morocco – Curious Bystander

Marrakesh feels like three cities in one. There’s the sleek Ville Nouvelle, the modern new town—where we stayed, with wide boulevards (including one named after John F. Kennedy), grand villas that could pass for Beverly Hills, lush forests of trees, and beautifully manicured lawns. It sits near the airport and a large artificial reservoir, giving the area a surprisingly green and spacious feel.

Then there’s the ancient heart of the city: the Medina. Yes, it’s noisy, chaotic, and packed with life. People actually live there—families, shopkeepers, craftsmen—going about their days amid the scooters darting through narrow alleys and constant activity. It’s easy to think about the touts and beggars, but if you don’t go looking for them, they become little more than background noise. We found them rarely aggressive, and the whole experience had a playful, almost game-like quality to it. They enjoy to haggle and expect you to do it as well.

What surprised us most was how cool and vibrant parts of the Medina feel. Trendy cafés, hairdressers, traditional massage houses offering oil treatments and hammams, and that unmistakable French colonial influence still lingering in the atmosphere. Deadly little motorcycles sped through the lanes, but somehow it all works. We discovered one or two excellent restaurants and left with the strong impression that the Medina is not just a tourist trap—it’s a genuinely enjoyable place to wander, eat, and soak it all in.

The Cooking Course – Keen to do more than just sightseeing (as we had in Mallorca in Spain the year before), we signed up for a Moroccan cooking class. It turned out to be one of the trip’s highlights.

The format is impressively efficient: the same team runs two to three classes, three times a day, charging proper Western prices but delivering fantastic value. Our group of about 15 met in the Medina (above), then set off on a lively shopping expedition—buying fresh chicken, beef, vegetables, and spices from different stalls. We then headed back to a beautiful traditional house where the classes are held.

The experience was wonderfully hands-on. Our teacher was excellent—confident, generous with tips, and clearly passionate. Upstairs, another group was doing the baking course, which looked equally tempting (next time, I’m definitely signing up for that). Downstairs, the grandmother worked quietly in the background, prepping ingredients, cleaning, and baking with quiet expertise.

One memorable trick she shared: to make a rich, smoky aubergine (eggplant) paste, place the whole raw aubergines directly over an open flame. The skin chars and blisters, infusing the flesh with incredible flavour. Once cooled, it peels away easily, leaving you with something far superior to the usual methods.

Everything was cooked in beautiful tagines—those iconic conical ceramic pots that trap steam and gently infuse the ingredients. We prepared a generous spread of vegetable and meat tagines, all bursting with flavour. The meal stretched to four or five courses, and we washed it all down with plenty of sweet Moroccan mint tea.

The Art of Moroccan Mint Tea

I quickly became addicted to the tea. It’s not just green tea with mint thrown in—it’s a proper ritual. The base is green tea, which brings a pleasant bitterness, balanced by generous handfuls of fresh spearmint. They brew it with care (sometimes discarding the first short infusion), then sweeten it generously.

The serving style is pure theatre: you pour from a height of one or two feet, raising and lowering the teapot to create a beautiful stream and a crown of bubbles on top. “No bubbles, no tea,” they told us. I loved it—especially extra sweet. At home now, I make it with a low-calorie sweetener so I can enjoy it guilt-free.

All in all, we visited the Medina twice and thoroughly enjoyed both trips. Any initial trepidation quickly melted away. Marrakech is a city of contrast, energy, and warmth—and far more welcoming and interesting than many people assume.

Highly recommended.

It was interesting, I’d always heard about the Atlas Mountains, but when I actually went there I just didn’t realise just how big they are. They look like the Alps. They go over 14,000 feet, I think 4,200 metres, and are very impressive.

They literally rise from the desert. It seems to go straight from desert trees, desert brush, immediately to an alpine type of feel. We started at our hotel in Marrakech, and about two hours, two and a half hours later with a suicidal ride in a taxi; we were there in Imlil. Absolutely insane. And to think that our driver actually wasn’t that bad, compared to some of the motorcycles or the other taxis that I saw. You had to do it to believe it.

Absolutely crazy. When we finally did get up there, we had a lovely hotel / hostel. Very basic, very clean, very centralised, and at night it was actually quite cold.

But something that I enjoy, as I can sleep much better when it’s cold – maybe it’s living in Scotland? We had a very friendly host, who had actually been to Scotland, and had climbed up Ben Nevis. Very impressive, and very knowledgeable about Morocco, Marrakech, and in particular the Atlas Mountains.

The place also had a lovely veranda on top of the roof, where you could see it seemed like many new-ish types of flats and apartments.. When I asked him who the flats belonged to, he said basically other Moroccans and other people from Marrakech, who want to live in Imlil or to have a mountain flat to escape from the heat, particularly in the summer, from Marrakech. We went and had some tea and coffee, and went through the village. They love their tea here, and it’s always green!

And even then it wasn’t as if we had the place to ourselves, as it seemed like there were quite a few tourists, both foreign and from Morocco. Look at the photos and in particular, the photo of the coffee. I don’t drink coffee, but the other partner in crime absolutely loved it. It almost looked like a Guinness beer. There that night, we had dinner, and it was very basic, but actually with variety and a good amount of food.

It seemed like they generally cared about their guests, and at the same time, they seemed to want to showcase the best of Morocco. The meal above with the rice was utterly beautiful, very healthy. And the service was not only prompt, it was very friendly, as I said before.

At night-time, the roof terrace was beautiful, although it was getting cold, in the single-digit figures. Next morning, we were up, and again a fairly huge but basic breakfast.

Honey, dried fruits, bread, orange juice, yoghurts. It was something, again, similar to the night meal. Basic, very Moroccan, but at the same time, they wanted to showcase exactly what they do here in the country.

We then started the walk / tour. It lasted nearly four hours with our guide, Muhammad , and followed an old road & trail, whilst it slowly got higher and higher with many waterfalls and a lot of water that we had to cross.

We were always safe. In addition to that, one of the early parts of the trip was going on a new road that was being constructed, and I know that rather than desert sand, this was solid rock, again, similar to the Alps, that they intend to have in the future. Again, they seemed very proud of the culture and very proud that this is being developed. Muhammad kept telling us, that tourism is the future for this area.

He also told us, all the water was previously used for agriculture, which was the main occupation here in the past. You can still see the small rivers that go through here, the small mini canals, but at the same time, fewer people are earning their livelihood from rivers, from agriculture, so hence, it’s being developed more for the tourists or more for the staycations. But please don’t think that with the water and mountains, it’s cold. even then he told us that in parts of the summer, it can still be 45-50 degrees here!

People flock, not only to stay at their summer houses or they come to hike, but they also come here on day trips from Marrakech. It was quite impressive just how many buildings have been erected here recently. At the same time, we went through some villages, and still saw the old way of life; handcrafts, making blankets, making jackets, making hats, even using the horses for the tours. There was a gang of cyclists who were in our hotel, who were getting their bikes taken up by donkeys for a 5 day biking tour, and then riding their bikes down.

I get the feeling, that the future for this area and for Morocco seems to be on a positive arc.