We decide to take Sunday for ourselves and explore the Medina on our own. The tourist stops we made were at the Maison De La Photographie - a gallery of old black and white photos showing what Morocco was like in the early part of the 20th century. If you have an appreciation for photography, it's definitely worth a visit. Afterwards, we stopped at the nearby Musée de Marrakesh. There's not too much to say about this one. It's a museum and it's nice enough, but most of the signage was written in French so it was hard for us to learn all that much from it.
Our afternoon was spent wandering the Jemaa El Fna Square which is perhaps Marrakesh's biggest attraction. It is essentially Marrakesh's living room. During the day, there isn't that much to it - just a lot of street merchants. When the sun sets though, the square comes to life with street performers, snake charmers, falconers, and a countless number of outdoor food vendors. It's quite impossible to describe in words just how alive the square feels at night. Even photos don't quite do it justice. As the sun drew closer to the horizon, we found a rooftop cafe (terrasse) where we somehow got a table overlooking the square and facing the sunset and the Khoutoubia Mosque (Marrakesh's main mosque). And as the sun set, the final prayer calls came wailing out of the dozens of minarets throughout Marrakesh. When the prayer calls come through your poorly sealed windows at 4:30 AM, it can produce a headsplitting headache, especially when you've only had 3 hours of sleep. It is very very loud. But at sunset, from a rooftop, the chorus of prayer chants took on a beautiful hypnotic sound that sends a chill down one's spine.
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| What, me worry? |
El Fassia
Pascal's second recommendation was a Moroccan restaurant called El Fassia. From the outside, the restaurant looks small and unassuming. Inside, it was packed with customers sitting in comfortable luxurious booths around small tables that were barely big enough to hold our dishes. And yes, yet another winner from Pascal. Again, not the cheapest meal we had in Morocco, but definitely worth it. We spent $160 between the 3 of us, but it included dessert, drinks, and a very generous tip. We definitely could have ordered a lot less and been quite full. But we may never be here again, right? Get the roasted lamb shoulder - trust me.
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| El Fassia |
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| See what I mean about the roasted lamb shoulder? It tastes even better than it looks. |
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