Tales of our Travels: Day 11

After a couple of hectic days, I'm back to the blog again. On Thursday morning after waking to the nearby mosque wake up call at 6 am and then again to the call to prayers at 7am, we ate breakfast and headed out with our city guide, Mustapha. First stop was the Koutubia mosque, a 12th century, 300 foot high tower. This is the architectural prototype for all other mosques in Morocco - the scalloped arches, jagged crenellations and square shape (mosques were round up to then) were highly influential. Once again, off limits to non-Muslims but we were happy to gaze at it from the outside - it's a beautiful structure. Below is a daytime and then nighttime shot

Then on to the Bahia Palace - not ancient - in fact built in the 19th century but renowned for being beautifully decorated from floor to ceiling in coloured tiles and carved stucco, topped by stunning painted and gilded inlaid wood ceilings.

After lunch we visited the Saadian Tombs, built in the 16th century by Sultan Ahmed el-Mansour Ed-Dhabi of the Saadian dynasty. Built from marble and with extensive use of gold, El-Mansour spared no expense and intended this palace to be a mausoleum for his family. After his death in 1603, the subsequent sultan sealed it up in order to keep his predecessor out of sight and mind. The storks then took over and it wasn't until aerial photography revealed the site in 1917, that the tombs were returned to their glory

We saw this musician in the street playing a lute type instrument (I can't remember the Arabic name for it). As he plays, he swings the tassel on his hat in circles - very unusual! For a small donation, he's fine with photos being taken.

Our final visit for the day was to the Majorelle Gardens in the newer area of Marrakech. Yves St Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergere bought this electric blue villa and surrounding botanical gardens in 1980. Per his instructions, his ashes were scattered across the garden after his death in 2008. The gardens have almost 300 plant species, most of the desert variety. It's such a beautiful and peaceful place to retreat to from the hectic pace of Marrakech.

We still found time to visit the souks (market shops in the Medina) in Marrakech. Much bigger
than those in Fes. We tried to haggle with a scarves seller but it didn't go very
well. Items in the souks have no posted prices so you have to do your research
before making an offer. We probably paid too much but that's the risk you take.
We also made the requisite visit to the carpet shop below - see photo below.
No purchases made.

And finally, what's a visit to Marrakech without meeting a snake charmer.
That black cobra looks mean but the snake charmer seemed to have it all under control. He insisted on posing with me with one of his smaller snakes - I just kept smiling! I have no idea if the music actually charms these snakes.