Red Carpet Arrival

We’ve grown quite fond of our quiet new neighborhood so we’re surprised to hear a racket outside as we’re cooking dinner. We wander out to the street to investigate and find quite a production. A beautiful path of red carpets has been laid along the cobblestone street. An acrobat does back flips on the carpets. The noise we heard is the acrobat trying to keep a hoard of kids off his performing area – with little success. The kids are happy to take in the free entertainment and roll giddily in the plush carpets that have for the night replaced muddy streets.



We follow this path of red carpets from just in front of our door through several twists and turns to one of the better local restaurants. (We haven’t actually tried Dar Zellij yet, so we can’t speak to the quality except by reputation.) These are not the thin rubber-backed “carpets” that only add to the cheese factor of Hollywood premieres. These carpets, laid end to end, are thick and gorgeous in all manner of reds, and we aren’t the only people looking. The spectacle had brought most of the neighborhood out to the street. The acrobat is not alone; he’s joined by a fire breather and musicians standing in three groups of six or eight between the restaurant and the taxi stand.





For the most part we ignore the entertainers and studiously walk up and down the carpets.
“What do you think of this color?”
“Have you seen that pattern before?”

We ask one neighbor if this is for a local wedding. Much less interesting, he tells us it’s for some tour group planning a special dinner at a Dar Zellij. The hired performers are to guide them through the maze of streets. Just then, the group unloads from a bus and the entertainers begins their dramatic work. Neighborhood kids fill in (OK, so do we) – free extras – and make the night seem even more festive.


It’s an odd mix of exciting spectacle and also a “Morocco-light” packaged in an easy dose for foreigners with cameras ready, a reminder that most of the economy here is based on tourism. We rush home to make sure we aren’t burning dinner. Thinking over the hundreds of carpets, we shake our heads with envy. Now there’s a red carpet arrival.