Dodging Motorbikes and Instagrammers in Marrakech

The gorgeous Saadian Tombs in Marrakech, Morocco - burial place of royalty

Several years ago, when the world was shutting down due to Covid, I was forced to cancel my trip to Morocco. I had been wanting to visit this North African country for decades. However , when the chance arrived, the pandemic slammed the door in my face and I would have to wait for a few more years. The time had come, though, and I was finally on my way to Marrakech.

The minaret of the Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakech, just outside of the walled city

Known as the Red City, Marrakech is one of Morocco’s most popular destinations. It has a huge Medina, or walled inner city. Inside the Medina, is sprawling Jemaa El-Fna, the central square packed with vendors, performers, hawkers, visitors, and locals. It’s revelry heats up as the day goes on. At night, it is the place to be with crowds gathering around groups of musicians, storytellers, snake charmers, men with monkeys doing tricks, and henna tattoo artists.

Carpets are one of the many things you can find for sale in the souks of Marrakech

All around the square, a labyrinth of souks extend outward. The souks are narrow alleyways with stalls and stores selling clothing, metalwork, jewelry, pottery, leather - you name it. I saw many things that tempted me, from curved intricately decorated daggers to egg-shaped lamps glowing with colored glass or stones. With space for perhaps three people to pass, the souks alleyways are crowded and at times frustrating to move through - especially if you’re not shopping. My first riad, or small family-owned hotel I stayed in, was located in the middle of one of the souks on a surprisingly quiet side alley.

Dodging motorbikes and other wheeled vehicles is the biggest annoyance inside the walled city, or Medina

The thing that makes walking in the Medina or souks the most challenging are not the groups of tourists who want to block access as they cluster together. Nor is it the elderly being assisted by adults on each arm. It is not even the occasional baby stroller. The most maddening thing about Marrakech’s Medina is the motorbikes. No matter how narrow or small the alley, locals go buzzing through them at high speed on their motorbikes. Toss in an occasional hand pushed cart or donkey cart, and you will constantly be dodging left or right to thread your way through without getting run over. The most humorous description I read about the experience was one attempting to praise the Medina for its lack of vehicular traffic. It was supposedly a serene, pedestrian throwback to the Middle Ages! Ha! Less true word were never written! A day or two in the souks or Medina and you will likely find yourself longing for sidewalks where pedestrians walk and streets were the vehicles stay.

The Koutoubia Mosque, Marrakech’s largest, is just outside the walls of the Medina

The first of Marrakech’s historic sights that I visited was just outside the Medina - the Koutoubia Mosque. It was built in the 1100s, inspired by some of the mosques from Muslim Spain. In Morocco, non-Muslims are as a rule not allowed to visit the insides of mosques. I have been inside many elsewhere in the Muslim world, from the Blue Mosque in Istanbul to Djenné in Mali - the largest mud brick building in the world. In Morocco, though, I would be limited to admiring their decorated and often colorful minarets. These towers are where the call to prayer echoes through their city five times a day. It was sunny day, my first full day in Morocco, under gorgeous blue skies. The orange stone of the minaret’s spire was a colorful contrast against the Heaven’s blue.

The Moulay Al-Yazid Mosque is near my favorite site in the Red City, the Saadian Tombs

From there, it was about a half mile walk to the next mosque I would visit, the Moulay Al-Yazid (nicknamed the Kasbah Mosque). Beneath its minaret’s recessed blue almost “fleur de Lys” pattern, a line of horse and carriages waited to take tourists on a clip-clopping ride through the city. I did not indulge. For some reason, it is one of the things I rarely do when visiting a city, along with the circular tourist bus rides. I did relax and enjoy a soda from the third story of the Kasbah Cafe, though. Doubtless, Shariff wouldn’t like it, but I did it as an homage to the Clash song. Thankfully, the king did not call out his jet fighters and order them to drop bombs between the minarets while I was there…ha, ha!

The Saadian Tombs are an amazing, ornately decorated complex reminiscent of the Alhambra

Next up were the Saadian Tombs, a burial complex of royalty and nobility from the 1500s Saadian dynasty. The visit starts off slow, as you wander past gorgeously decorated slabs of marble marking burial spots. You peek into a few doorways or alcoves containing tombs. The walls and ceilings are intricately carved in stone by master craftsmen from a bygone era. In Islamic art, living beings or animals are usually not depicted. Instead, artists decorate with intricate scrollwork, patterns, geometric shapes, and fancy calligraphy from the Quran.

The main tomb complex is like a wedding cake in its elaborate carvings and detailed stonework

As you progress along, you are heading towards a queue, which shrinks or stretches depending on how busy the tombs are that day. You are waiting for your turn to admire the most complete and amazing of the mausoleums. Inside are several royals’ tombs, surrounded by an absolute wedding cake of beautiful stonework, carvings, and decorations. It immediately reminded me of the Alhambra in southern Spain, a fortress home of Islamic Moors who ruled that part of Europe for many centuries. The Saadian tombs are on a much smaller scale than the Alhambra, but equal it in the artistic mastery of its craftsmen.

The Bahia Palace gives insight into how the nobility lived in splendor and beauty in Morocco

More beautiful buildings were next to with a visit to the Bahia Palace. This sprawling home of the Moroccan Vizier, the second in command to the sultan, showcases the beauty that the Muslim elite lived amidst in the Islamic world of the 1800s. Unfortunately, here is where my Morocco visit crashed headlong into a trend that has spread across the tourist world in our time. I am talking about those who visit beautiful buildings and sites across the world and then commandeer it for their own private photo shoot. They pose like models as their friends or family take glamor shot after glamor shot of them. Long after an ordinary visitor may linger briefly for a snapshot of them standing in front of a cool sight or famous building, they recline, pose, and simper for the camera. Yes, I am talking about the TikTok or Instagram generation obsessed with putting on a would-be modeling show for their Followers.

Detail from one of the ornate ceilings in the Bahia Palace

I believe I have distilled down the difference between them and ordinary tourists or travelers. To these people, it is more important to show off where they are. They get dressed up, wear special outfits, or adorn themselves in their favorite jewelry. In other words, while most people are visiting to SEE an amazing sight, view, or building, these people are not. They are there to be SEEN at it. I believe this Instagram effect on travel is truly awful. If you happen to be one of those types, please stop! More and more places are becoming over-touristed. The crowds at major sites are growing each year. The last thing the world needs is the most self-indulgent among us to further ruin the experience. If you paid admission to get into a site, you are not a model. Sorry - I don’t care how many Followers you have or how you monetize your page. You’re a visitor, and please be considerate of the other visitors who paid the same admission that you did. Take a breath, admire the place, take a photo, and move on.

It was not just palaces and mosques that were elaborately decorated - the Madrasa Ben Youssef is a school

Enough of a rant? Hopefully! Time to move on to the Madrasa Ben Youssef, which is a school teaching the Quran to children. This 1500s building was not home to the elites, but instead to the students and budding scholars of Marrakech. Since it is a religious building, it was also very elaborately decorated. Once again, parts of it harkened back to the Alhambra. Every inch seemed to be carved stone or woodwork. Unfortunately, the Instagrammers were there in farce (intentional misspelling), posing in intricately decorated windows, or doing a runway walk in front of an elaborate archway. The smaller space of the madrasa meant they were more of an annoyance, though, less of a logjam.

The decorative windows looking down on the courtyard are from the dormitory rooms of the students

My favorite part of the visit was wandering through the second story student rooms and imagining what life was like for them living and studying in this beautiful dormitory. Which students got the more spacious corner rooms? Did older students get the ones overlooking the dazzling courtyard? Did they have Instagrammers interrupting their studies with their shallow antics? Ha, ha - just kidding on that last one, but I did ponder what the life of the young scholars was like.

Colorful but reeking city tannery is on the outskirts of the walled Medina

The last sight of a very busy first full day in Marrakech was probably the least satisfying and strangely hardest to find. So far, using the maps app on my iPhone had worked wonderfully in the city - even in the most tangled maze of the souks. However, the medieval tanneries were on the edge of the Medina, just inside the walls. For some reason, many of the small streets or alleys leading to it were blocked off. Our app led us to dead ends, till we eventually circled outside the walls. We reasoned there would be a gate nearby, so we circled and found indeed there was. We found the tanneries, which is an area of maybe two blocks devoted to tanning leather.

A beautifully decorated wooden door in Marrakech

In the pictures I had seen beforehand, it is covered in round pools of varying colors that hides are soaked in. The stench is bad (which is why tanneries were on the edge of town!). However, daylight was fading by the time we arrived. Most of the pools were covered with tarps, blankets, skins, etc. so, the view was nothing like I had seen in photos. No sunshine gleaming off colorful circular pools in the late afternoon. On the positive side, with most of them covered, the stench was not nearly as bad as I had heard it was! Shockingly, no Instagrammers were posing by in the foul pools! Can you believe it?

A popular “food truck” style eatery that packs Marrakech’s main square each night

We finished off the evening visiting the square, again. Every evening, dozens and dozens of the equivalent of Moroccan food trucks set up shop in their designated space in the square. Most are devoted to grilling meats, with local dishes the specialty, of course. The food was good, but as we were to find over and over on this visit - you are given WAY too much. After the first courses of bread, soup and vegetables, it was difficult to find room for the meat! Still, the experience was fun, with hundreds of hawkers and touts trying to steer you towards a seat at their tables. Plus, while you’re sitting down, you don’t have to worry about dodging motorbikes or Instagrammers!