Recently we traveled to Morocco to a visit and explore a very chaotic, yet captivating, city. Marrakech - also known as the Red City for the distinctive reddish-orangish-pinkish color that adorns most its walls and buildings - sits at the foothills of the beautiful, and always snowcapped, Atlas mountains. Marrakech translates to 'Land of God' and it's easy to see why with this pristine view and amazing skies.
The city is basically split up into two parts - the older fortified city called 'Medina' which contains all of the famous souks (markets) and one of Africa's busiest squares (Djemaa el Fna), and the newer adjacent city called 'Geuliz' that contains shopping malls, and more modern hotels and restaurants. Combined, they give Marrakech a total population of 1,070,000. Based on friends' recommendations, and the locations of a friend-of-a-friend's riad (guesthouse) we stayed in the Medina area.
After landing in the afternoon we were picked up at the airport by a driver who navigated some pretty hairy traffic and dropped us off near our destination. We were then guided by another man through a labyrinth of walking streets on our way to our beautiful riad, Dar Zaman, tucked away at the end of an narrow corridor. Peter, the owner and originally from England, greeted us with his lovely staff and sweet mint moroccan tea and coffee! We sat together, looked over the map, and went over possible itineraries for our long weekend. They made us an excellent Moroccan feast for our welcome dinner, and as light rain turned to torrential downpour that first night we decided to stay in with a nice bottle of local Moroccan wine. Honestly not a bad way to start off our trip, we had a lovely place to stay cozy in, a nice fire, bottle of wine, what more can you ask for!?
Much to our surprise, we were awoken around 5am the next morning to an hour long prayer (Salah) being blasted over intercoms. Our riad happened to be located right by the large Ben Slimane Mosque, that was broadcasting it. The point of the prayer is to remind Muslims to give thanks for Allah's blessings. They do this 5 times a day. It was really quite powerful and moving to see this religious ritual, though it did cut into our precious sleep.
Later that morning we sat outside on the sunny patio and had tea and breakfast before making our way through the maze of Marrakech. The city is full of character, charm and culture. We went to the Djemaa el Fna and many of the souks. The souks were vast, amazing, and a little overwhelming - but an ideal place for souvenir hunting! Marrakech souks are known for their leather (bags, shoes, suitcases, purses and furniture) spices which you find in abundance at great value!
On our second night we had a lovely dinner at Le Marrakchi (traditional Moroccan cuisine). My favorite dish was chicken pastilla which is chicken pie and brown sugar with seasonings wrapped in puff pastry!!! They also serve this with pigeon. Another common yummy dish was chicken tagine. The restaurant had a beautiful view of the square and we listened to live music with belly dancers. Afterwards we stopped by for a drink at Cafe Arabe, one the local bars that provides alcohol (obviously, being a Muslim country there aren't a whole lot of places to get a drink). An overall productive day of being lost, shopping through the souks, finding landmarks, seeing the Palais el-Badia, Maison de la Photographie Museum and Dar Si Said Museum.
The following morning we woke to another lovely breakfast out on the patio and had a chance to meet the other guests in the riad. We swapped stories of our experience so far and realized we had some of the same observations. Moroccans in Marakkech constantly say "mosque is closed....square is this way" to tourists. This statement was a bit ridiculous considering they didn't know where we were heading. It also got more perplexing and annoying after a while when people were pointing us in pretty much any direction for no apparent reason. We also thought it was strange that there were no street signs, making navigating all the more confusing. Another interesting aspect - when you take a cab, the driver will pull over and let locals hop in that need to go the same direction. Since the ride is being paid for by the tourists in the back seat, why not?
With the weather we were a little unlucky - in 4 years Peter, the owner of the riad, said he had never experienced such cold and wet weather in March. On the second night, the biggest hail stones we've seen (bigger than marbles) pelted the city!!!
Another 'must' in the Moroccan experience is the hammams. A hammam is much like a Turkish bath, with heavy cleansing and scrubbing of the body, mixed with relaxation. On Peter's advice, we went to a great place called Les Bain de L'alhambra for hammam and spa treatments. The L'alhambra staff started us off in the sauna which was followed by an oil treatment, sandpaper-esque body scrub, mud treatment and shampoo/shower. Afterward we sat in a candlelit room, sipped on mint tea and had another foot massage. After the hammam we had an hour massage. Truly fantastic!!!
That afternoon we returned to Dar Zaman, freshened up and headed out for a local bite at Cafe Des Epices. The sun was out and the skies were clear!!! It was so nice to sit outside and soak in the sun. Marrakech is very exotic, mysterious and lively place. It is certainly not a city that you rush around from one place to the next. The Red City needs time and patience to really enjoy the culture. For our final dinner we cabbed out to the new city for some cheap local eats, followed by cocktails at a posh bar.
The next day we had one last breakfast with the other guests (fresh squeezed orange juice, tea, croissants, yogurt and eggs) before jetting off to Madrid. It was a pleasure staying at Dar Zaman, meeting Peter and the other guests, and touring around the Red City!
On the way back home we stopped off for one evening in Madrid, to do a quick tour of the city and get some good Spanish eats. We did a ton of walking, and made sure to hit up the popular attractions. We strolled thru the crowds of Puerto del Sol, Madrid's center square and heart of the city and soaked in the afternoon rush hour. Nearby we walked over to the Plaza Mayor, Royal Palace, the Opera House, Plaza de Cibeles and the Gran Via (major shopping street).
Another special attraction Madrid is the Prado Museum. Prado's permanent collection is one of the largest in the world. Since the collection is so extensive, the museum is only able to display 1/7th of the entire permanent collection. Prado has some of the world's finest collection of Spanish art, with work by El Greco, Velazquez, Goya and Murillo. Unfortunately for us, the museum was closed that day, but that didn't stop us from walking around the perimeter and seeing the massive building and sculptures.
Our short stay in Madrid wouldn't have been complete without a pitcher of sangria and some tapas. So we sipped away the early evening at a tapas bar before heading off to another restaurant to feast on paella and steak! A great way to finish out a quick afternoon/evening in Madrid before catching the early flight back to Amsterdam the next morning.
