Get Yourself A Guide - Marrakech
Marion Hume | March 11th, 2010
Mohammed Bouskri has been guiding people through the maze that is the walled Medina old town of Marrakech for thirty years. Over that time Presidents Nixon, Carter, Bush Sr. and Reagan have availed themselves of his brilliance as have Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Sean Connery.
He’ll meet you at your riad (courtyard hotel) although he’d rather meet you at his riad where you could be staying in utter tranquility in a property, which has been in his wife’s family for over two centuries. Then off you will walk, him talking along the way about the sights, sounds and smells of North Africa’s most touristy city but one that has, none the less, kept its secrets and its charm. He’ll talk about the camel trains which crossed the desert to reach Marrakech and why, therefore, the city gates are so high; he’ll point out how and where Jews and Muslims have existed side by side for millennia; how Marrakech is the crossroads of the Middle East, the gateway to Europe through its long links with France and the door to sub-Saharan Africa. “We’ve learned to deal with people different from ourselves because of geographical position, trading, openness and the warm hospitality of the Islamic faith,” he explains. As you walk together, he maps out the plan of the souk, how the least polluting industries were always traditionally closest to the centre and for 900 years or more how the tanneries were right at the city walls. He explains the symmetrical beauty of zelij tiled fountains, how water in the desert is such a potent symbol and then throws in a history of Islamic art.
A tour can include the Majorelle Gardens, which the late Yves Saint Laurent and his partner, Pierre Berge, saved from the developers (Saint Laurent is now commemorated there with a simple plinth) and he’ll also take you into the world of the ancient palaces. Then, of course, he’ll sit and chat over a glass of delicious, sweet Moroccan mint tea.
Mohammed Bouskri (bookings via Riad Kniza), Marrakech, Morocco. + 212 24 37 69 42; www.riadkniza.com
