Some of you may or may not know that I’m on holiday right now in Marrakech. I arrived on Tuesday and return home on Tuesday. So far it’s been amazing, so I have to tell you all about it!
Souks (indoor market)
The souks can be described as "a honeycomb of intricately connected alleyways, this fundamental section of the old city is a micro-medina in itself, comprising a dizzying number of stalls and shops that range from itsy kiosks no bigger than an elf's wardrobe to scruffy store-fronts that morph into glittering Aladdin’s Caves once you're inside." I do think that is the best way to describe it. My experience was a sense of crowding and lots of different smells and a “feast for the eyes”. I wanted to look everywhere! There are shops with traditional Moroccan things such as; patterned bowls, leather shoes, leather poufs, spices and herbs and they even had “genuine fake” items the shopkeepers called them, referring to fake designer bags and watches etc. It is hectic since shopkeepers are always trying to get you in their shop so it can get a bit overwhelming sometimes but it’s all good fun!
Jemaa el-Fnaa (square)
The Jemaa el-Fnaa is a square and market place in Marrakech’s medina quarter. It remains the main square of Marrakech, used by locals and tourists. The day time experience is very different to the evening experience. In the day time there are a lot of fruit/juice stalls, women doing henna tattoos, and men selling locally made goods and souvenirs on a sheet on the floor and snake charmers! However, in the evening a lot changes. Men selling their goods and the snake charmers leave to make way for food stalls! The square is filled with what seems like hundreds of food stalls of all kinds. You have all types of food from traditional Moroccan food to fried fish to fast food! I haven’t eaten in one so far, but some of the food smelt and looked incredible!
Koutoubia Mosque
The Koutoubia Mosque is largest Mosque in Marrakesh! It has a large plaza with gardens and is floodlit at night. Unfortunately, when I went to see the mosque it was closed so we couldn’t go inside, but just from the outside you can see it is beautiful. It is ornamental with curved windows, a band of ceramic inlay, pointed merlons and decorative arches.
Menara Mall
Menara Mall is one of the largest shopping centres in Marrakech and opened in June 2015. I really like this Mall because it has local shops. There’s local clothing brands such as DeFacto and Koton and then there’s an upmarket souk. There are also lots of cafe’s and restaurants. We went to a really nice cafe called Victor which was perfect for breakfast!
Carre Eden Mall
I really like this Mall too because not only does it have local shops but it has well known brands such as H&M and Starbucks. There are also a lot of other shops around the area.
That’s all for this week’s blog post! I hope you enjoyed! My holiday is finishing soon :( but I would definitely visit here again and perhaps stay a little longer. Next week’s blog post will be a continuation of Marrakech so make sure you read that too! I will see you next week for another blog post! Love you all!
Byyeee!!!!
