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In the morning we had guided tours of Koutoubia Mosque, Saddian Tombs and Bahia Palace. The Moorish-style mosque dated back to the early 12th century and was a model for the Hassan Tower in Rabat and the Giralda in Seville. If you look carefully, the minaret is topped by four orbs instead of three. The extra one was offered by the mother of the Saadian sultan Ahmed el Mansour Edhabi in penance for fasting days she missed during Ramadan.
We had a quick walk through of the souks before reaching Jemma El fna. Some people say that you have not been to Morocco if you haven’t been here. There are healers, henna artists, snake charmers and monkey handlers. They are rather aggressive and would try to put a snake or monkey on tourists’ shoulder to make money for photos. Freshly squeezed orange juice could be had for about 3 Dh and there are stands for cheap dates and nuts.
Some of us decided to stay, explore the souks a bit more and wait for activities to pick up in the evening in the square. We found a roof top terrace by the square and did some people watching. After
about 16:00hr stands got set up for sidewalk grills and performers started coming out. They were pretty sharp and would run up to any tourists snapping pictures of their performances. I guess they have to be because this is their livelihood. There were storytellers too but we had no idea what they were talking about in Arabic. It must have been funny because all the locals were cracking up. Jemma El Fna was a cacophony of sight, sound and smell when we left early in the evening.
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