A Full Half-Day In Marrakesh

After a pleasant (albeit expensive!) breakfast by the pool, we were picked up by Rasheed and our driver (OMG, we need to get his name again!) for our first full day of touring.  First stop was the Menara Gardens, botanical gardens established in the 12th century.  

The main attraction, the basin (fed from the Atlas Mountains), is surrounded by olive groves and orchards.  It was pleasant, albeit underwhelming for a first stop.

Our next stop was the Koutoubia Mosque, the main mosque in Marrakech.  We walked around the outside.  Non-believers are not allowed in.  That seems strange, because we went in multiple mosques in Turkey.  And it is strange.  As it turns out, it was a French law (figures!) that has stuck in Morocco.  The minaret is 253 feet high.

The area around the mosque is pretty, with fountains and gardens, and boys playing soccer.  Their game got delayed when the ball went behind a wall into the ruins section of the mosque.

The next stop was the Saadian Tombs, which have more than 200 tombs that were hidden from the world for 200 years.  The tombs date from the 16th century, but they are not the main attraction.  Instead, the splendor of the mausoleums is the reason to visit.  Rediscovered by a French aerial survey of the city in 1917, the mausoleum has beautiful vaulted ceilings, fine carvings, and tiles.  We had to wait in line a bit to see the main mausoleum, but in warm weather, it was quite pleasant (humidity is NOT a thing in Marrakech, if only that were true at home!)

We strolled around the city some more, taking the first of many random walks down the narrow streets, past shops. Having our guide Rachid (sorry, I had been spelling it based on Rasheed Wallace, which is wrong) with us was a double bonus.  First, and most importantly, he showed us where to go and filled us in on the history and drama that is Morocco.  Second, and secondly importantly (grammar error intended), Rachid's presence meant that many of the shopkeepers/sales people would leave us alone instead of hounding us to buy their goods and gewgaws.

Just walking around the city is invigorating.  Our next stop was in a cooperative that took authentic Moroccan rugs authentically made by authentic Moroccan women.  Rachid vouches for it -- there is no bargaining or haggling, and all of the rugs are top quality.  Our friends John and Lisa were in Morocco in 2015 visiting their daughter who was doing her semester abroad.  They said that we would end up buying a rug, and they got it half right.  We ended up buying two rugs.

The salesman (we're told he does not work on commission) had us to himself.  No one else was in the room where it happened.  He had his helpers bring out several examples of each type of Moroccan rug (there are at least seven-to-eight styles, and since I wasn't counting, it may have been more).  Some we eliminated easily.  Others we kept, until we were left with five rugs of various styles.  We eliminated one more (it was like House Hunters International, cutting out some options).  Down to four.  He had several other colors of the same style of one kind brought out, and we opted to keep the blue.

Two of the rugs were so very striking.  They were nothing we had ever seen before.  Both were stunning in their appearance.  The other two were more traditional rugs with beautiful designs.  We went with one of the unusual rugs and one of the more typical kind.  The rugs may beat us home!

After the rug purchase, we were dropped off for lunch at a French restaurant in the new part of the city.  The food was fine, as we had meatballs with fried eggs and cinnamon cous cous.