Ourika Valley

As we made our way to Ourika Valley, the outline of the Atlas Mountains quickly grew more pronounced.  The Atlas Mountains are a deep rusted brown and heavily decorated with green trees and vegetation, food for the sheep and lambs bred there.  In the Atlas Mountains, we enjoyed a quiet natural beauty so different from the bustling, nearby capital.  We took the “Walk of the Seven Waterfalls” where the pure and transparent beauty of the water shining from the sun overhead, added sparkle to the rust earth upon which the water fell.   

South Medina

In south Medina, the Bahia Palace inspired memories of our visit to Andalucia. The palace’s peaceful courtyard, orange trees, tiled rooms intricately-carved woodwork and stone fountains recalled Granada’s Alhambra. At the Baadi Palace we saw the Koutoubia Mosque Minbar, built in Cordoba. However, the Saadian tombs were the sightseeing highlight in Marrakech with its coffins made of colored tiles and gorgeous carved engravings.

North Medina

Marrakech is a city that reminded me of places we’ve visited in the past two years of living in London. The city is chaotic as Cairo, the home of exotic mosques and palaces like Andalucia, and contains souks (markets) which are energized as Istanbul’s bazaar.  In a work, Marrakech exudes exoticism through and through, and those unprepared for its 3^rd world qualities may find themselves victims of culture shock.  It is a city teeming with people, so many locals that they literally spill into the streets, spending much of their time biking, walking, haggling, eating, socializing, shopping and the like outdoors.  However, sidewalks are nonexistent, so the narrow streets that wind like snakes are open to pedestrians and automobile traffic in addition to livestock (mules and horses are a common sight) as well as rickshaws, bicycles and scooters. 

Ten minutes within arriving in the city’s centre, the market square called Djemma el Fna, I told M how odd it would be “if we died in Marrakech of all places”.  It is a city for travelers willing to weave between all forms of traffic, accepting that few streets have names, and tolerant that no map on Earth will clearly and accurately depict the city’s geography.  Djemma el Fna, like much of Marrakech, is a place for trade and commerce. 
Nearby is the Koutobia Mosque, Marrakech’s equivalent to Paris’s Eiffel Tower or London’s Big Ben.