Arriving at Marrakech, we put up at the Les Relais campsite outside of town. From there, taxi rides were organised to the square next to the Koutoubia mosque, a very central location.
An imperial city, like Meknes, Fez and Rabat, Marrakech was the capital of Morocco for nearly 350 years. It is home to a vast, 900-year-old Medina, the most populated in North Africa, and listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
The first evening, we spent at the famous Jemaa el Fnaa square. During the day there are street vendors and artists like monkey trainers, snake charmers, fortune-tellers and henna tattoo artists, while at night there are many food stands which are set up every late afternoon. In the evening, we noticed also the famous story tellers, which always had a crowd of locals hanging on their lips.
The next day, we went to explore parts of the vast Medina, wandering around aimlessly, getting lost in the maze of little streets. For us, the Medina of Marrakech was the most tourist-orientated we had visited so far.
We came past the museum of Marrakech, where we popped in, to admire the beautiful building, but also the exhibited art work.
Our next stop was at the Ben Youssef Madrasa, a Quranic school and a jewel of Saadian architecture. It is extraordinarily decorated and was thoroughly renovated. The madrasa was over centuries home for students in various sciences, particularly theology. It had 132 rooms intended for students not originally from Marrakech.
Our next destination was the Photography museum of Marrakech, where photos from all over Morocco are exhibited in a typical house with an inner courtyard.
We had circled the high Atlas mountains on our route, but from Marrakech, we had a great view of the snow covered peaks.
Next, we want to visit one of the parks outside of town. More soon!