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This is Home: A Love Affair With Marrakesh
Home is not a place. Its really a feeling, a state of mind…someplace where your soul feels at ease. My home is 6,000 miles away from the place I was born, almost exactly 180 degrees on the other side of the world.
My home, is Marrakesh Morocco. The red city of winding ancient alleyways and endless treasures. Marrakesh is a city with infinite layers. The beauty is often hidden, but that makes discovering it more magical. Life here is filled with paradoxes and contrasts, thats what I love about it so very much.
And here’s the thing, the best and coolest places in Marrakesh, are hidden deep inside the ancient medina (the walled old city, like “downtown”….but in 300 B.C.). I guarantee, you will get lost in this labyrinth, but that’s one of the quintessential experiences of the Magic Marrakesh has to offer. Just let go, and you’ll love it.
Pro tip: Ask shop owners and women for directions and be weary of overly helpful young men, they are most likely illegal guides and most likely will ask you for money once you arrive at your destination.
Chill. Relax. Pamper — Riad LYFE
Riads are the traditional style of buildings that make up the Marrakech Medina. They have a central open area or courtyard, with surrounding rooms. Riads are perfect for both summer heat and winter chill…and who doesn’t love the indoor outdoor vibe. My riad of choice is Zamzam Riad in the North Medina near Bab Tagazhout. It was my home before I got settled in Marrakech and is still my second home today. It’s such an incredibly magical place…literally…It was once owned by a family of fortune tellers. The location, the decor, the ambiance, the staff, the food, the terrace (not to the mention the family of kittens that greet you when you come and go. Is this real life?)
Pro tip: Have dinner at your riad if they offer it, it may be some of the best food you’ll eat. Home cooked Moroccan food doesn’t hold a tee to whats in some of the best restaurants, especially the touristy ones. The food at Zamzam is literally the best I’ve ever had. Anywhere in the world.
Explore. Shop. Get Lost — The Berber Carpet Market in Rehba Lekdima Square
Marrakech life isn’t complete without frequent trips to the Souks to find treasures or eat beans (yes, beans, my favorite thing to eat here is beans for breakfast). I frequent the Berber carpet market, just outside the souks for my new passion project Moroccan Berber Carpets, an online carpet shop. The Carpet market is located in Rehba Lekdima Square. This is THE place in Marrakech to get a carpet and one of the coolest places to hang out. I spend days here searching through piles of carpets for the perfect Berber rug and drinking tea with vendors while haggling to get a “Marakchi” price.
Pro tip: Haggle your face off. Don’t be afraid to be strong with your vendor, or even walk away in a game of chicken. First prices offered are almost double what they should be, and you can always come back later, or find the same things elsewhere if your game of chicken doesn’t work.
Coffee. Juice. Long conversations — Cafe Des Epices
I love to hit up cafe des epices right next door to the market, to grab a fresh juice or nosnos (Morocco’s version of a cappuccino, half espresso and half milk…it’s divine). Cafe des epices is a small chain of coffee shops in Marrakech and is THE hipest place to grab a coffee and hang out. Coffee shops=life for Marrakech males and you’ll see just about a million on every corner in town.
Snakes. Juice. The Big Square — of Course
Of course no Marrakchi life if complete without a trip to the Djema Al Fna square every now and again. It’s always pulsating with life and practically vibrating with lights, smoke and drumming every single night. The square it reminds me of what it means to be alive and how life is a dance of survival and celebration. Djema Al Fna is the hub of the town (even for locals) and is located south of the medina next to Kotubia mosque, the big Mosque in Kech. If I’m here during the day I like to get fresh pressed juice (I like the grapefruit, orange & lemon mix) and grab some dried fruit or nuts from the vendors, perfect fuel for medina marathons.
Pro tip: Most of the surrounding restaurants are highly overpriced with mediocre food, and if you’re going to eat anywhere, you must eat in the food stalls, it’s a Marrakech right of passage.
What I truly love about this place, is not the luxurious riads, or hip-hot spots, but the little things. The fresh juice on the street at 1am, the millions of stray cats that all seems to be looked after by someone (or everyone). It’s the children playing in the streets, the smiling faces of strangers and the way everyone says how are you, in 12 different ways,
There are days when I see more donkey carts than cars, and I forget that shopping malls and grocery stores even exist…I can completely forget what century I’m in. And this is what is so completely refreshing about Marrakesh, I swear it’s the birth place of cool (Mick Jagger was on to something…).
Home is not a place but this place feels like home.
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