What Christine Did Next..In Marrakech. Part 6 (In Which we learn Left, Left, Right and prepare to buy teapots),.
So, there we were in our little haven of tranquillity, waking to the morning light shining through the roof, illuminating the courtyard below. People were at work in the kitchens, their laughter and voices muted, absorbed by the walls and the stone floors.
I eased myself out of bed slowly and somewhat reluctantly, knowing that today we would actually have to leave the building and venture into the medina. And without a ball of string to tie to the door handle, or a fully functioning satnav, I feared we would never find our way back again. But we were here to see Marrakech. And my friends were no way going to allow me to laze around the riad, so I brushed myself off, showered myself down (in the gorgeous peach and gold bathroom. More rose petals), and dressed modestly in keeping with the fact that we were in North Africa. Given that with the first ray of spring sunshine I am normally bare shouldered, bare legged, and flip flopped, this required some considerable discipline.
Breakfast was served on the roof terrace, a riot of turrets, flowers and secret alcoves. And it was pink. All the roof terraces beyond were pink. And in the distance, puncturing the clear, light, blue sky was the minaret of the Koutoubia Mosque. When we returned to the terrace at dusk, the sky turning from blue to pink, yellow lights illuminating the minaret from within, I felt I was bathing in a mist of rose petals. But that was later, a calm end to an “interesting” day.
After breakfast we gathered in the courtyard to be given given directions to the outside world by a rather beautiful young man. He reappears later. (see part 1…). “Left, left, right”, he said. That’s how you get out onto the road. Repeat after me, “Left, left, right.” We did. “To go to the suuk, turn right here…to go to the main Square, past Bar Arabe, and straight.” He’d frankly lost me on left, left right. Perhaps I could just go and stand on the road and let Marrakech go past me, rather than me dive into it..?
He smiled encouragingly as he opened the big oak door to the outside world. Remember, “left here, left, then right…Enjoy Marrakech.”Then it banged shut behind us and we were alone in the derb – a grey, shadowy place, designed for shade, not for beauty. Left…good so far…left….then did he mean right here? Did he? Or was it that? It was like being a pinball in a very slow machine.., until, suddenly, we were out onto the main stretch.Blazing sunlight and life..
We turned left, searching for Djemma el Fna. The Square that must,must, must, must be experienced. But first we had to buy teapots.
Coming up next: teapots and a horse and carriage ride on a three lane highway
