Joe Cummings explores the labyrinthine backstreets of Morocco’s fabled souks
A donkey clomps over the narrow, cobblestone alley, pulling a box cart piled high with bolts of fabric. In his hooded jalaba, reins hanging loosely from his weathered hands, the bearded driver pays scant attention to pedestrians in the winding, shadowy passage. I sidestep to allow the animal to pass, only to twist back as a motor scooter zooms up from behind, narrowly dodging the cart’s fat auto-salvage wheel.
A teenage couple grin at my awkward pirouette, as loudspeakers mounted somewhere above burst with the Muslim call to prayer. The powerful tenor echoes off rose-hued walls imbedded with heavy iron-and-wood doorways. A cypress-wood counter draped with aromatic slabs of grilled mutton and beef, along with stacks of baked bread discs, stands between tiny shops filled with intricately patterned metal lanterns.
It’s my first day of wandering Marrakech’s fabled medina, and within minutes it lives up to a lifetime’s worth of expectations. Crowded, colourful and endlessly fascinating, the medina forms the aorta through which the lifeblood of any Moroccan city flows. Despite 21st century urban development in adjacent neighbourhoods – yes, Marrakech has modern shopping malls nowadays – even the most Euro-centred locals treat the walled, maze-like quarters with respect as a mother lode of Moroccan-ness.
The fact that “medina” derives from madinah, the Arabic for “city”, suggests how essential the quarter is, as if all that has developed at its perimeters is merely ancillary. Native only to the cities of Morocco, Tunisia and Libya, medinas are centred around two historic North African institutions, one religious (the mosque) and the other educational (the medersa). After these, multi-storey houses, shops, cottage industries and souks (markets), along with palaces and the occasional fountain square, huddle together to form a labyrinth of alleyways.
Even larger family homes and palaces have relatively small entrances, which lead into foyers that in turn take visitors into interior courtyards measuring around 25 square metres. Shop footprints are rarely more than a few metres wide and two metres deep. Typically family-owned, these businesses are stacked to the rafters with merchandise, often requiring a stepladder to reach. The customer stands in the street while the shopkeeper handles transactions from inside the shop, across a countertop. Visually this means that each alleyway forms a long narrow canyon flanked with an unimaginable variety of foods, handicrafts, household goods and other commodities for sale.
High stone-and-plaster walls surrounding the typical medina quarter, originally built for defence purposes, create a self-contained city unto itself and help to keep modern development at bay. Because the byways are so narrow – sometimes only 60 centimetres wide – medinas remain free from car and truck traffic except for areas just inside or outside the medina gates. From these points, cargo is transferred to donkeys, motorcycles or bicycles for delivery to homes and businesses throughout the medina.
In larger cities, the medina is divided into neighbourhoods, each with its own mosque and local souk selling food, toiletries and other essentials. Fanning out from these institutions are shops where textiles, spices, clothing, jewellery, furniture and other crafted goods are sold. Farther away from the souk are the workshops where everything is made or packaged.
No two Moroccan medinas are alike, whether in architectural style or in the sorts of merchandise produced for sale locally. Each of the three medinas we visited in Marrakech, Essaouira and Casablanca had its own distinct character.
Marrakech
Marrakech boasts the country’s most visited medina, and its sprawling collection of crumbling, flat-roofed, rose-plastered buildings rarely fails to impress. Most new arrivals join the fray at Djemaa el-Fna, a large, open square filled with acrobats, musicians, snake-charmers, traditional storytellers narrating Arabic folk tales, and herbalists hawking perfumes and magical elixirs. Refreshment stalls offer fresh juice squeezed from pyramids of bright oranges and grapefruits. Almonds, dates and dried figs from Morocco’s famed desert orchards are also on hand for the munching. As the sun drops down, large open-sided tents are assembled where an army of cooks stab at smoking grills to produce fragrant kebabs, fat baguette sandwiches and savoury tajines, the popular Berber dish named for the earthenware pot in which it is cooked.
Djemaa el-Fna is worth a few hours’ exploration, but head north into the souks inside the medina’s 11th century walls to get a real taste of medina life. Souk Ableuh, the first souk you’ll come to after the archway at the beginning of Rue Souk Smarine, offers arguably the largest variety of olives per square metre of any locale in the entire world: huge piles of pink, purple, green, black and brown olives – some simple, earthy and rustic, others marinated with fragrant herbs and spices – line both sides of the narrow street. Customers are welcome to taste the salty orbs at will until they find varieties they like, and then the shopkeepers will pack the selections into jars for purchase on the spot.
Farther along Rue Souk Smarine is a sizeable area of stalls and shops selling clothing and fabrics, both modern and traditional Moroccan. This is the spot to come for a Jedi-like jalaba or pair of babouche, the North African slippers with curled, pointed toes.
Deeper into the market, Souk Larzal is devoted to wool items, including rugs, carpets and entire sheepskins, that are traded all night long. To the north of this section, Souk Cherratin contains myriad leather shops, while your nose may lead you west to the spices and perfumes of Souk el Attarin. Continue on to the very northern end to take in carpentry workshops in Souk Chouari and blacksmith shops in Souk Haddadine.
East of the square lies a grander, more settled medina neighbourhood, home to thousands of traditional storefront shops as well as numerous riad, traditional multistorey Moroccan residences built around courtyards. Many of the latter have been converted into charming guest inns – no visit to Marrakech is complete without a stay in a riad.
To appreciate how Moroccan royalty once lived, visit El Badi, a palace built by Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur in 1578. A stroll through its quiet gardens, squares, pavilions and pools is a welcome antidote to the congested alleys elsewhere in the neighbourhood.
Essaouira
One of the most historic ports on the Moroccan coast – Carthaginian navigator Hanno established a trading post there in the 5th century BC – Essaouira is only a two-hour drive from Marrakech, yet it seems a world away from the frenzied Red City. Moustachioed men seated on the terraces of small cafés sip mint tea for hours and hours, while women veiled in brightly coloured Saharan patterns stand gossiping in doorways, as if everyone in town agrees that hanging out beats stressing out.
Nowadays known for its massive whitewashed walls, in ancient times Essaouira supplied purple dye, extracted from shellfish found on the rocky islands offshore, for the senatorial robes of the Roman Empire. The present city dates to the late 18th century when Mohammed III employed French, English and Italian architects and engineers to redesign the city so the harbour could be used for trade between Europe and Marrakech.
Originally known as Mogador, the walled port and medina came to be known as Es-Saouira, “the beautifully designed”. Enamoured with its crumbling architecture and labyrinthine streets, Orson Welles filmed several memorable scenes for his 1952 classic Othello here. Unesco added the medina to its World Heritage List in 2001, calling it “an exceptional example of a late-18th century fortified town, built according to the principles of contemporary European military architecture in a North African context”.
Compact and laid out in a simple grid plan, Essaouira’s medina is a delight to explore. In souks near the clock tower craftsmen fashion Morocco’s most detailed, precisely rendered marquetry, taking sweet-smelling sandarac wood and inlaying mother of pearl, bits of camel bone, and copper and silver wire to make folding tables, elaborate chessboards and jewellery boxes.
Workshops along Rue Chbanate in the east part of the medina weave thick wool blankets in traditional Ecru (unbleached)or in bolder coloured patterns. Babouche slippers are another cottage industry found in the neighbourhood, here woven of light raffia – perfect for the beach – as well as traditional maroquin (sumac-tanned goatskin).
To take in the best of the region’s arts and crafts in one place, visit the medina’s Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdallah Museum, housed in a former pasha’s mansion and displaying a remarkable collection of clothing, jewellery, marquetry, rugs and instruments in both the Arabo-Andalusian and Gnaoua musical traditions.
Everywhere in Essaouira you’ll see bottles of argan oil for sale. Extracted from the nut of the argan tree, which is endemic to the surrounding Souss Valley, the honey-hued oil claims a host of health attributes, including protecting the skin from ageing and strengthening muscle tissue, when used for massage at the local hamams. Its nutty flavour is also valued for cooking, especially for couscous.
The mellah, a medina quarter once reserved for Jewish residents, boasts an eclectic collection of intriguing architecture, including several mosques and synagogues, along with a late-18th century Portuguese Catholic church and the Dar-Sultan Royal Palace.
At the end of a long day climbing up and down the seaside battlements and exploring the souks, grab a seat at one of the outdoor cafés beside Moulay El Hassan Square for a bracing Moroccan coffee. Alternatively, exit through the Bab el-Marsa gate to the harbour to watch the local fishing boats return at sunset. Several informal eateries near the harbour offer fresh seafood, taken directly from the boats and grilled before your eyes. Or enjoy the steady breeze on the 10km-long sand beach extending beyond the harbour.
Casablanca
Most visitors to Morocco enter the country by air via Casablanca, the largest city in northwest Africa and Morocco’s chief port. Many leave Casablanca within 24 hours, believing the city of more than three million – including migrants from all over Morocco who have come to work and make the city their home – holds little of cultural or historical interest.
Yes, miniskirts are as common as veils on the street, but in spite of large green plazas and imposing art deco architecture, the European veneer of the nation’s economic capital encloses a medina that few foreigners visit. Sultan Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdallah rebuilt the ancient Berber city of Anfa in 1770, reinforcing the ancient medina’s ramparts in 1770. Still partially enclosed by ramparts, the modestly sized medina was all there was to Casablanca until the French colonised the city in 1910 and embarked on a massive construction spree.
Today most structures inside the medina walls date to the 19th century, and although this means the medina can’t claim the medieval character of the medinas of Marrakech or Essaouira, the maze of alleys and thousands of shops and workshops plying virtually every product and service from the Maghreb region still guarantees a traditional Moroccan atmosphere.
Bright-coloured spices, glistening olives, smoking kebabs, one-chair barber shops, rustic dental clinics – everything you’d find at any Moroccan medina is represented here as well. Much of the medina is residential, and perhaps as a result there is a noticeable lack of touts pestering passers-by to buy something.
Only two of the original four gates – Bab el-Jedid and Bab Marrakech – still stand. Bab el-Jedid leads to Boulevard Tahar el-Alaoui, which follows the ancient ramparts through a series of small squares planted with palms and fig trees. A friendly copperware souk beside the Great Mosque in the Habous neighbourhood welcomes visitors who watch craftsmen working the orange metal into ornate trays, kitchenware, lamps, lanterns and teapots. Look for a Moorish-style mahkama, a 60-room structure built entirely of marble and wood and once used as a reception hall and courtroom by the Pasha of Casablanca.
To the north of the medina stand the remains of a sqala, Casablanca’s 18th century bastion against sea invasion. Stairs ascend the fortress to a terrace with panoramic views of both sea and medina. Next door to the sqala is the medina’s oldest mosque, Jemaa ach Chleuh.
Although it’s not in the medina, no visit to Casablanca is complete without a visit to the Hassan II Mosque, perched on a promontory over the Atlantic. Designed by French architect Michel Pinseau and opened in 1993 after 13 years of construction, it is the largest mosque in North Africa, and the third largest in the world. The prayer hall – notable for its retractable roof – fits a congregation of 25,000, while the esplanade outside can hold another 80,000 worshippers. A 210-metre-high minaret makes it the world’s tallest place of worship. Unlike many mosques, Hassan II is open to non-Muslims outside prayer times.
