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KT Comer takes a horse drawn carriage to
Koutoubia Mosque, which marks the western
edge of the old walled city and stays in the Hotel
Central Palace. An old riad (townhouse) located in
Medina, the hotel offers budget luxury and wonderful views
over the city for only $20 a night.
The next day she descends on the markets of the souk to sample
the thousands of stalls and myriad of handmade goods found
there. Spread over a mile, the souk has remained the centre
of life in Marrakech since its inception in the twelfth century.
A maze of streets and alleyways stretching north from the
main square, the souk offers a glittering display of all the
traditional arts and regional crafts of Morocco - just remember
to haggle!
Crammed with performers and food stalls, the Jemma
el Fna is where all the action happens. The centre
is filled by a random and changing assortment of snake charmers,
storytellers acrobats, clowns, dancers and so on. Add to this
the variety of food on offer and you realise just how special
the square is - so much so that UNESCO has made it a World
Heritage Site.
KT then makes it over to the Jewish cemetery in the Mellah,
the Jewish quarter, which lies at the south-eastern edge of
the Medina. Waves of Jewish settlers arrived in Morocco in
the first millennium BC. The Jews and Muslims lived side by
side up until 1948 when the establishment of Israel saw the
Jewish community shrink from 20,000 to just over a thousand.
To find what makes Moroccan leather so special, Megan
McCormick visits a skin auction where farmers bring
the skins to sell to tanners who pass them on to the leather
workers.
KT moves onto a 'hammam', a communal bath and a meeting point
for women in the day and men at night. Here she is also treated
to some traditional Berber healing music.
As if all this wasn't relaxing enough, an oasis awaits KT's
arrival; the Majorelle Gardens are the perfect
antidote to the madness of the souks. Created in the 1920s
by Jaques Majorelle, the gardens fell into decline until their
current owner, Yves Saint-Laurent, their current owner, restored
them to their resplendent former glory.
Back in the Medina, KT heads for the daily carpet auction
that takes place each day after the third call to prayer at
about 5pm.
Feeding off the creativity and energy of the souk, many artists
and architects bought up some of the old town houses in the
Medina, which had fallen into disrepair. KT visits one riad
(townhouse) completely hidden from the world complete with
its own tranquil garden and fountain.
KT's last night is spent at Marrakech's Folklore
Festival. Among the evening's festivities is the
performance of traditional Moroccan musicians and artists
who carry on through the night with their African neighbours.
Marrakech, it seems, is one of the few cities where the modern
world sits alongside authentic living traditions.
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