Morocco 2024

Day 10 October 24, 2024 Marrakech 13.7 miles

Today started cloudy but became only partly cloudy by mid morning. The breakfast this morning was better or we are becoming accustomed to the lack of flavor.

Our first stop on the city tour was at the Medina or old city. We entered through the gate of the Kasbah which surrounds the Medina. At one time everyone lived inside the Medina but now the city has grown significantly all around. The French did a lot of construction during their occupation of the country. They used concrete and rebar instead of of mud bricks. Our hotel was built by the French and is considered new construction at 100 years of age.

We walked through some of the streets to the tombs of ancient kings. On the way we passed several buildings damaged by the 2023 earthquake. Some of the damage has been repaired but not all of it. Inside the shrine is a lovely garden with mosaic tablets on the ground. These are graves of soldiers and servants of the kings. Some have marble pieces to designated someone of more importance. There are three main rooms. The first is the woman’s room. The mother of the first king and other wives are buried in this room. The next room was for the kings. It has marble pillars and gold on the ceiling. The third room is for the children. The marble came from Italy since Morocco doesn’t have any. They traded equal weight of sugar for the marble. Our guide said Morocco got the better deal because they still have the marble but the sugar is all gone. The gold on the ceiling was obtained by trading salt.

Then we walked through the Jewish quarter to the royal palace. The Jewish quarter used to be home to over 700 Jews but when Israel was created many of them left. Now there are less than 100. Two synagogues are still in use. The remainder have become houses. Lots of shopping activity. The streets here are large enough for cars and delivery trucks to pass so the streets are very busy and you must be very careful.

The royal palace is the only one open to the public. It is no longer in use by the royal family. It is considered one of the must see places in the country. Based on the number of people visiting today it certainly is. Lots of mosaics on the walls and the floors. The ceilings are beautifully painted with natural dyes. There are administrative rooms, wives rooms and harem rooms. The king had four wives and 24 concubines. Of course if a wife died he could marry another. He was a busy man. He had 500 children. Most likely the rooms would be cool if not for all the people inside. Some of the areas are under renovation from the earthquake so they could not be visited.

Back on the bus to go to the main minaret or mosque of the city. This is the tallest building in the city. No buildings in any city can be taller than their minaret. On top is a crane looking structure which points to Mecca. In this case it points East. Very near the minaret is the main square. So much going on! The square is large and paved. Lots of small shops and street vendors. Also snake charmers and monkey handlers. Lots of people, cars, trucks, donkey carts, motorcycles, tuk tuks and bicycles. Some of our group remained to shop and some of us returned to the hotel.

We relaxed until time to depart for our cooking class. We made chicken tagine with raisins, tomato salad and eggplant salad. The whole process was really interesting and the end result was delicious. We most likely will not be making this at home. You need a special pot and some spices most likely not found in Boise. Rob made the best rose out of a tomato peel in the group. That will probably not happen in Boise as well.

After the cooking class we returned to the hotel in one of the horse drawn carriages. They took us on a much longer ride than expected. It’s much cooler at night and more locals are out and about. The carriages go on the same roads as the cars. Everyone seems to make it work. Sure glad we aren’t trying to drive.We have seen the results of two vehicle wrecks and as anywhere in the world they were not pretty.