Marrakech - Day 149

Date: January 14th, 2010
Distance: None
Country: Morocco
Song of the Day: Gray Ghost - Mike Doughty

I think Marrakech is the best of the big cities that I have been to in Morocco. Rabat was nice, but boring. Tangier and Casa were both big, dirty, and I just felt out of place there. Marrakech seems fun and exciting. It is more touristy though. So you get hassled a lot more to look/buy/eat/smoke. (I ignore anyone who whistles at me or starts yelling "hey, hey, hey" over and over.) There are a lot of tourists here as well. I haven't been gone that long, but for some reason it feels weird to see white people. At least ones I don't know.

Here are some suggestions for those who want to visit. Start by finding the big plaza Jemaa El Fna. This took me a bit to find, but once you get there it is huge and full of people, you will know it. Let this be your starting place.

In the square are tons of places to eat and drink. First, find yourself a juice place. You can get fresh squeezed orange juice for 3 Dirham. All the places seem the same and charge the same. I chose a place where the guy was welcoming, but not pushy, and he seemed to be working hard. Use any criteria you want, like ear size or biggest mustache, I am not sure that it really matters. Once you have selected a juice guy, make that the first thing you do in the morning. You will get something to drink, important in the dry and thirsty climate, plus vitamin C, and warm greeting and a smile to start you day. What could be better.

Next you can get almost anything you need, food wise, in the square, and probably a few things you don't need. There are stalls for dates and nuts. Stalls for fried fish. Stalls for tagine. There are even stalls that just sell snails. Each of them seem to be grouped together with like stalls. Again use whatever criteria you want to select one. Some will be really pushy about it, so don't feel like you can't just walk away.

(Oh, and after writing this, I found there were carts that sell spice balls with a bit of spice cake. Both are like eating whole wheat cinnamon flavored vomit. I took a bite of each, and that was it. These carts also have a hot cinnamon drink from copper kettles. That is at least drinkable.)

Around the plaza is the souk, or market. Enjoy walking through and do your best to avoid being pestered. I haven't figured out a good way yet myself. I tried being polite and responding to each person who says hello, but they took that as interest. I am sorry but I really don't want, nor do I have space for, a giant rug, or a metal chandelier. Then I tried ignorning everyone, but that just seemed to annoy the hawkers. The best thing I can think of is to walk quickly, with determination. This way, most people think you are just trying to get somewhere else.

For me, I actually spent the day walking around the new city, outside the old walls. I still need to get my vaccination for Yellow Fever. I found a place I thought I could get one, but they just gave me a referral and sent me on my way. I couldn't not for the life of me find where I was supposed to go. The directions weren't exactly amazing. They gave me area of the city to look in, but not the name of the place. Argh. I will get it right, tomorrow.

I did meet another guy just finishing his cycle tour, named Aymen. He started in the north of Spain, and has made it all the way down here. He just got into the city with his bike, which is how I saw him. We had a good chat on the street and swapped storied and laughed. It is great to see another touring cyclist. It seems that our world is so small it is great to find someone else who knows what it is like.

-Dravis