By Dawn Carson
I know some people think I’m crazy when I say I can smell Morocco but I can.
To me it is a distinct smell of sunshine and heat, smoke from cooking fires and tagine braziers, cumin and Moroccan mint.
Sometimes there is a miasma of sweat, car exhaust and animal dung hanging in the air around the cities, but even that doesn’t detract from what to me, is the smell of a beloved place.
We spent the usual two days in Marrakech, which now in the summer lay under a haze of heat with temperatures often over 40 degrees.
Badre, my partner, was hot but despite my anxiety over it, I was pretty comfortable. It’s such a cliché but really, it’s a dry heat.
Marrakech is a place you either love or hate. It’s chaos exemplified in the eyes of people requiring order and simplicity.
Side by side you have the shiny “new city” of Gueliz beside and in juxtaposition to the twisting alleys and shoulder wide “streets” of the thousand year old medina.
Gueliz is resplendent with world class restaurants, high end glitzy hotels, cafes and modern apartments.
You can peruse upscale art galleries and stay cool in air conditioned modern malls while sipping a Starbucks caramel macchiato. You could imagine you are in any modern North American or European city.
To me, this is not the Marrakech that is always on my mind. For me, it’s the ancient “red walled” old medina, the Jemaa el fna square, the magical souks of my imagination and the feeling that if you wait long enough and watch carefully something amazing will happen.
I know this is a romantic notion. I see that the daily life of Moroccans is difficult and that their livelihoods depend on people like me buying into the magical Arabian Nights fantasy.
But when I close my eyes and breathe in the delightful scents and smells of Morocco, I cannot help but to be immediately transported to this magical place that I love, my second home.
Do you have a favorite scent that brings memories of Morocco to you? What are your favorite places in Morocco; the old medina, or the new city of Marrakech? Perhaps your secret spots are in Fez, Rabat or some tiny fishing village along the sea?
Tell us your favorite places in Morocco. If you have yet to visit, what are you waiting for? Share your me memories or plans to visit in the comments below!
