Marrakech, Morocco - Not my cup of mint tea.

After a most enjoyable few days on the Atlantic coast in Essaouira in Morocco, I decided to travel to Marrakech before returning home on the final leg of my first ever trip to Morocco. So I travelled by the Supratours coach from Essaouira for around €12 for the three and half hour journey. The coach drops you off in Marrakech at the Coach Terminal around 20 minutes outside the Medina walls, and my Riad inside the Medina had kindly offered to send a driver to collect me. The driver can get to the crazy manic car park at the city walls, but then you need a porter with a handheld trolley to take you and your luggage through the alleyways as no cars have access inside the chaotic Medina.

Travelling from Essaouira to Marrakech

I'd chosen the restored Riad Des Arts for my stay in Marrakech. A very old building restored for modern times. It's got stunning architecture no doubt, but my room was outside reception on the ground floor and was extremely noisy from other guests / staff right outside the door, and the water pressure was atrocious, so maybe there are better Riad options in the Medina for the price.

I had a list of things I wanted to photograph in Marrakech and of course people was high up on my priority list even though I had heard it was very very difficult in Marrakech, however I thought a smile and a chat while asking for permission would stand me in good stead, or so I thought! I also considered going to the infamous leather Tanneries which are supposed to be high pressure scam, however I thought I'd see how I felt once in the city.

Jemaa el-Fnaa Square at sunset

Marrakech Spices

I've travelled extensively throughout India and I thought Marrakech would maybe have a similar vibe to the intense madness of Chandni Chowk in Delhi, but in reality, it has a completely different atmosphere. Marrakech, certainly around the large central square of Jemaa el-Fnaa is awash with tourists. An incredible amount of western holidaymakers congregate in this area and its been totally geared to selling them as much tourist tat as possible. Souk stalls in the Medina are awash with fake football tops, fake designer bags and low quality leather goods ad infinitum. Honestly, they must have a so much of this tat for sale it would take a million years to sell it all. Snake charmers, chained monkeys, henna tattooists and hair braiders are everywhere wanting your cash for photographs and at peak times you cannot walk more than 5 steps without someone in your face trying to sell you something, or worse, scam you with lies. It's brutal and that area is not for me at all, so I made the decision early to venture further afield into parts of the Medina where the locals live, and that brings its own set of challenges.

Porters Trolleys waiting for customers in Marrakech

Koutoubia Mosque, Marrakech early in the morning

'Welcome, my Friend' - Jemaa el-Fnaa Square, Marrakech

First I ventured to the northern part of the Medina in the streets north of Madrasa Ben Youssef. Here it was a completely different atmosphere. Virtually zero tourists, and heaving with local people and markets selling everything from live (not for long) chickens, fresh vegetables, spices etc. It was a great area for photography, but it has nothing like the friendliness of India where I have always been granted permission from smiling, happy people who are 90% of the time happy to be photographed and curious about who I am. In the local areas of Marrakech, away from the tourists, it was sadly outright hostility towards a western photographer.

An Elder in old Marrakech

"Pouring Mint Tea in Marrakech'

Tea at sunrise in old Marrakech

Every person you see in my images in this blog post, gave me permission to photograph them before I did so, but my word, what a challenge it is. The people who refused, and there were so many, were outright angry at me, even for asking the question politely. I was shouted at for a simple polite question multiple times, and even when not photographing a person, for example shooting the light coming through the roof over the Souks I was yelled at by 4 women nowhere near my shot. They made such a fuss a couple of guys came over demanding to see the images that the ladies wrongly assumed I had taken of them. After showing the guys my camera memory screen they corrected the ladies mistake but what a lot of shouting over nothing. If all this wasn't bad enough on one day alone I witnessed three fights amongst locals during the day with one guy even throwing a metre long lead pipe across a square at some builders simply going about their day. Crazy! I was on the same street as a school one day photographing in the complete opposite direction, and a guy came running out of the school extremely aggressively, and I had to explain what I was photographing architecture in the total opposite direction of the school. Even showing him the stored photographs wasn't enough and he continued shouting for no reason at all. He could speak good english and could see I had no interest in the school at the other side of the road, but continued shouting at me anyway. Very unpleasant once again. So after these challenging experiences I decided not to visit the infamous leather tanneries, which I did want to photograph, but the level of scams and hostility in the rest of the city put me off visiting the allegedly worst part of town.

Early morning in Marrakech's Souks

The morning commute - Marrakech

Prayer time at the Mosque - Marrakech

I spent a fair bit of time in the side streets and markets in the south around the original Kasbah, hoping for better luck and atmosphere, but here the hostility and level of scams were even worse if anything. It got to the point I didn't even lift the camera or attempt to photograph a wonderful market as I knew what would happen from the looks I was getting from the vendors. So I kept the camera down with the lens cap on. Very sad and such a shame as it would have made great images. I was approached in the Kasbah multiple times with people saying outright lies. 'This road is closed, come and I show you right way' 'This road only Muslims' 'Down here is private Muslim festival, you cannot walk here' even though I had walked through that street 5 minutes earlier and knew it was a total lie. Very sad in my opinion and nothing like, as I had expected, the chaotic but happy and welcoming cities I've been to in India.

The Tajine Shop - Marrakech

So very sadly, Marrakech is not a city I would like to return too. The people are just not welcoming to outsiders unless you are giving them money, and in my experience of my time here they see you as a walking wallet for maximum cash extraction, or do not want you in "their" areas. I found it very sad and a very different vibe from anywhere else I have photographed in the world. Yes there are some nice, friendly people who were great, however very sadly this was vastly outweighed by people not willing to take La Shukran (no thank you) for an answer or outright lying to you for whatever motive. It's a shame and I cannot decide whether it's because of over tourism in certain parts of Marrakech, or cultural differences. A couple of times, deep off the tourist trail, I actually thought seriously about my safety when approached aggressively in rougher parts of town with no tourists around. Nothing happened, I am fairly big guy and maybe they thought better of it once close up, and it was fine after a chat and making a joke about stuff, but my "I am in the shit here" detectors were fully sounding on two separate occasions.

A sad state of affairs for a photographer coming to Marrakech. I'll not return unless in transit to another area of Morocco, which looks stunning and very photogenic, but many challenges await in Marrakech for those who consider stepping outside the main tourist traps.