Bewildered at Jemaa el Fna

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Geo: 31.6334, -7.9996




Next day at 5:00am I was awoken by the Islamic call to prayer echoing throughout Marrakech, and then there was another one at six when I was just able to doze off again but towards the end of my trip, I got used to the prayer calls. The breakfast was delicious with pasties, bread, eggs to order, yoghurts and assortment of condiments such as homemade strawberry jam, marmalade and honey all presented beautifully.



There were two mains water filters on the ground floor of the Riad and we had free water during our stay there: Dominique even offered to give us chilled bag to take the water bottle with us but we declined and she also gave us a phone to call them in case we got lost. We walked the alley which was full of people, shopping, eating, cooking and then we wandered around the streets in Medina and to the bazaars.






Marrakech has the largest traditional market (souk) in Morocco which is an experience itself with the sights, sounds and smells. There were bikes and motorbikes whizzing past the narrow alleys; the air was filled with the smells of various spices as well as the smell of livestock. The stalls were chilled and not that aggressive though they stared at us, we firmly said no merci and we were not harassed. We did look at some of the prices and goods as it is good to compare prices and products before purchasing.






Then we were not sure of our directions so we dug out the maps and a guy told us, he would help us get to the square, we refused as I knew about the warnings about being approached and they want money from you as it is after all how they make their living, but he insisted that he did not want any money as it was only 2 minutes away. He led us the wrong way but then he still wanted some money so we gave him some dirhams. So basically nothing is for free, it's necessary to pay even for advice you didn't ask for. There are still some people that just want to help you, however, it's really hard to recognize who's good and who just want to make profit out of you.




Eventually after 15 minutes of walking around the maze of narrow streets we saw some other tourists who pointed us in right directions. After this incident we did not get lost and we used the mosque to navigate our way for rest of the days. We finally reached Djema el Fna where we saw snake charmers, jugglers, gambler, trader, fortune-teller, Henna ladies, sad monkeys in chains and nappies, fire eater, tanneries stalls galore selling everything you could possibly want in daylight. We were gasping for a drink so we headed for the café de France which has good view of the square. The view was good but the place was not very tidy and the service was a bit slow.



We were hungry so we opted to go to Taj in Darna which also have good views of the square so we could watch the sunset and all the action in the square. There was good choice of food so we ordered Vegetarian tangine, couscous and salad which came with local bread and olives. The food was nice very reasonably priced and mint tea was really good. The view of the square was like sitting in open air theatre where lot was happening so we got to get the feel of Marrakech. There were few hungry cats under our table looking for hand out for food. The sunset was lovely and you can see the Atlas Mountains in background. The square came alive in the evening, a very different atmosphere with fire eaters and bright lights everywhere.



It was a good experience so we took a walk around and the henna ladies with their syringes full of henna and brandishing books of photos were persistent but I firmly said no. I did not want a picture with sad looking monkey or other traders. We walked to our Riad and crossing the road took some skills as there is ongoing traffic but after my SE Asia trips it was not a problem. Our room in Riad was cleaned every day and it was spotless. There is free mint tea on request at the Riad but we went to the roof top for the Moroccan wine.

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