Marrakech - 11 May

Marrakech has beencalled the Pearl of the South, Jewel of the South and the Red City. We are going to spend the full day here... if we can survive the traffic! The place is part Berber, part Arab, part African. Most of the city's architectural attractions are inside the Medina, the old walled section of the town which is where we started our mammoth walk. First we visited the gardens around the Koutoubia mosque, which is an emblem of Marrakech. Koutoubia's minaret went on to inspire the architects of the Giralda of Seville and the Hassan Tower of Rabat. You can't visit inside the mosque but it certainly was an impressive piece of architecture. The square tower is finely worked dressed stone and is 77 metres tall including its lantern.Built in the 12th century, the Koutoubia minaret is deemed the most perfect Islamic religious structure in North Africa.This famous landmark dominates the local skyline and is easily spotted from all over Marrakech. In one photo you can see the base pillars of the previous mosque which if I remember correctly was destroyed deliberately so that the newest invaders (French?) could build their own to show it off.

We then walked to the Ben Youssef Medersa, passing lots of shop fronts displaying their wares.

The Ben Youssef Medersa is a Koranic school built around 1570. It is the biggest Medersa (school) in the whole of the Maghreb(west) and is renowned for its magnificent architecture with zellij tile work, carved wood and stucco work. the central courtyard, student cells and prayer halls were equally interesting to wander through. We had seen a similar school earlier in our travels. Next we visited the Bahia palace which is a small piece of folly ordered in 1880 by the great vizir Sidi Moussa and took 15 years to complete. He kept his favourite wife here, so she really was a bird in a gilded cage. The creepy old bugger also had a large area built for all his concubines. the palace really is a masterpiece of domestic architecture which gives a good idea of how the privileged lived during the 19th century. The use of marble, stucco and mosaics predominates in the apartments. The ceilings were amazing and my photos don't do them justice.

More walking and more shop fronts where we are taken to a Berber Pharmacy to be shown different medicinal and cosmetic concotions from all natural ingredients. As we know we cant bring any of the spices, grains or herbal remedies back to Australia, the felow focuses on showing us skin creams and oils. There are no prices mentioned but we know it would have been pricey, as Ahmed has already admitted that he gets commssion on any sales! We leave empty handed, apart from the free bottle of water given to us when we walk in.

It was now time for lunch so headed to a nice restaurant that wasn't serving lunch yet but they aid we could wait and that's what we did. My ceasar salad washuge and I could barely get through 2/3 of it. Ahmed had told us on the first day to not eat the salads, but he said it was okay to do so at this place so I'm hoping he was correct! Julie had spinach ravioli and she said it was lovely.

Ahmed convinced us that we needed a photo with a cobra. Julie wasn't easily convinced but apparently if I was closest to the snake, then she was prepared to sacrifice me for the sake of the photo!

After lunch Samad dropped us off near the Souk Smarine. It was another hair raising car ride and we still have no idea how car mirrors aren't smashed, sides if cars scraped, motor bikes knocked over or pedestrians killed! Ahmed took us through the layrinth of laneways and alleys. Souk Smarine is an important thoroughfare traditionally dominated by merchants of textiles and clothing and all Moroccan handictafts. It was a maze of colourful alleys and squares which are home to a bewildering array of stalls and ateliers devoted to specific crafts. We explored the Djemaa El Fna wich is the city's main square which is home to street artists, stalls of dried fruit and freshly pressed orange juice.

Ahmed took us to see where clay pots are used over hot ashes to slow cook meats. The fellow doing the cooking also wanted to perform music for us and was very gracious. I just don't know how people live like this.

Ahmed left us alone for half an hour to do shopping. I bought a tiny aladdin's lamp for myself and a trinket for VJR. Julie bought a couple of purses and to top it off I bought myself a white shirt that Julie did a great job of bartering for! As we had walked more than 10 km in the heat (more than 15,000 steps) more wandering about the souk was out of the question. We made our way back to where Samad was, fell into the car and headed back to our riad, which meant another 1km walk once Samad dropped us off. Back in the room, the only reasonable thing to do was collapse in a heap. Eventually we gathered ourselves sufficiently to go down to the lounge and have happy hour. Neither of us were interested in dinner, so after sorting the problems of the world over a bottle of Moroccan rose, chips and olives,we headed back to our room and it was soon time for bed.