Our last day in Marrakech

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After breakfast, Jo and I headed off to the Saadian Tombs, located just south of the Koutoubia Mosque. The tombs are well hidden in a maze of narrow streets and my navigation seemed to be on the money until we made the mistake of following a sign with an arrow pointing to Saadian Tombs. It transpired that an enterprising businessman has set up the sign to point tourists straight at his shop and we had to go through it in order to get to the block where the tombs were located. Just as crafty, even if leaching from the merchants’ good idea, was the guide that waited for us at the exit of the shop.

The tombs were lavish in design and featured intricate Arabic designs and verse on the surfaces. Our guide (he had followed us from the shop) told us they are the final resting place of the Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur and his family. We would have spent longer at the tombs but we were interrupted by two coachloads of French and American tourists and the small area became quickly claustrophobic. Even though we hadn’t asked for our guide he demanded money for his services – I pleaded poverty and got away with a two cigarette tip.

We stopped at a street-side café for a coffee and coke before deciding to walk around the south side of Palais el-Badi and loop around to the entrance to take a look. This turned out to be rather a longer walk than we had anticipated as we also had to walk around the Royal Palace to do so. We actually had no idea of the existence of the Royal Palace and only realised what it was after being yelled at by a royal guard for being too close to the perimeter. Although significantly more modern in design the palaces huge wooden gates and archways were quite spectacular. Our arrival time at the gate of Palais el-Badi was not ideal – they closed at 1145 for lunch so we missed out.

The souq at Djeema el-Fna was calling so we walked back and spent a few hours picking up yet more trinkets and souvenirs. I bought some decorative “evil eyes” – asking price Dh120 each – agreed payment Dh100 for four – but I still reckon I was ripped off. Back in the square we enjoyed some freshly squeezed orange juice for just Dh3 (I recommend stall 11) and then headed back to Hotel CTM. Both of us were a little under the weather and Jo had picked up a nasty cough so we decided to get a few hours sleep at the Hotel CTM.

We were back on the terrace on time to see the 1600 roll-in of the food stalls and spent a few hours relaxing over cokes and coffees until we were ready to eat. We went back to Number One but mixed it up a bit – adding calamari to the potato cakes and meatballs but still only spending DH105 for both of us. In a hectic trip such as this one, having just a little bit of predictability to your days counts for a lot and can actually be quite enjoyable.
We were in bed by 2130 but my book kept me awake until midnight.

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