My Way Is The Highway

Marrakech Diary: Walking the Pink City

The medina is haphazardly laid out, a sign of city that has organically grown over the last millennium. Even the major thoroughfares in the medina have just enough room for one car to pass. With the two double storied houses and shops lining the streets, it is easy to feel claustrophobic. Like a writhing snake, the narrow streets turn and twist dramatically. Yet, it is on these very streets that the vivid color and character of Marrakech is on display.

Walking in Marrakech is the best way to experience the true spirit of Morocco.

A typical alley in the medina in Marrakech (Nikon D300S, Nikkor 18-200, f/3.5 @1/80s with ISO 3200, EV –1)

There is a continuous patter of feet on the streets that starts early in the morning and continues late into the night. The colorful local garb - Berber men in their long djellabas, fez hats and bright babouches; the women mostly in a hijab or burqa (a western attire flashing by every once in a while) – lights up the scene. Most streets do not have footpaths and people freely use the entire breadth of the road, by a blaring horn scattering them every now and them. The traffic consists of possible form factor – trucks, vans, cars, motorcycles, scooters, mopeds, bicycles, and even donkey carts.

A tea stall in Marrakech (Nikon D300S, Nikkor 18-200, f/7.1 @ 1/200s with ISO 200, EV –0.3)

I had (wisely) chosen a riad in the medina as our temporary headquarters in Marrakech. That way, I was right in the middle of the maelstrom the moment I stepped out. A trip to the grocer at the corner to procure a toothbrush felt like an adventure. Fortunately all the years I spent in India, particularly in the crowded Mumbai, had made self preservation a mere muscle memory. For example, I knew that the moped headed towards me had an equally worried driver who would pick up bruises in case of a collisions. So it is safe to hold my ground, reducing one variable in this equation, and let the rider find an alternate path. The trick is to ignore the indescribable that is yelled at you. 

A modern kasbah in Marrakech (Nikon D300S, Nikkor 18-200, f/5.6 @1/125s with ISO 200, EV –0.3)

In the streets, the scarcity of signage – and in Arabic, when present – renders navigational apparatus like maps useless. One is left to using age old devices like memory, common sense, wits, asking politely and to a large degree, luck.

When I first stepped out alone, I tried to memorize the landmarks on my route – a left at the pharmacy, a right at the tea stall. Too many pharmacies and too many tea stalls meant I was lost within a few minutes of starting to head back. Another time, I tried a system I called “all lefts”. By this system, I walked a road until I came to a fork or a T-junction, then I would always take the street on the left. While returning, it was then a simple matter of taking every right. It did not work either, as if Marrakech naughtily rearranged itself behind me.

I realized getting lost was part of the Marrakech brochure. From then on, I simply took the street that caught my fancy and followed it until another beckoned. There with no overhead of trying to remember how to get back. When I wanted to return, I just took a taxi.

(Nikon D300S, Nikkor 18-200, f/6.3 @1/160s with ISO 200, EV –0.3)

The dilapidated petite-taxis are omnipresent, whisking around dangerously, cutting a way through the crowd without dropping speed. They can be hailed with the wave of a hand or with a sharp whistle. And they are very meticulous about carrying no more than three passengers. Once Preeti, Vijay and I stopped a vintage, cream colored Mercedes to take us to Djemma El Fna. As we were getting in, the driver kept shaking his head vigorously waving three fingers in our face. We finally realized that little Kabir – the junior Aski, just two years of age – counted as a full headcount. Which meant, I had to get a separate taxi for myself. When you rent a taxi, you only rent your seat. As long as there is an empty seat, the the driver will stop to pickup additional passengers at will. Like most prices in Marrakech, the fare is negotiable.

(Nikon D300S, Nikkor 18-200, f/5.3 @1/125s with ISO 200, EV –0.3)

I saw this man sitting on his cart while taking a walk one early morning. While retuning an hour later, he was sitting exactly at the same spot. It was the donkey that looked a bit bored.

They say, In Morocco, don't look up! (Nikon D300S, Nikkor 18-200, f/9 @1/320s with ISO 200)

When you are in the streets, local cultural etiquettes warns you about looking up at the windows, balconies and terraces of the houses. These are the vantage points for the women of the household. Most traditional women are covered head to toe when they leave the four walls of their house. Since they leading a fairly cloistered life on the streets, the terraces and the windows are supposed to be their spots to peep down into the streets without having to be covered.  So try and not look up.

This handsome man in full Berber regalia is the owner of the chic restaurant, the Kozy Bar.

(Nikon D300S, Nikkor 18-200, f/4 @1/125s with ISO 200, EV –0.3)

Marrakech Diary: The lost-and-found Saadian Tombs

We had eaten a sumptuous eclectic lunch at the nearby wonderfully decorated Kozy Bar and the Saadian tombs were an ideal 30 minute foil before hitting the Souks, a short walk away.

Like most places in Marrakech, the entrance to the Saadian Tombs is difficult to locate. Situated just off Rue de la Kasbah, an unassuming doorway leads to a narrow passage alongside a mosque that does very little justice to what lies inside. After all, the Saadi dynasty buried here is no ordinary dynasty

The narrow approach to the Saadian Tombs

The dynasty ruled for 150 years starting in the first decade of the 16th century and claimed a direct lineage to Muhammad. They defeated the Portuguese in the Battle of Ksar El Kebir and protected their empire against the Ottomans attack while building important monuments like the El Badi palace and the Ben Youssef Medersa.

Saadian Tombs: The main mausoleum (Nikon D300s, Tokina 11-16mm: f2.8 1/100s ISO3200)

More than 60 members of the dynasty are buried here. The tombs of the more important figures like the Sultan Ahmed El Mansour and his princes lie under the great vaulted pavilions with typical zillig tile work, while others are laid in neat rows in the uncovered courtyard.

(Nikon D300s, Tokina 11-16mm: f2.8 1/30s ISO3200, EV –0.3)

The pavilions were built are contemporaneous with Ben Youssef Medersa and the likeliness in the design is apparent.

Though, the real story here is that the tombs were concealed and stayed lost for over two centuries!

Moulay Ismail – Chengiz Khan and Hitler rolled into one (fathered 867 children and killed north of 100,000 enemy soldiers personally) yet revered locally for his astute leadership and diplomacy - can claim fame for sealing the tombs. And it is hard to believe that in a crowded place like Marrakech, a site that covers more than one acre and is surrounded by walls over twenty feet high, nobody was curious to investigate what lay behind this cube with no entrance. The tombs were finally rediscovered in in 1917 by a French aerial survey. What can one say but thank Moulay Ismail for inadvertently preserving the tombs for eternity (hopefully).

 

Change of guard ((Nikon D300s, Nikkor 18-200mm: f11 1/30s ISO200)

 

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Weather in Marrakech right now:

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Marrakech Diary: Ben Youssef Medersa, the Historic Islamic School

The medersa – traditional Islamic school/college – is situated on a blind corner of an unassuming street at the northernmost tip of the souks.

The façade of the entrance and the arches that shield it gives you a glimpse of what to expect inside. The best Islamic art was typically reserved for palaces and mosques. Palaces are next to none in Marrakech, especially if you are looking for fine art; and mosques, like the Koutubia that have abundant of it, reserve the entrance only for Muslims.

For a non-Muslim, Ben Youssef Medersa is the best bet to see the Islamic fine art first hand at close quarters.

The entrance porch to Ben Youssef Medersa

The historic college is named after the founder of the city of Marrakech – Ali Ibn Yusuf – and was built in the 15th century. The building one sees today was rebuilt ground up in the 16th century during the rule of the Saadien dynasty.

Central square with the absolution pool of the Ben Youssef Medersa

Inside, the building is breathtaking.

The design of this Muslim-Andalusian masterpiece is simple – a two storied building surrounding a couple of courtyards. It suits well the purpose it was built for – a place for students to study the Q’uran in complete tranquil. The courtyards served as central gathering spaces for absolution, while the rooms on the second floor are for the austere dormitories that housed about a thousand students at a time.

I had reached the medersa early in the morning and being one of the first half dozen tourists to be let in, could enjoy the marvelous Muslim artisanship without being hurried. The artists have spared no effort in detailing every square inch of the walls. At waist level are friezes of intricate zellij patterns, then beautiful stuccowork in the middle capped by carved cedar near the roof.

The  beautiful stuccowork

I climbed to the second floor and enjoyed a marvelous dichotomy.

Towards the center of the floor are the simple square rooms of the dormitory with plain walls and windows set high in the walls – a source of light, not inspiration – to ensure the student had no distraction while the Q’uran was being memorized verbatim.  At the inner periphery of the building, are arched balconies that peep into the wonderful courtyard providing an opportunity to see the stucco and cedar carving at closely.

Student dormitories	Intricate stuccowork

I spent an enchanting hour and a half here, a typical timeslot you can allocate to almost any monument in Marrakech.

Without doubt, Ben Youssef Medersa is my favorite indoor spot in Marrakech.

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Weather in Marrakech right now:

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