolate and fresh-squeezed orange juice in the courtyard of our riad, then headed over across the road to the other riad that had been organized for us. There we met a young British couple, Rich and Susie, who were also staying at the riad. After a few minutes of conversation, Susie asked (slightly embarrassed), if we would like to go to a hammam with them tomorrow - "I know we've only known you for five minutes, but would you like to go and get naked?!" We had missed out on a hammam in the Middle East, so jumped at the chance to go to one here and agreed to research a few in the area and meet up that evening again for dinner.

El Badi Palace

Since it was a lovely sunny day, we set off in search of the once great El Badi Palace, now a great ruin. Built in the late 1500's, El Badi was a palace built for the Sultan to entertain foreign dignitaries and ambassadors. Our trip to the palace involved endless twists and turns, narrow brushes with donkeys and speeding scooters, and a very persistent young man who just wouldn't go away and kept trying to direct us to the old Jewish cemetery. We found ourselves thoroughly lost, but able to locate where we generally were on the map, the main problem being we had no idea which way was North (it was midday so the sun didn't help us either). Mostly by luck we finally stumbled on the palace just in time for it to close for a few hours.

Tasty Tajine

Thwarted, we wandered back through the souks towards the main square, stopping at a restaurant for some amazing Tajine (meat and vegetables slow cooked in a clay pot - soooooo goood). Heading back to the palace, we wandered the ruins and explored underground chambers with a flashlight before climbing up a tower for excellent views into the now deserted square that once teemed with life. The view out over Marrakech was filled with satellite dishes and storks nests precariously perched on crumbling ruins.

Storks on the Ruins

By now it was the late afternoon so we headed back towards the riad for a break before we were to meet up with Rich and Susie. On the way back through the souks we managed to find a young stall owner who's starting prices were not completely unreasonable and spent some time jovially bartering over several items, the stall owner accusing Dan of being part Berber (native Moroccan) for the way he haggled.

Back at the riad we met up with Rich and Susie and headed out for street food at the main square, Djemaa el Fna. We left all of our valuables locked away at the riad, on the strong recommendation of our guide book, even leaving our watches which apparently had a tendency to go missing in this part of the city at night.

Marrakech and the Mosque

If the square was interesting by day it was overwhelming by night. The snake charmers, drummers, henna artists and salesmen were still out, but so too was an entire army of tent covered restaurants which seemed to have sprung up out of nowhere, sending sparks and smoke and tantalizing aromas into the air. Senses spinning we wandered the square together, stopping at different stalls to sample the cheap local foods, each costing around one dollar Canadian.

Gabrielle Savours the Snails

We tried tastes of snail soup in a spicy broth, eaten with toothpicks; pita bread filled with mashed hard-boiled egg, cheese, potato, olives and onions, seasoned and oiled and very popular with the locals; thick, hot vegetable soup eaten with carved wooden ladles and served with plates of honey soaked pastry rolled in sesame seeds; spiced tea with ginger and cinnamon, served piping hot in little glasses with bowls of molasses and spice pudding; every new food a delight to the senses.

Snail Stalls

The centre of the square was filled with dozens of makeshift numbered restaurants selling standard plates of kebabs, meat, and fish, and we dodged the "restaurant" touts ("5 star! Air Conditioned! Maybe tomorrow, you come back to number 32!") and the occasionally aggressive henna women and random salesmen. Stumbling away from the restaurants we ran into the ring of carts that encircled the square, selling orange juice or dried fruit. Past these were crowds of people surrounding all kinds of performers, from story tellers, to musicians, to dancing 'girls' who clearly weren't girls, but seemed very popular amongst the locals never the less. Leaving this behind we came across the quieter part of the square with the herb stalls, their huge piles of fresh mint scenting the air.

Snail Soup

We collected ourselves in a small cafe on the corner of the square, lingering and chatting over mint tea before returning to the riad and saying goodnight to Rich and Susie. Exhausted and buzzing with the overload of sound, colour, and taste, we finally felt that we were seeing the Marrakech that we'd heard and read about.

All our best from Morocco

Dan and Gabes