Welcome to Marrakech

800 years as every morning with the same inflected intonation, the call of the muezzin from the top of 70 meters from the Koutoubia, the spiritual beacon of Marrakech. The sun rises over Marrakesh. A motley crowd invaded the winding streets of the medina. Men flock to the Ben Youssef mosque, adjoining the madrasa, one of the most remarkable monuments of Marrakech, gigantic and superb Koranic school founded by Sultan Abou El-Hassan Merinid (1331-1349). ? The sun illuminates the marble pink fountains, invaded gradually being tiled, dangled zelliges the beautiful, warm colors turquoise, green, white mosaics. It illuminates the ruins of El Badi Palace and sometimes beautiful mirage, the visitor sees dazzling sparkle these past riches, gold, marble, onyx, bartered against their weight in sugar by Ahmed El Mansour (1578-1603) the Saadian most illustrious rulers. ? Carts filled with oranges, roasted seeds, women from the Anti-Atlas to sell their baskets, storytellers, musicians, dancers, writers before their public black umbrella, fortune tellers, potion vendors , healers, apothecaries offer the incredible spectacle of a day like any other. ? You\'re out of time. In the souk of copper may be where the marked face of a wise concentration, with an application ancestral coppersmiths hammer the metal. Or in the Souk Laghzal devoted to wool. In El BTAN that of sheepskins. Or at the souk Zarbia, at auction, where carpets and caftans are sold to the highest bidder ... ? You are elsewhere. Where the scent of saffron, cumin, black pepper, ginger, lemongrass, cloves, orange blossoms delight the nose. Crammed with bags of almonds, peanuts, chickpeas, baskets of dates, barrels of olives and on the shelves of apothecaries, lined pots of henna, ghassoul, vials of extracts of roses jasmine, mint, kohl, pieces of amber, musk ... Then the acetylene burners lit in turn. Then in the night sky, the moon completes its true vocation: that of being the first mile and a lantern from the Djemaa El Fna.