"A short stay in the Medina" a Marrakesh Travel Page by BlueLlama

I spent six days in Marrakesh in July on a whim. I'd wanted to go to Istanbul but the timing wasn't right and I just found myself going to Morocco somehow. It wasn't a country that had ever particularly appealed but the more I looked into it, the more it had to offer and the less I felt able to choose between places. Marrakesh or Fez? The desert or the mountains? In the end, we decided to go to that classic destination, Marrakesh, as I felt sure I'd be returning to Morocco again and again.

July is supposed to be the low season in this part of the world but I'm not sure Marrakesh is ever what you'd call quiet. There are people, noise and diversion everywhere, all of it funnelling towards that famous square, Djemaa el-Fna. And it was baking - I am usually someone who can tolerate the heat but at over 40 degrees everything slows right down until nightfall. That's when everything appears to go into overdrive, with the streets filling and music can be heard around the medina.

On a first trip to Marrakesh you don't do off the beaten track. This is because everyone, but everyone, is drawn to Djemaa el-Fna. It's gaudy, hyper-touristy and a playground for rip-off merchants, but it's also quite beguiling. We found ourselves returning daily. Fresh from another fleecing by a taxi driver or snake charmer we would go back to the square to watch the action from one of the restaurant balconies over a plate of couscous and get ready to re-enter the fray.

All life is going on down below: the orange stall men and their customers, the musicians, people filing into the mosques for prayer, crowds of tourists, storytellers surrounded by local men, families, and as dark comes the food stalls start up. You can be absorbed in watching the mass of people for hours.

...is a perfect amount to see the centre of Marrakesh and also to do a day or overnight trip. There aren't a huge array of sights in Marrakesh and even those there are aren't the must-sees of, say, Istanbul or Rome. But you'll need a few days to just walk around and relax, the real pleasures of this town. See Djemaa el-Fna at different times of the day, lounge in a riad if you can, wander around the streets, shop. Mix in a few sights if you have the time.

We visited the Badii Palace, the Saadian tombs, Bahia Palace and the Majorelle Gardens. Of those, I would say the tombs and the gardens are the most inspiring. The Badii Palace, though, offered the greatest single pleasure of the whole trip; the huge drained pools inside the abandoned palace (now just walls and rubble) were being filled for a folklore festival and I sat with my feet inside the icy water. Delicious in the heat!

If you like colourful glassware, pottery and knicknacks (and I do), Marrakesh is heaven. However, be warned that you can get many items cheaper and with less hassle in other towns. I ended up doing most of my shopping in Essaouira!