Away from the bustle of the Medina, a short walk from our hotel, was Nouvelle Ville or New Town. Leaving the Medina through the northern exit in the Medina wall brings you straight into modern Morocco. It’s a smart area with all the outlets you’d expect to see in the UK. McDonald’s, Starbucks, KFC, they’re all here. There’s also a really smart shopping area with the usual designer outlets as well as some expensive looking hotels. We’d walk through in the evening and it’s busy, buzzy and a nice break from the bustle in the Medina.

Leaving the Medina, via the same north gate in the wall, we found a nice walk following the outside of the Marrakech Wall, which surrounds the Medina, Turning left from the gate we followed the wall for several kilometres. The pavement along here is well kept and looks very new. There were grass verges all the way and although the road, running alongside us was busy, it still had the usual mix of mopeds, horse carriages and donkey carts etc. We re-entered the Medina via the gate by the Royal Palace but you can re-enter the Medina at several other gates along the walk.

Another area we like, outside the Medina, can be found leaving via the eastern gate which opens out on a square by the bus station. We discovered a really nice, modern cafe and it’s on the route to the Jardin Marjorelle if you decided to walk there. We stopped for a coffee and I asked the waitress what the locals were drinking, from silver teapots, on the tables near us. She told us it was Moroccan Mint Tea. She then left us but returned a short time later with a pot of mint tea for us to try, with their compliments. It sort of sums up what most of the Moroccan people, we encountered, were like. Really friendly and happy to help if you asked.

I really liked the mint tea. So much so, I bought my own silver teapot and glasses to bring home with me. The waitress told me I could buy a pot in the Medina but told me not to pay any more the 200 Dirhams for it, about £20. This led to my first bartering experience in the souks. I’m not normally one for bartering, over anything, but I actually quite enjoyed the experience. We found a good quality pot with two glasses and a tray in a souk stall and negotiations began. The souk owner started at 750 Dirhams (I guess he thought he’d try it on). I just never wavered much from 200 Dirhams base figure but after about ten minutes with him coming down and me not moving much we agreed on 300 Dirhams. We felt it was a fair price. Our hotel cleaner (they know everything) told me it was a good quality set when she checked it out for me the next day.

The mint tea is made using Gunpowder Tea, fresh mint and sugar. We bought several packs of the Gunpowder Tea to bring back with us and I’ve been enjoying a mint tea, most days, since we returned.

We had lovely warm weather during our stay but we did have two impressive thunderstorms, during the evening, towards the end of our week. We went out in both storms and found a small open shelter to the side of the main square outside the souks. We had lots of locals sheltering with us and that was an experience in itself. The Moroccans don’t see a lot of rain and they seemed to be really enjoying it. There was lots of laughter and banter around us. It was just getting dark as the storms broke and it pushed my cameras to the limit, even using a high ISO. However, with the help of Topaz software and Photoshop, when we got back I did get quite a few usable shots.

I love Marrakesh. It’s busy, noisy, and full on bonkers brilliant. We’re going back again in December. That wasn’t planned but we were offered a package deal, at our normal hotel by our usual tour company, that was so discounted we couldn’t let it pass us by. We’ve booked an excursion into the Atlas Mountains for this visit which should be interesting 🙂

All images: ©Stephen Hyde 2007-2025 – All rights reserved.