Marrakech

       Koutoubia mosque, Marrakech's main landmark.  Behind it 100 yards, the road passes the Club Med, and then opens onto the Jemaa el Fna -- “Place of the Dead” -- at the entrance to the old city's main shopping areas.

Jemaa el Fna with the Koutoubia in background, and entrances to the medina to the right.  Fruit, spice & magical potion venders set up shop here under the umbrellas, as well as snake charmers, story-tellers, acrobats, & dancers. It’s a constant carnival – though I caught it during the quiet “siesta” lunch hour.

       Fruit and nut seller on Jema' el Fna, with dates of all sorts, dried figs (right above his hands), aprocits, raisons, almonds, peanuts, etc.

Jema' el Fna

Jema' el Fna

One entrance to the medina's shopping streets...

Typical shopping street in the medina.  Most are shaded slat or bamboo roofs that let through shafts of bright desert light.

       Residential areas of the medina, stretching toward the date palmeries on its outskirts.

New apartment building in the "new city," about a kilometer from the Koutoubia and Jema' el Fna.  First built by the French in the 1930s there are many art deco buildings.

An older part of the New City:  apartment buildings from the 70s or 80s.

       Koutoubia mosque, lit during the call to prayer at dusk, seen from a rooftop in the new city.

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