On Saturday afternoon we arrived in Marrakech - our final stop on this journey.
We are staying at the Hotel Selman, an over-the-top hotel and show horse facility about 15 minutes from the city center. This property was built to reflect the combination of Moroccan and French styles, including large crystal chandeliers, ornate tile-work on the walls and floors, beautiful carpets, etc. The rooms even come with a Hermes leather covered minibar! This certainly rivals any place we have stayed in; the closest would be the Oberoi in Udaipur, India.
Wendy had a Moroccan salad, which consisted of a number of mezzes in a segmented bowl. Wayne went for something more American: a triple-decker club sandwich with chicken and poached egg (sans tomates of course), with French Fries. Both were divine. A side note about mezzes in Morocco. They include some different dishes from what we experienced in Turkey or Israel/Palestine. For one, pureed pumpkin is a regular component of Moroccan salad; we had never experienced it elsewhere. Another new component was "foie"--never appeared in our mezzes before.
For dessert we shared tart raspberry sorbet garnished with a tuille cookie, raspberries, lingonberries, and pistachio pieces.
So we were done eating by 7:15 (before the rest of the group even sat down!). We did a little blogging and had a long, quiet, warm night's sleep. And on Sunday morning we were treated to a fabulous sunrise from our balcony patio.
A word about the weather. As we've said before, this is supposed to be the rainy season. But we have not had one drop of precip. For the first week, the daytime temps were in the 70s; since we headed to Erfoud, it has mostly been upper 50s and lower 60s (max). Nighttime temps have been in the 40s. And of course, the desert was quite frosty. We have discovered that Marrakech is a lot like San Fransisco in the sense that it can be warm (to hot) when in the sun, and across the street it is very chilly in the shade. But, as always, Wendy had us packed for any eventuality, so we have been properly dressed every day.
Sunday, Dec 28
We started a long day of sightseeing and shopping (emphasis on the shopping) at the Bahia Palace, which is located in the medina of Marrakech along the northern edge of the district Mellah or Jewish quarter. Bahia was the favorite wife of the one of the Grand Viziers who lived here; it means "beautiful", and should not be confused with Bahai or the Bahai faith. Obviously, when it says "...favorite wife.." you can assume that polygamy was a normal practice at the time. Hicham explained the main reason why that was the custom: there were often inter-tribal conflicts (e.g. wars), which meant that many men were killed. Thus there was an imbalance between the number of men and women in the society. To rectify this, men took several wives so that there would be no unmarried women; remember - an unmarried woman would bring shame upon her and her family.
As in many of the other buildings we've toured, it is covered with ornate stucco work, beautiful painted wooden ceilings, highly decorated Islamic verses and words on the walls, fancy iron grillwork, and intricate tile patterns on the walls and floors. In the middle is a peaceful garden which contains orange trees.
We then walked over to the Herboristerie Bab Agnaou. This is billed as an herb store and pharmacy. Our group was led by the master herbalist into a room which was lined with hundreds of colorful jars containing herbs, spices, dyes, and who know what else; none of which were labeled.
One in our group asked if he knew what was in each jar. "Of course, that is my job" he replied. He then went through an entertaining spiel in which he described the uses for such things as argan oil (very popular, and the only place the trees are grown in the world is Morocco!), rass al hanout (a traditional Moroccan spice mixture), saffron, rose and orange oils, various creams, and even a powder he described as "Moroccan Viagra". For each he went around and let us smell the item or dabbed it on wrists and hands as appropriate. You will notice that the door to exit is behind him, so there was no escape. It was like being trapped in a Bath and Body Works store for 45 minutes.
After he was done, he then handed out plastic bags (the same ones we've seen littering the landscape!!!) and, almost like an auctioneer, went back through each item and said "Who wants a box of this?", "Who wants a jar of this. Buy 2 get 1 free", as he walked around and put the products into our outstretched arms It was almost like Halloween in reverse, as we (well....the women) held out their sacks and he "gave" them the goodies. "Don't worry about the price; we will tell you your total when we're done!" Hoo boy...what a salesman! Yes...we filled our bag.
Next, it was time to eat again! We drove to the Restaurant Dar Moha Almadina , where the dining room was in a huge garden with a central pool and netting high above to let in the natural light.
It also let in the natural cold, so they thoughtfully put those outdoor gas heaters around our tables. They started by serving 18 mini-tagines of cold Moroccan salads (two each of nine types). These included a wonderful spinach mixture, pink marinated onions and sweet raisins (tres bien!), eggplant, beans, pumpkin mash, etc. So beautiful and so tasty. Plus we each got a small glass of carrot orange gazpacho
And of course the great pita-like bread for spreading and sopping. Next came the mains. A plate of beef sausage links and baby lamb chops, the requisite vegetable tagine, and chicken quarters over saffron rice.
Dessert was a smaller version of the Moroccan Peach Melba we had a few days ago (really...when was that?), but this time the fruit was sour apples. And they were indeed sour, though quite good.
We discovered afterwards that the official name of this dessert is "pastilla.".
Next: the group was divided into parties of 3 or 4, and each was assigned a local guide to take them through the Marrakech souk. It was both similar to and different from the one in Fes. Yes, it was pretty crowded, and very colorful, and had a lot of different alleys and pathways, but this one did not include (or at least we did not see) any grocery items (meats, vegetables, etc.). It was all goods. And here we saw a number of shops selling tassels and others selling filigree lamps and fixtures. We even saw women grinding the argan nuts into a paste, which is later processed to separate out the oil.
Our guide knew we wanted to look for a) a piece of art work, b) jewelry, c) a place where we could don traditional clothes for a photo op. And did he ever deliver! He took us to a "gallery" where we found a painting that was unique and truly captured the Moroccan people (and the sand of the desert), and works well with our global folk art collection.
Then we went to a jeweler who dealt in silver pieces of Jewish,and Tuareg design. Wendy was successful in her quest. Then our guide took us to Maison Du Caftan, "Moroccan's Kaftan House". We explained to him that we had no intention of buying anything; we just wanted a place where we could put on clothes for photos. He assured us over and over that it was totally ok to do so here. So here we are in our best solemn Moroccans pose. Note that even Moroccan women put one slippered foot forward!
Other members of our group were also there, some doing the same thing, others actually buying jalabas!
Then we headed toward the central square. This square is filled with a lot of vendors selling snack foods, which here are dates, nuts, orange segments, etc. Really healthy stuff (though we were advised not to try any). But it is very strange; there were dozens of vendors with basically the same display of the same foods. How does one decide?
There was also family entertainment: music, dancers, balloon and bubble-maker sellers, but the must see things are the snake charmers and monkey handlers. Hicham had told us that the snake charmers have been known to put a snake around your shoulders and then ask for an exorbitant amount for money to remove it! And we were told that under no circumstances were we to touch the monkeys or let the handler put it on our shoulders. We have traveled enough to not even consider doing such a thing. But we did get close enough to take some photos with said snakes and monkey:
Then, back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We went with four of our group to the Italian restaurant in the La Mamounia hotel; it is supposed to be one of the top 5 restaurants in the city. And we can attest that it is. Not only the food, but the service. For example: three of us ordered a primi patti. But rather than having our mates sit there watch while we ate ours, they were brought small complementary rice croquettes! Never saw such a thing in a restaurant before. The two of us shared fettuccini with langostines:
Next, Wayne had medallions de bouef avec aioli et pommes de terre and Wendy had sea bream en papillote.
OMG! We missed getting a picture of the fish!!!!!!!!
For dessert, Wendy had a mixed fruit plate with gold leaf garnish (!)...
...Wayne took a pass......that is until they brought out a plate with chocolate mousse logs, some kind of chewy chocolate cookie, and fruit gelees. Well....two out of three isn't bad! YUM!
On our cab ride home, our driver was pulled over at a security checkpoint and had to leave the car to speak with the gendarmes. Then at our hotel, all the cars entering were inspected (trunk, under-carriage mirror sweeps) before they could enter. Not sure what that was all about, but slightly unnerving.
Monday, Dec 28
Our final day of the tour: the Gardens of Marrakech.
We started at the Menara Gardens, which date back to the 12th century, and is home to an extensive olive grove. From the terrace atop the central tower, you have a clear view of the city's main Minaret in the Central Square.
Then we walked a few blocks and hopped onto horse-drawn carriages!
These took us down the main boulevard and then to our next stop, the Jardin Majorelle. It was designed by the French artist Jacques Majorelle in the 1920s. Later, it was purchased and enhanced (especially the vivid accent colors) by Yves St. Laurent.
It also contains an excellent museum of Berber artifacts and a first-class gift shop from which we bought a Moroccan cookbook. Once home, we will attempt to recreate some of the delicious dishes we've had. You're all invited!
Then, once again, back to the hotel for "lunch at our leisure". We have been here two days and only seen the hotel in the dark, so we finally got a chance to explore a little. Lunch was outside at the pavilion, a garden area with fountains, rose bushes, and sculptured foliage. As we sat waiting for our food, five beautiful Arabian horses were pasturing and prancing directly behind us.
They started us with a basket of assorted breads, spicy green olives, and a bowl of Moroccan olive oil. Wendy had an artistically arranged Salade Nicoise, while Wayne had a Caesar Salad with prawns.
We spent the rest of the day blogging with Wendy enjoying a hammam (traditional bath--see Turkey blog), though this one was less luxurious, more vigorously scrubbed (more dust in Morocco, I guess) and the attendant spoke entirely in French. Then, we headed off to the farewell dinner. You can guess the menu--though we had chicken pastillla for the first time (kind of like a Moroccan empanada--delicious) and enjoyed gnawa music again--this time punctuated by a dancer's twirling fez tassle. Don't try this at home!
And.....c'est finis! It's time to head back to the real world and real winter.
Over the past 12 days we have seen, heard, smelled, and tasted many things. Through Hisham's tutelage we have learned so much of the history and culture of this vibrant, unique land. We thank him and his logistics side-kick, Youenis, for everything they did to ensure our experience was memorable and magical. We also thank all of our new traveling buddies for the friendships and experiences we shared along the way. We didn't know what to expect before this journey and, for many reasons, it has rapidly moved to the top of the list in enriching our lives.
Thanks for being with us on this wonderful trip. Not sure where we are headed next, but we'll let you know!
Love, happy and healthy new year, and safe travels,
w&w
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