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Published: February 20th 2010
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Our third day in Marrakesh began with the same lovely breakfast spread in the courtyard before again heading out into the Medina. Our first stop was the Koutoubia mosque, Marrakesh’s most famous monument. Built by the Almohads directly over what was once the Almoravid’s palace, the 12th century structure became a model for Moroccan architecture. Its design was inspiration for both the Tour Hassan in Rabat as well as for the Giralda in Seville, Spain.
The weather again was perfect, following the pattern of rain at night and in the early morning, then gorgeous blue skies and white puffy clouds during the day. Once we had our fill of staring at the mosque (non-Muslims cannot enter), we continued on our way, this time in the opposite direction toward Gueliz, the modern section of the city.
Our first destination was the train station where we purchased our tickets to Casablanca for the next day at 11am. I was tempted by the “McArabia” sandwich at McDonalds (I LOVE international variations of any chain product) but decided it was best to not play the role of the fat American. The train station structure itself was gorgeous, and right across the street from
the National Theatre, another nice building.
Working our way back toward the center, we stopped for lunch at Al Fassia, a women-run and owned restaurant mentioned in basically every guidebook. I couldn’t resist getting the Pastilla, a savory-sweet dish of pigeon, almonds and spices baked in phyllo and sprinkled with powdered sugar. I was somewhat disappointed by its size (I was hunnnnngry) but it was very tasty. Christopher ordered the chicken tajine with caramelized onions and pumpkin, which was out of this world, hands down the best thing I had tasted in Morocco. To drink we tried a Moroccan brew, Flag, which was underwhelming but refreshing.
Moving along, we continued through “modern Marrakesh” and eventually made our way to the Jardins Majorelles, a lovely garden that was purchased by famous designer Yves Saint Laurent and later given as a gift to the city. The monument to Yves inside was basically an ugly column, but the gardens themselves were very nice - full of different palms, cacti, and bamboo-like trees as well as a boutique and café. Unfortunately while in the gardens it began to rain, and since there wasn’t much else to see in the newer part of
the city we headed back to the Riad to relax and enjoy some tea.
A couple hours later we headed back to KosyBar to enjoy some wine…two bottles-worth - we figured we might as well make up for the lack of alcohol in the country. I also inhaled basically a jar of delicious spiced olives while we made friends with two Brits and an Australian that eventually came to the table next to us. Prior to this I also purchased a little trinket for the dollar game at Easter - I’ll see if I can’t find something else in Casablanca and elsewhere before coming home in March.
Anywho, feeling good, we headed back to Djemaa el Fna for a cheap dinner, and seeing as Christopher was literally assaulted by the young guys from the stall we had eaten from the day prior, we ended up there again. It was also pouring and super windy at this point, so some of the staff had to more or less hold down the edges of the tent to keep the wind out. I had a tasty Moroccan soup, harira, and we split some fried calamari and a lamb tajine, both of
Umm...
These were some interesting structures near the city's ramparts, but I don't know what they are. which were very good.
Grabbing some more ice cream (cinnamon and straciatella) on our way back through the souks, we decided to call it an evening since the weather wasn’t really suitable for anything besides sitting about and reading and relaxing.
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