Leave Jemaa el Fna — the huge, chaotic, carnivalesque marketplace seen on every postcard — to the cobra charmers, hustlers and package-tour throngs. In the early 20th century, Thami el Glaoui, the onetime ruler of Marrakesh — known as the bacha in local Arabic — was a legend. The Islamic decorative arts find dazzling expression inside the Medersa Ben Youssef, a centuries-old religious school adorned with some of the finest craftsmanship in Morocco. Follow the buttery scent of leather to a passage called Derb el Hammam in Souk Smata, the leatherworking area of the medina. Sunlight filters through the overhead slats of the stalls, illuminating belts, bags, jackets, ottomans and slippers known as babouches — a favorite Morocco souvenir (prepare to haggle).

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Persons: Fna, You’ll, Bab Doukkala, Malak Nafy, It’s niched, Hassan Hajjaj, Andy Warhol, Thami el, —, Rue Fatima Zahra, Maison Reine, Naelle, Ben Youssef, el Fna Organizations: Bab, Rue Dar el, of Confluences, Rue Fatima, Franco Locations: Medina, Bab, Rue, Moroccan, Marrakesh, el Bacha, medina, ”, Algerian, artfully, Morocco, Hammam, Souk Smata