Hello, Marrakesh/Marrakech

We left Fez this morning and drove about six hours to Marrakech. (There are two spellings; both are right.) It’s a city of about 1.5 million and was established in 1070. It’s known as the red city because the buildings in the old city are built from red sandstone.

Once we arrived in the city, our guide spotted a liquor/wine store that was open so we could stock up on alcoholic beverages before Ramadan starts tomorrow and alcohol won’t be sold. We picked up a few bottles of wine and beer.

We checked in to our hotel and had a couple of hours to relax before setting off to Jemaa el-Fnaa, a square in the old Medina. In 2001, it was proclaimed an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO, and in 2008 it was included in UNESCO's List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

We arrived there at sunset as the buskers were packing up. We’re coming back tomorrow so we’ll get to see them then. It’s a lively environment reminiscent of a midway or fair. We made our way to one of the casual traditional restaurants for dinner. Looking forward to returning in daylight tomorrow.Read more