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Published: February 18th 2010
The second day in Morocco started out with a simple but lovely breakfast in the courtyard directly outside our room. There were chocolate croissants, another swirled pastry, traditional Moroccan bread, and thick crepes along with three different jams served in really cute mini-tajine serving bowls. It was clear that these needed to be purchased before we left. In addition we had coffee, which we drank from nice little clay bowls. At first we were stupid and asked for mugs for coffee, but when we were brought back an additional two bowls we got the hint.
Day two was just as beautiful as the first, but this time the ground was slightly drier which made for much cleaner pant-bottoms. And so we were on our way through the winding streets of the Medina toward the Kasba or royal quarter, where most of today’s itinerary would take us. Before arriving, however, one of the ceramic shops perked our interest with its gorgeous tajines and serving dishes in the entryway. We spent a fair amount of time in there poking about, but the dish we wanted was obvious from the beginning, a Berber-style design with rich blues and yellows reminiscent of Provence. In
the end we purchased that dish along with a mini-tajine trio and even haggled him down an extra 100 Dirham (10 Euro). Unfortunately later we would discover that even after haggling we were essentially getting screwed. Oh well - we really like our purchases, lol.
Continuing on our way we made it to Dar Si Said, a monument to local master artesans and - surprise - a former palace. The highlight of this museum was again the structure, itself, and to a lesser degree the various rugs and daggers and whatnot. I really hope that in the future Morocco is able to sufficiently preserve its national treasures, because it is quite a shame to see such beautiful things in somewhat less-desirable display conditions.
Our next stop took us to the Tiskiwin Museum, which contained a really great collection of objects relating to the history of North Africa, with elaborate Berber costumes, weaponry, saddle-gear and the like. Moving along we made it just before the 11:30 closure of the Bahia Palace, with Bahia meaning “brilliant”. Apparently only a third of this palace remains after the Grand Vizier Ahmed Ben Moussa lost power and had his possessions stripped by the
Sultan, but what remained was spectacular - beautiful Andalusian garden pavilions, stained-glass windows, ornately carved cedar ceilings, and beautiful mosaics.
Having finished sometime after 12 and given that museums didn’t open again until 2:30pm we decided to have an early lunch in the Place des Ferblantiers close by. Christopher ordered some skewered chicken while I opted for some fish, the type of which I am not sure, deep fried with hot peppers. Despite being pestered by the local cats, lunch left us very satisfied. To kill some time afterwards we attempted to explore the Mellah, of Jewish quarter, but really we just ended up semi-lost and wandering about the confusing streets.
On our way back toward the center of the Kasba another ceramic shop caught our eye, and once we saw the prices we realized our prior misfortune of paying so much for our dishes. Well, we had to make up for it, so we ended up with 4 bowls and a differently-shaped serving dish to go along with our set. Having dropped our acquisitions back at the Riad and rested up a bit, we headed back our through Djemaa el Fna and back toward the Kasba to
first see the Saadian tombs. Apparently while in the square Christopher had a monkey thrown on his back by some men wanting to charge him for a picture, but I was a bit up ahead and not paying attention. Anyway, these tombs, not discovered until around 1920, date back to the period of the great sultan Ahmed El-Mansour Saadi, who ruled in the 16th Century.
After exiting the tombs we had a 45 minute "stroll" through the outskirts of the Kasba. We were lost and somehow managed to get turned around and not find the 16th Century El-Badi Palace. Finally back in the right direction, we found the ruins of the 16th Century Palace. Taking 25 years to build, the palace was once encrusted with gold from Timbuktu and funded by wealth accrued through Ahmed El-Mansour's victories over the Portuguese. It is said that once it was complete, the sultan asked his fool what he thought of the place, receiving the prophetic answer, "it would make a fine ruin". Some weeks later the Sultan died, and by the end of the century the new Merenid sultan had the palace stripped bare and the riches carted noth to his new
capital at Meknes. That certainly sucks.
Through with our sightseeing for the day we headed over to KosyBar, one of the few legitimate bars in Marrakesh, to split a bottle of wine while overlooking the city as night began to fall. Later, back in Djemaa el-Fna we enjoyed a dinner of fried conger eel and an assortment of meats on a stick. To finish things off we each got some ice cream, I pistachio and Christopher coffee and hazelnut, and headed on back toward the Riad to relax and call it an evening.
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Oh, what beautiful photos! They'd make a beautiful scrapbook! I'd have a real problem in the pottery shop; I'd have to buy lots of bowls!