It was our final full day in Marrakech today and we were booked on another full day excursion. When the bus arrived, we soon realised that we were the only two people from the hotel booked on the Discover Marrakech tour for the day so we were quite looking forward to it. After a few issues getting hold of a couple from another hotel we finally ended up at the Saadian Tombs with only one other couple. Almost our own personal tour :-).
The Saadian Tombs was the final resting place of the Saadi dynasty. They were very ornately decorated in the Traditional Muslim manner with geometric shapes and Arabic script along with plenty of colour, if a little faded now. They were also extremely busy and it was incredibly difficult to actually get to see the tombs themselves. It was worth it though.
Our next stop was the Bahia palace. Yet another beautiful example of Moroccan architecture, with an incredible array of different ceiling art. The palace was huge, and apparently only meant for the King’s wife, with sprawling and colourful gardens all over the place. We seemed to be wandering for ages, but it was great fun.
We then made our way around through the Medina to a small Museum of Moroccan Art within a Riad (typical Moroccan House with a central courtyard). After a short wander around this museum we were off again for another brief wander through the Medina on route to our lunch stop.
Lunch was due to be in a rooftop restaurant overlooking the Koutoubia Mosque, but before we could be allowed to eat, we were given a rug making demonstration. Rosie and I both got to have a go. It seemed like a ridiculously boring and fiddly job as everything is done by hand! We managed to avoid the sales talk by making sure they were fully aware that we had no money left and had absolutely no intention of buying a rug. Escaping was easier than we thought, so we said goodbye to the other couple, who had only booked for the morning, before heading up to the restaurant. The food was great, as ever, but the best thing about the rstaurant was the view. Where we were sat we could see the Minaret of the Koutoubia Mosque climbing out of the Moroccan skyline no more than ¼ mile from us.
The plan for the afternoon was apparently exactly the same as the Souks and Medina tour, which annoyed us slightly as no-one had told us this. However, our guide was brilliant and because we were now the only two people on the tour, he went away over lunch and reorganised our afternoon to ensure we did something different, saw something else of Marrakech, and had fun. We couldn’t have asked for a better service :-D.
We were taken on a driven tour of the Ville Nouvelle and the city just outside the wall before visiting the Menara Gardens. I think luck was on our side today as there was a youth arts festival on the go throughout the gardens. There were some beautiful sculpture’s and mini gardens on display. It was brilliant, we even managed to get some camel pictures without having to pay the owner for the privilege!
We finished the day with a tour of the gardens and area surrounding the Koutoubia Mosque and another outing to the Djemaa El Fna. This time, I managed to keep away from the monkey men and snake charmers and still got some photos using my long lens. Again without paying a penny :-D!!!