The next morning we had breakfast at a place called Zeitoun ("olive") Cafe and boy, was it good! They had 6 different breakfasts to choose from, all with tea/coffee and orange juice for only 4 dollars! We got the Moroccan breakfast and the Marrakech breakfast which consisted of an array of breads and some delicious eggs sunny side up with beef mixed in. Nate was particularly chuffed that it cost 8 dollars total and he was full.
After breakfast we trundled through the heat and the touts to the southern side of Marrakech where we had yet not trod. Nate started wondering if he should buy a hat from one of the many fedora sellers but he didn't want to pay the asking price and Rachael thought he would look dumb and too touristy so instead he just burned.
We made our way first to the Saadian tombs. The Saadians were a dynasty that ruled in Morocco from 1554 to 1669 and their royalty were buried in these tombs which are still resplendent with their tiles, caved stone and inlayed wood. Moulay Ismail, an Alaouite sultan who ruled after the Saadians, blocked off the tombs and buried the entire complex because he was so jealous of their beauty. There they lay until the 1917.
After the tombs we attempted to make our way to the El Badia palace, which sounds very much like (and is built right next to) the Bahia palace--and so we ended up at the Bahia by mistake! These two places are seperate and very different. El Badia Palace is a magnificent ruin and the Bahia Palace is beautiful and intact.
The Bahia palace (our inadvertent first stop) was built in 1866-7 for Si Moussa, a former slave of Moulay Hassan who had gained favor with the sultan. It consisted of three huge courtyards surrounded by beautiful rooms covered in tile and with intricately hand painted and carved cedar wood ceilings.
The El Badia palace, which we visited next, was built in 1578 by Ahmed el Mansour. El Badia means "the incomparable" and by all accounts it was. The money to build this palace was provided by Portugal who had just lost a huge battle against Morocco and whose prince had been captured. Ahmed el Mansour required so much ransom money to return the prince that he essentially bankrupted Portugal and was able to fund his palace with the spoils. Unfortunately, Ahmed invested too much into his palace and not enough into his children. After he died, his son plundered his palace for other projects and today it is in ruins.
After returning home for a quick break, we headed out again for lunch. Hardly had we left the riad when a tout grabbed Nate's arm and tried to direct him down a side alley. Rachael's toe caught the bottom of Nate's shoe and one of her toenails was almost completely ripped off. Blood spilled, bandaids were purchased and we returned to the riad for some first aid.
An hour later, we were finally on the terrace of the Cafe Zeitown eating sandwiches and reading our books. The temperature was 96 degrees, but the awning was equipped with very handy misting fans and so we were very contented. We had some cool mint tea and read our books for several hours, pausin
g every once in a while to admire the panoramic view of the Jemaa El Fna.
Later that afternoon we wandered the souks, which are the catacombs of covered streets that honeycomb the city. They go on and on and the whole point is to loose yourself. Shopkeepers sit at the entrance to each shop, doing their best to woo you into coming inside and checking out their wares. If you do, they will force you to smell each of their spices in turn or offer you tea as a way of guilting you into making a purchase.
We wandered through the lamp souk, the carpet souk, the leather bag souk, the leather belt souk, the leather slipper souk, the chicken souk, the spice souk, and many others.
The only thing that we purchased, however, was a small straw hat that makes Nate look like Tom Sawyer. The seller of the hat asked for 450MAD ($45) Nate said 10MAD ($1). The owner said 400. Nate said 10. The owner said 300, Nate said 20. The owner said 150, Nate said 20. The owner said "what is your final offer?" Nate said 25. The owner said 100. Nate stood there because he had already stated his final offer. The owner said 50. Nate said, "fine, 30." The owner said, 31. Nate said "no thank you" and walked away. The owner ran after him and took 30MAD ($3) for the hat. Nate still probably over paid.
When we were very tired and had walked every inch of the souks, we went to gawk at the massive Koutubia mosque. The minaret of the mosque was completed at the end of the 12th century. It is topped with here copper balls which are shrouded in many legends. They are said to have supernatural powers that deter thieves. Supposedly they were given to the mosque by the wife of Yacoub el Mansour because she broke the fast for three hours during Ramadan. Excavations around the mosque have shown that there was an earlier mosque on the site but that it had to be replaced because it wasn't correctly aligned with Mecca.
For dinner we ate at the stalls on the Jemaa El Fna. This was probably the best meal we have had so far in Morocco. It began with Moroccan soup, called harira, then we had spicy sausages, bread with several very spicy dipping sauces, lamb kababs, and another pastilla (Rachael's new favorite food), this one covered in powdered sugar.
