Travel Eye on Marrakech (Morocco)

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Overview:

Traversing the alleyways and souks of Marrakech, particularly in the Medina (Old City), it is easy to believe you have been transported back in time or stumbled onto a movie set for a medieval 'Arabian nights' production. It is this enchanting fairy tale quality that brings thousands of sightseers to the most visited of Morocco's three Imperial Cities.

The heart of the Medina is Djemaa el-Fna, an irregular 'square' where everything seems to happen and the place to which tourists are drawn again and again to soak up the carnival-like environment. Tourism, though, has not spoilt the atmosphere, but seemingly rather added to it.

The modern side of Marrakech with its luxury hotels, banks and streets bursting with motor scooters, blends well with the past in a metropolis made up of the peoples of the Berber Atlas tribes, Mahgrebis from the plains, and Saharan nomads.

Marrakech was founded in 1062 by Youssef bin Tachfine of the Almoravide dynasty, and his son perfected the city by bringing in architects and craftsmen from Cordoba to build palaces, baths, mosques and a subterranean water system.

The city walls were raised from the red mud of the plains, with the snow-covered peaks of the High Atlas Mountains forming a backdrop for the city, although they are often hidden by the heat haze.

One of the many ways to soak up the sights and sounds of Marrakech is in one of the hundreds of horse-drawn carriages, known as caleches, that are for hire, but it is also necessary to take in the Medina's souks on foot, plunging into the hurly burly maelstrom of passages where tradesmen ply various crafts, from cloth dying, copper beating, and leather working to herbalists, perfumers and slipper makers, and where shopkeepers cajole passing tourists into taking a look at their glorious array of colourful crafts.

Marrakech's climate is moderate and subtropical, cooled by breezes off the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. In the interior the temperatures are more extreme, winters can be fairly cold and the summers very hot. Marrakech has an average winter temperature of 21ºC (70ºF) and 100°F (38°C) in summer.

Locality:

Marrakech is situated 16 miles (25km) south of Casablanca in Morocco.

Entertainment/Facilities/Attractions/Things to do:

Koutoubia Mosque - Towering over the labyrinthine streets and markets of Marrakech is the city's principal landmark, the minaret of the Koutoubia Mosque, known as the 'mosque of the booksellers' because of the bazaar of the book traders that used to be nearby

Djemaa el-Fna - What it lacks in beauty, the large town square of Marrakech, Djemaa el-Fna (Square of the Dead) makes up for in pulsating liveliness that belies its name.

Dar Si Saïd Museum - The Museum, housed in a palace on the Riad Ezzitoun El Jadid, depicts the arts, crafts and culture of the Berber people, including displays of some Moorish cedarwood furniture, and artefacts from every day life in the Sahara desert.

Saadian Tombs - The beautiful necropolis was built by the Saadian Sultan Ahmed el Mansour in the late 16th century as a final resting place for himself and his successors.

There is never a dull moment in this teeming city designed to inflict sensory overload, but during the summer Popular Arts Festival, Marrakech is more frenzied and alive than ever, the already-packed streets even more crowded with an abundance of tourists and Moroccans avid for fun.

Artists, craftsmen, vendors, musicians, acrobats, fire-swallowers and dancers hold performances in every corner of the city, with the centre of the action at the ruined 16th-century Badi Palace, once the heart of the powerful Saadian Dynasty.