All aboard to Marrakech

 I will spare you all the details of the seemingly endless drive from Fes to Marrakech; I don’t mind long drives, I mean the drive from Apple Valley to South Dakota is long and mostly boring, but this was interminable. Nothing to be done about it, however, and we did get a distant glimpse to the High Atlas Mountains and experienced quite a number of service station facilities. We finally arrived in Marrakech in time for dinner and an early night for me.

It was another full day of experiencing a centuries old city in less than 24 hours; sensory overload would be the theme of this trip - the pictures don’t do it justice because you don’t get the sounds, the smells and even the feel of the thousand year old stones under your feet, but I’m trying. We met our local guide Abdullah who was like a walking fortune cookie, he had aphorisms for every situation, a great sense of humor and history and the coolest accent. Our first stop was the Koutubia Mosque, built in the 12th century, and it’s the highest point in the city, so it’s a great landmark for people who get lost (or maybe not, some of us are just hopeless).

Koutoubia Mosque as the sun comes up

View of the Mosque and Jamaa el-Fna Square at night

We went to one of the few non-royal palaces (royal palaces are not open to the public), Bahia Palace, owned by a Prime Minister in the mid-19th century. The Prime Minister had four wives, so Abdullah was providing the logistics of how that would have been coordinated; you are still allowed to have multiple wives in Morocco, but it’s really for the wealthy because the best practice is to have them in their own separate homes. It sounds way too complicated for me. The common them for the buildings we saw, whether in a souk, a palace or a mosque is the incredible craftsmanship in the mosaic work, the woodwork or the stucco; it might be old, maybe worn down, but we were all agog at the detail and beauty. the photos below are from the Bahia Palace. It was really hard to take photos because of the immense scope of what I was seeing, so I couldn’t just take one picture; I decided I would try to focus on a lot of the detail work so readers could get a sense of the intricacies. I hope it helps.

We drove to the Medina (I think it’s safe to say that  every city has a Medina, a walled part of the city where people live, eat and shop) and then walked around, through the Mellah (this is what the Jewish areas are known as), through the souks. We visited a rug store for mint tea and a talk about the different types of rugs and for a sale. I don’t think anyone bought a rug (I have mine from Turkey which is not used as I would like) but I did buy a couple of smaller things for presents. Morocco is known for its spices and Argan oil, but apparently it’s a buyer beware market out in the souks, so we went to a trusted shop for a demonstration and the opportunity to buy some natural remedies. I don’t think the sales method was as effective as it could have been (a few of us commented on that later), but I did get some things. Then we rushed off to the Saadian Tombs, these are royal tombs dating to the 16th century, and we walked around a little to see some of the graves, but it was really crowded, so we did not get to see the main tomb. I think most of our group was okay with, as I think we had already walked several miles before lunch and you could tell the natives were getting restless and cranky (by that I mean our group).

After the tombs we had some free time for lunch, more shopping, more walking and later, a nap. Most of us went to a cafe recommended by Aziz, and we went up to the terrace to look around, you get a great view of the square from above. For lunch I had chicken skewers, and I have to say, as a consumer of a lot of chicken in my life, the chicken I have had in Morocco has been some of the best, regardless of where we have eaten; the flavors and tenderness is making my mouth water now and it’s 9:30 in the morning. And also…olives; I think we have had olives with every meal, including breakfast. Mmmm. The photos below are of the rest of the day and night in Marrakech; they do not capture the energy of the square, the chatter of different languages, music, vendors calling out. We were told to beware of the snake charmers and monkey handlers because they will put a snake on your shoulders and you have to pay to get it off, or they’ll put a monkey in your arms and charge you for the pleasure. Don’t make eye contact unless you plan to make a transaction. I will say I felt totally safe, during the day and at night; just like any big city, you have to be aware of your surroundings and pay attention, but even when I was lost at night (I think I zigged, when I should have zagged), I wasn’t worried about the people, but I was extremely trepidatious about crossing the street and the scooters and bicycles (I thought most cars and trucks were well behaved around pedestrians, but the two wheeled drivers were AWFUL). Also, if I could buddy up with someone else crossing the street, I felt a little safer. Eventually, I caved to my frustrations of not being able to navigate and took a taxi back to the hotel, 20 dirhams (two dollars) later and I was comfortably ensconced in my room.