I got up a little later today. I think it was 7am which was a treat. I grabbed a couple of bananas and headed out the door at about 8:10am. I went to the Bahia parking lot and my tour guide didn’t come and pick me up till about 8:30am. I was a little confused as he walked up but he said the van would not be able to get into the parking lot so we took a short walk and met up with the driver.
Our first stop was the Menara Gardens. I didn’t realize that this was an Olive Garden but that should have been obvious. This one was 100 hectares and produced all color of olives which are pink, green, and black. After walking around for a bit and checking the resevoir that watered the trees our driver Mohammed picked us up he took us back to the old part of town.
Next I saw the Koutoubia Mosque which was the tallest building in all of Marrakech. An interesting fact was that no other building is allowed to be taller than this one.
Mohammed picked us up and took us to Bahia Palace and gardens. There I learned the difference between a Riad and Dar. A Riad has a garden in the middle while a Dar does not. The palace had a mixture of both with the main room being a Riad and the other area being a Dar.
From there I walked with the tour guide (sorry can’t remember his name) to the Saadian Tombs. This place was under construction but still pretty cool. From what was explained to me is that the corpses are buried on their sides and are facing Mecca. The room that had the saudi kings had 12 pillars while the room that housed the children had four pillars. It was explained to me the meaning of the amount of pillars and doing a quick google search didn’t really produce anything.
After we left the tombs I asked my guide when lunch was. He said it wasn’t till 12pm and it was 11:20am…I felt like I needed a snack but held out.
Our driver took us to the Jemma el-Fnaa square which was supposed to be spectacular at night then we parted. What I saw during the day were a bunch of horse drawn carriages, snake charmers, and shop owners which was still really cool. I asked if we were just going to walk around the square because if so I wanted to possibly see something else. My guide recommended Jardin Majorelle which was an artists home that had a garden and his paintings. I told him lets go. He had to call the driver back and he took us to our destination.
This place was beautiful. I spent the front half watching videos in the museum and looking at the artwork then I walked around the gardens. I think that I have pictures on my DSLR which I will post later 🙂
Mohammed picked us up after an hour…maybe less and went back to Jemma el-Fnaa. I had lunch (thank god) which was beef kefta tagine which was pretty good. It was a little greasy but that didn’t detour me from eating the whole thing.
After lunch we walked around the souks…man those streets wind all over the place. If he had asked me to walk that path again I wouldn’t have been able to do it. He took me to a few shops that his friends owned but I wasn’t interested in buying and I made that apparent.
I was getting tired and wanted to leave time to clean up and take a nap so I split off from the guide.
I had a nice dinner at Gastro MK setup which was supposed to be a six course dinner. I thought I left enough time to get there without getting lost but it was inevitable…I got lost. I thought this person was going to help me for free but he was asking for 150 dirham which was equivalent to $15. I gave it to him.
I was greeted and taken upstairs to relax on the rooftop and have some appetizers. While walking up the stairs they had this orange juice drink that was spiced. I was told it was best to take it in one shot. I did and man it was kinda spicy!! but good. I had some candied almonds and relaxed as the sun went down. I was given a pineapple medely that had a slice of pineapple and I believe a pineapple drink. Here’s a picture of the appetizers and the pineapple medley.
At about 7:15pm I thought I would walk downstairs for dinner. I was served six courses and I lost steam after my salad and meat. Take a look at what I had!!
I know this isn’t six courses but I think I might have forgotten to take a few pictures 🙂
I left Gastro after paying and walked to a place called Le Grand Balcon du Cafe Glacier. I purchased a cappuccino and asked if it would be ok to setup my tripod and they said yes. I took quite a few frames and called it a night.