Marrakech

After Fès, we took a train south through Rabat (Morocco's capital) and Casablanca to the city of Marrakech. Marrakech, known as "the red city" because of the color of the clay and rock that comes from the area and is used in many of its buildings, sits at the edge of the Atlas mountains. Marrakech is the third largest city in Morocco and is the most heavily touristed city. It was actually nice to find ourselves in the company of some other tourists, after feeling a little culturally isolated in Fès.

The train system in Morocco is fairly modern, but the air conditioning had trouble compensating for the 45˚ heat outside (that's over 100˚ Fahrenheit):

The countryside around Marrakech is very desert-like, cactus growing over the red ground:



The red clay is used in many of Marrakech's buildings, such as the old city walls:



The first thing we did in Marrakech was go to the Majorelle Gardens, which were designed by a Frenchman but use plants that grow well in Morocco, like lots of cactus:







There was a lot of Aloe Vera growing in the gardens too (Yes, it's the plant where aloe vera lotion comes from! In fact if you break a leaf off, soothing gel comes out of the plant.):



On our way back after the gardens, I noticed that nearly all the palm trees growing in Marrakech were in fact date palms. Dates are an important element in Moroccan cooking, probably because they grow so well there:



And, of course, we passed several Arabic stop signs:

It was really different seeing Arabic everywhere, a language where I can't even read the alphabet. In the past I once tried to learn it, but got disheartened after how hard it was, for me at least. Arabic is written backwards and most letters have four forms, depending on where in the word they occur. I'm sure that after a while you'd get used to it, but it's very hard at first! While in Morocco I learned a whopping four words of Arabic:

Salaam: Hello
Naam: Yes
La: No
Shukra: Thank you

For the most part, we relied on French (Morocco's second official language, since they were ruled by France for so long) and English to get us around.

After seeing the Majorelle Gardens, we hired a guide and took a tour of the rest of the city. On of our first steps was the Koutoubia mosque, which of course we could only look at from the outside:



Then we went to the Saadian Tombs, which were only discovered in the 20th century. There were three rooms: one for kings, one for women (there were no queens per se in Morocco), and one for *I think* princes and children. Beloved servants were buried in the courtyard as well:



We walked through a lot of streets that looked like this, getting from one point to another:



And this:

We walked through Marrakech's medina, which unlike the medina in Fès, was not hilly or as labyrinthine. It was also a lot more touristy, but most of the goods sold were still authentic. In the medina, you're expected to bargain on prices. I ended up buying a pair of knock-off Prada sunglasses for only 60 dirhams (about $6), and some saffron for only 80 dirhams a bag. (Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world and can go for upwards of $80/oz. in the United States!)

A street through the medina:

Spices in the medina:



Some wool blankets hanging in a store:



A cat waking up from a nap near a stall selling Moroccan lamps:



Another cat sleeping in a palm tree's pot:



And a Moroccan opening an elaborate door on a side street:



And finally, a culturally interesting sign on the door of a bank near the medina, stating its hours. Notice that the hours are shortened during Ramadan, the Muslim holy week of fasting that occurs once a year. During Ramadan, almost all restaurants and food souks close during the day, and one can only eat before morning prayer and after evening prayer. Supposedly Ramadan is a really bad time to tour Morocco, for obvious reasons, so we were pretty glad we weren't there for it:

Next on our tour, we stopped at the Ben Youssef madersa, one of the largest madersas in all of Africa:



On our way out, I saw a picturesque moment between an old man and a kid on a bike, so I took a picture:



Our last stop was the Djemma El Fna square, which is one of the largest squares in Morocco. It was home to lots of stands selling oranges, along with...that's right....snake charmers:

The guy in the picture above started coming up to us after I took that picture, and wanted to wrap the viper he was holding around us for a picture. (And in case you can't tell, that's a cobra to his left in the picture.) Supposedly the snake charmers milk the snakes of their venom in order to make them safer, but sometimes they get lazy about it and so it can be really dangerous to get too close to the snakes. We kept our distance...

Click below for a video of Djemma El Fna:

The next day, we took a tour to the Ourika valley, about an hour and a half outside of Marrakech, to experience Berber culture in the countryside and to hike up to a waterfall. Morocco is basically inhabited by the Arabs and the Berbers. Our first stop was a traditional Berber home, in which we were treated to a traditional breakfast of pita bread and mint tea.

Here, our tour guide explains how the Berber woman was preparing our tea:



Preparing the mint tea, which the woman called "Berber Whiskey":



Our breakfast, which was very good:



Next stop after breakfast was to ride camels, which was really fun! I'd never ridden one before, and the best part was definitely getting off, when the camel knelt down:



Next stop was a womens' coop for making Argan oil, which is similar to olive oil but which comes from a tree that only grows in Morocco and is in danger of extinction. Selling products made from the oil, like soaps and oils, helps to protect the trees and support the women working there:



We finally got to the river in the Ourika valley that we would be hiking up, which apparently is also a very popular weekend getaway for local Moroccans:



As we hiked up to the waterfall, we passed lots of little restaurants along the way that looked like this:



And this one, complete with red clay tagines filled with cooking food:



We also passed lots of stores selling wares like rugs, tagines, and beads:



Finally, we made it up to the waterfall:

I found it interesting that almost all men and children were the ones swimming around the waterfall, and all but one or two women were standing on shore, with at most their ankles wet. Although women have equal legal rights in Morocco, most women still wear head scarves and dress conservatively. Children are exempt from this, and young girls dress just like any kid would in the United States. Of course we saw several adult women dressed in Western fashion and showing their hair, but this was definitely the minority.

After our hike, we began the drive back to Marrakech. First though, we stopped at a restaurant for traditional Moroccan food, overlooking the valley:



One of my favorite parts of lunch was the cinnamon and sugar covered couscous:



While we were eating, a group began performing Moroccan music. Somehow they convinced my brother and I to dance with them, but unfortunately only my parents have pictures of that one:

More coming soon on Casablanca and Paris! Stay tuned!