Lamb, Prunes, Primark and Monkeys in Nappies


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Africa » Morocco » Marrakech-Tensift-El Haouz » Marrakech
November 15th 2008
Published: November 15th 2008
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"So have you been to morocco before?"


Sarah it turned out was on her way to the final weekend of a hen week in Marrakech, flying out for literally 24 hours in Morocco. An honourable effort indeed. And seeing the place that they had booked I think it must have been worth it. You never know your luck on a flight and I did alright, with a spare seat for legrooms and someone with which to share a taxi. i shared a ride into the centre of the medina with Felicity (bride to be who had lived in Morocoo for a year aged 17), Sarah and Kirsty, and they invited me to their riad for tea and travel trips. It was a beautiful 3 story Riad which was like something straight out of an arabian nights style fantasy. Heavy peach walls kept the interior cool, bright and cheery while the roof contained a beautiful terrace with huge sofas, sun loungers and three tortoise that give the house its name (house of tortoises...). I shared a pot of overly sweet but wonderfully fragrant mint tea with them before heading out to find my own accommodation. I settled for pretty much the first thing I found, bartering the asking price down from 800 dirhams to 300. THe room is basic, but its a place to rest my head!

Next food seemed to be the order of the day, since I have been dreaming of a tagine since I was rudely awaken by my alarm at 4a.m. back in london. Oh, and for the past month :-) I was not dissapointed - my lamb and prune tagine was sweet, rich and meaty and served with delicious crunchy bread and the ubiquitous mint tea.

A journey through the souks followed, which involved many more cups of tea. Many people pretended they knew me, or my home city and I found myself sitting down and chatting about rock music, the english reluctance to learn foreign languages, the top 4 items in moroccan cuisine and all manner of other chit chat. Today I was not a buyer, and I made this clear from the offset. Regardless people often take this to mean something completely different, and I was pleasantly suprised that so many stallholders gave me tea, chatted to me and bade me farewell after. ONly one took my reluctance to buy badly, and I could sense that one coming from to offset...

As day turned to dusk I hit the infamous Djeema El Fna. Undisputably local driven(the majority of patrons are local while the majority of onlookers are foreign) but certainly on every marrakech tourist agenda this huge open square is transformed at night into row upon row of stalls selling all manner of fare from freshly grilled kebabs to sheep head soup and freshly squeezed orange juice. Angry and depressed monkeys in nappies and chained to motorbikes are thrust on to passers by shoulders while cheeky teens try all manner of catchphrase to make you eat at their stalls. "Mum shops at asda - you mum shops at harrods", "are you the only gay in the village", "we're cheaper than primary" and somewhat strangley "you cant get quicker than a quick fit fitter" are all chanted. Snake charmers, dancers, drummers and beggars all try to extract money from you with varying degrees of success. It seems like this is going to be an interesting place, and for now im heading back into the streets to continue relishing the bombardment of the senses that is Marrakech

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