Marrakesh

Friday, May 17, 2013

Marrakesh is supposed to be the hottest city in Morocco, but today didn't get warmer than 23C.

Today was a full day explore of Marrakesh, with our own guide Mohamed.  He was quite pleasant and talked alot, and kept us moving at a good clip.  It's so much easier to have your own guide than to be stuck with a large group, we saw some groups of 30 - 40 people.

The parts of the medina where people live are called derbs, and are quite quiet compared to the hustle and bustle of the shopping areas.  Today even a lot of the shops were closed because it was Friday which is the day of prayer.  Fewer crowds was fine by us.  But you still had to watch out for motorcycles.  They are supposed to wear helmets by law, but alot of drivers just carried them and put them on at police checkpoints.

We walked through the Badi and Bahia Palaces, full of mosaic tiles and beautiful ornamentation.  The Badi Palace was built in the 16th century and reputed to have been one of the most beautiful palaces in the world.

The walls of the palace were 2 meters thick in places.  Mohamed also took us to the Saadian tombs.  The Saadians were an Arab dynasty that ruled from 1554 to 1669.  The tombs of the servants were nicer than what we normally use back home.

Another stop was the Ali Ben Youssef Koranic school, again very beautiful.

We went back to the Jma el Fna square, where we were entertained by a snake charmer.

There were also fortune tellers and other entertainers.  A lady asked Frankie if she wanted a henna tattoo for her hand, and while Frankie was still thinking about it, she grabbed Frankie's hand and started painting.  She said, "If you don't like it, don't pay for it".  We were supposed to negotiate the price beforehand, but it was too late at this point.  Just pay what you like.  So we did.  Only, she didn't like what we paid har har but our guide stepped in and off we went.  The tattoo is quite pretty and she sprinkled glitter on it.  She also wrote both our names in Arabic as part of the tattoo.

Mohamed walk us through many sections of the medina.  There seem to be different neighbourhoods all in the same theme.  For example, the lamp shops in one neighbourhood and the carpet shops in another.  We got some interesting demonstrations of people working with iron, or how cloths are dyed.

When you walk through the main square, you can get freshly squeezed orange juice from vendors. Yummy.

Back to the hotel for a bit of a rest.  After a few quiet hours, we were ready to brave the crazy souk again.  From the square we walked through the side alleys of shops and got lost a few times, but someone always pointed us back to the square.  People are very friendly and are always inviting you into their shop, but watch out for the big sales pitch.  How much you want to pay?

We found a restaurant with a balcony overlooking the busy square, and were able to watch and take pictures in peace.  After the 100th beef tajine we've had, we went for a peaceful half hour "caleche" (horse-drawn carriage) ride.  He took us more to the newer areas outside the medina, that we hadn't seen yet.