We have
booked our 3 days dessert safari leaving the day after so we had 1 more full
day to spend in Marrakech.
We’ve
already serendipitously toured the medina and has seen Ben Yousseff by
ourselves the previous day, so we decided against a guide for the day. But if
you go, and have limited time, a guide would be really helpful.
With
nothing much on our agenda for the day, we asked our riad to arrange a taxi to
bring us to Saadien Tomb. We were picked up by our driver right at the door. He
parked just a couple blocks out and we could have easily found him but it was an
appreciated thoughtful gesture and nice to start the day not worrying about
getting lost.
The Chamber
of the 12 pillars mausoleum was spared no expense and was built from imported Italian
Carrara marble with honeycomb muqarnas (decorative plasterwork) gilded
with pure gold. This is the resting place of the Saadian sultan, princes and members
of the royal household, including a few Jewish graves.
It is
popular with stray cats and tourists for an entrance fee of 10 MaD. This is
also where Kim got her first marriage proposal from a guide who speaks 7-8
languages. Declining the offer, we headed for brunch.
Brunch was a chicken tajine in Kasbah café just across the entrance of the tomb.
The weather
is nice and chilly but sunny conducive for walking so we ambled down the avenue
following some carriages transporting tourists and soon enough saw the minaret
of Koutobia Mosque.
We knew
then we were near the square and continued on for glasses of chilled freshly
squeezed orange juice. So refreshing and cheap at just 4 dirhams a pop. We also
always get extra half glasses if we oblige photo requests from the juice
sellers. Shoot away then ha ha! As asians, we must really look so different
from them to attract attention. To get less of the unwanted kind, I suggest that
you dress properly with shoulders and knees covered. Morocco is still very
traditional and a muslim country after all and it’s respectful to be well and
decently dressed, well anywhere for that matter.
From the
square we entered the souks again to explore more. I really wanted to see Souk
de Epices or the Spice Market and I’m glad we did! It’s not too far away from
the square really and it wasn’t difficult to find. We bought a few grams of
menthol cystals and basically just got snap happy. There’s just too much to
photograph.
To prepare
for our dessert safari tour leaving in the morning, we proceeded to Carre Eden
Mall in the new city to buy some supplies. A couple of local guys smiled at us
and we smiled back. They then started weirdly following us around all over the
mall and the groceries. That totally creeped us out and I was about ready to
call the local police as we hightailed it out of there. As we wait for a cab,
they passed us by but did nothing so maybe we weren’t really in any real
danger. Still that was weird and made us be on guard and kept from being too
friendly the rest of our trip.
Those kind
of attention colored our Marrakech experience a bit but it wasn’t exactly
horrible. And to be fair, we’ve met really friendly and kind locals who were
generous with their time to help us out.
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