Marrakech or the land of Adidas Berber – part 2
Djemaa el Fna and the Souks
Djeemaa el Fna is the point of reference in the Medina. This is where the Koutoubia (main Mosque) is located, where you can access the souks, the market, the banks, the Muslim and the Jewish quarters and much more. As previously mentioned it took us about 15 minutes by foot to get there, with the help of Gerard: turn left, left, and right. Great!
The place itself is again a vast space, but very busy with snake charmers, market stalls (most of them sell dried fruits and fruit juice), people with monkeys (who do tricks), and the usual locals who try to make a living by looking weird and wonderful and charging you for just looking at them. The place is lined with restaurants and cafes and most of them have terraces that overlook the square. The ones we went to, that I can recommend are the Café de France (both restaurant and café), le Grand Balcon du Glacier (mmm, pizza! And great views of the place and its surroundings), and there’s a small place just before the gate that leads to Jewish quarter called café/restaurant Toubkal. I don’t know if it because they are not right on the place or not, but their prices are up to 4 times less than the places previously mentioned. I would recommend that one above every other place we’ve been to. They all serve the same food, so you might as well get the best deal.
The Souks. Where to start? I couldn’t possibly tell you how big they are, miles and miles of labyrinths, full of leather good shops, spices, jewellery shops, traditional Moroccan tableware such as Tajine dishes, teapots, glasses, trays etc. We went there in the morning, where it was less busy, traders were more relaxed. They still tried to flog us everything they could, but i think we did well: we ended up with a pair of red babouches (traditional Moroccan shoes – “Hey, have Adidas Berber for Mustapha”) for Noah, a bag and a belt. The best thing to do is to take a map of the whole town and pray for the best. I wanted to stick to our route, but Mark being a man “I know where I’m going”, we ended up somewhere (I still don’t know where we’ve been), walked for about 2 hours, trying to dodge the scammers. The locals are very good at spotting lost foreigners (the pale skin and the map kind of gives it away lol), and they’ll tell you: “I take you to the place”, and you end up in his shop. And miles away from where you want to be. And if you piss them off, as Mark did, as he lost patience, they send you the opposite direction. The best thing to do is to walk to a proper shop, and ask for direction if the employee looks decent and educated. You know that they won’t rip you off because they don’t live off what they can get on the street. This is what I did, and fortunately the girl spoke French. She sent us the right directions, but once there, we hit a wall. We were so desperate by then that a guy accosted us, and offered to take us back to the Riad. We thought it was a scam again, which it kind of was – he wasn’t doing if for free and, we gave him 4€ – but we got there. The problem is that there are no signs, and the streets all end up on other streets, and you just never see the end of it. I can’t stress how important it is to stay together, because you are pretty much at the mercy of the guy who is taking you back to the place. You could easily get mugged if you are not careful. So stick together, zip your bag and hide your cash. I must admit at some point I wasn’t feeling too clever when Mark was ahead of me with Noah (he thought I was right behind him), and the “guide” was pushing for more money (which to be honest he deserved). So I reached in my bag, and for some reason I turned and saw another guy following us, and it was obvious these two knew each other. So I stuck two coins in his hand and legged it. Maybe nothing would have happened, but stay safe and take precautions.
Tags: Baby travel, djeema el fna, koutoubia, maroc, marrakech, marrakesh, medina, morocco, riad souad, souks, Travel
AnneandMark
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