Marrakesh Medina

Visiting

Inside the walls the old city is a maze of narrow lanes and souks full of crafts and workshops, open every day. Souk Semmarine is the spine: wide, covered and running north out of Jemaa el-Fnaa, so most wrong turns can be undone by finding it again. Off it, a lane lined with open shopfronts eventually reaches a gate or a square. Where the walls go blank and the doors stay shut, you are in a residential derb, and a low archway, a sudden narrowing or a change to hexagonal tiles usually means a dead end. Small signs point to the major sights, not always by the shortest route. Anyone who says a monument is closed today and offers to show you somewhere else earns a commission on wherever they take you, so walk past and check for yourself. If lost, ask a shopkeeper for Jemaa el-Fnaa.