Marrakesh: Djellaba and Jeans

There are two ‘Marrakeches’, the ‘medina’, the Arab part of the city and ‘la ville nouvelle’.

La ville nouvelle, the new city, was developed and built by the French. It’s modern, has wide avenues, traffic lights, roundabouts, cars, nothing special but for the high temperatures in summer. We were there in July and at 11a.m. it was already 45 degrees. In the evening it did not cool down significantly, it was still in the upper 30s. We wanted to escape the heat for a short time and went to McDonalds. When we came in it was cold. I put my travel thermometer on the table and it appeared to be ‘only’ 32 degrees!

The ‘real’ Marrakech, and also the ‘tourist’ Marrakech is the souks, the square of Jemaa el-Fna with its crowd of storytellers, musicians, snake-charmers, and the the Koutoubia mosque which is visible from practically anywhere in Marrakech.

Quick Tips:

Don’t take a hotel within the medina unless you are fond of cockroaches.

When you enter the souk ‘concerned’ pseudo guides wil offer their services. They try to convince you that the souk is a difficult and above all dangerous place to visit. The contrary is true.

There is a bit of ‘tourist bullying’, but it helps when you speak French. Tell them that you are perfectly at ease and ‘thank you very much but I know my way, I have been here before.’

These ‘pseudo guides’ will follow you, you have to be adamant and tell them several times ‘ that you can help yourself’. This guide will stop following you, unfortunately another one is waiting for you at the next corner. I don’t mind this, I tell them again that I can find my way myself.

Don’t ever get angry or aggressive. This will escalate things. If you think you can’t stand all this. Hire a guide, and your problem is solved.

Best Way To Get Around:

We love walking so we went everywhere on foot. But for the not so courageous taxis are very cheap. The taxis are the so-called ‘petit taxi’, usually they have a metre. But this is not a guarantee that you will not be ripped off. The driver can adjust the meter, so that the starting price is higher than for Moroccans. Don’t dispair, it is still cheap.

If you are heading out of town you can either take the bus or the ‘grand taxi’. This is a shared taxi two passsengers next to the driver, four passengers in the back.

I didn’t stay here, because it is far too expensive! We only had tea and we took the opportunity to walk in the grounds.

There has always been an olive grove in the heart of Marrakesh. An olive grove means water, an oasis. All cities, towns, villages south of the Atlas exist because of the presence of water. In the 18th Century, Sultan Sidi Muhammad gave it to his son as a wedding present. It was the setting for many festivities and whenever noble guests came to Marrakesh they would stay here.

Much later, a hotel was built: La Mamounia. The architects made use of all the mysteries the marvels of Morrocan craftmanship. The result is a building you must see for yourself. That is why we went there, simply to see it. And take some photos, which was not very easy because I could not roam freely in the grounds. Besides staff would look at me, disapprovingly as soon as I produced my camera.

Many celebrities stayed here: Ravel, Rita Hayworth, the Rothschilds, the Rockefellers and the most faithful visitor, Churchill. Every winter he would sit on the terrace, looking towards the olive groves and the snow-capped peaks of the Atlas, with his canvas and his brushes.

Unfortunately, I did not see any of the bedrooms, but I can imagine what they look like. And maybe... maybe..... one day I’ll stay here.

’Vous etes de France?’

’Non’.

La Grande Bretagnes? Belgique? now a whole catalogue of countries passes the review.

No, none of these, I answer.

Fifty metres further I turn round: I’m from Holland!’

He comes back, and walks besides us.
His act starts: ‘Then we are friends! My cousin, aunt, brother, (whatever he thinks of) lives in Holland’.

‘What a coincidence!’ I know the game.

‘He lives in Utrecht’. (or any other place name he knows)

‘Interesting’, is my response.

Now I’ll just see how long it takes him to bring me to his shop. That’s his aim. I like this game.


He starts talking about his friend or cousin and asks questions about Holland, which I answer duly.

’Would you like to see the mosque? From the top of the roof you will have a wonderful view of the souk.’

This is it. This is what I had been waiting for. He does not want to show me the mosque at all. He will now lead me to a carpet shop and tell me that this shop used to be a mosque.

Sometimes I give in quite soon, sometimes I take the mickey out of him. Invariably he doesn’t believe me when I say that I don’t buy.

Moroccan carpets come in different styles and techniques. Most carpets in this souk are typically Moroccan. Your friend will now offer you mint tea and slowly unroll carpets, one after another. This I never let happen, because I know I’m not buying.

’Pour le plaisir des yeux’, is now his adage. to please your eyes. It’s difficult to dissuade him from unrolling carpet after carpet. ‘This is hard work for you’, I tell him.

There goes another carpet. I show no interest lest he thinks I will buy after all.

PRACTICALITIES:You enter the souk at Rue Souk Marine.
You will pass the textile souk, the wool souk, then the loved or despised carpet souk.
Here you bear to the left to get to the dyers souk and the babouche souk. Babouche are the typically Moroccan slippers everyone is wearing. Then on to the carpenters and blacksmiths.
Now you are at the end of the souk, turn right, follow the path and you will return to where you started. You will now pass the leather and jewellers souk. And you are back at the carpet souk.

Tanneries are always outside the medina walls. Take a taxi or walk to Bab Deggagh (entrance to or exit from the medina). There are few souvenir stalls, few tourists, many potholes, much rubbish, many ‘friends’ who want to show you the tanneries, at a cost of course.

Decide for yourself wether you ‘hire a friend’. Some of them know a lot, speak understandable French, others are not so good. ...

Your guide will guide you into one lane and to another, you will enter dark, you will go up many sinister staircases. And suddenly you will find yourself looking down on an open space with lots of tubs. Tubs of all sizes and colours. Here the hides are dipped in various mixtures, which should be natural, but these days chemicals are used. Your ‘friend’ will then guide you along workplaces where people are at work. It fascinating to see, at the same time it is one of the most horrible jobs there is. The chemicals are toxic and shorten the workers’ lives.

It is best to get to the tanneries in the morning as no work is being done in the afternoon.

You can get there by horse-drawn carriage. They are waiting near Jemaa el Fna. They usually take the outside of the ramparts and drop you at Bab Debbagh.

The first thing to visit is the city square of Marrakech: Jemaa el Fna. I was slightly disappointed as it is not an example of great architectural beauty. But it’s the people that make it interesting, and its continuous day and night life. Perfomers of every kind put up their shows and continue until the food stalls start to move in, when the sun has set.

Jemaa el-Fna owes most of its fame to the large number of spectacles going on all around all the time. Snake charmers, singers, musicians, story tellers and healers attract a large audience.

At most tourist destination you will find ‘water sellers’. Generally speaking they have no intention of selling water to you, but they allow you to take a photo of them, at a cost, one dirham is sufficient. However I also met them in ‘tourist free zones’ where they perform their original task of providing cups of water from a lambskin carafe for a small fee.

And who had this strange idea that the square should be lined with orange juice stalls? Some 50 stalls cheek by jowl.

There are many cafes and restaurants around Jemaa., most of them have seating on the first floor with great views of the square. Relax and sip your mint tea.

As soon as the sun has set the juice sellers make place for the food stalls. All food is made fresh on the spot, meat, fish, vegetable dishes.

I don’t think it is ‘dangerous’ to eat here. The only precaution I take is that I never order meat or fish, just vegetables. Eating here is an excellent opportunity to meet Morrocans. I always carefully choose a place where there are no tourists. The moment you sit down people start asking questions. It’s often the beginning of a new friendship.

Marrakech consists of two parts: the old town, or medina, which dates back over a thousand years; and the new town, called "Gueliz" (after a small mountain at the edge of it), which was designed and built by the French as a planned city early in this century.

When you look down the main street you can see the minaret of the Koutoubia mosque and beyond that the High Atlas mountains, capped with snow in winter.

The centre of Gueliz is a roundabout and the streets radiate out like spokes of a wheel. This reminded me (a little) of Paris, Place de l’Etoile and the avenues one of which is the Champs Elysee.

The French, who occupied Morocco from 1912 to 1956, had a very different conception of space from the Moroccan. To them, when Gueliz in the 1920s was being planned and constructed, streets needed to be wide and houses detached from each other and clearly visible from the street.

Gueliz is the modern business district, and completely different from the medina. At times I thought I was in some French city.