Marrakesh, continued

Location: Marrakesh, Morocco

After leaving the Majorelle Gardens, we had lunch, and then returned to the Djemma al Fna. We decided to look around the shops a little more, and ended up entering an artists' store. We both saw paintings we liked. I bought a painting of an alley of the medina, and Ben bought a painting of a trio of Arabian horses. We both did fairly well bargaining; I got mine marked down from 600 to 350 dirham, which is about 42 dollars. Ben got his marked down from 700 to 400 dirham, or about 50 dollars. These paintings are fairly large, and would have cost a lot more in the States. I did not take any pictures of the artist's store, because I figured he'd get mad if I did, seeing as he was selling things that people are supposed to look at.

Later that evening, we decided to try to find the kosher restaurant in Marrakesh. I had looked it up online, and got the information that it was next to the main Marrakesh synagogue in the Mellah-a section of the medina where the Jews of Morocco live, or rather, used to live. Today there are very few Jews left, and it is now pretty much a slum. We got there around dusk, and started looking for the synagogue. However, because it was dusk, and the alleys were very narrow, we could not find it. Every single person we passed by assumed we were looking for the synagogue, and would shout "sinagoga, sinagoga!" and point the way. The problem was, nobody pointed in the same direction. We got through without having to pay anyone, but we didn't find the synagogue.

So we tried to instead use the name and address of the restaurant, "Le Palmier Club". We asked a Moroccan traffic cop where this was. He said it was in the Gueliz section of the new city. So we got a taxi, and showed the driver our information. He said he knew where it was. After he drove around for an hour, and asked several random people on the street, it became clear that he had no clue where the place was. We gave up, and asked him to take us back to the square. He did, and then doubled the fare. I had no small bills, and got into a huge shouting match with him. Finally, I had to just pay him. I got very angry, even though later I realized the doubled price was 40 dirham, or about 4 dollars.

We made our way back to the square, where the night was in full swing. Because it is so hot in during the day, a lot of the vendors don't come out until dusk. In addition, at dusk, a huge number of portable restaurants open up on the square, making for quite a scene. There were plenty of people about, sitting and eating at the restaurants, browsing the shops, and playing games in the square. Some pictures:

After eating at one of the restaurants overlooking the square, we ventured over to an area where people were playing games and music. I tried one game for 5 dirham. The game involved a long pole with a string attached to the end, and a donut-shaped ring tied to the string, hanging down, with the hole facing me. There were full coke bottles on the ground in front of me. The object of the game was to get the hole onto the neck of the bottle, and pull the bottle towards me. It was very difficult, and I did not succeed in even getting the ring around the bottle (most other people couldn't do this either). All in all though, I'd have to say that this was one of the more fun carnival games I've played.


After this, we walked around some more, and saw, among other things, a man with a chicken on his head, playing a banjo:

After I took these pictures, a guy came over to me with a basket, demanding money. I had been fleeced for the taxi ride around the new city and accosted by hundreds of shopkeepers. I was fed up. I shouted "No!" and walked away. He may have shouted something after me, but I just kept on walking, and I couldn't hear him anyway. From my point of view, any picture that I take in a public place with my camera, and my memory card, is my property. No one asked the guy to stand in a square with poultry on his head.

The next day, we found that one of the maps we had showed the location of a synagogue in the new city. Since we had decided against venturing out of the city for a trek of the Atlas Mountains or the Sahara, or a visit to the city of Ouarzazate, we tried again, and failed again, to find the place. We then decided to just spend the rest of the day relaxing. We had a meal in the restaurant part of the square before dusk as well:


The next morning, we woke up really early, and headed for the airport, to catch our plane to Frankfurt, Germany.