The Streets Are Paved With Oranges

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Breakfast was surprisingly good with a huge glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. We sat in the courtyard and ate surrounded by orange trees. Whilst we ate we consulted our guidebooks to see where we should begin our explorations. Eventually we decided to stick to our routine for the first day in a city and just wander and get lost.

We walked the correct way into the medina and suffered immensely in the heat. The main avenue Mohammad 5 leads straight from our hotel into the medina. The road in was crazy and just so chaotic with little observable regulation for traffic. Roads were impossible to cross and the dust and emissions from the vehicles clouded the air. This all sounds horrific the way I write it, but it was such a culture shock with so much to watch.

The centre of the medina is Djemaa el-fna which is one big square with souqs to the north and cafes and stalls surrounding the edges. The open area of the square is a kind of no mans land where you are targeted and pounced on by numerous people as soon as you step out into it.

We did a lap of the square but the sun was almost unbearable so we nipped into one of the souqs that was slightly sheltered by a makeshift reed roof. The souqs feel smaller than Istanbul and you are hassled considerably less but it is so much more of a sensory overload. You are listening out for bike rings or shouts of "balek" (get out of the way) and dodging the bikes and scooters that fly at you. At the same time there are brightly coloured stalls selling everything from slippers, pottery, electronics and spices which you can smell everywhere.

The other side of the souqs we found ourselves in a maze of busy streets which we walked through rather astounded. Children are absolutely everywhere chasing you and offering to guide you to a tannery or palace etc. Little stalls line every street with people selling mounds of things or sometimes just a handful of oranges.

We found the walls of the Medina and decided to walk around the outside of them for a while. It was a lot quieter on the outside of the walls but there wasn't much to see. We set off round to find the next gate and came across a group of children playing football. We went around the outside but when they saw us they ran over and started crowding around us, one boy grabbed my hand and then even licked my shoulder. Luckily a guy shouted at them and they stopped and returned to their game. Around the corner from that there was a rather pungent fire marking the entrance back into the medina.

We were both hungry and pretty beat so we went to the supermarket and bought a rather good picnic lunch along with a gallon of water and some toilet roll. As we were leaving I saw that the temperature was 31°C which was around four, so I hate to think what it was midday. We then returned to the hotel and ate it in our private little courtyard.

One nap later and we were ready to brave the showers which did actually have hot water even though it dribbled out. We then had a Stroll around the new part of town before settling for our first tagine of the trip which was thoroughly enjoyed.

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Comments

[Brian]

Looks a great place to explore, can you send us some of that 31o we could do with some

[kate]

hot hot hot
Hi The patio looks super. Just think of us when you are sitting on it with our dampish, dullish British weather. Mind you if I was there I think I might be ...grumbling just a bit..... Love mum