Djemaa el Fna, The Main Square of Marrakech

The old city (medina) of Marrakech is anchored by the Djemaa el Fna, the main square. This is the largest town square I have ever seen, and literally changes by the hour. It is flanked on two sides by the Souk stalls, one side by stores and restaurants, and one side by a park, busy street and main Mosque of the city. The earliest I was in the square was about 8:30am, and at this point there are a few stalls set up with people selling fresh squeezed orange juice and a few vendors with their goods spread out on blankets. By noon, the Djemaa el Fna is a little more crowded, with little groups of people: women in burkas offering henna for your hands and feet, men charming cobras with their musical instruments (I think the cobras are sedated and they barely moved….), men with monkeys on leashes, and men in traditional clothing with cymbals on their fingers. Everyone is vying for your attention in the hopes to get you to take picture of them and thus be obliged to throw a few dirhams into their bag. By four o’clock, the food vendors have moved in and are setting up shop for the night. By seven o’clock, the crowds have come (about 60% locals, 40% tourists), the tourist-trap entertainers have left, and locals set up lanterns and crowd around them in circles. There are storytellers and dancers, and it is a mix of Arabic, French, and all kinds of Arabic music. Half the square is dark, only lit up by the lanterns and the glow of the food stalls in the distance. There are people everywhere (Marrakech has a population of 1 million, and it seemed as if all 1 million people gather in the square every night), as well as a few brave souls swerving through the crowds on their motorbikes. The square seems to be in a constant haze at night, but make your way to the other side of the square and you will see why. There are rows and rows of white tents—the food tents. The tents are all side-by-side, with long tables and benches underneath them. The vendors call out to you to sit down under their tent (Things we heard a lot: “Better than KFC! Finger lickin’ good.” “Are you from England? Fish and chips!” And to Tracy-who is black-“Mrs. Obama, eat here!” or “Obama’s sister!”). And that haze? It’s all the smoke from the grills underneath the tents.

Each tent offers the same menu with the same prices. You sit down and the white plastic table cloth is already dirty from the person who ate there before you. They set your place with a paper placemat, and on top if it set down a round piece of bread, about 6 inches wide and 2 inches thick. Then they put out a little bowl of something like salsa without the zest and that tastes more like tomatoes, a bowl of seasoned olives, and a bowl of red gooey stuff that has a kick to it. You order bottled water, Fanta or Coke (soda is served in glass bottles) and your entrée—I had chicken kebabs one night, and a traditional pastry thing that was sweet on the outside and on the inside filled with chicken and almond paste another night. I also had a bite of---LAMB BRAINS!! My friend Cas likes to try weird food, and I had a bite of his. It actually tasted pretty good because of the way they seasoned it, but the texture was unlike anything I had ever eaten. It was slimy and squishy, but kind of melted in your mouth. I only had one bite. Cas finished the whole bowl.

The whole time you are eating, little kids come by trying to sell you things and the food vendors scold them and tell them to go away. There are also people trying to sell travel packs of Kleenex (you don’t get napkins anywhere in Morocco), and when the vendors aren’t looking some of these women ask for your leftovers and put them in bags. All in all, dinner in the market costs about $7 USD. The food is just okay, but the experience is awesome.

Pictures: The market at night; my reaction to lamb brains