It is about a three and a half hour drive from Casablanca to Marrakech through rich agricultural fields. The French called this the useful part of Morocco.
All the buildings in Marrakech are rosy sand color which contrast beautifully with the green trees and plants. We stay at the Meridien which has lovely grounds.
Soon after lunch, we visit the medina and see the Saadian royal tombs dating back to the 16th century which were uncovered in 1917 and restored. Muslims are buried on their right side facing Mecca.
Our National Geographic expert, Jeffrey Taylor, shows us where he lived in the medina when he was in the Peace Corps in the late 1980s. He had many challenges as a foreigner living here. They referred to him in a pejorative manner as Nasrani from the word Nazareth, meaning he was a Christian and a foreigner.
Jeff spoke to these boys in Arabic and they told him that the people who live here are out of town. If they had been there, Jeff would have liked to have gone inside and revisit his former home. Jeff appreciated that we walked over here to his former place and he could share it with us.
From there we continue walking through the medina. Our guide Mohammed points out that there are two knockers on this door. The higher one is for a visitor on horseback or on the back of a mule.
We continue through the medina to the Bahia Palace.
The beautifully carved ceilings are made of cedar. We will later visit a cedar forest.
Back through the medina to the big square where we watch the sunset. That evening we enjoy dinner with our Aussie friends at an Italian-style restaurant in the newer part of Marrakech as they were meeting their travel agent for an extended trip after our tour.
The next day we return to the medina and visit the Ben Youssef Mederssa, an Islamic College founded in the 14th century, closed in 1960 and restored as an historic site and museum.
After lunch we continue touring the medina and watch this young woodcarver create handles for skewers on a unique foot-operated lathe. We buy two skewers from him. Our luggage is too full for a set of 12! Later wished we had bought the whole set.
Other sights from the medina...
We could post a hundred pictures and still only portray a small portion of the many activities in the medina in Marrakech.
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