Day 2,290 of Traveling the World | Marrakesh, Kingdom of Morocco | May 8, 2024

Jan and Mike

Long, long after we forget the taste of tagines and couscous; the smell of flowers and herbs; the eye candy of colored fabrics, rugs, and clothing; the sound of the Call to Prayer five times per day emanating from the minarets (beginning before 5:00 am); and the touch of the softest leather on earth — we will remember the terror every single time we stepped out of our riad, into the small/narrow/skinny/tiny/crowded lanes of the medina, fighting crowds of people just to walk through, and then — (Dramatic Pause) — having moving motorcycles suddenly behind us, beeping-beeping-beeping, and trying to get through when there is no room for people, let alone a parade of motorized vehicles! Twice, they hit Mike; twice, they missed Jan by less than half an inch. All the other medinas in all of the other Moroccan cities were pedestrian-only walkways. Here in Marrakesh, along with motorcycles, were delivery trucks (!), construction trucks, carts, full-size chicken trucks filled with live chickens, bicycles, and even donkey carts, all yelling at pedestrians to let them through. It made an already-chaotic place just absolutely ridiculous. We will never forget it.

We have to say, overall, that the Moroccan people are exceedingly sweet, gentle, and generous. They are quick to smile, quick to wave hello. That has made our time here so lovely. In many ways, though (and some people will think this is great, others not so much), the country is one of the least modern that we have visited. Credit cards aren’t widely accepted, overall — even in large sit-down restaurants, and we had to keep getting cash for that reason. Every taxi ride and every purchase was a negotiation. One day, we negotiated with a taxi driver to take us to a destination for 30 dirham ($3 US), which typically is more than enough to get you around town in any of the cities we visited. Returning from that same destination that day back to our riad (accommodation), we offered that same amount, and the driver looked at us as though we were crazy. He said, no, it will be 50. We countered with 35, and he used some choice Moroccan words and drove off in anger, leaving us standing in the street. There are several Uber-type businesses in Morocco, but not a single one of them ever worked for us. Most of the time that we tried these apps, a driver agreed to pick us up and then quickly canceled. After that, there would be a long wait for another driver to accept our ride…and then the driver would cancel. Since most taxi rides were $5 or less, we usually lost patience with the app and canceled it ourselves and found a taxi. Or we walked. Since most of the time we would have to walk the last five or 10 minutes through the medina to our riad anyway, walking to go back “home” was often the best option.

It is easy to get completely lost in Marrakesh’s medina, although GPS on Google Maps was excellent for directions to anywhere. (The city can be written as Marrakesh or Marrakech, with an S or a C, but spelling it with a C is French, while with an S is more authentically Moroccan. So we choose – S!) The favored language here, after Moroccan and Arabic, is French, so once again we are grateful that we have been studying French for three years on Duolingo. We have been able to read menus and signs even though we still can’t speak any French except for the courtesies and the simplest concepts, such as “left, right, yes, no, stop,”etc. In Tangier, due to its proximity to Spain, Spanish was the favored foreign language. Throughout Morocco, we sometimes had to use Google Translate to order food or ask for something, and it all worked out well.

We were warned that shopkeepers in Marrakesh would follow us around and drive us crazy, but that is simply not true. If you showed interest, they moved in to help, to bargain, to show you more. We stopped at one small stand to look at some items, but said we were just looking. We visited there the next day, and the young man said disdainfully – “Oh, you were here yesterday. Why don’t you just make up your mind? You’re not buying a car!” But nobody was overly aggressive at all. Food is very inexpensive. A tagine — food cooked in a portable clay pot that cooks in an oven (and also the name of the pot itself) — can be had for $4-7. It is a complete meal, with a piece of juicy meat in the center surrounded by soft, tasty vegetables – a beef tagine is reminiscent of pot roast with onions, potatoes, and carrots. You easily could pay $15-20 for this in the US. An extra-large, extra-cheese pizza is $6. Cans of soda are usually $1 to $1.20.

As for safety, there wasn’t a moment that we felt in danger. For a few seconds, a man tried to pickpocket Mike, but we moved away quickly and the man kept walking. We met a new friend from Mexico named Lola, who said that she and her companions were looking for a restaurant at night when a man offered to guide them to a good one. When they arrived, he demanded money. Lola gave him 2 euros, but he got angry and said that wasn’t enough. So they scraped together some more money, and she relayed that it was a little scary. We normally don’t venture out late, so we always felt fine. The vast majority of Moroccans and kind and friendly, so we didn’t find security here to be an issue whatsoever.

The atrium courtyard of Bahia Palace on a crowded day. Spring and fall are the busiest times here, as the summer is simply too hot.
The palace had some beautiful doors and tiled floors.
…and ceilings! In every room, the carved ceiling was a bit different from the others.
We just called these the Zaggedy Arches.
Another beautifully decorated door.
This herb and potpourri store laid out a beautiful display of dried flowers, topped by a zebra skin.
Another Herboristerie, which was as neat as a pin, located in Tinsmith’s Square.
Dazzling gold lamps were for sale everywhere. The city would have to sell one to every person on earth to get rid of the inventory we passed.
Can you see how narrow this walking path is? And then add in not only the motorcycles and bicycles, but also the parked vehicles and outdoor tables where people are eating. Oh – and also taking up space are menus and merchandise outside the shops. It got a little more crowded than even this shows, but when “traffic” was at its heaviest, we were too busy dodging it to take photos.
Here, a truck squeezes past us, followed by motorcycles. Disabled people, or those in wheelchairs, could never survive here.
We liked the red door of this massage place, beckoning us in.
Many Marrakesh restaurants are located upstairs for the view, while the downstairs space houses retail shops.
Look at those pointy gold spices piled high! (Actually, they are fake.)
Badi (“The Incomparable”) Palace is in ruins, with its walls looking particularly ancient.
As you can see from the tiled floor, this once was a living area.
They told us that the holes in the palace walls are now popular as nests for birds.
The palace was constructed in 1578. This facade certainly looks hundreds of years old (except for the wiring).
These stacks of spices are NOT fake — but they also aren’t stacked as high as the previous ones in gold.
African masks abound, and more jewelry than we have ever seen crammed onto every inch of wall space. In this store, jewelry was also in piles on the floor.
The African masks were very expressive. If we had a home, we would have purchased Ms. Red, Red Lips. She looks like she has attitude and something to say.
Place Jamaa El-Fna always looked like a county fair. Here, one escargot is sold for 1 dirham, or 10 cents.
Fruit sellers all arranged their fruit into lovely diamond shapes.
Nuts, dates, and figs are always for sale, not covered, open to the air.
A sculpture found in the Arts Garden. Whenever a statue has a backside, we show it!
Lots of color! This is a nonbusy time in the medina. Check out how wide the path is, and picture it with people, trucks and motorcycles going both ways, and people stopped to actually, you know, look at things and shop, without being pushed and shoved.
Check out the daggers for sale! They certainly look like they are out of a swashbuckler movie, don’t they??
Beautiful, colorful pottery.
This restaurant is also in Place Jamaa El-Fna, just around the corner from our riad.
The glorious Marrakesh Train Station, where we arrived from Rabat. For long distances between cities, we took the train – inexpensive, scenic, easy to book, and with interesting companions.
Our riad, Riad Abracadabra, held this lovely greeting for us every time we returned from a day out.
These pots of dried fruit, nuts, and potpourri were in the local grocery store. As we previously mentioned, they are not covered. We wanted to buy some prunes, but they were covered with flies. Luckily, we found some that were prepackaged.
Some camels – just hangin’ out on a corner!
On Google Maps, this is just titled, “Garden,” followed by its Arabic name. It was pretty to walk through.
Coffee! We mostly found all Moroccan coffee to be excellent, but in a few places, it just tasted like dishwater. We improved it by adding several shots of espresso.

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