10th December 2015
Day 1: Marrakesh
From getting off the plane to standing in line for immigration to the drive to our Hostel, the uniqueness of Marrakesh was incredibly hard to miss but still had a surprisingly strong sense of familiarity. On our first day in the city we decided to explore the Souk and the Medina and walk around town to get a feel of the place and oh boy, we did!
The narrow lanes of the souks were dim lit, jam packed and lined with vendors selling the most exquisite things. There were colourful shoes, hand crafted good, lamps and lights of every shade imaginable, oils and scents being sold like they were magical potions in pretty bottles and the aromatic spices that clearly sold themselves. It felt like this place was detached from reality in some ways and still so damn real. One of the most interesting things however, was the ability of vendors to pin point exactly where tourists were from without so much as a look. This, we realised as the trip progressed, was an inventive way of drawing in tourists for conversations and then making a hefty sale.
We walked around Jemma El-Fna Place, which is the main square in the Old Medina (old city centre), around 8pm and were beyond excited because this place gave us a glimpse into what this trip had in store for us!
The sights, the sounds, the smells... Everything about this place draws you in. The Marrakesh Film Festival 2015 was going on while we were there, thus, we were able to witness the gigantic screen on one corner of the square, which was exhibiting several short French films for the public. The middle of the square was a mish-mash of food and juice stalls, tiny groups of locals singing folk songs and dancing to their own rhythm and stalls selling trinkets, etc.
Later, Krishna and I, headed out towards the new town, grabbed a bite at one of the many cafes and saw the juxtaposition of old and new in a way that completely fascinated us.
As travellers, I knew we stood out but we also somehow managed to blend in and get lost in the population of 930,000 of this city.
I heard a lot of people tell us to skip Marrakesh if we could because it's a "tourist trap" and there were so many better places to see but if you want to experience the reality of Morocco where the old walks hand in hand with the new, this city would be a good place to start. Also the fact that if tourism is an integral part of the country's economy, I don't see the harm in experiencing what they want to present to the rest of the world.
It's the contradiction of everything and the way these contradictions were bound together in this place, that attracts travellers from around the world.
Having only spent an evening in one city of this beautiful country of Morocco, I already couldn't wait to be completely immersed in it.