0097 Marrakech vs the rest…(Mor 008—revisit)

The main mosque (I forget the name)

I know some people aren’t going to be happy to hear this, but I personally think Marrakech is really overrated.  Sure it’s probably the most popular tourist destination of Morocco and the Old Medina is considered by many as the “ultimate” Morocco experience… I’m sorry, Marrakech just doesn’t do it for me.  As a matter of fact, of the 40 or so Moroccan “Old Medinas” that I’ve explored, Marrakesh would be somewhere in the bottom 20…

Yeah, Jmaa Fna is a great place to get a variety of street food, and the various little circus acts around there can be amusing… and wandering through the smoky alleyways certainly gives you a taste of ages past... but the “Ultimate Morocco Experience”? not for me.

Here’s why Marrakech isn’t on my Top Ten—or even Top 50 list:

-Too Much Sprawl.

A market alleyway

-Monotony.  Outside the old Medina, the, the neighborhoods get pretty monotonous with block after block of identical architecture. 

-Too high expectations.  When you hear from everybody that Marrakech is the best city in Morocco, you go expecting a lot.  If those expectations aren’t met, you feel let down by the city. 

-Scooters in the Old Medina.

The medina

-Too many tourists.  Yes, there are cool things to be discovered in Marrakech.  But when you have to discover them surrounded by busloads and busloads of French tourists, it kind of puts a damper on the experience…

Sorry, Marrakech… You’ve got some nice qualities—but you just don’t quite win me over…

Here are a few memories of my many visits to Marrakesh…

1996… on a long stopover going from Agadir to Tanger, I wandered from the train station to Jma Fna… got myself lost in the Old Medina and barely made it back in time.

February 2000… On my second “move” to Morocco, I just chilled here for a couple of days with some college students on my way to Agadir. Toured some of the more monotonous residential neighborhoods and got a taste of what life is like for poor Moroccan college students trying to live off of the stipends they get from the government…

August 2001 Stayed the night here with my wife in a beautiful little riyad deep in the Old Medina… enjoyed the view from a café above Jmaa Fna… went to see the pool of Menara…

Back to the Present…

This time I’m here in Marrakech for a couple of days as part of my job search.

I decide to wander through the Old Medina in search for a place to take my clip.  But I find that quite complicated—finding a safe place to prop my camera, pulling out my guitar, playing for a 20 second clip—all in the middle of heavy and very unpredictable traffic.  Finally when I think I’ve found the perfect spot, with a cool gateway and alley behind me, I get all set up… and someone comes and parks right in front of me…

Finally I settle for a quieter spot right outside the city wall.

The east side of the medina is much less touristy, more gritty—more authentic in a way… You’ve got the scrap metal market… the alley where they convert rubber from old tires into all sorts of creative things… And a very frustrating section where it seems there is no way out of the city…

Finally it’s time for me to head on my way.

Postnote…

June 2009… I’ve made another 4 hikes through the Old Medina in 2 weeks—going from and to the main bus station to the bus stop for buses heading up to the mountains in the south… Always a good chance to find a decent cheap meal… But I’m afraid, even after all these visits, Marrakech still hasn’t quite won my heart…