Marrakech

Djemaa el-Fna

The Djemaa el-Fna — the main square of the medina — is, by UNESCO designation, an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It has been the gathering place of Marrakech for a thousand years. In the morning it is a market for orange juice sellers and argan oil traders. In the afternoon the storytellers, musicians, and Gnawa musicians appear. At dusk the food stalls set up and the square becomes the greatest outdoor restaurant in Africa: dozens of stalls serving harira soup, merguez sausages, snail broth, grilled meats, and fresh-squeezed juice to thousands of people simultaneously.

The Food

Moroccan cuisine is one of the great underrated cuisines of the world. The tagine — slow-cooked meat and vegetables in a conical clay pot with spices that have been building layers of flavour for hours — is the canonical dish and available at every price point. The pastilla — a flaky pastry filled with pigeon meat, almonds, and cinnamon, topped with powdered sugar — is one of the most complex and sophisticated dishes in any cuisine. The breakfast of msemen flatbreads with honey and argan oil is one of the great mornings of travel. The mint tea ceremony — poured from height to create foam — accompanies everything.

Stay inside the medina in a riad — a traditional courtyard house converted to a guesthouse. The contrast between the chaos of the medina streets and the peace of the courtyard interior is the defining experience of Marrakech.