My fascination with doors is nothing new. I spent hours walking around Ibiza’s old town last year snapping shots of brightly colored doors in the unbearable heat. Of course I was going to try and find the best doors in Morocco.
I could barely keep my hands off my camera for two seconds. Around each corner there was another incredible facade that caught my eye. I could have spent weeks photographing the doors of Morocco without getting bored. Unfortunately I only had a few days.
These first few are from deep in the medina in Marrakech. We wandered down a street we thought would lead to the souks but instead brought us to a residential area. A few kids were kicking a ball but apart from them it was a ghost town. I had always heard people talk about Marrakech as the Red City, and now I understood why.
It was like wearing rose-tinted glasses.
Since the streets are so narrow, I kept struggling to stand back far enough to capture the whole door. The one below is one of my favorites. The mosaic tiles are falling off the wall so honestly. I believe this is an old entrance to one of the mosques in the center of Marrakech. The main door is just around the corner, but under construction.
For some reason rust and decay suit Morocco so well.
We also visited the desert during our trip. Here are some doors I found in Ait Ben-Haddou, one of the Sahara’s most famous Hollywood villages. People here live a simple life, but their doors are everything but.
Not everything was quite so rosy. Some were a bit more rebellious. Like those days you wake up and decide to wear black matte polish instead of pink like everyone else.
My favorites though were the sea colors. Sea foam, teal, aqua, cyan, yes I was a Crayola kid. I love the contrast against the pink. It reminded me of beaches in Bermuda. The pink sand against the Caribbean sea.
But be careful. Sometimes when you’re trying to pose in front of one of those aquamarine door, you may witness a motorcycle meets donkey collision just down the way.
I loved to peek inside. Behind each was a whole world, a story, a life I wanted to learn more about. Some led to small one-bedroom apartments, others to lavish homes plastered in mosaic tiles. Many, to mosques and prayer rooms inside the medina.
All in all, Morocco has some of the best doors I’ve seen in my travels. It is a labyrinth of secrets waiting to be discovered.
