Walking into the city centre
The temperature was so warm today, but I had a great time exploring Marrakech, seeing the main sights and soaking up the atmosphere of the city.
The first place on my list for today was the Saadian Tombs, a royal necropolis dating back to the 16th century. It was about an hour’s walk to so I decided to take my time, enjoying the shade of the Cyber Park on the way into the city, and then exploring the area around the Koutoubia Mosque which I didn’t get a chance to do yesterday.
While relaxing in the park behind the Mosque I saw first hand how pushy the sellers can be in this part of the world. Even if you’re in what you think is a quiet part of a park away from the rest of the visitors to the country they will find you, and they will pester you to buy stuff from them. Luckily, in this case, the person was selling some sweet cakes and I thought that the sugar boost would be useful for the day ahead, so bought some from him.
This is one of the reasons that I decided to visit the south of the country, rather than the cities of the north, to see the real Morocco without being pestered to buy stuff every 30 seconds.
Sellers aside, Marrakech is a great city to explore and so, after eating the sweet cakes, I took the long route from the Mosque to the Saadian Tombs, exploring some local parts of the city on the way.
Saadian Tombs
The entrance to the tombs was a bit hard to find, but there were lots of people around who could point you in the right direction.
As mentioned above, the Saadian Tombs are a royal necropolis dating back to the 16th century. A lot of the history of the tombs has been lost, as they were buried and left undiscovered for quite some time, but it is known that they date back to the Saadian dynasty and that members of the Royal Family continued to be buried here for some time afterwards.
It’s a nice place to explore, to see some great Moroccan architecture and traditional art, and to find out more about the history of the leaders of Morocco, but it was quite cramped and very full of tourists. So, while I’m glad that I visited, I didn’t spend too long here.
The next stop on my walking tour of Marrakech was the Badi Palace which, although it had as many tourists, was a lot bigger and so didn’t feel as cramped.
Badi Palace
The Badi Palace took a while to find, despite its size. This is because there is still a lot of damage to the city caused by the recent earthquake, and as a result there is a lot of restoration work ongoing which has closed a few alleyways and roads in this part of the city. This did, however, force me to walk through more residential areas of this part of the city – rather than just taking the direct route – which was nice.
The Badi Palace was built in the late 1500s, during the Saadian dynasty, and is a vast palace containing lots of courtyards and buildings. It was built to showcase the wealth of the rulers, and to impress, and in its heyday I can imagine it definitely would have done that. However, after the fall of the dynasty, it was mostly abandoned and so, today, is in a state of ruin.
It is still worth a visit to see the grandeur of the palace and to learn more about the history of both the city and the Saadian dynasty, so I’m definitely glad that I visited.
One can only imagine what the palace would have looked like when it was in use – especially the large and majestic courtyard.
I spent around an hour here, exploring the ruins, enjoying the atmosphere, and resting due to the heat of the day before deciding that it was time for lunch and heading outside to see what I could find.
Lunch in the city
When I’m visiting a part of the world where people can be quite pushy in their encouragement to visit their shop, restaurant, etc I quite often go on instinct in terms of what place to visit. I tend to find an area that has lots of places to eat, pick one which looks nice or that has a good view and, after a quick look at the menu I’ll say yes and sit down.
That’s exactly what I did after visiting the Badi Palace when I took a seat at a small café in Tinsmith’s Square. I ended up picking a café that had a great vantage point to people watch and, while the meal was basic, it was cheap and more than enough to fill me ready for the afternoon.
Like I have most other times I’ve sat anywhere for more than a few minutes since arriving, I also made a friend with a cat while I was eating.
Bahia Palace
The final stop for me today was the Bahia Palace. Unlike the Badi Palace, which was from the 1500s and is in a state of ruin, the Bahia Palace is from the 1800s and has been kept in a much better state. It was the home of an influential family who worked for the rulers of Morocco and who, judging by how ornate the building and its grounds were, must have also been quite wealthy.
It’s an impressive place to visit, showcasing some great Moroccan and Islamic art and architecture, and I particularly enjoyed the main courtyards where I spent some time relaxing and people watching.
In total I probably only spent 30-45 minutes here, as my feet were getting tired by this point, but it will be possible to spend longer here if you have more time.
Back to my hotel
After leaving the Bahia Palace I slowly made my way back to the hotel, taking my time to explore the souq and a selection of parks along the way. I also stopped at Starbucks to get an iced coffee, and did some shopping in the local shopping centre to pick up some more supplies for the rest of the trip.
I also had to find a hardware shop, as the strap on my day bag had broken again. This happened for the first time in Malawi last year, after which I fixed it with some superglue. That fix held for more than a year, until today, so hopefully the same will be true this time.
Welcome meeting and a group meal
This evening was the group welcome meeting where I met up with our group leader, and the rest of the group, where we heard all about what to expect from the trip and got to know each other.
A meeting like this is a key part of any group trip like this, just to make sure that all of the formalities are in order and to make sure everybody has the same expectations for the trip.
After the meeting we made our way out to a local restaurant to have dinner. Despite the fact that we’re in Morocco most of us, myself included, seemed to order Pizza. Apparently, they’re quite popular in Morocco which should keep me happy… although I do want to try some traditional Moroccan food too.
After all, there’s no point travelling to another country if you want to have the same experiences and same food as back home!
The group is small, but everybody seems really nice. Like on most trips like this that I have done they’re from a range of places including the UK, USA, Italy, and Australia.