Dr. Plotnick's Moroccan Cat Adventure - Day 3 – Marrakech
Morocco Day 3 (Day 1 Day 2)
I started
my Saturday in Morocco with our riad’s lavish rooftop terrace breakfast, only
this time I was joined by the resident cat.
Soon afterward, we were joined by the neighborhood tomcat, who hopped onto the terrace from a nearby rooftop, and made himself at home in the covered seating area on the terrace.
Yesterday we explored sites in the northern part of Marrakech’s medina. Today, we were going to check out the happenings in the southern part.
We headed west (our usual direction) toward the Jemma el Fna, and then turned left and continued south, past the Koutoubia mosque, down Rue de Bab Agnaou. In a few minutes, we arrived at the impressive gate itself: Bab Agnaou, the most beautiful city gate. It’s the only one built of stone.
The 66 royal tombs housed here are from the late 16th and early 17th centuries, but were kept hidden from the outside world until the 1920s. The complex is relatively small, but has lots of carved cedar, stucco, and nice tiles. Here’s a picture showing all three:
Many Moroccans dislike being photographed or filmed. I wanted to catch the vibrancy of the market on film, so to be inconspicuous, I took a video with the camera discreetly held by my hip. It’s a little shaky, but it came out okay. Toward the end, in the covered part of the market, on the left you can briefly see a butcher stall. Hanging from a hook is a lamb carcass, I believe. Pinned to the lamb carcass is a testicle, indicating that it’s a male. Male meat is considered more desirable than female meat. (No shocker there, in an Arab country.)
This 16th century palace used to be the mansion of Sultan Ahmed el-Mansour, and was once one of the world’s most impressive monuments, until it was ransacked by Moulay Ismail in the 17th century, to help him complete his own palace at Meknes. It took armies of laborers and craftsmen 25 years to complete. There was a massive pool with an island flanked by four sunken gardens (which is still visible). The place was so huge and amazing that it took 12 years to ransack the place. All that survives there now are the denuded mudbrick ruins. The most interesting part of the visit are the storks who build their nests on the protrusions in the crumbling walls. An old Berber belief that storks are actually transformed humans has rendered the storks holy here. I took this cool picture showing some of them on a nest, visible through a window in the wall.
You can see the swimming pool, and the sunken gardens flanking them. There really isn’t much to see, I have to say. All I could do was imagine the place as it used to be, with walls and ceilings encrusted in gold and mosaic. Here’s another view of the pool,
The owner of the shop saw Mark taking the photo of me holding the cat. After I put the cat down, I went to take one more photo of the cat, and the owner came over, and in perfect English said that it cost 20 dirhams to take a photo of the cat! I said to him, angrily, “Cut me a break! I am NOT paying you ANYTHING for a picture of your cat!” and stormed away. Seeing that I was ticked off, and knowing that it’s not a good idea to tick off a potential customer, he quickly said that he was kidding. It didn’t matter. There was no way now that I would ever buy anything from him. Sheesh. I saw this other really nice looking cat in the plaza, too.
We were going to eat at a restaurant in the corner of the square that was recommended in my guide book, but it just looked too touristy. There was a restaurant just around the corner with a clientele that looked mostly like locals, so we ate there, and it was great.
Bahia means “beautiful”, and it definitely was. The palace features floor to ceiling decoration begun by Grand Visier Si Moussa in the 1860s, and then later embellished from 1894 to 1900. The ceilings are amazing, with inlaid woodwork that elicits a “wow” from the visitors. After you go through the entryway, you walk up a long, tree-lined path to the palace. I spotted this tree with four cats chilling beneath it.
A few feet away, a tourist was playing with a totally adorable orange kitten. You can see this at the top of the photo. I spotted the kitten on the way out. Cutest thing ever! As for the kitties under the tree, it was frustrating. I went to check them out, and one of them had a really snotty nose; mucus was just pouring from it.
She was being a good mom, looking after the kitten and grooming it. I picked up the kitten and saw that it had some pretty nasty conjunctivitis, so once again, out came the antibiotic eye drops.
Dar Si Said
is a 19th century palace that is now a museum. They have an interesting collection of
antique Moroccan crafts including pottery, jewelry, daggers, carpets and
leatherwork. That was our next
destination. We figured hey, we may never be in Morocco again, admission to
museums here is very cheap (I don’t think any place was more than 10 dirhams,
which is about $1.23), and I never get tired of the spectacular mosaics and
tile work. The walk there was
interesting, taking us through colorful shopping areas that show off the
handmade Berber rugs,
The restaurant is outside the medina, in the Gueliz neighborhood. It is run entirely by women. They offer a la carte items rather than the typical set menu that almost all other places offer. Getting there by cab required the usual annoying haggling. The décor inside was upscale and lovely.
I had a lamb and prune tagine, which was served with the fluffiest, tastiest couscous. Mark had skewers of beef, chicken and lamb over rice. The food was truly fantastic. For dessert, I ordered ice-cream, which came out in two scoops, with an orange-glazed cookie. When it arrived, Mark and I both agreed that the presentation of the dessert was interesting, to say the least. Very interesting.
It was really eye-opening. We didn’t see much of it, but it really made us wonder if this could ever be the kind of place we could live. We both love big cities, and whenever we travel, we always ask each other, if push came to shove, could we survive here? Rome, yes. Amsterdam, yes. Paris, yes. Copenhagen, probably not. Helsinki, no. Stockholm, probably. Marrakech? We didn’t see enough of the ville nouvelle to be able to say, but as a gay couple in a Muslim country… um, no. Still, we were impressed.
Tomorrow is
the big day-trip to the coastal fishing port of Essaouira!
Day 4
Soon afterward, we were joined by the neighborhood tomcat, who hopped onto the terrace from a nearby rooftop, and made himself at home in the covered seating area on the terrace.
Yesterday we explored sites in the northern part of Marrakech’s medina. Today, we were going to check out the happenings in the southern part.
We headed west (our usual direction) toward the Jemma el Fna, and then turned left and continued south, past the Koutoubia mosque, down Rue de Bab Agnaou. In a few minutes, we arrived at the impressive gate itself: Bab Agnaou, the most beautiful city gate. It’s the only one built of stone.
The
gate leads to a complex that houses the Saadian Tombs.
Before entering,
I saw a few people milling about, enjoying the antics of a very cute kitten.
The 66 royal tombs housed here are from the late 16th and early 17th centuries, but were kept hidden from the outside world until the 1920s. The complex is relatively small, but has lots of carved cedar, stucco, and nice tiles. Here’s a picture showing all three:
We passed through the main chamber where some of the tiled tombs were visible.
The
serene garden had a bunch of tombs, and couple of cute kittens.
I caught
this little one napping.
I made a
little noise, and she looked up, and I snagged this nice portrait of her.
Here’s another cute one hanging out in the garden
This entryway
off the garden shows some of the elaborate carved cedar.
The highlight
was the Hall of Twelve Columns, which holds the tombs of the Sultan Ahmed El
Mansour, along with his entire family.
The stele is made of finely
worked cedar and stucco.
The graves are made from Carrara marble from
Italy. On the way out, I spotted (and
played with) this little calico/tabby.
About a
block south from the tombs, on Rue de Kasbah, was a real local market. This was authentic Marrakech; I don’t think I
saw any tourists here at all. People were buying mint;
they use a ton of
mint in the mint tea, which they drink like coffee here. There were lots of
vegetable sellers as well.
Many Moroccans dislike being photographed or filmed. I wanted to catch the vibrancy of the market on film, so to be inconspicuous, I took a video with the camera discreetly held by my hip. It’s a little shaky, but it came out okay. Toward the end, in the covered part of the market, on the left you can briefly see a butcher stall. Hanging from a hook is a lamb carcass, I believe. Pinned to the lamb carcass is a testicle, indicating that it’s a male. Male meat is considered more desirable than female meat. (No shocker there, in an Arab country.)
Close by
the Saadian Tombs was the Badia Palace.
This 16th century palace used to be the mansion of Sultan Ahmed el-Mansour, and was once one of the world’s most impressive monuments, until it was ransacked by Moulay Ismail in the 17th century, to help him complete his own palace at Meknes. It took armies of laborers and craftsmen 25 years to complete. There was a massive pool with an island flanked by four sunken gardens (which is still visible). The place was so huge and amazing that it took 12 years to ransack the place. All that survives there now are the denuded mudbrick ruins. The most interesting part of the visit are the storks who build their nests on the protrusions in the crumbling walls. An old Berber belief that storks are actually transformed humans has rendered the storks holy here. I took this cool picture showing some of them on a nest, visible through a window in the wall.
The initial entryway had some nice floor tile. Here’s some tile, with a cat sleeping in the
shade nearby.
Some tiled steps lead to a roof terrace which gives sweeping views over the place.
You can see the swimming pool, and the sunken gardens flanking them. There really isn’t much to see, I have to say. All I could do was imagine the place as it used to be, with walls and ceilings encrusted in gold and mosaic. Here’s another view of the pool,
and of the sunken garden.
Yawn. I shouldn’t complain; it
was a nice sunny day, and I did get to see a bunch of cool stork nests
and on the way out, I saw another kitty, munching on a piece of meat
that had been tossed to her by the security guard.
Another act of kindness toward kitties here.
Right
nearby the Badii Palace is a very cute, picturesque little square, the Place
des Ferblantiers.
Most of the
shops on the square are run by artisans to work with glass and metal to create
lamps and lanterns.
Sitting by one
of the shops was this very pretty calico cat.
I called her over and she
came right over and let me hold her.
The owner of the shop saw Mark taking the photo of me holding the cat. After I put the cat down, I went to take one more photo of the cat, and the owner came over, and in perfect English said that it cost 20 dirhams to take a photo of the cat! I said to him, angrily, “Cut me a break! I am NOT paying you ANYTHING for a picture of your cat!” and stormed away. Seeing that I was ticked off, and knowing that it’s not a good idea to tick off a potential customer, he quickly said that he was kidding. It didn’t matter. There was no way now that I would ever buy anything from him. Sheesh. I saw this other really nice looking cat in the plaza, too.
We were going to eat at a restaurant in the corner of the square that was recommended in my guide book, but it just looked too touristy. There was a restaurant just around the corner with a clientele that looked mostly like locals, so we ate there, and it was great.
Nearby to
the Badii Palace is the similar sounding Bahia Palace.
Bahia means “beautiful”, and it definitely was. The palace features floor to ceiling decoration begun by Grand Visier Si Moussa in the 1860s, and then later embellished from 1894 to 1900. The ceilings are amazing, with inlaid woodwork that elicits a “wow” from the visitors. After you go through the entryway, you walk up a long, tree-lined path to the palace. I spotted this tree with four cats chilling beneath it.
A few feet away, a tourist was playing with a totally adorable orange kitten. You can see this at the top of the photo. I spotted the kitten on the way out. Cutest thing ever! As for the kitties under the tree, it was frustrating. I went to check them out, and one of them had a really snotty nose; mucus was just pouring from it.
A simple course of antibiotics would
almost certainly have cleared this up.
Sigh. I gave him some food.
The palace
itself had some incredible features.
After you walk though a peaceful courtyard,
you walk through a
lovely garden,
and then, the breathtaking handiwork. Look at this ceiling!
This one is
equally stunning and intricate.
I like this one, with the Arabic
calligraphy.
The colors and the detail were truly mesmerizing.
Back out in
the garden, I saw a mother cat and her one kitten.
She was being a good mom, looking after the kitten and grooming it. I picked up the kitten and saw that it had some pretty nasty conjunctivitis, so once again, out came the antibiotic eye drops.
As we were leaving, I saw
the kitten that another visitor was playing with when we first entered the
palace.
This kitten was one of the cutest that I had encountered on the
entire trip. Look how cute!
Hopefully the kitten’s mother was nearby,
because this kitten couldn’t have been more than five or six weeks old.
a rainbow of spices,
and leather stalls with their multicolored
offerings.
I took this cool
picture of a cat resting under a watermelon cart.
We finally found Dar
Si Said.
They did indeed have a
collection of leather and embroidery, but the exhibits themselves were boringly displayed, I thought.
The ceilings
and the tiles
made up
for it, though. Check out this beautiful
arched doorway.
You can see some
of the pottery displayed in the room beyond.
The real highlight is the salon upstairs. It’s a somber room, with beautiful old doors
zellij tile walls,
and a stunning carved cedar ceiling painted
in the zouak style (bright colors in intricate patterns.)
No one
picture can really capture it all, but here are two amazing photos.
Heading
back to our riad, I passed this old Moroccan gentleman sleeping. I thought he
made for a compelling photo.
We prepared
for a great dinner. Weeks before our
trip, I made reservations at Al Fassia, one of the best restaurants in
Marrakech.
The restaurant is outside the medina, in the Gueliz neighborhood. It is run entirely by women. They offer a la carte items rather than the typical set menu that almost all other places offer. Getting there by cab required the usual annoying haggling. The décor inside was upscale and lovely.
Alcohol is prohibited in Morocco, and
restaurants do not usually serve it, but Al Fassia does. We had a Casablanca, the only beer brewed in
Morocco.
For starters, we had
the pastilla, again filled with pigeon.
I had a lamb and prune tagine, which was served with the fluffiest, tastiest couscous. Mark had skewers of beef, chicken and lamb over rice. The food was truly fantastic. For dessert, I ordered ice-cream, which came out in two scoops, with an orange-glazed cookie. When it arrived, Mark and I both agreed that the presentation of the dessert was interesting, to say the least. Very interesting.
This was
our first venture out of the medina into the “ville nouvelle”. We were amazed. It’s a regular big city! Modern buildings,
neon lights, cars,
fancy restaurants,
cool shopping plazas,
and other, um, fine dining...
It was really eye-opening. We didn’t see much of it, but it really made us wonder if this could ever be the kind of place we could live. We both love big cities, and whenever we travel, we always ask each other, if push came to shove, could we survive here? Rome, yes. Amsterdam, yes. Paris, yes. Copenhagen, probably not. Helsinki, no. Stockholm, probably. Marrakech? We didn’t see enough of the ville nouvelle to be able to say, but as a gay couple in a Muslim country… um, no. Still, we were impressed.
Day 4
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