"A Tale of Two Cities" a Marrakesh Travel Page by 43beckos

The medina of Marrakech is as mad and evocative as every film you have ever seen about the city, with alleyways disappearing into what seem like dead ends but which open onto another equally blind looking alleyway. This can seem a bit threatening at first, but once you realise that this is just a "design fault" and realise that the people of Marrakesh are a friendly bunch ( although everybody wants a tip), you soon get into the feel of the place. There are no really accurate maps of the Medina, so the best way of navigating the streets is with a compass, especially if you are staying in a riad, as these tend to be in the smaller streets of the medina. Most street names are in Arabic so it is nigh on impossible to read the maps that do exist. We were quite lucky as the riad we stayed in was only a 3 minute walk from a taxi rank called Bab Tagzout, so we memorised the way to the taxi rank, knowing that if we got lost we could always taxi back to their and walk the rest of the way.

Marrakesh is very much in a growth spurt at the moment, and this has resulted in it becoming two cities in one. Obviously none of the new development is taking place inside the medina ( although a lot of riads are being converted into traveller accomodation ), so outside the walls of the medina, new international hotels are being built at a terrific pace, and as you head out of the medina along Ave Mohammed V, the city takes on a European feel, with wide tree covered avenues, lined with shops and cafes. This is a completely different atmosphere to the manic medina, and has a much more sophisticated laid back feel. head out towards Guliez and sample Marrakesh cafe society, where coffee and tea are in abundance, but it is difficult to get a daytime beer ( see entry in local customs ).

Marrakech is serious in it's attempts to become the new holiday destination for Europeans, and the number of international standard hotels on Mohammed V are testament to this. The souks and the medina have long had a reputation for tourists being ripped off by "guides", saying that they will show them around the medina and the souk and end up taking them to their uncles shop where non purchase is met with stiff resistance.
In response to this the government have introduced the tourist police, who as well as having a very visable presence in the medina, also have undercover agents, who dress and look like Europeans, and who can and do arrest anybody who is not a registered guide and is seen to be showing tourists around the place. And this is not idle lip service. The houseboy from our riad kindly agreed to show us the route to Jemma El Fna square. He asked that we walked a way behind him and that we did not speak to him in case the tourist police saw him, we thought this was a little over the top, however about 100 yards from the square, he was stopped by two undercover police and asked to produce his guide papers, they had sussed that we were with him and asked us to step to one side whilst they questioned him. He explained that we were staying at his riad and that he was merely taking us to the square. They gave him a stern warning and allowed him to go, however it could have easily ended up with the houseboy spending some time in prison, so if you are staying at a riad,and none of the staff have guide papers, be aware.