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We decide to spend the morning exploring the south end of the Medina. The staff at the Riad tell us that we should be fine to do this on our own, and that we won't need a guide. We're worried about getting scammed again. We decide that we must look confident, not hesitate at intersections, and on no account let anyone see us looking at a map.
We make our way to the main square and then continue on south. We're momentarily confused about where to go next. A young shopkeeper smells our confusion and pounces. We try to walk away, but he tells us not to worry. He says that he's not a guide and nor does he have any snakes to hang around our necks. He also says that he doesn't want any money, he just wants to practise his English. He tells us that the palaces we want to see are closed now because it's the last day of Ramadan and that they'll open again in about half an hour. He tells us that while we're waiting we should look through his shop. He shows us a range of spices, and rubs blocks of perfume on our
arms so that we can smell them. He then gives us a couple of small gifts and cups of tea. Out of a sense of obligation Issy buys three of the perfume blocks, for which she pays the equivalent of about $60. We suspect they're probably worth a fraction of that. When we get to the first palace it's clearly been open all the time. We've been totally conned yet again. I think we must be easy targets. Issy tells me that getting ripped off is part of the cultural experience. I think it's good we're leaving tomorrow; we're going to go broke if we stay here for much longer.
We go into the 19th century Bahia Palace. Bahia means "brilliance", and it was apparently originally intended to be “the most brilliant palace of its time”. Its rooms are set around attractive garden courtyards decorated in typical Moroccan style.
Next stop is the ruin of the 16th century El Badi Palace. Its massive central courtyard is made up of six sunken areas. Four of these are planted with orange trees, and the other two are filled with water to irrigate them. The Palace housed both the court and
the jail. We go down into the dungeon which was used to house political prisoners, six to each tiny cell, in total darkness. I'm not sure that this would have been all that beneficial to their mental health. I'm not sure it would have done their eyesight much good either. I hope they had a good supply of sunglasses on hand when they eventually let them out. I assume they eventually let them out. The palace is massive and must have been very impressive in its time. It seems that a subsequent ruler decided to move the seat of power away from Marrakech, so he stripped El Badi and used the strippings to build a new palace in the city of Meknes.
We successfully make our way back to the Riad. We make at least two wrong turns along the way, but manage to make them look totally intentional. I think that maybe we're starting to get the hang of this.
We spend the latter part of the afternoon lazing in our room and around the roof terrace pool. The Riad recommends we have dinner at a restaurant in the new part of town. The food's good but
the surrounds feel a bit too modern and non-traditional compared to the ones in the Medina.
Issy's read yesterday's blog. She's not happy. She says that I need to stop exaggerating. She says that the water she fell into yesterday at Ait Benhaddou wasn't knee deep, it was only ankle deep. I tell her that no one would be interested in reading about someone falling into ankle deep water. Even knee deep isn't that interesting. I tell her that if I really wanted to exaggerate I would have written that she fell into a raging torrent full of crocodiles.
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