Marrakech Souk & Djemaa El Fna Madness

After getting back to the city post-hike, we decided to head out for a little more souk action.  We finally got the chance to snap a few shots from a cafe looking down on the markets, and then got a few more inside the alleyways.  But the real excitement was still to come: dinner in the Djemaa El Fna.

The Djemaa El Fna is a huge open plaza in the medina of Marrakech.  Originally used for public executions, the name means ‘assembly of the dead’.  Well, since then (~1050 AD), it’s been quite lively. It’s filled with fresh OJ carts, fruit and nut stands, henna artists, fortune tellers, snake charmers and drum players…and that’s just during the day. At night, nearly 100 food stalls are set up, brought in on carts.  Teams of cooks and servers are out in force, boasting about their cuisine and impressing you with their knowledge of your pop culture.  Along one side there are carts serving snails cooked in spicy broth from huge steaming pots, and along another are carts with large brass samovars of spiced tea.

We started the evening by tucking into a stall filled with Marrakechis that served just mint tea, harira soup and honeyed pastries.  Next stop: the snails stalls.  We hemmed and hawed about whether or not we were going to do it, but a cook made the decision for us, beckoning to a pair of stools pulled up to his cart and scooping the snails out with a huge ladle.  We added some more spices and used our toothpicks to pull out the good stuff…mmm…snails.  Then it was on to the main courses, a pastilla (sweet savory pastry filled with chicken or pigeon) for Keely, and tanjia (a beef stew slow-cooked in a sealed jar in the fires of a hammam for the whole day) for Traves, plus some of the best eggplant Keely had ever had.  We managed to turn down dessert from the large pastry carts which circled the food stalls, but only because we’d bought some earlier in the souks.

Click here to see the pics!