Exploring another culture - A week in Morocco

Matt Everglade

Regular
Location
Germany
Hey guys,

a friend asked me to come along to Morocco so I spent some days there. We visited Marrakesh, Ouzoud and "the desert". Now I'd like to share some of the experiences.

When we arrived we went to Djemaa el Fna, a big place with market stands. There were many people around with stands where you could buy fruits, orange juice, food etc. Pitchman everywhere. It was quite loud, but could get quite really fast in not so popular streets of the Medina. The smell of the souks (of spices for example) was intensive and interesting. Nevertheless the whole city was filled with many tourists, too.
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Djemaa el Fna - Dinner by Matt Everglade, on Flickr

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Djemaa el Fna - Dried Fruits by Matt Everglade, on Flickr

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Djemaa el Fna - Snails to go by Matt Everglade, on Flickr

When you left the place you went into the maze of souks and it was quite easy to get lost. There were many guys running around to show you the way, but they always wanted a big amount of money from you. Some impressions from the small and often crowded "streets" with its shops, donkey carts and bikes.

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Djemaa el Fna - Souks I by Matt Everglade, on Flickr

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Djemaa el Fna - Clothes by Matt Everglade, on Flickr

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Marrakesh Donkey Station? by Matt Everglade, on Flickr

Other parts of the city were different and more modern.

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Marrakesh Railway Station by Matt Everglade, on Flickr

Majorelle Garden, designed by Yved Saint Laurent, also featured his "house".
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Yves' house in Majorelle Garden by Matt Everglade, on Flickr

Our first trip outside of Marrakesh was to Ouzoud. As we haven't done the stressful daytrip from Marrakesh, we could enjoy the calmness of Ouzoud in the morning and evening. We made some walks and enjoyed the spectacular waterfall.

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Ouzoud Waterfalls I by Matt Everglade, on Flickr

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Ouzoud Waterfalls II by Matt Everglade, on Flickr

In the morning, where were plenty of monkeys around.

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Ouzoud monkeys II by Matt Everglade, on Flickr

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Ouzoud monkeys I by Matt Everglade, on Flickr

An old Mexican village (Tanagmalt) was nearby (1h walk?), but we couldn't make it completely due to harsh weather conditions.
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Val d'Ouzoud I by Matt Everglade, on Flickr

On our way to the desert we made a short stop at Aït-Ben-Haddou, which is a UNESCO world heritage and was featured in several films.
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Aït-Ben-Haddou by Matt Everglade, on Flickr

The trip to the desert was a bit dissapointing as it was quite close to a city and not very "sandy"...
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'Camel' ride I by Matt Everglade, on Flickr

That's it for now. You can find more photos on Flickr.

If you have any questions, suggestions, feedback - just let me know! :)

Cheers,
Matt
 
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Really great work - enjoyed the whole set. I'm really drawn to the very VERY BLUE architectural shot of the two doors and stairs, but many of the others are obviously more indicative of the culture you encountered...

-Ray
 
Thank you! What happened to this thread? I can see it on the frontpage of SC. :D

@Lawrence A. The "guide" maybe fooled us. He said it is an old settlement of Mexican people, but I think it is more or less an old Berber village. But who knows... ;)
@christilou Majorelle Gardens are quite nice, but not as spectacular as you think it might be. The house is a nice opportunity for architectural photography though. :)

Cheers,
Matt
 
Thank you, guys. :) I especially like those comments where you mention concrete things you liked/disliked. That helps me to understand what to leave as is or what to improve.
 
Really nice set, Matt! Having been in Marrakesh for a couple of days last year (and Morocco for about 5 weeks in total), I can safely say you did a good job capturing Marrakesh!

I haven't been to the other places you have been, although I feel compelled to point out that only about 20% of the Sahara desert consists of sand dunes - and camel caravans would avoid dune fields like the plague whenever possible. So in that sense, the lack of sand by no means makes the camel experience less authentic.

About the Mexican village, I don't know what it is about Moroccans telling stories about Mexicans, but I've heard several - including a story about a Mexican walking to Morocco with his donkey! The closest thing I can imagine is that it was populated by people who had been expelled from Spain or Portugal, as is the case with Chefchaouen in the North of the country.
 
Hey bart,

thank you for your post. Interesting facts about the Sahara desert, didn't know that and makes me feel better about the trip. :)
Probably Tanagmalt is an old Berber village and the guy just wanted to make his "tour" more interesting. The Mexican walking over the ocean is fun though. :D
By the way, nice images on your Flickr stream, this seems much more authentic than what we made.

Cheers,
Matt
 
Thanks Matt! Having no set return date and no fixed itinerary helps a lot.

Some very nice images in your flickr set as well; I love the Desert at night shot in particular. Cool to see that you stayed at the same hostel as I did!

lol @ flickr's adult content warning for the monkey I shot :censored:
 
Something of a coincidence as I was only just recently in Morocco myself. Marrakech wasn't my favourite place but there's still some charm there if you look for it.

I think that you've captured the place very well. The energy of the Djemaa el Fna at night, the light filtering through the alleyways of the medina, the drabness of Ait Benhaddou against the blue of the sky, and you can't go wrong with the silhouettes of a camel caravan against the rising or setting sun.
 
Thanks Matt! Having no set return date and no fixed itinerary helps a lot.
I had only about a week. That made things quite stressful, but after those days I really enjoxed the silence at home. Marrakesh was just sooo noisy and "salesman" everywhere. Got annoyed after some time.

Some very nice images in your flickr set as well; I love the Desert at night shot in particular.
I tried to capture the stars in particular, but we had a full moon on that day so the sky was just too bright.

Cool to see that you stayed at the same hostel as I did!
Well, it's probably the best in town. ;)

Something of a coincidence as I was only just recently in Morocco myself. Marrakech wasn't my favourite place but there's still some charm there if you look for it.
Yes, it was a bit too touristy. The friend who travelled with me was in Morocco before and she like other cities more, too. Chefchaouen for example.

I think that you've captured the place very well.
Thank you. :)

Cheers,
Matt
 
To me, Marrakesh was one of the biggest surprises of Morocco, and in a positive way. I was quite cynical about it beforehand, expecting a city that was more theme park than real city. But at Jemaa el Fna at night, at least when I was there, >90% of the crowds were locals (although there were some tourist-aimed restaurant stands, most of the performers had a mostly Moroccan audience). During daylight hours it's a pure tourist trap, but at night I found it awesome.

Many of the Souk shops around the square are aimed at tourists, which is not really the case in Fes for instance, but in Fes the salesmen were way pushier and sometimes quite unpleasant. So all in all, I quite enjoyed Marrakesh :)

As for the moonlit desert: that's actually something I wish I'd taken more shots of, since it gives the desert such an eerie atmosphere. Starry skies are beautiful, but they don't allow you to really see the desert itself in its nightly mistique.

Hostel: in terms of combining good prices, lots of facilities, hygiene and cleanliness, central location and local style (even if it's recreated and not authentic), it's probably one of the best in the entire country. Not the most memorable place I stayed in, but probably the best.
 
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