Our guide Hicham dropped us off in Marrakech as evening approached. He got us as near to our riad in Marrakech as a vehicle could go, contacted the riad, and stayed with us until a person from the riad came to meet us. We were SO cared for! Thank you, Hicham, and thank you, Youssef from Morocco Expert Tours, for the great desert experience!

We stayed at Riad Nafis in Marrakech. It was inside the medina in a quiet neighborhood, a two- or three-block walk from the nearest vehicular street. Riad Nafis has comfortable rooms, a central pool in the courtyard, a pleasant roof deck with a great view, caring and helpful staff, and a wonderful cook.

After three days in the desert, we were eager to experience city life again. Besides, we had to change money. So as soon as we settled in and oriented ourselves, we set out for the main plaza of the Marrakech medina–the Djemaa el Fna. It was dusk as we passed through the gate that led to the vehicular street.

Maybe I need to pause for a moment to explain this phrase: vehicular street. This is a street where cars and motorbikes (motorcycles, scooters) shoot by from nowhere at escape-velocity speeds and where it’s perfectly clear that when you try to cross, you might get killed. This is as opposed to pedestrian streets, where this can still happen, but mostly only with motorbikes.

The presence of motorized vehicles in the medina is a significant difference between Fes and Marrakech. “Marrakech is a real city,” Dan said to me at one point. “Not like Fes.” It was an interesting observation because Fes is actually a bigger city than Marrakech. Why did he feel this way? In part because we had to dodge traffic.

The Djemaa el Fna is a huge open area in the middle of the old medina. It’s almost shocking, actually, to see so much space deliberately left open in the midst of such ancient density. The square was filled, though, with booths, carts, vendors selling… well, mostly selling food.

As darkness descended the crowds increased, and vendors cooking full meals in temporary stalls actively solicited customers to buy a dinner and eat at the tables set up in ranks in the square.

In the morning, the plaza was deserted. An entire bustling marketplace had disappeared!

But vendors were setting up for the daytime activities: selling food and other items, of course; snake charming; henna painting; and more. A new, different bustling marketplace was being set up.

Also, all the shops around the plaza opened for business.

We decided to have a cup of coffee and watch the plaza come to life. An attractive second-floor cafe seemed the right spot for this–and there was a table right by the railing. But first we had to ask the current occupant of the table to allow us to use the other chairs.

With her consent, we enjoyed a great view of the busy-ness below.