By Peter Hannaford on 6.29.07 @ 12:07AM
Marrakech is said to have 700,000 palm trees, creating an air of a desert paradise.
MARRAKECH -- When the conquest of Great Britain was but a gleam
in the eye of William of Normandy, Marrakech was already a
stronghold and a trading center in southern Morocco. From 1062 on
for several centuries, it straddled the main caravan routes from
Timbuktu to the markets of the Mediterranean.
The city had its ups and downs as various sultans and their
dynasties held sway in or sacked it and moved its treasures
elsewhere. Today, some of its lavish early palaces and gardens are
ruins. Other buildings spanning the centuries have visitors looking
in awe at the intricately carved plaster walls, cedar ceilings and
elaborate tiles.
The color of Marrakech buildings can be described as "salmon" or
"terra cotta" -- take your pick -- and it pervades both the old
walled city, the Medina, and Nouvelle Cite begun by the French in
1912 and building outward to this day with a frenzy that suggests
that the number of new villas may soon stretch for miles into the
desert toward Casablanca, 120 miles away by superhighway.
Although the souk -- marketplace -- in the Medina is a warren of
narrow streets that have been there for centuries, it is no fossil
re-creation intended to transport tourists back, say, to the days
of Sultan Yacoub Mansour, who built many of the palaces, mosques
and gardens that brought the city fame in the 12th century.
Actually, walking the Medina one is reminded of Washington in
two ways: Everyone is bustling somewhere and everyone is hustling
something. There the resemblance ends.
Everything in the souk is for sale, including a photo pose by
the vegetable delivery man's donkey. Walking the narrow streets
involves dodging a steady stream of donkey carts, motorbikes,
Japanese mini-pickup trucks, wheelbarrows and fast-walking locals
of all sizes, from boys in shorts to staid women in jalabiyas with
veils. The walk is accompanied by a changing blend of smells
--cumin and other spices, oranges, lemons, perfume, sweat.
Visit a rug merchant and you will be given a comfortable seat
and sweet mint tea, along with an entertaining presentation of
carpets from those made by Berber tribesmen to tightly-loomed large
"Persians."
The herbal pharmacist demonstrates two dozen or so of his
specialties, intended to cure insomnia, snoring, dyspepsia,
psoriasis, high and low blood pressure and sundry other
ailments.
One mixture of spices is for enhancing the flavor of fish. He is
a Berber whose accented English and frequent smile results in his
audience happily parting with several Dirhams, the currency of
Morocco, in order to test the efficacy of his potions.
Like the country, Marrakech is about half Berber, half Arab. The
Berbers were there long before the Arabs arrived. It is a beguiling
city with excellent hotels and restaurants for the visitor, along
with what must be the planet's most lively and alluring
marketplace, interspersed by handsome historic buildings and
grounds. The city is said to have 700,000 palm trees, creating an
air of a peaceful Eden.
Problems seem very distant. Yet, about 250 miles south lies what
is generally known as the Western Sahara, a vast area treated as
the Southern Provinces by Morocco. In 1975 some 400,000 Moroccans
moved in to settle the area. Indigenous people formed the Polisario
movement to push for independence. Sporadic fighting ensued. For
some time now the United Nations has had a presence there to keep
things quiet. Plebiscites have been promised several times, but
postponed just as often. What to do about this very dry and
economically poor area remains to be seen. Algeria supports the
Polisario and the independence movement. War over the area is
unlikely, as both countries face a bigger potential problem, the
specter of al-Qaeda-in-the-Maghreb and its efforts to recruit and
radicalize young men across the region.
topics:
United Nations
