Marrakesh was built around 1067, and has been Islamic for 1,200 years. There are 185 mosques here. All the calls to prayer in this country are live and not pre-recorded, so each mosque might be a few seconds off the one next to it, meaning more often than not you just hear a long moan across the city as each Imam says "Allahh...aahhh...aaahhh...aaaahhhh....aaahhhhh".
There was an earthquake in Marrakesh in 2023 and 3,000 people died
mostly in traditional buildings that should only have been one level but were three.
Morocco is the second oldest Kingdom in the world, the royal family dating back to 1664, and the King shares power with the Prime Minister, though the King can replace the Prime Minister whenever he feels like it. (The oldest monarchy is Japan and the third oldest United Kingdom). [You know what, I just checked that on wiki and I don't think it's true, whatever].
We went to Bahia Palace in Marrakech, and I realised that I've seen lots of palaces in Morocco and should have noted them in this TR, this being a Palaces and not The Sahara trip report, but it was often unclear whether it was a palace or a mosque, or a mosque or a palace. Most important buildings turn into mosques, so it was often unclear whether it was a palace because a monarch lived there, or whether it was a palace because it was a nice building that now had the tomb of someone important in it.
Bahia was built in 1866. Cedar was used for wooden carvings outside and on the ceilings because it's termite proof and lasts forever. The colours used to adorn the wood are yellow (from saffron) and red (from henna). The white stucco is made from gypsum, marble dust, and egg whites!
Henna is a green leaf that turns a rich red when ground. A woman who adorns her hands and feet with henna is married, single women only adorn their hands.
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The Souk has 1,020 shops. Maybe I was desensitised in Fes, but the Medina and Souk in Marrakesh is a more pleasurable experience. It's still dusty and dirty and busy and sometimes smelly, but there is a lovely garden in the middle, and though of course I would get lost if left alone, I don't think I would die before finding my way out. The worst thing about the Souk is all the exaggerated Instagram outfits, all seeking the award of how little clothing they can wear in a muslim country. Literally EVERYONE makes fun of these people with their poses and ridiculous clothes and high heels, do they not see it?
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Let's talk about the tour group. We started with 12. One couple (who used the tour and guides as their own personal shopping concierges; they are having a $5,000 fountain shipped to them in 5 months) left us on the outskirts of Marrakesh. This was prearranged as they were attending multi-day wedding celebrations and a private driver picked them up at a rest stop. That leaves 10.
Over the last week I've observed them all eating fresh tomato salads, various fruit, homemade yogurts in the morning, ordering fresh juice at cafes, and obsessing over where their next bottle of wine will come from in a dry country, stocking up wherever they could. At one point I mentioned that we shouldn't be eating the fruit because we'll get sick, and one man said,
No it's fine I've even been brushing my teeth with tap water. I had no intention of doing those things and I still came with antibiotics, and meds for diarrhoea and vomiting. They did all the former and had none of the latter.
One woman stopped eating about 4 days ago, and when she does attempt to eat she eats....fruit. One man, the one who brushed his teeth with tap water, started vomiting and stomach cramping the morning after he finished his last two bottles of wine at dinner. He blames "the kasbah" and hasn't taken part in anything for 2 days, though he is joining us for the final night's dinner (spoiler alert, he ordered the tomato salad starter but avoided the BOTTLED water because he didn't trust it after 2 days of fasting). Another, an Australian woman who looks and talks like Vinegar cough from the old Prisoner TV show, I saw her enter the Riad kitchen last night and just bark at them "rice, plain rice"...they offered couscous and she refused.
10 people checked into the Riad last night, I'm literally the only one who ate dinner, the rest of them had to stay in their rooms near the toilet.
This morning's tour of the souk started with 10 people, and ended with 6. Three of them had to be escorted back to the Riad, the rice lady to the pharmac_. I saw her poke her head out of her room later and she was very much not ok.
Don't.Eat.Uncooked.Food.In.Strange.Countries.
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Marrakesh blah blah Medina blah blah Souk blah blah, and then we went to the Agafay Desert, and as you know, the Arabic word for desert is sahar, or sahara, so where did I go? That's right,
Agafay Sahara. That means I'm absolutely not changing the title of this thread and at worst I just need to remove the capital T from The... Let's just call it a typo and move on.
Watching the changing colours in the desert at sunset really is spectacular. We had the traditional experience of three young men getting off their motorbikes, putting on their Berber gear, and playing traditional music AT us. This is more of a desert 'experience' type of place where you go on camel rides for 20 minutes, quad bikes, fire dancing, and glamping. We didn't glamp but it was a lovely way to spend our last dinner and final night in Morocco in the desert breeze, followed by an astronomy talk with a telescope.
I watched the sun set behind the rocky hills (not dunes) knowing I'll never see Morocco again. I'm glad I visited and wish they live long and prosper, but I didn't feel any wonder in my soul, it didn't touch me but felt more like I was simply an observer. Chefchaouen and Volubilis were the highlights for me in Morocco, and Hampton Court Palace in London, but I am so very ready to go home to my cat and to my bed
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Bahia Palace, painted cedarwood ceilings and stucco relief
Marrakesh medina, and Le Jardin Secret
Agafay Sunset, dinner and stargazing
And a hand woven blue silk thingy (they were calling it a sofa cover) I intend to use as a bed adornment
