Joel Welch
The beauty of travel is that while you can schedule many things, you can’t shape everything as you want to see it. My visit to Marrakesh presented mixed emotions over my journey. I have had an eye towards Morocco and Marrakesh since my time in Norway in the early 1990s…it seemed to be a focus of travel for northern Europeans to experience a exotic culture within a short flight. What I knew of Morocco is that it is an intriguing and exotic place….the Medina with it’s markets and its other worldly atmosphere….trained monkeys and snake charmers…dark and dank alleyways….a chaos that a westerner sees with our eyes…and thus, I centered myself in an enclave within the western border of the Medina…a Condé Nast Gold list Riad/Hotel owned by Princess Di’s fave designer no less…
What I found out was that all of it was good and some of it even great….the L’Hotel Marrakesh was right out of the 19th Century…five suites…mine the only one with a private terrace…perfect for drinks and private dinner which I did every night…I owned the private dining real estate within the hotel walls and exercised it….impeccable service from an incredible, small staff… I would stay there again; it is a gem and with a cooling pool…a calming respite from the intense heat of the Moroccan sun.
The famous Medina is a throwback and I think is allowed to be left to its current form, because it provides expectation of what Marrakesh was and still in a limited way, is. It is a comical chaos and enjoyable in measured doses…shopping is mostly mundane though with a few exceptions in the rug trade, until you get to it’s western edge; bargains are to be had in this area especially in rugs, furniture and home accessories …and yes, they ship worldwide.
Beyond the western wall of the Medina, however, Marrakesh presents it’s more modern self….beautiful hotels and a very vibrant restaurant and bar scene. I discovered that the last night I was there and wished I had given it more time. What the Medina does to attack your senses…at one point, I drifted into the northern section of the Medina and immediately sensed I was getting steered into an area that was not to my advantage….the western section of Marrakesh soothes you and presents a modern society that is safe, day and night, and has energy. The hotels were lavish and populated by aspiring supermodels and the restaurants presented the best Moroccan cuisine I had during my stay…exactly the opposite of what I expected. But then, it should have been obvious…the Medina represents the legendary past….the modern Marrakesh is an energetic venue of what is in store for you if you want to see the future…