Morocco: Marrakesh

Our next stop in Morocco was Marrakesh, which we travelled to by train by going back through Casablanca. Marrakesh is about four hours south of Casablanca, and because of several delays on the track our entire trip from Fes took about ten hours, two hours more than expected. This was the only trouble we had on an otherwise excellent and comfortable train system. The last hour or so of the trip consisted of brown, rocky desert, but Marrakesh is an oasis, and as we pulled into the city we drove through hundreds of tall palm trees, above which various birds circled. The city is also bordered in the distance by the snow capped High Atlas mountains, helping give the city a unique, outer limits feel.

The population of Marrakesh is about one million, but once again, we came to see the old city, where around 220,000 people live. Like Fes, it is surrounded by walls, parts of which date from the eleventh century. At the southern end of the old city is a giant square, where food vendors, story tellers, musicians, snake charmers and others set up shop for tourists and locals alike.

A water vendor in the square outside the old city of Marrakesh.

Annamarie getting henna--kind of a temporary tattoo--from a local woman.

Annamarie and Shelley show off their henna.

A narrow alleyway in the old city.

Matt and Yahya, a worker at our budget riad.

A view of the square from a restaurant, with the old city in the background.

Eating cotton candy in the souq.

A red wall in the old city.

Another street in the old city.

A crowd gathers around a story teller in the square. That's Matt on the left.

Two views of the square. The mountains are visible in the first photo.