Magical Marrakech
Posted On Tuesday, May 12, 2009 at at 12:03 AM by Alvin
Leaving the relaxing atmosphere of Essaouira was not easy, but we were looking forward to be in the world famous Djemma el Fna - the main square of Marrakech. We had originally planned to stay for only 2 days but when our bus passed the wide glorious avenues in the Ville Nouvelle (the new part of town), we knew that we would want to stay on for a few more days. A side note here first, we arrived in Marrakech in good time to look for somewhere to stay near Djemma el Fna and indeed we found just a place about 5 minutes away - a brand new riad where we had the whole roof terrace to ourselves and the owner had not time yet even to number the rooms, and so he was struggling to find a key that fitted our door ! And when he did find the key that fitted, the door could not be opened from the inside, so he called on his minders who dismantled the old door lock for a new one ! Good men !We spent our evenings strolling in the medinas around Djemma el Fna where we needed to side step the snake charmers, duck out of the way of the agile youths performing acrobatics, pulling ourselves away from the numerous fortune tellers, waving away the dense fumes coming from the barbecue stalls as well as deciding where to eat in the mind-boggling arrays of food stalls; more often than not, doing all the above at the same moment !
We also spent a day walking in the Ville Nouvelle where we found wide boulevards and modern shops and interesting gardens such as the ultra-cool and lavish Jardin Majorelle. Visiting these modern architecture gave us a contrasting and reality-reassuring check to the previous nights' buzz seemingly coming straight out of an ancient Ali Baba tale that was Djemma el Fna !
