CITY TRAIL
Ducking through the whip-thin lanes of the souqs, as the midday sun rakes through the slatted roof, you hear, then see a metalworker hammering a brass lantern into a thousand pinprick stars. Another bend and you enter the funduqs, the great caravanserais now given over to wood, leather and brass workers, who only pause from their chiselling and tapping when the muezzin’s raspy call to prayer drifts over the medina’s rooftops.
Marrakesh’s artisanal wealth confronts you on every corner. It doesn’t all originate here; neither is it all traditional. For every Saadian palace, there is a cutting-edge gallery putting a contemporary spin on Islamic patterns. Pretty much anything goes for new-wave artisans, from pop art and street art to Berber-inspired jewellery with a nouveau edge.
1 MUSFIE BERBERS