April 2-5 Marrakech 46 Years Later
Day #1: Mysterious Soul of Marrakech and its Medina (Wednesday)
With our travel buddies from Vashon Island we excitedly return to Morocco wondering whether it will seem as mysterious as it did 46 years ago when as hippie backpacker graduate students John and I explored this country via bus on a tight budget. Will Morocco have changed due to tourism and modernization? Or, will we have changed and not see it the same way as we did in our youthful, adventurous, and “in love” state? Or, will memories even come back of what we experienced previously?
Morocco is perched on the northwest corner of Africa and is a land of intriguing cultural and ethnic diversity including Berber, African, Arab, French and Spanish influences. Population is 33 million with 1/3 Berber, 1/3 French and 1/3 Arabic. As we drive in, I see some donkeys pulling wagons, mosques, olive and orange trees, and women wearing headscarves and it all seems familiar and still feels amazing.
What is different from our first visit here are the occasional women who may not be tourists with high heels, shorts, arms uncovered and heavy makeup, people talking on mobile phones, internet cafes and traffic jams.
I recall previously there was no way to call home or google on our phone to see where we are going or to check on a hotel or to order a tuck tuck. I think that perhaps that Marrakech may be coping well with modernization without sacrificing tradition.
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| Majorette Gardens House of Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Berge |
On this first morning we start by visiting Majorelle Gardens a lush 12-acre botanical garden created by the French Orientalist artist, Jacques Majorelle in 1923 and later purchased by fashion designers Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Berge who restored it. The gardens inspired by the Marrakech tiles are cobalt blue (also called Marjorelle blue), saffron yellow and green colors. Next we visit Medrassa Ben Youssef Palace which helps us appreciate the colors of the garden even more because of cascade of similar colored tiles, cobalt blue colors and the intricate geometric designs.
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| Madras Ben Youssef Palace |
Medina Market
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| Olives |
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| Spices |
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| Black soap used for Hammam bath house |
Our market experience at first suggests how technology has not seemed to influence long held traditions. The medina is divided into Quartiers and each quartier has a mosque, a Hammam (bathhouse), a communal bread oven and a water fountain. We enter a bakery, a windowless, dark and hot cave where a man puts bread brought to him by locals into an ancient oven for cooking. Once cooked it is sold in the market.
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| Bakery for Community |
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| Bakery Carts |
We walk down deep into another hot cave in the ground where another man is putting wood chips into a large oven which is designed to keep the walls warm in the steam bath for the Hammam.This place is called the furnace and the man doing the work appears over 80 years of age and says he works 12 hours a day.
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| Heating for Hammon baths |
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| Marie checks out the tagine cooking |
In the metal section of the medina, we see men sitting cross legged on the floor hammering by hand long pieces of metal which are then curved by another man to eventually become window covers or other decorative objects. We stop to talk with a market seller who uses his feet to carve wooden spools using a bow with a piece of string. He gives us necklaces made from a piece of cedar wood he has handcrafted. He seems happy with this job, telling us he is 62 years old and has been doing this work for 52 years!
I begin to worry a bit that this ancient market is becoming somewhat sanitized when I see some mass produced items such as T-shirts, shoes that look like they were made in China and fluorescent lit boutiques. Moreover, there are Moroccan boys in tight-t-shirts and leather jackets racing through the stalls on motor cycles expecting tourists to leap out of the way. I am surprised they are allowed in the pedestrian area. Despite some reminders of the modern era, my overall impression is that of an ancient and largely unchanged medina
Of course we end up in a carpet store and as in Jerusalem and Iran I worry we might walk out with a carpet to only realize later we have been fleeced by a charming but wily salesman who made us feel like we are part of their family. Again we are offered coffee and told we will have a special discount price. We do get an education about about authentic Berber rugs, with only the "best quality" available in this cooperative store. This sales pitch has now become familiar, and sometimes may be accurate though mostly not. By now I feel I could sell carpets in my next career. Marie and I take off our shoes to get the true “feel” of the rugs. John and Steve quickly withdraw. We leave before the seduction process results in our falling in love with a particular rug.
Dinner that evening was in Jemaa el Fnaa, the main square of Marrakech, surrounded by a mosque, palace, and gardens. During the day it seems this market is occupied by orange juice stalls, produce sellers, and snake charmers despite the fact the snakes are supposed to be protected under Moroccan law. Stalls of women offer henna tattoos.
At dinner time, the market has become very crowded with people standing in circles watching Chleuh dancing boys (girls cannot provide such entertainment), story tellers, magicians, games and dozens of newly placed food-stalls.
Marie and I experience the food stall men seducing us to eat at their stall because they have the best prices with “no diarrhea”.
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| Food Stall Options for Dinner |
We finally select one and wait for John to join us. I am happy sitting at this food stall watching the incredible movie of different voices, drums, visions of all sorts of dress attire, unusual sounds and imagined smells and traditions which undoubtedly are repeated daily with different variations and tempos. I remark that the stall men seem competitive, yet happy with each other in this game of who can seduce the most tourists into their stall.
I reluctantly leave this market as do others due to the rain. We stop at a cash machine for more dirham (10 dirham = $1). Unfortunately, the cash machine eats John’s cash card and since our other cash card has been rejected we begin to worry about money problems. This reminds me of our trip to Sri Lanka where my credit card was stolen and John lost his. We were saved by our friends’ beneficence. Most places here accept credit cards, but cash is needed for taxis, tour guides, drivers, tips and and taking pictures of people. We negotiate for a taxi home with 2-3 drivers who all give us prices 3-4 times the price that our hotel has recommended. We settle on 60 dirhams with one driver who then charges us 80 dirhams when we arrive at the hotel. I feel guilty when we insist the price was 60 and not 80. Really is $2 worth hassling over?
With our travel buddies from Vashon Island we excitedly return to Morocco wondering whether it will seem as mysterious as it did 46 years ago when as hippie backpacker graduate students John and I explored this country via bus on a tight budget. Will Morocco have changed due to tourism and modernization? Or, will we have changed and not see it the same way as we did in our youthful, adventurous, and “in love” state? Or, will memories even come back of what we experienced previously? 
We arrive early evening in Marrakech at La Sultana Hotel, a small 28 room hotel located in the walled in the old city which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. We are just 10 minutes from Jemaa El Fna Square which teems with activity all day and into the night. The hotel itself is like a museum with 5 different and beautifully decorated attached riads (homes with interior courtyard with fountains) that are easy to get lost in. The architecture of the hotel is loaded with history, incredible tiles on the walls and floors with amazing wooden, painted ceilings and extensive decorative alabaster carving.
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