Morocco Day 5

The day in Marrakech started with a local guide in addition to Abdullah. We toured the Koutoubia Minaret with Mohammed, who is also a Berber.

Then we explored the historical sites of the Palais Bahia, as well as the Palais Badi. The grounds were large in area and some restoration has been taken place.

We got on the bus again and got a ride to the medina in the old quarter where we toured the alleys of the bustling souks. There were many interesting wares displayed and the women were anxious to shop. Just like Fes, we saw the various sections such as metal smith work, lanterns, shoes, leather goods, fabrics, etc.

One of the big differences between the two cities was that Marrakech is more touristy and modern. Instead of people yelling “Balag” to announce oncoming donkeys, a horn beep signalled the approach of small motorcycles. Sometimes we even saw women driving them – unheard of in Fes.

In the souks, we made a stop to visit the Medresa Ben Youssef. It wasn’t as peaceful as the one in Fes either, but filled with small and large groups of tourists. This made people-free photos quite difficult but I did what I could.

We would have dearly loved a break for water/coffee/Coca Cola and the chance to give our feet a rest but we continued on through the maze. Besides, we wouldn’t have been able to find our way out very easily anyway at that point!

Our next stop was at the spice/herbalist store. We were shown many different types of spices, herbs and concoctions to cure a multitude of ailments and we got the chance to smell everything.  There were cures for snoring, cold sores, bronchial congestion, psoriasis, headaches, constipation, weight loss, and sleeplessness to name a few. I bought a blend of 35 spices and herbs for cooking. The herbalist said it was for ‘people who don’t know how to cook – with this blend, it’s all done for you.” I also bought some mint tea of course. I was hoping it was like the Egyptian tea I got there, but it’s different. Anyway, mint is good!

Finally it was lunch time and I was ready to kill for a Coke Zero! Abdullah took us to a place he knew and it was good. I had a chicken shwarma platter and the meat was very delicious. After we were done, he let us loose for the rest of the day!

Mike and I headed over to the souks to start shopping for the things on our ‘list’. Our first attempt at negotiations didn’t go all that well, or so we thought. We picked up some silk table runners at what we first thought was an exorbitant price. But later we realized that we got pretty good quality for that price. Mike found a knife he liked. I found some Moroccan lanterns. Mike made a pretty good deal on a Berber mask and I bought some belly dancing coin belts. The way to get the best price is to walk away when they don’t like your offer. If you really want it, you throw out a low price, then they counter, and you counter, etc. etc. until you are both happy.

We were completely exhausted and headed to find refreshment of some type. We got a street table with a view of the goings on and ordered a juice and an ice cream sundae type of dish. Mine was chocolate and Mike’s was a most delicious pink kind of IC.

After that we were refreshed and Mike wanted to head out again to see the sun set and the craziness that is the square. Before I knew it, he had a snake wrapped around his neck and the owner was telling me to take a photo of him. The snake charmer also wanted to place one on me, several times in fact, and didn’t seem to comprehend that “No!” meant “NO WAY!!!!!”!

 We headed back towards the shopping area but didn’t want to enter the souks at night. Finding your way around in the daytime is bad enough.

Although we weren’t too hungry, I figured we should eat some kind of supper besides ice cream so we sat down at one of the long tables like we ate at last night. We ordered salad and pastilla. The salad and bread were good. The pastilla was nothing like what we had in Fes. I was short of cash (or so I thought) so we decided to walk back to the hotel even though my feet were screaming. Besides which, it was just as crowded as last night and getting a cab would have been impossible anyway.

I will have NO trouble sleeping tonight!!!