The Medina
A city inside a city
What a medina is, why GPS fails, why streets look sketchy, and how centuries-old infrastructure shapes daily life.
- What is a medina?The Arabic word for "city."In Morocco, it refers to the old walled city — the original urban centre, built before cars, with narrow streets, mosques, markets, and residential quarters packed inside defensive walls. Every major Moroccan city has on…
- Why is my GPS wrong?High walls bounce GPS signals — errors of 10 to 30 metres.
- What does "Balak!" mean?“Mind out” — and something large is about to occupy the space you're standing in.
- Why does the bathroom smell?Dry drain traps. Run the tap for ten seconds.
- Why is the riad so hard to find?Because a derb is a dead-end, house numbers restart in every one, and GPS can't see past the walls.
- Why is it so cold inside in winter?Thermal mass works both ways.
- Why can you hear everything?The courtyard is a light well, an air well — and a sound well.
- Why are the beds so hard?You may be sleeping on wool — carded, stuffed, and stitched by hand.
- Why are there cockroaches in a clean riad?Climate and infrastructure, not hygiene.
- Why is it so loud at 4:30am?The fajr call to prayer — and in the medina, five mosques answer each other.
- What was the 2023 earthquake?Magnitude 6.8, 8 September 2023.
- Why are the walls stained or bubbling?Rising damp. The wall is drinking groundwater, and the salt is coming out to breathe.
- Why are the floors stained or uneven?Handmade tiles are porous by nature.
- Why does the wifi barely work?Thick walls block the signal.
- Why does the electricity flicker?Old wiring and shared circuits.
- Why are there cats everywhere?They're the city's pest control.