City Post: Marrakech

Three and a half months later, we finally left Europe for Africa! We'd both been looking forward to Morocco since we started considering taking this trip. We were worried that the earthquake would have interrupted our plans, but luckily the Moroccan government was quick to repair and restore high-tourism areas (they went public about not wanting to give up tourism dollars at a crucial point post-pandemic).

Our first stop on the Middle East / North Africa (MENA) part of the trip was Marrakech. We flew in around 19h40, and got throug customs relatively easily. We both were ecstatic to be taking a taxi zipping in and out of traffic in this part of the world. We'd both been in this sort of an area before, and we both missed it. Our taxi couldn't get us all the way to the hostel, so we rucked our bags a little ways through a busy souk to get there. Along the way we saw many, many, MANY cats. They are all over Marrakech. Jo made friends with one of them outside the hostel. We had a vegetarian dinner at a nearby restaurant (write that down! Jack had a vegetarian meal!) before turning in for the night.

Our first full day in Marrakech, we hit most of the tourism circuit. The Bahia Palace is a beautiful 19th century palace near the Jewish Quarter. During the French occupation, it was converted into an headquarters building and officer housing. Now, it is a tourism hotspot, mostly for the architecture. It's not really a museum, as there aren't any exhibits, but it is still a great place to visit (especially if you need some Instagrammable pics). A man there was writing peoples' names in Arabic with a fountain pen for 20 Dirhams each (a little less than 2 USD), so now we have a pair of those sitting in our packs. Jo can read a bit of Arabic, so she confirmed we actually got our names instead of random letters (like happens to some people when they get Japanese tattoos).

After the palace, we headed over towards the Jewish Quarter to explore some of the souks there. We ended up having tea with a shop owner who explained a lot of Marrakech's history and sites to us. Naturally, he had his small brother (his words, not ours) lead us to his uncle's Berber shop (the Blue House). We didn't plan on buying anything, but Jack found a Berber symbol he had been looking for, so we just added ourselves to the list of tourists who succombed to this admittedly excellent marketing tactic. We're definitely not complaining, and we went back to buy something from the souk the next day as thanks for his hospitality.

We finished the day at the Saadian Tombs, which were "discovered" by the French in 1917 and are now used to study and teach about local archaeology. They were small, but beautiful. Did we mention cats?

Our waiter at lunch told us we had to visit the main square at night, so we did just that. There are all sorts of local performances going on, from makeshift carnival games to song and dance to acrobatics to snake charming. Be careful, though! Get caught snapping a picture, and you'll owe them for it! It was certainly a sight to see, and most of the people there were locals. Us tourists really stood out in the crowd. Over near the street food vendors, however, was a different story. Lots of tourists there. We got taken in by Aziz, who was the owner of number 52. We had already planned to eat at the square, so it was no big deal to us. His food was delicious, and his staff created a great atmostphere. They sang for every person that sat down at their stand! When we were done, Aziz asked to see our bill. Upon seeing how much we paid, he insisted on refunding part of it. We told him that we had everything on the bill and were happy to pay for it, but he insisted. He only asked us to return the next day. We told him we would, but we were sure he'd heard that from tourists before.

On our second day, we intended to go to the Moroccan Culinary Arts Museum. We had lunch in their beautiful dining area, but, unfortunately, the exhibits were closed. There was construction going on next door, and they didn't want to damage their inventory. We understood, but were a bit disappointed. We were oddly looking forward to learning about Moroccan cuisine! Instead, we wandered the streets of Marrakech almost aimlessly. We wandered into a souk where Jo bought a beautiful blue headscarf, perused some trinket shops, and steadily made our way towards one of the two remaining synagogues. It wasn't very big, but it did an excellent job telling the story of Morocco's Jews, from the Spanish expulsion in 1492 to establishing Jewish schools and neighbourhoods to today's decline in the Jewish population (there are now only 80 Jews and 2 synagogues in all of Marrakech, down from a height of over 30,000 in decades past).

We also observed our first hint of what we believed to be stereotyping here. When we got to the synagogue, there were four police officers outside. They let us pass without incident (they barely even looked at us). When we were leaving, though, they stopped a Muslim woman wearing traditional, black Muslim dress. We couldn't understand their conversation, but we got the gist. The police officer wouldn't let her enter with her purse. She offered for him to go through it, but he insisted she leave it at the front desk. She did, but then shook her clothing, to which he shook his head. It appeared to us that she was offering for him to search her, albeit sarcastically. We talked about this between the two of us as we walked down the alley, and had our suspicions more or less confirmed when we got to the end: there was a police car full of heavily-armed police officers there. This was just over a week since the conflict in Israel kicked off. We'd heard that the King of Morocco was putting substantial efforts into preserving what remained of its Jewish heritage, and it appeared to us we were watching that effort play out in front of our eyes. We were confident that, if the roles were reversed and we were in a Jewish city with only 80 Muslims and 2 Mosques, we would probably have seen the same behaviour.

After wandering aimlessly a bit more, we found ourselves at the House of Photography. This was a photography museum showcasing some of the first photos of Morocco's history. Many were over 100 years old! It only cost 50 Dirhams to go in, and there was a cafe on the terrace. It was certainly worth the visit. They had some of the first films ever shot in Morocco playing there, and even had an exhibit showcasing Morocco's Jewish heritage.

For dinner, we kept our promise to Aziz. His entire staff recognised us as we walked up (in reality, they probably recognised Jack's hat more than anything else), and they readily cleared a spot for us. When Aziz saw us, he clasped our hands and said, "Welcome Home!" Many of his staff did the same. As thanks for keeping our promise, he comped our drinks and post-dinner tea. After we paid the bill, he came over to us to thank us for coming back again. He said a lot of people say they will come back, but we were some of the few that actually did. He wished us a bon voyage, clasped our hands again, and told us we would always be welcome at stand 52.

We were early to rise the next day. We were going on a three-day Sahara excursion courtesy of the hostel.

All in all, we liked Marrakech. It was a great first start to the MENA portion of our trip.

Where We Stayed: Mosaic Hostel Marrakech

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