Welcome to Maison28!
Maison 28 is my home in Marrakech. I would love for it to be YOUR home too if you come for a visit-either in a guest house room or as part of the group at one of the many Creative Retreats we are planning! To make you feel a little more welcome, I’d like to give you a taste of our neighborhood…
Now of course I am completely biased but I do believe we have the best of all worlds here in our little part of the Marrakech Medina. Maison 28 is located just outside the bustle and bargaining of the Marrakech Souks in one of the oldest residential neighborhoods-Derb Slima. Our street is home to many local families, and quiet other than the children around playing and jumping rope, and the soft sound of the muezzin’s call to prayer from the nearby mosques 5 times a day. It’s an authentic little slice of Marrakech life-and I love it!
And the best part? You can walk a short 5-10 minutes from Maison 28 to find the heartbeat of Marrakech and what it is most famous for: the Souks! This photo is from the Souk des tienturiers (Dyer’s Souk). But also close are Souk Habbadine (Metal Souk), Souk Cherratine (Slipper Souk) Souk el Kebir (Leather Souk) and the Souk des Tapis (Carpet Souk) to name a few. You will even find 2 ATM machines located in the Carpet Souk. How convenient!
It’s also quite common to see Marrakech artisans practicing their crafts and selling their wares directly on the streets in our neighborhood. We have friendly zouak artisans like Youssef (below), as well as wood carvers, geps plaster carvers, zellij tile artists, weavers, leather artisans and more.
Like all the neighborhoods in the Medina, ours has a local community bread oven-a ferran-and bread is the most important part of every meal. Typically, children will drop off a tray of the family’s prepared dough on the way to school in the morning to be picked up on their way home from lunch at 2:00.
“Shopping local” isn’t a buzzword in the Marrakech Medina. It’s a way of life. In a square close by you can fresh fruit and vegetables from local sellers from morning to night, as well as milk, bread, soup, fresh meat and even a live chicken if you like!
Ultimately, there is a wonderful, shared sense of community in the area around Maison 28 and in the Marrakech medina as a whole. It’s something special that you really have to experience to fully appreciate. Those who have traveled with me to Marrakech have often said that it was enriching and life-changing. Come and share some Marrakech Retreat time with me to discover and live it for yourself!
Getting around
Most of the medina are accessible only by foot, bicycle, scooter, or donkey cart.
There is an endless maze of alleyways (derbs) and literally no street signs, but it’s something that people adapt to very quickly. It’s easy to get around once you start identifying landmarks- usually shops, signs for major Riads or museums, or the many restaurants nearby.
We’ll help to orient you to the area to get you started, of course, but there is also a helpful map app you can download for your smartphone: Hip Marrakech Miraculously, this little genius of technology provides you with a GPS map of the medina on your phone without wifi or internet. I encourage people to feel free to wander (and get lost and found a few times) to really “experience” it fully, but it’s nice to have a little 21st-century technology in the ancient Medina as well.