After 35 hours of travelling from Melbourne via Dubai,
London and Lisbon we arrived in Marrakech, Morocco. Exhausted from the flights, transfers, long queues
in the cavernous, officious Marrakech passport control we arrived at our Riad
in the north western section of the Medina.
A Riad is a building with a collection of rooms surrounding a courtyard
open to the sky. The Medina is the maze is
of streets and buildings imprisoned by some 19 kilometres of tall red clay and
chalk walls. Nothing could prepare us
for what lay ahead. To complete the
assault to our senses our first foray into the Medina felt like we had each
been hit in the head with a sledgehammer.
It was hot and humid, communication was not always possible as the
primary languages were Arabic and French with English sometimes a distant
third. We were after an adventure and it began as
soon as we set foot outside the front door.
Totally unfamiliar with the area we asked our receptionist
for a recommendation for dinner. “Le Foundouk” was the response and having
read how easy it is to become lost in the Medina we ordered a taxi. It was dark and after winding around the
streets the driver collected his fee and pointed us down an alley so off we
went. Fortunately Le Foundouk loomed
above us not too far ahead and the waitresses directed up several flights of
stairs to the roof top. The evening
prayer call was whining through the street speakers, lanterns flickered red and
kaftan wearing waiters directed us to a table.
The atmosphere was definitely Moroccan.
Keen for the taste of Morocco we ordered mixed Moroccan salads,
a chicken tagine and a lamb tagine. The
salads were delightfully sweet but surprisingly the meat in the tagines was
stringy and stewed. Perhaps they were
just not for our pallet but most of the main course was returned.
Having no idea of the direction of our Riad we requested the
waiter to order a taxi. He directed us
to the doorman, a rather large man wearing a brown kaftan and a red fez. The doorman promptly picked up a yellow
lantern and waving it in front of him we followed him through the narrow alley
ways in single file to avoid being collected by the occasional motorbike which
zoomed past us in a cloud of dust with only an underfed Moroccan cat's whisker
to spare. The alleyway widened slightly and there
miraculously were two beaten up old taxis. We tipped the doorman, folded
ourselves into the back of the taxi gave the driver the address and the ride of
our lives commenced. I don’t think I
will ever forget the yells from the street traders as they picked up their merchandise
to prevent it from being hit by our taxi, the yellow melons rolling along the
ground, the white teeth and eyes flashing by the window, the banging on the
bonnet, the boot and the roof as the traders and pedestrians objected to our
driver's route. What a scene! Somehow we arrived at the right destination and
after recognising the alley way which led to our Riad we paid the driver,
headed down the lane and knocked on the big brown wooden door. It creaked open revealing the tranquil
courtyard beyond and we retired to our room wondering what the days ahead would
bring.
Just amazing.
ReplyDeleteYour words painted a complete picture. Look forward to hearing more of your adventures.
ReplyDeleteWhat a start to your holiday adventure ...... tastes, smells language all vastly different. I'm sure you both slept well that night. I look forward to reading more.
ReplyDeleteHi Mr. & Mrs. J,
ReplyDeleteI’m very glad to find a blog like this which provides the information about lot of things regarding Marrakech Medina which can help any person who is visiting there for first time. The way you have explained was very informative. I can sure you that whoever will go through the blog will definitely gain a lot of knowledge on Marrakech Medina. I would like to say that I am a regular blogger and generally search online to find such kind of informative blogs which pertains good amount of knowledge to the readers. While surfing I came across some other blogs having such kind of information shared, which I will share here later.
Thanks
Laura