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Travelogue: Morocco - In the Medina

Posted on Monday, December 24, 2012

I can't begin to describe how fascinating and amazing Morocco really was. Every inch of it seeped with it's own original, exotic culture, and despite how messy and crowded it was, I think I fell in love with the feeling of the entire city. I love how the architecture of the buildings were in sync with the environment of the barren, reddish soil, and how the decor was so intricate yet hugely Moroccan.

Justin and I arrived in our lovely hotel, the Riad le Clos de Arts, , which is so far one of my best hotel stays EVER, in which I will review later, with pictures of course! Here is a post on the Medina, basically the main city centre of Morocco where our hotel was. We explored a night market at the largest, most popular square in the Medina, Place Jemaa el Fina. Ok I will let the pictures do the talking first!






Homogenous stores line the market. It's a wonder how they compete.






We buy almonds, apricots and dates! About 25 dirhams worth of each! 1 Euro = 10 dirhams, so it was pretty cheap.






The night market is a maze of colourful, cluttered shops with all kinds eclectic items that are essentially Moroccan. Intricately painted pottery, ethnic silverware, leather goods, traditional clothing, spices and food. There really was a lot to see and quite easy to get lost in.


 

We head to Pepe Nero, a Moroccan-Italian fusion restaurant near the night market. The thing about navigating in the Medina is how the streets are so dark and unlabelled. Amazingly, we found our way (because Justin is an excellent navigator :>)

Pepe Nero is ranked #2 for all restaurants in Marrakech. It's our first meal, and i've been longing for some good tajine for WEEKS so it was pretty exciting!





Gorgeous courtyards, typical of many houses in the Medina. We get Moroccan Mint Tea, a must of course. We also get a glass a Prosecco (Italian white wine), our only taste of alcohol in Morocco for our whole stay since it is a Muslim country!

Our amuse-bouche. Mash potato and bits of meat, but really good!

Tortellini della di pollo e pecorino alla salsa di parmigiano (130dh). All the menus are in French in Morocco since it was a French colony and many of the locals speak the language. Favourite dish of the night! Warm, cheesy, spinach based pasta with chicken filling. Delicious!

TAJINES! Finally! Tajine d'agneau Makfowl (160dm) is not actually fowl, but lamb! Good old stewed chunks of meat that fell easily off the bone, with apricots and moroccan spices. One of our favourite tajines for the whole trip!

Pastilla au Pigeon (130dm), was really rather unedible. It was a mix of chicken and pigeon meat, which we decided to be more game (excuse the pun) to try, but the meat was rather dry and bland. When asked by the manager if the food was good, we had to say we didn't like this dish, and he kindly didn't charge us for it at all at the end! Service score. 



We added the Risotta al funghi crema porcini (130dm) since we thought we were still hungry. It was good, but a little forgettable, partially because we started to feel rather full halfway through!


Overall, we had a nice and relaxed dinner in the middle of the chaos that is the Medina. Not bad for a first day! Anyway, I'm in London now with steady internet connection, so hopefully I will be able to blog more in the upcoming days. Til then!

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