Day 8: Bizarre Bazaar

Early to rise this morning as it's Sunday and we're making our way into Marrakech to go to church. We're not sure of the time of the church service (Mass) at the Catholic church there as they tend to change it with the seasons! Of course that's no problem for regular locals, but to tourists or people passing through it can pose great problems. We set off at 8.45am on this lovely sunny morning, presuming that Mass will be at 10am, the same as it was in August when we were last here, but allowing ourselves an extra half hour 'just in case'.

The Catholic church and mosque stand side by side

As we arrive, there is a lot of commotion around the church and nowhere to park; there must be something special happening today. I notice people unloading things from their cars - books, toys, clothing, food are all being taken into the garden of the church. How bizarre - there must be a bazaar on. We enter the gates and immediately are struck by the sheer numbers of people here, all with stalls selling their wares - similar to church bazaars at home really, except as we make our way through the stalls we find that alongside the cuddly toys and used clothing is a stall selling snails which can be heated for the customer in a portable microwave! Not for the faint-hearted! Mart is to be found chatting to an older gentleman who speaks very good English and is trying to sell him all manner of truffles, sun-dried tomatoes, and dried mushrooms of every variety, many of which we have never heard of, all from his farm down the road. One particular jar of black truffles was marked at 3000 dh  - that's £240.

The Moroccan truffles

All of Mart's goodies

The man tells us that these are sold to La Mamounia hotel and the Royal Mansour, both of which are very high class hotels in Marrakech. In fact, Sir Winston Churchill used to stay regularly at La Mamounia in order to paint views of the High Atlas mountains. This is the sort of clientele who stay at this upmarket hotel and would have the money to purchase these truffles! Mart does not need much persuasion and we come away from the stall with a jar of Moroccan truffles and a sachet of sun-dried tomatoes with a free gift of some dried mushrooms.Our truffles, however, cost just 50dh - £3.50. Mart assures me that's a bargain, but not being a connoisseur of such things I wouldn't know; they do smell lovely though!

The man with the truffles, watched over by Our Lady

It's now 10am and Mass is about to begin. Every nation seems to be gathered under one roof to worship. It is interesting to note that each person sits, stands or kneels at different parts of the service according to their own nationality. A young Senegalese choir leads us in singing very up-tempo worship songs, accompanied by bongo drums and versatile voices. It sounds joyful and heavenly!

The wonderful Senegalese choir

Lunch is taken in a modern shopping centre, surrounded by shops such as Benetton, Virgin Megastore and Pizza Hut - we really could be in any city in the world...except for the glorious view of the twelfth century city walls and the palm trees beyond as we move along the escalator. Then it's the humdrum weekly shop at Carrefour and back home for a little sun-bathing...lovely.