A Weekend in Marrakesh
13th November 2010
Marrakesh, a former imperial city in western Morocco, is home to mosques, palaces and gardens and seemed like an ideal destination for a long weekend away with the girls. A few of us are well travelled…. a few of us not; so I arrived in Marrakesh slightly apprehensive of how we would handle North Africa.
We arrived in the evening and went straight into Djemaa el-Fna, a large square where food stalls sell all sorts of amazing things. Storytellers and musicians perform all around the square which creates an incredible atmosphere that truly makes you feel immersed in Morocco. I try not to do much research before travelling to new places as I don’t like to have a preconceived idea of what something will be. Some call me crazy, but arriving in Marrakesh and experiencing, the sounds, smells and sights have given me that excited butterfly feeling you get when exploring a new exotic destination which I fear I would not encounter had I spent hours planning the trip.
After a good nights sleep, we head into the Medina ready to haggle!
It’s a densely packed, walled medieval city dating to the Berber Empire with mazelike alleys where thriving souks sell traditional food, leather products, painted pottery, lanterns and spices. Donkey’s with laden carts try to navigate the narrow alley’s, and locals try to entice the tourists with snakes and cheeky monkey’s (we were spat at for taking photos without paying which was disgusting, but a lesson quickly learned). It’s extremely busy, but all the souk owners are very chatty (they have terrible chat-up lines) and offer mint tea to drink while you browse their merchandise. After purchasing spices, lovely scented soaps, and leather bags, we are ready to sit back and soak up the colourful stalls and surrounding architecture. We ate an amazing chicken tagine at one of the many rooftop restaurants which overlooked the Djemaa el-Fna and celebrated surviving our first full day in Marrakesh.
Be careful of thieves, on foot or on motorbike. Keep careful hold of your items, and be especially vigilant when taking out your wallet or mobile phone as we heard of many people being mugged in this area.
On our second day, we took a tour out to the Atlas Mountains & Ourika Valley. It was a long drive, and our driver seemed unsure of where we were going and what we wanted to see, but the dramatic mountain scenery, picturesque valleys and remote traditional villages we stopped at were great. I’m glad we made the effort to get out of the city as it showed us an entirely different side of Morocco. Our lunch stop was good; the food was delicious, and we got to do a little more shopping at some local markets. We also took a short ride on some camels, which was fun (very smelly, glad we were advised to bring additional clothing) before driving back to Marrakesh.
On the last day of our trip, we decided to visit a tannery and a hammam – which we are told is a ‘must-do’ in Marrakesh.
The tannery is not for the faint hearted! It is very smelly, hot and quite grim observing how some people must work to earn their keep. It was, however, interesting to see what effort goes into making the shoes we wear and the bags we use.
TOP TIP: Take the stalks of mint offered to you at the beginning to place under your nose as the stench is overwhelming.
After a bit more shopping we raced to the hammam we had booked our relaxation treatments for the afternoon. Upon arrival we were provided robes and slippers to wear and were led down the softly lit corridors past several treatment rooms and massage beds, the place was like a huge Labyrinth, but it is stunning with drapes and stained glass light shades casting colourful mosaic patterns onto the ceiling and walls.
Once we got up to the roof terrace, the 6 of us were split into two groups and greeted by a woman who led us to a small dark steam room, to our surprise we were asked to remove our robes in front of each other and told in French that we had to be naked. We sat on small stools while the woman scrubbed us one by one. To say it was slightly embarrassing is an understatement. For the body scrub, they use black soap, and a tough, exfoliating hand mitt. The scrubbing was very forceful; firm but not painful and took off the whole top layer of skin. But oh my, they aren’t shy and will not hesitate to pull your legs apart and throw buckets of water here, there and everywhere. Once the scrubs were completed, we put our robes back on to head back inside to a massage room where we had a 45min full body massage – this was fantastic!!
Hammams have played a significant part in Moroccan culture for centuries. A traditional steam room loosely translated as “spreader of warmth” is used by Moroccans at least once a week for a ritual based body treatment that involves the steaming, scrubbing and massaging of the skin until it glows. — Wikipedia
From the hammam, we had to head straight to the airport, what a bonding experience this weekend has been….
