We began out day by going south to Saadien's Tomb. The price was high for what was a fairly small structure with one spectacular room that you could see only from the entryway. There was a twenty to thirty minute line that we had to wait on to see the room. I gave the people in front of me a wide berth to take their time. When it was my turn, the older people behind me apparently couldn't control themselves and hovered over me. I hate other tourists.
The small courtyard had a few small tortoises that were walking around surprisingly fast. They were fun to watch. We departed for the nearby El Badii Palace, which looked two minutes away on maps, but finding the entrance proved to be difficult. We had to walk around what we perceived to be the general area, in a large circle, until we happened to hit on the entrance.
This place was huge and spectacular. There were some caves underneath, an art display that I really enjoyed by an artist named Li Jin Yuan, and an upper terrace. Storks nested all along the tops of the walls. We had a wonderful time walking around and enjoying the architecture and the ruins.
Just a short distance away was the Marrakech mellah. We stopped her briefly to see the Slat Al Azama Synagogue, after dodging people and children offering to "guide" us to the synagogue. It was a beautiful white and blue. While visiting, I commented to Stephanie how the Jews and Arabs have so much in common, including their struggles having to flee Spain together. It is a shame that the Jews invaded in order to create Israel, ruining any good will they had between each other. Sure enough, in a nearby room there was a video explaining that after the creation of Israel, the Arab community was outraged, and many Jews ended up leaving Morocco. It is such a terrible shame.
Steps away we entered the Bahia Palace. The grounds were much larger than I had anticipated, with the ability to see many rooms and courtyards, along with some beautiful plants that I had never seen before.
By the time we were done, it was time for an early dinner. We found a place online and had a wonderful meal there. On the way, we passed a stall filled with art that I found incredibly beautiful. After we were done eating, we returned to that stall for a better look. I asked about the price of a certain piece and it wasn't bad at all. The artist actually paints the art in the stall, and the piece that I loved still needed to be finished. He told us to come back in two hours.
Two hours later we returned and it was just about finished. The artist came and spoke with us, giving us a rant that began interestingly enough, but soon delved into god and art and what was meant to be and how money corrupts people. I agreed with some of the things he said, especially about how once an artist comes into money, they are often severely affected, but I am not sure why I needed to hear thirty minutes on the subject. I just wanted to buy the piece of art. He told me that he would like to finish the piece before selling and to come back the next day. We would not be able to come back until Saturday, two days later, so he asked for a deposit of $10 worth of dirham. That was fine with me. If it was a scam, then he missed out, because I was planning on spending a lot more to buy his art! We will see...
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| As if dodging pedestrians in a hallway on a motorcycle wasn't dangerous enough, he decided to talk on a cell phone while driving. |
A few other things that I remembered after the fact and then wrote down in my phone to remind myself to add to the blog-
-On the first day exploring the medina in Fes, as we were leaving the medina, a random shopkeeper asked us if we were from America. We answered yes. He responded with, "Your president is craaazy!" We had a good laugh.
-I asked our driver to Meknes about the uniformed men that had stopped checkpoints for cars. He explained that in cities there are the police. Outside of cities, there were different uniformed officers that worked more for the main government's military/police. They stopped cars randomly or if they are speeding, in order to check them for "contraband." We actually ended up being stopped the day after the events of this blog post, in a small tour vehicle. They checked the contents of the trunk and the front seats and then sent us on our way.
-Multiple times throughout the day, every day, in both cities, there is loud praying over loudspeakers. It sounds almost like a loud mooing or humming. We asked what that was about, and the Imams working in the mosques do this on a time table to remind people that work all day that it is time to pray. He explained that people that work may lose track of time while doing their business, so it was the job of the Imam to give timed reminders.
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