Snake charmers, teeth pullers, storytellers, musicians, clairvoyants, acrobats, juice stalls, tea stalls and food stalls selling everything from tagines to lamb's heads. They're all here and they're all playing their part in one of the great spectacles that this planet has to offer.
All throughout the day you can head down to the Djemaa and grab a freshly squeezed orange juice or have your photo taken with a crazed looking monkey but it's at around 4pm that things really start to heat up. The food stalls move in and the musicians start to play and the centre of Marrakech really begins its assault on everyone of your senses (clichéd description: check).
The Stalls
You could spend weeks working your way through the stalls that roll in each night however we only had six nights and could only try a handful but these were some of our favourites.
Stall 123
We had harira (a simple lentil soup) elsewhere in the Djemaa but we returned to these guys two other times for pre dinner snacks. Theirs just had so much more flavour and so many more big meaty chickpeas - plus genuine thanks that you were eating in their stall - all for 3 dirham a pop. And on our final night we were given a free top up after having passed the loyalty test when the main soup serving man had told us to return the previous night.
Juice Stall 14
Everyday we returned for "deux jus d'orange" and everyday we were treated like long lost friends.
Tea Stall 70 / Tea Stall 71
These two stalls pump out the best spiced tea. It's the addition of fennel seeds and the exceptional balance of the tea made by these guys that sets them apart from the rest. Every night we came and sat down at the tea stalls, watching the madness unfold around us.
Everyday we returned for "deux jus d'orange" and everyday we were treated like long lost friends.
Tea Stall 70 / Tea Stall 71
These two stalls pump out the best spiced tea. It's the addition of fennel seeds and the exceptional balance of the tea made by these guys that sets them apart from the rest. Every night we came and sat down at the tea stalls, watching the madness unfold around us.
Not being ones to ask questions we dived in only to discover that the magic powder was some sort of peppermint like substance and was so potent that we couldn't get the glass to our lips without it burning out our eyeballs and nostrils. Geez did it clear out our nasal passage though.
Tea Price Politics
The standard going rate for spiced tea down at the Djemaa is five dirhams (about 70 cents) however there's one unnumbered tea stall that pops up a bit later than the others each night and sells their tea for two dirhams. What this then does is immediately bring down the price of tea at all of the other stalls.
Which is interesting and sort of confirmed a bit of a theory that I'd earlier been explaining to a very enthused Nicola that the price determinator seems to be a downward movement and regardless of quality other vendors can't afford to not immediately drop their price too.
Stall 3
Our first meal of Marrakech and a goodie to start on. A steaming hot bowl of fresh snails cooked in a beautifully earthy broth. A v good start.
Stall 44
Saving the best til last. The first night we came here we tucked into the creamiest, richest, most tasty lamb's brains we've ever had.
On the following night we came back for beef tongue and a mixed plate of left over bits. What those bits are we weren't exactly sure but let me point out that this stall serves the cuts of meat that are left over after the good bits are taken away for tagines etc. So a mixed plate of bits here is the leftovers of the leftovers.
Some of the interesting things we heard in the Djemaa
"Hey, hey, Johnny Depp" to which I turned around to see a man with a big grin on his face trying to call us back to his stall
"Oh, beautiful girlfriend, like a gazelle" HA!
"You're from Australia? Finger licking good!". I think they're a bit confused on that one
"I spoke to you just before, I said you're Harry Potter's brother"
Nix said no thanks in Arabic to someone to which he cheekily replied, "can you speak Arabic or just la shukran?"
"Australian? You like Home and Away? Neighbours? I prefer The Castle". That's a well researched tout right there
