meandering through the medina

Now that we had settled into our hostel, Riad Itry, we were ready to explore the city. We zigzagged our way towards Marrakech's central Fna Square, pausing at all the delights and surprises the souks had to offer. 

Souks

Souks are designed long and narrow, not only to encourage commerce, but so the buildings on either side keep them shady. Palm leaves are spread overhead forming a canopy to combat midday sun, when rays begin to trickle through to the souk floor.

There is everything that you might ever want to see. Ovens baking bread, the traditional Moroccan bread that is round and somewhat dome-shaped. This was our staple breakfast food, and is served in all the restaurants and markets. Here we are waiting to eat it with tagine!

Further down, there are people working silk and metal. Fabulous aladdin lamps (containing genies?) adorn some stalls, and ceramics and leathers others. Tinny clangs can be heard amongst donkey hooves and the bustle of people going about their days.

There are ripe smells in the air, always. It's as if you become consistently conscious of your ability to smell. The stench of the sewers usually pops up between wafts of aromatic cooking and musky incense.

The fruit is ripe always, too. There's no green banana syndrome. Buy batches of ripe figs, prickly pears or chunks of watermelon. There's fresh orange juice everywhere too; notice that orange trees line the streets about town.

Djemaa el Fna

Djemaa el Fna is both an obvious highlight of Marrakech, and a good navigational point of reference. At first though, I couldn't see why it was so special. Yes, there are monkeys and charmers seducing snakes, and tattoo artists who will henna you without your permission, but... not a lot of life:

Little did we realise what a party they throw when the sun goes down. The food market opens; people swarm, like flies swarm over candy, and it wasn't even Ramadan yet.

We took our seats on a market stall, where we enjoyed quite the best tagine. Watch it sizzle!

Dress

We were actually directed to our seats by a man who had been showing us his kaftan shop, just off the square. There, we were given demonstrations of how to wear various styles of kaftans and scarves.

The Moroccan way of dress is interesting. There is a mix of western and traditional Moroccan style on the streets. The kaftan and djellaba - a hooded kaftan - is worn by men and women alike. Though obviously differing. In fact, I was quite impressed at how chic they all look, with all that long draped material effortlessly flowing around them. And I'm not sure how much these traditional garments are inspired by the catwalk, but the split sleeve and button-through details on some looked particularly current!

I ended up - somehow - buying a pair of striped pointed leather sandals. I don't know... they look good on my feet.

I have seen a lot of them parading around town. Typical slippers are flat with rounded toes in the Berber style, or pointed in the Arab style. They are usually worn in the home, but these heeled ones are for wear out of doors. For casual throw-back to Morroco days, paired with rolled-up bootcut jeans and a slouchy jumper.

Moroccans, if you couldn't tell by their famed souks, are proud of their trade, and will go to lengths to persuade you of their product's authenticity. I was absolutely alarmed when the souk-keeper flicked his lighter on across the surface of my new shoes to prove that they are real. Apparently, real leather doesn't alight when it's burned. Who knew?