Marrakesh Tour

The theme for today was R&R, as we wanted our students to rest up before returning to Europe. We let them sleep in until beginning the city tour at 10 a.m.

View from the rooftop terrace of our riad.

The familiar van, with our friend Mohammad at the wheel, picked us up. One of the girls got on board and said something like, "Good to be home again!" We have spent way too many hours on this van in the last few days.

First stop was the Koutoubia Mosque, the largest and second-oldest in Marrakesh. This Mosque was completed in 1157 C.E. by the Berber king, al-Mansur. When al-Mansur conquered the region, there was already a mosque in place here. Not wanting anything left of the previous dynasty, which he had vanquished, al-Mansur had his mathematicians declare that the old mosque was not properly aligned toward Mecca. It was demolished, and the stones were used to build the present mosque. The new mosque is aligned in exactly the same direction as the old one, as can be seen by the remaining bases of the pillars.

Non-Muslims are not allowed inside, but the "new" (that is, 900 year old) mosque features a minaret 253 feet high. Inside is a spiral ramp, rather than a stairway, so that the muezzin can ride up on a donkey rather than walk up to make the call to prayer. A 12th century elevator! Our guide related some of the legends about the spire atop the minaret and the four gold balls on it.

Riad of the wives

Next stop was Bahia Palace, built in the late 19th century as the personal residence of the Grand Vizier of the Sultan, it included two harems, one for his four wives, and another much larger for his 20+ concubines. The Vizier got around!

Riad of the concubines

Technically, the Vizier was a slave owned by the Sultan. But apparently, in this system, a slave could be the owner or other slaves of lesser status than himself. It's all very complicated.

We also spent some time walking through the Mellah, or old Jewish quarter of Marrakesh. Several of our guides in this country have taken great pains to explain positive relations between Muslims and Jews in the country. Most joke that everyone gets along just fine until land or oil become issues -- and Morocco has lots of land and no oil, so there's no problem.

Final destination was a spice shop that put on quite a show about all of the same spices we had already experienced in Fez. I'm sure the guide was getting a kickback, but the kids had fun. Some bought, though prices were very high.

Back in the square (which is a very different place in daytime than at night) we bid farewell to Noureddine and formally ended our tour in Morocco. We and the students had the rest of the day free (we spent some of it shopping in the souks and chilling out on the rooftop terrace of the riad). The group had a farewell dinner at the riad in the evening, and we would head for the airport in the morning to drop everyone in Amsterdam to begin a week of independent travel.

Our "farewell" meal.