Why a Booktrail?
1950s: Peter Mayle moves to Morocco..and gets under its skin
A Year in Marrakesh
What you need to know before your trail
Having already learned to appreciate Muslim life when he was in Pakistan, Mayne bought a house in the labyrinthine back streets of Marrakesh. He wanted to settle there, not as a privileged visitor in a hotel or grand villa, but as one of the inhabitants. He learned their language, made friends, took part in their festivals, and wrote their letters. This is not a travel book in the accepted sense of the word-it is a record of personal experience in a region of foreign life well beyond the tourist’s eye. Mayne contrives in a deceptively simple prose to disseminate in the air of an English November the spicy odors of North Africa; he has turned, for an hour, smog to shimmering sunlight, woven a texture of extraordinary charm.
Travel Guide
Marrakech
If you ever wanted to know what it was like living in Marrakech in the 1950’s , then this is the book for you. There are a few places you can really go to soak up the atmosphere of the book:
The Koutoubia Mosque
The Djemma El Fna – famous large market square
Cafe de France can you stomach a Moroccan coffee like the author?
And if you’re brave like the author you can test the hammam, to see if this observation is correct:
“The dead white skin of the Saxon strikes most people here as … well as dead white skin, and I must admit that under this African sun the Saxon resembles the fatty parts of cold mutton.”
Booktrail Boarding Pass: A Year in Marrakesh
Author/Guide Peter Mayne Destination: Marrakech Departure Time: 1950s
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