Gingerbread City

We've come to Marrakesh to see the Djemaa el Fna at night, a dark and chaotic square alive with storytellers, snake charmers, acrobats, musicians, and dancers who compete for the attention (and dirhams) of the ever-shifting crowd. We float along with the current, collecting bits of conversation and fleeting images. A holistic healer points at an anatomy chart as a young man listens intently. A woman weilding a henna-filled syringe beckons to the ladies who happen by.

A persuasive young man guides us toward a smoky food stall and urges us to sit and eat. The white smoke is heavy with the scent of grilled meats. We've just eaten, so we let the pulsating crowd carry us away. The constant stream of faces, shadowy in twilight, and the carnival surroundings lend a medieval atmosphere. The slightly surreal feeling is reinforced when a little person with a big attitude storms through the crowd and demands coins as we weave through with our camera. We drop a few dirhams in his hat and leave a strobe of flashes in our wake.



During the day, Marrakesh is a gingerbread city with ginger-colored buildings, shops, and hotels. The high walls that surround the city look as edible as graham crackers. The witch from Hansel and Gretel must have a vacation home here.



The Djemaa el Fna square that raised our pulses the night before is quiet during the day. The food stalls and acrobats are replaced by orange juice stalls and water sellers dressed in colorful costumes with traditional leather water bags and metal cups. However, as peaceful as the square is during the day, it can't escape its dark past. In fact, "Djemaa el Fna" means "gathering of the dead" due the public executions that once took place here. In spite of its past, people still gather here to meet friends, enjoy entertainment and refreshments, and to visit the labyrinthine medina at the far edge of the square.