Oh how we enjoyed our time in the Marrakech Medina, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I know some of you may be asking, “What the heck is a Medina and why are you meandering in it?”
The word “Medina” means city or town in modern-day Arabic. A Medina is the old part of a town/city found in many countries of North Africa. Of course Morocco is in North Africa, so there you go! The Medina is usually a walled area with a labyrinth of narrow streets, homes, palaces, souks (an Arab market or marketplace; a bazaar), and usually a plaza of some kind. Most areas of the Medina are car free, but as you will see in our photo walk, they aren’t scooter, bicycle, or donkey free.
When presented with the opportunity to meander in a Medina, just go with the flow and allow yourself to get lost. This is actually our advice for any new location, but it there is a little something special about doing it in a Medina. Since the Medina is surrounded by high walls, it is like you are in your own little pinball machine. You can roam until you hit a wall or dead end and just choose another direction. One way or another you will happen back upon something familiar or you can always ask.
We will share with you a little of our journey through the Marrakech Medina. We arrived to the city after dark, so our first exposure to the Medina was at night and a bit intimidating. We were entering through the walls with very low light and pedestrian streets with very few signs. The directions we were provided to our Riad seemed pretty straightforward. Enter the archway near Hammam Ziani, make your first right and then your second left, you will find us there.
As we entered, we followed the directions to a tee, but we didn’t find them there! The instant mom panic set in and I had no idea how we were going to find this place in a dark maze. Just then someone walked by and asked where we were going. We told him and he pointed to the door about 30 feet further down the path. Yeah! It was our Riad. We explored the Riad and the roof terrace, then settled in for the night with great anticipation to explore the Medina the following morning.
We roamed around for close to 6 hours and soaked up every bit of color, smell, sound, culture, and feeling. Then we went back to our Riad to have some Spanish Siesta and homework time. A few hours later it was back out to experience the Medina of Marrakech at night!. We will share some of that with you here.
Meandering The Marrakech Medina
