What an amazing, crazy day! Marrakech lights your senses on fire! We spent the day with a n excellent private guide, Abdul Aissaoui. We walked all around (the medina is very walkable), absorbing as much information as humanly possible. He told us that the safest way to cross a street is to "shut your eyes and cross". judging from the chaos, this surely couldn't be any more dangerous than trying to do it "safely". Truely though, I felt like he put a protective bubble around us because no one bothered us one bit. He was so nice, calm, and educated. We were on overload. He showed us the ornate Bahia Palace. The tile mosaics and elaborate stucco molding is beautiful! Until he told me, I had no idea I was looking at Islamic calligraphy - reminding us that Power Belongs to God.
Abdul and mom at Bahia Palace
Spices for sale in the maze of old neighborhoods
Abdul sat us down for lunch while he went to pray - the 2nd call of prayer of the day (at 1:30pm - all timed by the sun). He said the mosque (Ben Youssef) could fit 4,000 Muslims.
After lunch, we continued on to see much more. The most fascinating was the community baker. Every morning you bring your bread (dough) there to be baked. He can bake up to 200 loaves at a time. He has been working there for the past 40 years - since he was 12 - sharing the daily shift right next to the hot fire. After I tipped him, I accidentally left my pocket full of money open - and a local boy stopped Abdul to let him know.
The last thing we did today was sit on the top terrace overlooking the square at Cafe le Grand Balcon. It's a great place to see the sunset and watch from a safe distance all the happenings going on below. Then we actually ventured into the square, and a lady instantly attached herself to mom and began painting her hand with henna!
Then we returned to the riad (which I learned today is actually a "dar", a much smaller version of a true riad) to enjoy some bootlegged Moroccan wine.
No comments:
Post a Comment