Marrakech Popular Arts Festival
There is never a dull moment in this teeming city designed to
inflict sensory overload, but during the summer Popular Arts
Festival, Marrakech is more frenzied and alive than ever, the
already-packed streets even more crowded with an abundance of
tourists and Moroccans avid for fun. Artists, craftsmen, vendors,
musicians, acrobats, fire-swallowers and dancers hold performances
in every corner of the city, with the centre of the action at the
ruined 16th-century Badi Palace, once the heart of the powerful
Saadian Dynasty. One of the most popular features is the
'fantasia', a choreographed trick horse-riding spectacle held each
evening in a field near the Bab Jdid just outside the city walls.
For more information contact the Morocco Tourist Office on +212
(0)37 681 531/532/533 or admin@tourism-in-morocco.com
Venue: Various, but mainly Badi Palace and Djemma el Fna;
Date: 2-7 July 2007
Sand Marathon
The week-long Sand Marathon takes place in the gruelling
conditions of Moroccan desert with sandstorms and brain-frying heat
as the major obstacles to achieving such an intense feat. The race
is over 150 miles of craggy, sandswept terrain and competitors from
around the world partake in the charity-driven event that benefits
the infrastructure of the region. Only the fittest and most
prepared are advised to partake!
Venue: Ouarzazate;
Date: 27 March to 7 April 2008;
Website: www.darbaroud.com
