كتاب ألف ليلة وليل 1

Just like the many protagonists in 1001 Arabic nights, I finally had my own African adventure last week! Wanting to escape the long cold winter here in Europe, I decided to head southwards to the continent of Africa for ironically, my winter break.

Our flight to Marrakech was from Marseille, so we spent an afternoon wandering about France's 2nd largest city. Interestingly, one of the earliest and most popular crossings from France to Morocco was from Marseille to Tangier (another Moroccan city) but via steamship of course, so in a way you could say that I was retracing an ancient travel route. We had about 5 hours to spare in Marseille, but that was insufficient for us to head out to the calangues or the île d'If (island of If), so we just people watched along the Vieux Port area until our flight. Marseille was one of the premier ports of Europe in the past and it definitely has retained much of its glamour although its importance has been eroded with the advent of the aeroplane.

les bateaux autour du port

aerial view of the port area

We reached Marrakech at 2030 and we immediately headed to the Medina quarter, which was the ancient walled-up city in Marrakech. Locating our riad in it was no easy task as it was already dark, and it did not help also that all the streets in the Medina were seriously narrow and maze-like! In fact, there was no map of the Medina quarter as it would be impossible to path out all the routes! Nevertheless, we managed to find our riad in the end, but only with the help of many friendly Moroccans.

For the first two nights, we stayed at Riad Massin 2. In the traditional sense, a riad is just a traditional Moroccan house with a garden inside. However, many riads now have been refurbished into hotels and restaurants. It was impossible to imagine that behind the narrow and stinky alleys would be these oases of such calm and serenity! It was like stepping into another parallel universe. As much as we wanted to stay, we (or rather just I) had to fill my rumbling stomach so it was out again to the hustle and bustle after dropping off our bags.

riad massin 2 in the morning

chilling out in the morning as well

I was like "WOAH" when we got to Djemaa al Fnae where the food stalls were. I couldn't believe my eyes at the sight of the quantity and variety of food offered. I won't go into detail here, but read all about them here. And as if these were not enough, I was definitely in heaven after looking at the prices! =D This was looking more like makansutra rather than Africa! Anyway I just sat myself down at one of the many stalls and proceeded to gorge myself to death with the impossibly diverse and delicious delights which were on display. Letch, as usual, remained a spectator as I went about practically inhaling up just about everything on the table.

fruit and spice stalls

the main attraction: food stalls

check out the food!

sup kambing

fried brains!

Letch getting taken hostage

delirious

We got back not a moment too early, as it started pouring just as we stepped foot into the riad. Hassan the proprietor of the riad happened to be preparing a shisha for the other guests and so he invited us to join in. With the prospect of a free smoke, free beers, and a pair of beautiful Canadian sisters, it was difficult to say no. There in the coolness of the Moroccan night air, we made fast friends, smoked, and chatted the night away. Sweet. =)

puff goes the magic dragon

letch that's not a phone! =P

hassan showing us how to do it properly

smokers corner

A word about Hassan. He has to be the most friendly hostel owner ever! Not only did he provide us with the best accommodations in his riad, he also gave us a lot of tourist advice, extended his genuine friendship, and most importantly, offered lots of free beer! All these, and he refused to accept payment until the very last hour on the eve of my departure! All because he felt that we should be able to feel at home away from home. How cool is that? Hassan really reserves an A+ in his guestbook!

The next day we set out to explore Marrakech proper. Our spirits were a little dampened in the morning when it began to rain, but luckily the rain did not last long and we were still able to head out as planned. Actually, the attraction of Marrakech lies in its people. It does not particularly have many tourist attractions, but tourists still flock to it like bees to honey, and I suspect that it is due to the warmth of the Moroccans. Of course, there are the ones who are friendly for commercial gains, but most of the Moroccans are genuinely nice and helpful. The only notable tourist attraction we visited was the Museum of Marrakech, and we just spent the whole day wandering about the numerous souks, gawking at the many wares laid out for sale, and also trying not to get killed by cars donkey carts, horse carriages, motorcycles, scooters, rollerbladers, cyclists and just about every conceivable form of human transport, which are all amazingly allowed on the roads. And yet in this chaos, not once did I see a traffic accident during my stay there! Incroyable!

mosque at the edge of Djemaa al Fnae

aerial view of Djemaa al Fnae

another view of the square

Moroccan street

inside the museum

hand of no mercy

soaking in the souks

vibrant Djemaa al Fnae at night

Ended off the day with yet another amazing dinner at Djemaa al Fnae, then we headed back to our riad for what we though would be an early night for us as we had to leave early the next morning. But it was not to be as Hassan was already waiting for us with a bottle of wine! And so we headed up to the terrace and under the starry skies, I dozed off to slumber on wine and friendship. =)