Marrakech offers a perfect mix of adventure and timeless beauty. The moment you walk through the fortified, ochre-coloured walls of the city built in the 11th century, there’s an intoxicating buzz of action. Yet you can sit on a medina rooftop, gaze out at the Atlas Mountains in the distance and be transported to a vast and varied land — in parts lush valley, rocky dessert and snowy peaks.
It’s all within reach of Morocco’s fifth-largest city, with a population of about one million. And the medina, a UNESCO world heritage site, is a marvel. Wrapped inside a nine-kilometre wall, the narrow, labyrinth-like pathways are chock-full of colourful little shops and stands selling beautiful ceramics, every sort of woven straw bag imaginable and handcrafted carpets galore.
Here you can browse, haggle and get swept up in the action. Tourists and locals on foot jostle for space with motorbikes, fruit-laden carts, donkeys and the like. It’s easy to be mesmerized by it all and to get a little lost .
.. though that’s part of the adventure.
As night falls, the market square Jemaa el-Fna becomes the main attraction with snake charmers, henna artists and musicians competing with stalls selling fruit juices, snacks and all sorts of wares. My friends and I go to Le Grand Bazar restaurant’s rooftop, which has stunning views over the city as the sultry sun begins to set and the loud, melodic muezzins’ calls to prayer summon the Muslim faithful. Moroccan cuisine is delicious, varied .
