This morning we started with a little 3 mile run around the walls of the medina. We were excited because we were actually going to spend 2 nights in the same riad! What a concept! No packing to do!
After our run, we had breakfast in our riad and then it was time to go on our pre-planned city tour with our guide, Mohammed. He picked us up at our riad around 9:30 and our first stop was the Koutoubia Mosque, the largest in Marrakech. It's not open to non-Muslims, but it's still beautiful on the outside and there's an interesting history about how it is now in the spot that it is. There are columns directly next to the building where the old mosque used to be...so those were cool to see too.
We then went to the Saadian Tombs. These are some pretty intricate tombs that contain an entire dynasty that once lived in Marrakech. Amazing tile work, wood work, and some beautiful gardens.
After that we strolled through the Jewish quarter on the way to the Bahia Palace, a late 19th century palace. Lots of gorgeous spaces here, but the stories are a bit of a bummer. Three rooms for his three wives (well his three less favorite wives). A big area for his concubines. And a bigger area for his favorite wife. But, the space was really something to see!!
We had lunch at a random restaurant need after the Oscars. Quite funny. We had some skewers of meat and what Michael likes to call the pico de gallo of Morocco. Good stuff.
On our stroll to lunch, we also saw a great piece of art that we liked and Michael put a pin in his phone so we could come back after our tour.
After lunch we toured the souks (market area) of Marrakech and bought all sorts of treasures! Shoes! Spices! Tea! Scarves! So many treasures!!
By this time it was raining and it continued to rain the rest of the day. We got back to our riad around 3PM. We warmed up for a minute and then headed to a nearby bar that had a covered rooftop terrace to have an afternoon drink. Then, we walked (in the rain) to the main square to meet up and start our Marrakech Street Food Tour. The tour came highly recommended from Fazia and Mary Grace...so we were excited. We would have been more excited if it wasn't raining, but we survived the three hours of food and when I got back to the riad I took a super warm shower and everything was fine.
The food tour consisted of about 7 stops. We had yummy ginger tea and a Moroccan brownie at the first stop, then some smoked meats including sheep's head at the next stop. The head even still had an eyeball in it. Someone in our group of 8 had to eat it...and Michael stepped up and took care of that thing!! He even got a sweet sticker for doing so. He says it was kinda like Jell-o in texture. Yikes!
Then we tried all sorts of olives and other preserved treasures (lemons and a spicy pepper). Then it was time for a Moroccan pizza pocket type thing. Then, a sardine meatball sandwich, a sausage sandwich, homemade couscous, and then tons of sweets and some smoothies! All yummy! We even stopped at a few cool cooking places including a big deep open where they cook the full sheep, the local bread oven where people drop off their bread each day, and a stove that is used to heat the water for the local hammam (the spa). Overall, it was a fun night (and day) despite the rain.
No comments:
Post a Comment