Memories of Marrakesh

The first mention in an 11th-century manuscript preserved in the Kairouyine Library in Fez refers to "Marrakouch," the land of the sons of Kouch, black African warriors from Aoudaghost, a large caravan town in Mauretania surrounded by palm trees. It became the capital of the Almoravid Empire and center of a great empire under Youssef Ben Tachfine, who died at the age of 100 in 1106. His son, Ali, whose mother was an Andalusian Christan slave, became one of the greatest rulers of Morocco. He was the one who commissioned Andalusian craftsmen to build a new palace and mosque. The architectural masterpieces that survive till today include the koubba el Baroudiyin, the minbar of the Koutoubia Mosque, and the high ramparts with their monumental gates -- bab.

The heart of Marrakesh is centered on Place Djemâa El Fna, Place of the Dead, and the surrounding old city of the Medina. The square is the stage for a long-established ritual in which shifting circles of onlookers gather around groups of acrobats, drummers, pipe musicians, dancers, storytellers, and comedians.

The Medina, with its endless narrow streets, is a shopping haven, where you can find the finest rugs and slippers. The city's architectural attractions are immense, with the basins of the Agdal and Menara gardens, the delicate Granada-style carving of the Saadian Tombs, and, above all, the Koutoubia Minaret. Marrakesh is a city of history and culture, a trendy city, elected by the fashion world as the place to be in winter and spring, with unique Moroccan and international restaurants, trendy bars, casinos, and a nightlife.

Quick Tips:

Getting around Marrakesh isn't difficult when you have your own personal guide. In fact, living it up in luxury in a four- or five-star hotel with a full hot and cold buffet breakfast spread, complimentary Internet access, and comfy, fluffy king-size beds isn't uncommon. But all of this certainly can be helped with a huge dose of French and simple Moroccan phrases. Refer soon to the glossary I will be including as part of my journals.

Best Way To Get Around:

Despite its name -- Square of the Dead -- Place Djemaa el Fna is a very lively place. A traditional meeting place for peasants and merchants from the Sous region, the High Atlas and the South, it was where the caravansary stopped. And where the story tellers, singers, dancers, acrobats, snake charmers came to entertain them. Although the caravansary no longer exists, the entertainers, however, remained.

The square has become the heart of Marrakesh. Jerome and Jean Tharaud once said "the soul of the South is here, in the groups of the onlookers who, from morning to night, gather and disperse around the street performers with the fluidity of smoke." At dusk, this square fills with jugglers and story tellers reminiscent of the griots of the Southern Sahara, Berbers who have come down from the mountains, men from the desert and fellahs from the plain deeply engrossed in their songs and dances performed with tame snakes. At this time of day, when the peaks of the distant Atlas Mountains catch the last of the sunlight, the atmosphere is disquieting. This spellbinding spectacle will encourage you to linger on the terraces of the numerous surrounding cafés. In the mornings, this vast square, located on the edge of the souk district and bordered by shops and workshops, is crowded with fruit and spice sellers, guerrab with their leather water bottles and metal drinking cups, basket sellers, ironmongers and barbers. In the afternoons come the Gnaoua dancers descended from former Guinean slaves, musicians, storytellers, snake charmers and entertainers with performing monkeys. Before starting their performance, they establish their halqa (imaginary circle blessed by a saint).

All around the square are tea houses offering mint tea and local sweets, like the filo pastry filled with mixed nuts.

For the adventurous, a favourite amongst the Moroccans is goat's brain, broiled in lamb stock and eaten with your fingers! It's chewy, like gum, and not at all as awful as I'd imagined. Another delicacy here are the local escargots, not the garden variety or the fancy French ones, but simply boiled in salt water and spiced with some herbs. These are tiny snails that are delicate and tender-and the soup is especially delicious, a must-try!

A five-minute walk from the square is Marrakesh's highest minaret from which the muezzin calls for prayer three times a day.

Located slightly on the outskirts of town, just beyond the city ramparts, the Menara Gardens offer a pleasant escape from the excitement of central Marrakesh. With its serene park, chirping birds, beautiful lake, and backdrop of the Atlas Mountains, it is a scene set for love and romance.

Designed initially as a resort where the sultans could escape the scorching summer heat, it was rebuilt for Sultan Adu Rahman in the 19th century, for his other, more risqué misadventures. Complete with a fruit orchard, date palm plantation, and olive grove, it is a place to take a breather and time off to smell the flowers.

The Menara Gardens cover an area of about 250 acres. In the middle of the park is a large lake, which dates from the 12th century and is fed by a network of irrigation channels flowing from a nearby basin.

And floating on the water's edge is the Sultan's small, reddish-coloured pavilion. Offering a breathtaking sight mirrored on the serene lake, especially in the evenings, as it catches the golden rays of the setting sun, it looks like the pavilion is set ablaze.

The building was used by the Sultan for his romantic rendezvous. And it was rumoured that he used to throw his companion of the previous night into the lake at dawn. The young wooing Moroccan couples usually make their way to the park just before it closes, at around 5pm, for a stroll around the menza. Being a Muslim country, only married couples can be seen holding hands.

The gardens are open to the public from around 9am for visitors who sometimes like to jog in the gardens. And in the evenings, you will find some hawkers peddling the local sweets made of sugar and nuts.

Like all Morocco’s mosques, the Koutoubia, both a place of worship and a Koranic school, does not admit non-Muslims, but we managed to view the surrounds from outside its gates, with commentary given by our local guide. The Koutoubia, or Booksellers’ Mosque, was named after kutubiyin, sellers of manuscripts, who in the 12th and 13th centuries, gathered to lay out their stalls on the square in front of the mosque. The original mosque, built in 1147 after the conquest of Marrakesh by Abd el Moumen, was later demolished because it was found to be incorrectly positioned in relation to Mecca. Its foundations can still be seen today to the right of the existing mosque. The second mosque, representative of the Almohad period of Hispano-Moresque art, combined simplicity with superb craftsmanship and restrained luxury. Built and decorated according to the instructions of Abd el Moumen on the site of the Almoravid palace, it was supposedly completed in 1199 by Yacoub el Mansour. It has 16 parallel identical naves and a wider central nave. Bold and simple geometric, floral, and epigraphic motifs appearing outside (and apparently inside) the mosque gives the building an austere appearance. The 11 cupolas decorated with muqarna, the capitals and its molded structure, make the mosque the finest example of Almohad art. We managed to also see the famed white koubba (tomb) of Lalla Zohra, placed here in the 17th century. Lalla was the daughter of a slave who became a religious leader. The women of Marrakesh traditionally believe that she was a woman by day and a dove by night, and many dedicate their children to her. These children do not eat pigeon.

The minaret of the mosque can be seen from the Place Djemaa el Fna. A symbol of the Berber city and a central landmark, it rises 252 feet into the sky, towers over the town and its palm groves, and stands like a sentinel at the gates of the Sahara. The five-to-one ratio between the height and width of the minaret confers a perfect harmony on the tower. A masterpiece of Hispano-Moresque art, it looks very similar to the Giralda of Seville. Its pink stone walls are decorated with festooned arches, painted floral motifs, and carved tracery. Only a few fragments remain of the blue, turquoise, and white frieze that once adorned the top of the minaret. The first of the four copper balls atop the lantern is so small that it is invisible from the ground, the second, 6.5 feet in diameter, is huge, whilst the third and fourth are respectively half and three-fourths the size of the second. Our guide tells us a curious tale of the balls being made from some gold jewellery belonging to the wife of Yacoub el Mansour, its architect, who is said to have offered the pieces in atonement for having broken the fast of Ramadan for several hours. The balance of the balls is supposedly maintained by the influence of the planets.

Behind Bab Berrima, a gate flanked by massive towers overlooking the Place les Ferblantiers, a passageway between high walls leads to the entrance of the Dar el Badi, the Palace of the Incomparable. Work on this huge palace, built to commemorate Ahmed el Mansour’s victory over the Portuguese at the Battle of the Three Kings, was begun in 1578 and continued for the next 25 years. It was financed by the war indemnity paid by the Portuguese, by gold brought back from Guinea, and by sugar produced in the Sous region. Large numbers of European craftsmen were employed to work on the project, and the most luxurious materials were imported from black Africa, Italy, France, Spain, and India. The Carrara marble used in the palace, so the story goes, was purchased for its weight in sugar. This sumptuous palace was designed for the celebration of festivals on a grand scale and had a total of 360 rooms arranged around a huge inner courtyard with pools and decorative flowerbeds. Every year at the beginning of June, a national folk festival is held in the ruins that are all that remain of its former splendour. At the end of the 17th century, Moulay Ismail tore out the marble, onyx, gold, ivory, and exotic wood from the Dar el Badi and used them to build his palaces in Meknès. This demolition process took 10 years to complete.

Located not far from the El Badi Palace is the beautiful and opulent Dar La Bahia. In the late 19th century, Ba Ahmed, grand vizier to the sultans Moulay Hassan and Moulay Abd el Aziz, ordered this magnificent palace to be built. The palace, standing in a 2-acre garden, is a haphazard arrangement of secret luxury apartments opening on to inner courtyards. For 7 years around a thousand craftsmen from the Fez region worked on the palace, using the same motifs and materials inside as the architects had used on the outside of the building. Thus the carved wood, plaster, and stucco of the facade are continued in the interior decoration. The master of works, seriously hampered by his weight and small stature, had the palace built on one level. The only sections of the Dar el Bahia open to the public are the apartments of the sultan’s favourite concubine, the council chamber, with its tiled walls and illuminated cedar wood ceiling, the great central courtyard, paved with marble and decorated with zellige, and fountains. The courtyards, planted with flowers, were reserved for the sultan’s five wives and 24 concubines. During the French protectorate, the palace was the residence of General Lyautey, France’s first resident general.