Marrakesh - the Magic of the Souks and Snakes

Marrakesh with family is a magical place. The childrens’ awe at the unfamiliar just emphasises the disbelief of adults’ minds at the wonders of what they are seeing. There is no point in preparing for what you might see, smell or hear – it will just hit you as you get lost.  Plenty of people will tell you that the hygiene makes it an unsuitable location for family travelling, but that’s madness – there is nowhere quite like it to challenge yours and their perceptions and stimulate their imaginations. It’s Aladdin made real.

The central Square of Jemma el-Fnaa is the starting point for most visitors. This vast square, partly a market place, partly a performance area, partly a refreshment zone, partly an enormous crossroads that mixes ancient produce-laden donkeys with gleaming black Mercedes, struggling through the throng. At each turn, something else attracts your attention; water sellers with their complex hierarchy of cups, toothless beggars pleading for your tourist cash, vibrant colours of singers and dancers in competition rather than harmony; it’s a continuous string of amazed yells of “look!” with arms outstretched to point at yet another extraordinary vision. Scattered around the squares are various trailers selling freshly squeezed orange juice. We know they are freshly squeezed because the children did the squeezing with some rather elderly looking machinery. Luckily no fingers were added to the mixture, so the taste from the huge sun-ripened juicy oranges was delicious. Take care with the cost though - the price quoted is around ten times what they expect you to pay at the end of the haggling process.

 Snake charmers abound beneath sunshades around the square. This is the oddest Arabian vision; the turban-headed charmer sitting cross-legged as if in a trance, playing a quite mesmerising form of music to entice cobras from their basket to an unreal semi-standing posture, swaying eerily with the music.  They will also entice you in, draping water snakes around your neck, and quoting an extortionate price for photos (again somewhat negotiable). I hate snakes, the children are more enthusiastic on this point.

The major souks lead off the square through a series of narrow passageways. You might have somewhere in mind, you might even have a map, but either are pointless as the maze of streets, alleyways, and narrow passages will lead you where it will lead you. Seemingly broad thoroughfares end in a dead end, seemingly abandoned alleyways suddenly open up into a sports hall sized market-place, stacked floor to ceiling with perhaps rugs, maybe brassware, possibly pottery. A dense canopy of lamps in all colours  hangs from the ceiling of the glassware soul. The colours of the olives and spices in their respective souks defies belief. And in between them all shops the size of phone boxes sell cloths, souvenirs, jewellery, anything really. Craftsmen turn wood on hand operated lathes, they will shape a pendant while you wait, the smell of the sandalwood filling the air as the rope shapes it. 

 Just as it all seems to be getting too much, a sign in English appeared to suggest drinks are available somewhere. We followed it into a narrow shaded passageway lined by a pair of tall featureless walls; featureless but for a single small door on one side. Tentatively we pushed it open, and stepped into such a beautiful small indoor courtyard with a small pond fountain in the middle. It was suddenly and surprisingly cool after the heat of the souks. The inner walls were quite decorative, with ornate gilded carvings in the masonry and brickwork. From a hidden corner somewhere a lady suddenly appeared and led us to a table - turned out she was English and has abandoned a mundane life like ours to run a riyadh in Marrakesh. Seemed like a good idea, but for the moment we needed sustenance, so out came the water and coke. Suddenly everything felt better.

Most visitors to Marrakesh stay in riyadhs like this, however the small rooms and lack of interconnecting doors mean that the search for something suitable for a young family is tricky. In our case, we had booked far too late anyway, so stayed in a family suite in the Sofitel, which is more of a resort style hotel between the city and the airport. Whilst this meant that travelling into the city involved a taxi, the pool was very welcome at the end of each hot day exploring. There was plenty for the children to amuse themselves with all day, with a tennis courts and playrooms close to the pool. 

A particularly fun feature of the resort  was that the hotel entertainment staff joined us at our table each evening to improve their knowledge of English and our knowledge of Morocco. Its unusual to have the chance to really talk to local people informally like this, and really added to the experience.

We came away thinking that we really needed to see more of Morocco. Marrakesh was a magical introduction to meet the country, enticing us to see the mountains and beaches on a future visit.